 |
|
Title: Food Wine Rome (Terrior Guides)
ISBN: 1892145715
Author:
David Downie
Publicate Date: 2009-04-07
Publish: 2009-04-07
List Price: $24.95
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Paperback
 |
|
|
|
|
Amazon Lowest New Price: $9.95
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $9.96
Amazon Merchant Price: $16.47
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Customer Review: |
|
1: Don't go to Rome without this book if you are a foodie
I couldn't put this book down. Many things capture your attention including "33 Ways to Order Coffee", a tutorial on Lazio wines, and the detailed glossary. The whole city is covered so you could land in any part of the city and have Downie's well selected shops ready and waiting for you.
Even if you are not planning a trip to Rome, consider getting this book. It is packed with curious information for any foodie.
|
2: Food Wine Rome and Murder in Paris
I've already reviewed Food Wine Italian Riviera, which I adored. This is a continuation of that review, in a way, and also a way to gripe about something. Read on. The copy of Food Wine Rome I'm holding as I write this looks like a box of chocolates. It's beautifully designed. Generally I don't give a fig about the looks of a guidebook, but this one is so gorgeous that I would buy it to give as a gift instead of chocolates. I am freshly back from Rome (and the Italian Riviera), where I put this little number to the test. All I can say is, though I tried to find things to disagree about with the author, who seems to know an awful lot more than most guidebook authors, I couldn't. That made me mad. But then I kind of got to know him, as I tried some of the weird and wonderful foods he loves: stuffed squid with peas, spring lamb in a kind of piquant vinegar sauce (at this wonderful trattoria, Da Gino, near the Pantheon), or classic oxtail stew (at a throwback, family-run place called Perilli, near what used to be the slaughterhouse, but is now a yuppie neighborhood). I had had some pretty amazing ice cream in Chiavari (near Genoa), and then I went to Settimo Gelo in Rome, at Downie's instigation, and although this parlor is way way out there behind the Vatican, I experienced the best, the lightest, the most sublime ice cream period. Yes, I did try San Crispino, everyone knows San Crispino and it's still excellent. I was renting an apartment so I went out and, as Downie suggests, bought freshly roasted coffee from three little places (Tazza d'Oro, Sant Eusachio or something like that--impossible, and a mom-and-pop place way way out in the east called Giovanni De Santis or something). This turned out to be the best coffee I have ever had. Ever. And I am an addict. So, what I am griping about is, why do we have all these second-rate guidebooks out there pushed by huge conglomerates, sending us to the same old places, when we can get this kind of book? I have to wonder. And yes, I did Google the author and found that he's more than college educated, speaks three languages, has written other kinds of books, and has just published a thriller called Paris City of Night, which I'm reading and will review, as mentioned elsewhere. I am also griping because I can't live part of the year in Rome and on the Italian Riviera (or in Paris).
|
3: Fascinating reading, wonderful pictures
This book might seem to be, at first glance, a wonderful little guidebook to eating in Rome. But it doesn't take more than a glance at one or two pages to see that this is actually a book that cannot be put down. One little essay just leads to another. . . Porchetta! Porchettari! Onions in the sauce? Mint? And then there are the perfectly fabulous, evocative pictures. If I were lucky enough to be spending some time in Rome, I would certainly want to have this luscious guide with me.
|
4: The Essence of Rome
I was lucky enough to be in Rome this spring with David Downie's "Food Wine Rome" in hand. With it, my husband and I were able to learn not only about which plain-looking but divine trattorias to go to but to understand the traditions guiding the quality of the food served. Our previous experience in Italian cuisine had been in Emilia Romagna, so it would have been easy (and unsophisticated) for us to think of Roman food as simple and simply good. But, like everything else in Rome, there is a layered and living history to the food, and the people who make and serve it. The pleasures of Rome--in restaurants, trattorias, bars, shops, bakeries--are all part of its united tradition. The photographs by Alison Harris show the places and people as they are--simply beautiful, each in its own way. The amazing thing about the writing in "Food Wine Rome" is that without being pedantic or fussy, David Downie imparts an enormous amount of information you can trust as being reliably researched and true. We've given this book to many friends and relatives. It's the perfect present for those going to Rome, in Rome, or remembering that beautfiul city.
|
5: food for the gods
An amazing guide to one of the finest cuisines in the world! Although I have traveled to Rome many times and consider myself a discriminating eater, this guide introduced me to many new eateries. The historical background is excellent. I am grateful to David Downie for having spared me from eating the thousands of calories he must have ingested to write this exacting compendium. Now I can make a beeline for the best of Rome's delicious food.
|
|
|
|
|
