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Restarurant Piperno - Rome,
Italy - From
Travel and Leisure Magazine,
June, 1997
Piperno's specialty is the artichoke. It is a Jewish (but
not kosher) restaurant in the Ghetto, featuring the dish in which this
edible flower bud, found at its best in the Roman Campagna, is (to quote
from the menu) "thrown into boiling oil, smooth as a billiard ball," and
"comes out like a chrysanthemum with petals open, distilling its pleasant
perfume."
Piperno is near the enormous Cenci Palace, where an infamous act of
parricide took place in the 16th century, supposedly casting a permanent
gloom over the little square on which the restaurant is located. The
interior, however, is anything but gloomy, with bottle-green fabric and
interesting frescoes lining the walls of the dining rooms where
white-jacketed, black-tied waiters do their very professional thing:
filleting fish, checking peaches for ripeness when a customer orders one for
dessert, inspecting the porcini and taking them to the kitchen to be
prepared.
Artichoke Thistle in full flower.
We were encouraged to start with the house specialties, not only the
carciofi alla giudia but strips of tender young artichoke in the fritto
scelto all'Italiana with variety meats. Even better was the fritto misto
vegetariano, which consisted of the artichokes plus supplì; (a rice
croquette with melted cheese inside), some chunks of mozzarella, and best of
all, the stuffed squash blossoms. You wouldn't believe fried food could be
so ungreasy, but you can pick it up in your fingers without a trace of fat.
But then the art of frying is said to be a hallmark of Roman Jewish cooking.
Run since 1963 by the non-Jewish Mazzarella family, Piperno is generally
considered the best but most expensive of Rome's Jewish restaurants. It's
worth the money.
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