Italian Piazza

Pizza outside Italy, who are we kidding? There is not such thing, not for an Italian at least. But I am brave, and while I make mean pizza at home (if I can say so myself), I need to eat pizza out on Friday nights after the movies. This has been close to impossible when I moved from Italy to Baltimore, where my honey and I would make do in a pizzeria that we nicknamed "The Losers" (obviously not a great one!), but it got much easier in Tucson, especially since Pizzeria Vivace opened in the St. Philips plaza (piazza, in Italian).

First of all, Italians need some harmony. St. Philips piazza has fountains and courtyards and restaurants, and even a riverside  (water optional). Second, the pizza tastes like pizza at Pizzeria Vivace. And last, but not least, they are kind and you feel like at home on your second visit.

As I said, I go there most Friday nights. I had been there with my significant other, most often with our friends after the movies, and once with several friends including a baby. Every time the host, manager, and waiters have been kind and fast. I highly recommend the front room and, if you are a party of six or more, and like to eat like everybody else in Tucson (which is, 6:30 on Friday and Saturday nights), do make reservations. We go after 9 pm, so no problem there. Actually the "late" hour brings another advantage: all drinks are half price after the nocturnal hour of 8 pm, including on weekends!

Speaking of drinks, the half-price policy extends to bottles of wine, and they do have a decent  selection for a pizzeria, which allows you to sample some fine Italian wines without breaking the budget. Pizza is thin but not too thin, hot, and very tasty. At Vivace they do not make too much fuss if you ask half a pizza without cheese (so my sweetheart and I can share), or if you make substitutions. While I never tasted the antipasto, it looks authentic and delicious. I wish they had sorbet for dessert, so I could have a vegan sweet bite at the end of a great simple pizza-salad-and wine meal. The way I see it, this is the perfect place to enjoy the subtle pleasure of having the work week over with, chat with your friends about a good movie you just saw, and have the simplest yet tastiest food and drink on Earth, pizza and wine!

Pizzeria Vivace
4280 N. Campbell Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85719
Lunch: Monday-Friday 11:30-2:30 pm
Dinner: Monday-Thursday 5-9 pm; Friday-Saturday 5-10 pm
$

http://www.pizzeriavivace.com/

A fresh seaside scent in the middle of the desert

The last couple of weeks have been hard for us Tucsonans. We cheered up by sticking together, comforting one another, and reviving our sense of belonging to this beautiful community. Which includes getting some comfort from comfort food of course. On one of these blue days we went to Mariscos Chihuahua for lunch. I love the fresh seafood they have here, even in the very hot Arizona summer the seafood is always fresh and delicious.

Do not expect the fancy/romantic seafood restaurants with a wine list and candles! This is prominently a lunch place, where you can also have an informal dinner. Your waitress will welcome you with a basket of delicious Mexican chips and salsa. Beware! You can get filled up just with those. On the other hand, why resist them? Especially if you have ordered a Mexican beer or, even better, a "michelada", which is a beer mixed in with tomato juice and lime; this turned out to be delicious, the best drink for a hot day, or a thirsty diner, or to nurse your hangover! Lemonade is also good. I personally don't like their margaritas because they come from a mix, but the tequila selection is good and you can have a "tequila a la bandera" if you are so inclined. Stay clear from the wine (just one or two choices of mini bottles, you can do better on a plane).

Now on with the food. Order freely from the menu, there is not a single bad item there (I sampled most!) In winter order fresh oysters, followed by a "caldo de mariscos" or seafood soup. It is really heavenly, spiced just right, and fulfilling with its side of real tortillas. If you are hungry, order instead one of the "platos". The seafood "a la veracruzana" is fantastic, so is the "pulpo" (octopus), and the whole fried fish (you can have it small, medium, or large!) Most "platos" are accompanied by rice, fries, veggies, and tortillas.

In summer do not hesitate and get the shrimp ceviche. I took several friends here, and the verdict is unanimous: best ceviche in this hemisphere! Enjoy it on top of the tostadas, or just by the spoonful if you are a purist. Ceviche, a north-pole cold beer, what else do you need on a hot Tucson day? I like everything on the menu, go several times and do a tasting, and discover your favorite. I also like the "ceviche bucket" you get when your order to take out, an ideal lunch for two for a slow summer aftrenoon by the pool.

Now for the ambiance: this place is very simple. Booths or tiled tables, bright and clean look, no fuss. The clientele seem to speak both English and Spanish, all waitress are bilingual. On Sunday you see many dressed-up families eating here after the Mass. A comforting, cozy, easy place to eat excellent seafood. When you are all done and you walk out you will be very surprised not to see a seashore, and fishermen mending their nets. This is the feeling of the place.


Mariscos Chihuahua
356 E. Grant Rd
Tucson, AZ (520) 884 3567
(other locations as well, see webpage)
http://www.mariscoschihuahua.com/Home_Page.php
open for lunch and (early) dinner every day
$

Downtown in the desert

You are in Tucson and spent some quality time downtown, and now you like a cocktail or a bite. Or maybe you are driving back from the airport and your appetite does not quite hold until you go back home. Or, you just want a good meal and you like the Tucson skyline. I personally like to drive south on Stone at sunset, when the (few!) tall buildings of downtown have a special glare. Or, finally, it is late at night and after a show you want to listen to good live music (Thu-Sat only) with your favorite wine. Now finally you have a place to eat and drink that matches your expectations, go to Downtown kitchen and cocktails and you will be happy.

The setting is a open space with kitchen in view. Maybe too much in view? I prefer to seat farther from it. The bar goes on forever and it is a good-looking bar at that. Hostess and waiters are kind and well trained now, and the noise level conversation-yileding. The music only starts around 10 pm, and by that time you had finish dinner and, possibly, exhausted most of the interesting topics of conversation, so it is a welcome change of pace.

The place is vegan-friendly. On my last visit I had a main course of delicious Asian noodles with a fantastic mix of raw and cooked veggies, and nuts, filling and especially tasty. On other visits I extensively asked if they could veganize some dishes, and they could. My companions were thrilled by the Chinese duck and a cheese appetizer with mushrooms. We also had African soup, and ahi ceviche. I tasted this last one and it was just about the best chevice I even eat. The mix of tastes in each dish was complicated and spicy, but never tasted like a mess, it always stopped short of too much. The chef-owner, Janos, knows his craft, obviously.

The wine list is good, not great. The good think is that they sell a lots of good wines by the glass as well, so you can easily ask for a taste if you are not sure before ordering a bottle. We tasted a couple before ordering our Argentine Merlot, which was very good. On another visit I had a cocktail, a Manhattan, which was top of the shelve. The bar is an ideal spot also to dine solo, it is informal and looks bright and safe. The reason why I attach the lone dollar sign to this place is not because it is super cheap (you can read the prices in the restaurant link below) but because the quality-price ratio is so high that it almost seems inexpensive. I highly recommend this place. You will relax, enjoy, eat well, feel well afterwords, and you will contribute to bring some business to downtown Tucson, which is sorely needed.


Downtown kitchen and cocktails (Janos)
$
135 South 6th Avenue
Tucson, Arizona
(520) 623 7700

Open Monday to Sunday
late night Thu-Sat, bar open until 2 am
http://downtownkitchen.com/

Bologna by winter

Winter can be very cold in Bologna, one of the best preserved medieval cities of central Italy, considered by some the international food capital. The restaurant and bar offer is huge, and can be daunting to look for the perfect fancy dinner spot. But this is not one of those days, this is just a cold early afternoon, you are alone, you skipped lunch and need food and shelter; or maybe it is after the movies and you are meeting your friends, some of them will want just a glass of wine, others would not mind to have some food with that wine. A good idea is the Ambasciatori bookstore, in the very core of this city: go to the top floor (there are other restaurants in the building but this is the best), and enjoy a meditative pause among books and wines. Go up by the stairs, so you will have the chance to see the beautiful inner facade of this old building, and work an appetite.

On my last time there I was alone (and in a very bad mood!) and sat at the bar. My spirits soon restored to my usual cheerful self: the waiters are super nice and they make sure you are taken care of. This is not a full service restaurant, rather a simple wine and cheese place with an additional two or three entree choices and a couple of salads. The great news is that they had a vegan choice on my visit, which was a delicious roasted cauliflower with a heavenly capers-bread topping, accompanied by a tiny beautiful and mild potato cake. One of the most appealing offer is a cold-cut plate, prosciutto, salame, and the mortadella that the city is famous for worldwide. Everything is fresh and mostly organic, so this is also a healthy choice.

If you drink wine, order local and daily special, you will drink top of the line wines at decent prices. If you are with friends, grab a bottle from the shelves and you will not be charged corkage. I generally have "Pignoletto dei colli bolognesi", the still type. It is local and delicious, a strong white which is perfect with just about anything you can eat here. Soon after my entree arrived, I got lost in its taste, and in people watching. Shelves full of interesting wines and beers grabbed my attention, and so did a couple of women discussing their Christmas plans. My bad winter day was cheered up, and so will yours. An additional bonus of this place is that you can browse books on the way out. If you can read Italian, of course!


Eataly (Osteria, top floor, Ambasciatori bookstore)
via degli Orefici 19
Bologna, Italy
http://www.eataly.it/
Mon-Sat 8am-midnight
Sun 10am-midnight
$$

Morocco in Paris

Paris in winter is magic, yet cold! You absolutely need to nestle in a warm, welcoming, scented place where you can snuggle with your honey or relax with your friends. All the other bistros offer the usual Parisian fare of "steak frites" or "salmon a la unilaterale" (more about those in future posts) but today you need a good vegetarian meal in a charming place. Maybe your travel companion(s) need a good carnivore meal in a charming place? Think no further and go to "Le Marais" to eat at 404, the best Moroccan restaurant in Paris.

You will be welcomed by attentive and smiling waiters, they will take your coat and direct you to the very belly of this enveloping place. The floors are carpeted, but the feeling is that your whole world is carpeted and you feel pure comfort. You will get shoe-horned into your table, so if you need a lot of space with your meal don't come here! I generally do need space, but the style of this place was so perfect that I feel I did not mind the intimate closeness with the other (mostly Parisian) diners. If you need to be in control when you dine, don't come here. You will be served slowly and be in a very small space for a long time. On the other hand, if you enjoy to approach your meal and wine with abandon, you will be very happy. Sip your wine or mint tea (my best ever) and look around, beautiful people and gorgeous food and earth-ware will come by, you can catch up with the latest fashion and chat with your dining companions, or just get lost in the scent and color of the place.

Order red Moroccan wines: they are way cheaper than the French ones, and they are fully satisfactory. We are talking about top of the line French winery in Morocco here! I had a perfect appetizer of fried sardines, but fried veggies were also available. The sauce, tomato-y and simple, was pure bliss. The main course for me was a vegetable pastry-encased dome, a similar concoction but filled with seafood or meat was also available. The pastry was flaky and tasty, the filling delicious. When I asked if the pastry was butter-based, I was very kindly told that it was not, and that it was a vegan option. My companion had a dish of lamb and vegetables which was, in his opinion, perfect (and he is a man of taste!). The bill was quite steep in the end, but well worth the food, atmosphere, and decor. This is a perfect spot for a cold, elegant winter night. You will go back to your hotel or apartment quite happy, the mint tea flavor lingering, and you will long to be back there!

Restaurant Le 404
69 rue des Gravilliers
Paris 75003, France
open:Monday through Sunday
$$

Oysters/ Huitres/ Ostriche

There you are, in Paris at last, your lifelong dream fulfilled. The tour Eiffel, the Louvre, everything is in its place! Or maybe you are in Paris often and like to be back there often, every time your dreams renewed? You are here on your own, or with friends, or maybe with your spouse for a romantic getaway. No matter your style and travel companions, there is a thing that you must do in Paris: eat oysters! Do not dream about leaving the Ville Lumiere without an oyster meal.

First things first: oysters are winter catch. You will see them year around in fancy touristy places, but this is another meal I am talking about. If you are in Paris and you still are wearing a coat, walk to boulevard Saint Germain and get to the Huitrerie Regis. You will not regret it! Oysters are fresh and the variety is stunning. They open them as you watch, and they go by the dozen per person; if you like fewer oysters then you might be asked to stand up at the bar.

Oysters come fresh with lemon, delicious bread, and Normandie butter. White Sancerre and Champagne is all they have. Do you need anythings else? I don't think so! Everything is delicious, reasonably priced, and oh so Parisian. The setting is simple, bright, and elegant. Last time we were there we were the only tourists in the place. Enjoy!

Huitrerie Regis
3, rue Montfaucon
75006 Paris, France
open Tuesday- Sunday 11 am to midnight
$

Benvenuti/ Welcome

I am an Italian/American traveler who loves to find a good spot to eat alone, with her significant other, and/or with friends and family. Every time I am in a new city I wish I could read an honest independent review of the type of places I like to go for a bite and a sip, and this motivated me to start writing. I am pesco-vegan (I eat from the vegetable and mineral world, with only occasional incursion in the ocean bounty) and my sweetheart is omnivore, thus this guide will carry comments on the vegan-friendly atmosphere of a place. I will give the address and, if known, the phone number of the place. But this is not a tourist guide, rather, a guide of taste and atmosphere. Thus practicalities about the place will be kept to a minimum. I also attach a dollar sign to each place ($=reasonable, $$=expensive, $$$= very expensive), but this is only an indication. Enjoy and buon appetito!