Dining Where the Romans Do : Trattorias serve up excellent fare for much less, plus offer camaraderie to boot

Rome is my second home. I have lived here, off and on, for 25 years, first in the late 1960s and early ‘70s with my husband and two small children, and now for months at a time each year.

It was in Rome that I learned to cook most things Italian and where I ferreted out the best of the affordable trattorias . . . the places where Romans eat their lunch each day and join their friends for evenings of great food and camaraderie. Though Rome boasts many exalted restaurants (in terms of both food and price) it is in the trattorias where one finds the best of the local fare.

Romans are demanding diners. They think nothing of sending back pasta that is not prepared to their liking. They insist on smelling fish before it is cooked. They are particular about their pizzas, which must be made in a wood-fired oven. And they have remained persnickety even though their dining habits have changed dramatically in recent years.

Ten years ago Romans ate like trenchermen. That is no longer necessarily true. Many now savor lighter meals when dining out and, like Americans, have forsworn multiple courses, opting instead for an appetizer and an entree.

The following restaurants, all in the middle of the city, are simple trattorias where two can dine on pasta and/or antipasto or on salad or vegetable and pasta with house wine for a mere $20 to $30, low by Roman standards, where it is easy to spend $100 for two at a top-line restaurant.

There are caveats, of course. Eat what is in season. It’s better, fresher and cheaper. Fish is expensive. Trattoria desserts are usually not worth the money (save it for gelato later) and choosing from the wine list, rather than the house wine, can drive up the check. Most places will not charge the usual $1.50 for bread if you say you don’t want it. Roman tap water is safe and free.

These cheerful little restaurants usually are not crowded at lunch, but reservations are recommended for dinner. Go after 8 p.m. to enjoy the scene and linger as long as you wish. Be prepared for smoke. Romans may eat less, but they seem to smoke as much as ever.

Location counts, especially when dining alfresco, and Osteria AR Galleto (known to Romans as Da Giovanni because the owner is named Giovanni) is on the Piazza Farnese, setting of the city’s most beautiful palace, Palazzo Farnese. That makes it a great choice in warm weather because there are tables outside against a backdrop of the Renaissance palace, with a cornice designed by Michelangelo. At lunchtime, chic young couples arrive on motor scooters that they park next to their tables. The bucatini al amatriciana (pasta in a tomato sauce with pancetta), one of the true tests of a good Roman restaurant, is top notch. Veal, served several ways, is pink and tender, and the abbacchio (lamb) is rich and flavorful. Pasta is about $7.50 and meat courses are about $10. A quartino of wine (two glasses) is about $4.

For dinner, Al 34 (the number referring to the street address) is a great choice. Close to Rome’s most chic shopping street, Via Condotti, Al 34 is packed in the evening with elegant signoras whose husbands park (illegally of course) their Mercedeses out front and young couples who spend a lot of time chatting on their cellular phones during the meal. The walls are deep red, the landscape paintings are easygoing, the tables close together. It is a place where reservations must be made a day in advance. The menu is seasonal, and the grilled fish is fresh and prepared carefully. Seafood pasta is a meal in itself. Avoid the house wine. Two can eat nicely for about $60.

La Campana is close to Rome’s famed Piazza Navona, which is graced by Bernini’s Fountain of the Four Rivers. It’s more fun at dinner than at lunch, when it tends to attract a group of rather boring business types. La Campana has some of the best genuinely Roman food in the city. The atmosphere is antiseptic (white walls and bright lights), but the food more than makes up for the dour decor. This is a restaurant where food is central and frills don’t matter. The spaghetti with clams is the best there is. The fried calamari is so light it seems to levitate, and the vignarola (a vegetable combination with fava beans) is exquisite. In the evening there is always a table or two of priests, also dashing gentlemen with elegant ladies, plus a few tourists. No cellular phones are in evidence. It is definitely a place for serious foodies. Dinner for two with house wine but no dessert costs about $60, if you stay away from grilled fish.

Popi Popi is a trattoria/pizzeria in the heart of Trastevere, one of the city’s oldest and now fashionable sections with lots of boutiques, antique shops and an English language bookshop. Popi Popi is an unassuming, bustling place where families, young Romans and a few in-the-know tourists go for dinner. You will see lots of gorgeous women in short leather skirts, and plenty of men chatting on their phones while twirling their pasta. The antipasto table includes zucchini blossoms stuffed with anchovies and mozzarella and bruschetta with tomato or bresaola (a dried, cured beef) topped with arugula. There are 15 kinds of pasta. Stick to the basics, amatriciana or penne arrabiatta. There are 20 pizzas on the list (the oven is open to the restaurant), and the grilled steak is thin, tender and more flavorful than the American variety. An assortment of antipasti costs about $7 and can be split. Pasta costs about the same. Pizza runs from $7 to $12, depending on the topping. The place really starts to warm up at about 9 p.m.

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La Pollarola is deservedly popular and reservations are a must. The antipasto table is famous: artichokes, mozzarella, peppers, frittata, anchovies, sardines, eggplant, stuffed mussels and greens in season are all set out and you can pack your own plate. The list of seven pastas includes crepes, cannelloni, fusilli with radicchio, and shrimp and penne alla vodka. The veal dishes are some of the best in old Rome. Pasta portions are enormous, so this is the place to perhaps skip a meat course. The same waiters have been here for years, and you can trust their suggestions. The Romans do. The crowd is mixed: tables of men who take dinner very seriously, and lots of families whose kids run around between courses. Two can do very well for $50.

Another of my favorites, Da Mario, packs Tuscan flavor. Their ribollita, a bread soup, is satisfying peasant fare. So is the pasta e fagioli and spaghetti Bolognese. The pappardelle with hare sauce is rich and sturdy, and the chicken is done to a turn. At lunch Da Mario gets a crowd of shoppers, and in the evening it is filled with the thin, elegant young things who hang out near the Spanish Steps. Dinner for two costs about $50, if you order with care.

Settimo al Arancio is boisterous in the evening and peaceful at lunch, with tables outside on all but rainy days. The pasta is first-class. In late winter, try the pasta with broccoli rapa. Anytime of year the pasta with clams, mussels, calamari and shrimp is light and fresh. Two can dine handsomely for $50.

Ristorante Virgilio is a good option for midday. You can cruise Rome’s best produce market right out front in the piazza and then eat lunch as the market vendors pack up their big, white umbrellas. It is one of the few trattorias that serves pizza at lunch. Toppings on the pizzas include spinach or prosciutto. The spaghetti with seafood (for $10) is a meal in itself and the other pastas, including a rich one made with porcini, cost about $8. Older Romans, clad in well-tailored blazers, order tripe after their antipasto, and young Romans come in to eat pizza (washed down with Coca-Cola) and then go over to Piazza Navona for coffee afterward. The service is extremely friendly and unrushed. Lunch for two costs about $40.

My final pick is Edy--a romantic spot for dinner right in the middle of the art gallery district. The walls are dark, the paintings modern and the crowd young. The food is light and imaginative. Bresaola is topped with arugula dressed with very good olive oil. The seafood salad would feed two as a first course, and the tagliatelle with eggplant and mushrooms is meltingly good. Pasta is about $10, vegetables are about $3 and the bresaola is about $10. Both the house red and white wines, each $9, are very drinkable. Dinner for two will run about $50.

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GUIDEBOOK: Trattoria Central

Where to eat in Rome: Al 34, 34 Via Mario Fiori; local telephone 679-5091.

Da Mario, Via della Vite 33; tel. 678-3818.

Edy, Vicolo del Babuino 4; tel. 3600-1738.

La Campana, 18 Vicolo della Campana; tel. 686-7820.

La Pollarola, Piazza Pollarola; tel. 688-01654.

Osteria AR Galleto, Vicolo Del Gallo 1; tel. 686-1714.

Popi Popi, Via delle Fratte di Trastevere 45; tel. 589-5167.

Ristorante Virgilio, Campo dei Fiori 10/1; tel. 688-02746.

Settimo al Arancio, Via dell’ Arancio 50; tel. 687-6119.

--M.S.S.