A restaurant-bakery combo that is highly regarded in Rome.
It draws a crowd.
I had an eggplant parmigiana that was lovely.
I did go Italian however in ways that prevent one from fully being able to judge a kitchen.
A huge percentage of the antipasti in Rome are plates of either cheese or a single cold meat such as a prosciutto.
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Brief interruption:
Note that antipasto here just means appetizer.
The large plates of mixed Italian cold cuts, cheeses and olives that we call an antipasto are an American Italian thing. American Italian is a variant of Southern Italian, so there may be some regions where our large plates of mixed cold meats can be found.
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Back to the main story:
Since so much of Italian openers involves a "found objects" approach of just charcuterie or just cheese from the store,
I felt I sort of had to do that sometimes.
So I did a four cheese plate here.
Since cheese comes before a meal in Italy, rather than after a meal as it does in France,
Restaurants avoid giving you super strong cheeses that would wreck your taste buds for the goodies that are to follow.
Gorgonzolas or Italian versions of smelly runny cheeses such as a French Brie are either kept off the plate entirely or are served in mild manifestations.
(Americans do that with Brie.
Americans do not serve Brie with b**ls.
I don't respect that but I have learned to live with it.)
The Italians are correct though that if you are having cheese for an opener rather than a closer, then the cheese has to be kept mild and civilized.
No hogging the microphone and silencing the other dishes.
I don't know the names of any of the cheeses I had but I got one sweet cheese, two very similar harder salty cheeses and a very very mild Brie variant. All were Italian.
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My cheese was lovely. My eggplant was lovely. The room was lovely.
I would have no problem coming back to Cresci and seeing what the kitchen can really do. read more