Pane e Tulipani

Being in a new town can be a little intimidating… especially a foreign one. We were staying at the Hilton and it’s in the business district so it’s not close to the tourist area, which is a blessing. The area has some really good restaurants Pane e Tulipani being one of them. We had several options, but we liked the menu of this one. We walked in but the whole crew was eating dinner and even though they said to sit down, we said we’d come back at 7 when they opened.
We were the first ones in. Nice atmosphere, though our waiter was a little reserved at first, he opened up as the evening progressed. We ordered a Chianti (what else) since it was going to be our first Italian meal in Italy. They brought out bread and some flat bread drizzled with delicious olive oil. We started with a salumi board which came with chopped arrugula, shaved parmesea, and corn… very good!
The partner ordered the lasagne bolognese and I ordered the penne al pesto. The sauce on the lasagne was really good. My was okay. It had a pesto cream sauce which is something I can get in the U.S. We ordered a second bottle of wine, and when we were done with our meal, another waiter brought us some peanuts, «To help finish your wine.» Well, we needed some dessert to do that.
I ordered the lemon torte and the partner ordered these dark chocolate éclair like pastries which were really good! Mine was okay… not as tart as I thought it was going to be. He then brought us out some lemoncello which was nice. Even though my meal wasn’t so impressive, we did come back the night before we left.
We sat out on the patio this time. We shared the lasagne bolognese as a starter, and they kitchen split it in half. I ordered the sirloin steak and rosemary potatoes. The partner ordered the veal and steamed vegetables. Both winners! We skipped dessert because we found this great gelatoteria. Again, our funny waiter brought us out to large shots of lemoncello, «Because the time was so long.» The patio was packed and he was the only one working.
This was a great place to eat! Molto buona!!!

We came out of a business preparation meeting, wishing nothing but a nice pizza before heading back to the hotel…
And then we found Pane e Tulipani. Still open, warm welcome, nice deco: it smelt like success !
And it was. One of our waiters was probably an actor escaped from Cinecittà, very theatrical, but great food adviser, and amazing language skills (apparently gotten from dating a NY girl).
We had one of the best red wines I’ve ever had (a Nero d’Avola), as well as a perfectly cured ham (culatella), blending nicely with the Mozzarella di buffala.
The pizza capricciosa was squisita, with a hint of spice, while the tagliatelle ai porcini was tasty and not too rich.
The tagliatta di manzo perhaps lacked a little flavour, perhaps some marinade, or less cooking time would have done.
But it was overall an excellent night out.
Mamma mia, what a dinner !!!