Da Cesare al Casaletto

About Da Cesare al Casaletto

Leonardo Vignoli cooked in Michelin-starred kitchens in France, then came home and pointed that training at the Roman canon. In 2009 he and Maria Pia Cicconi took over a plain trattoria at the end of the number 8 tram line in the Monteverde district of Rome, and turned it into the table Roman cooks themselves cite. The tell is in the sourcing: guanciale chosen specifically for the gricia and carbonara, pecorino from the Roman hills, offal handled like it matters. It is a fixture on Gambero Rosso's list of Italy's best trattorias.

This is the gold standard of value-driven Roman cooking. For more of the city's classic tables, compare the carbonara at Da Enzo al 29, the offal and Roman plates at Flavio al Velavevodetto and the cacio e pepe at Armando al Pantheon. For an easy meal for two, see our first-date dining guide.

The Kitchen

The dish that made the reputation is easy to describe and hard to execute: gnocchi fried until the outside crackles, dropped onto a pool of pepper-flecked pecorino so the crust meets the sauce a beat before it can soften. Around it sit polpette di bollito, croquettes of boiled meat in a bright basil sauce, and pillowy gnocchi sauced with the deep sugo left from braising oxtail or beef involtini. Then the Roman bedrock: bucatini with an opulent oxtail ragù, a definitive tripe stew, carbonara and amatriciana, and a fritto of light, airy fritters. The wine list is short, smart and fairly priced, and a full meal lands around thirty to forty-five euros, which for cooking this precise is the whole argument for the tram ride out.

The Room

The room itself is plain - a simple, slightly old-fashioned neighbourhood trattoria with a large covered terrace that fills with Roman families, food obsessives and the odd visitor who has done their reading. It is not a place you come to for decor or a view; the draw is entirely the plate and the price. The location is Via del Casaletto in Monteverde Nuovo, a residential quarter beyond Trastevere reached by the number 8 tram to its terminus, which keeps the crowd local. Service is brisk and friendly, the terrace is the seat to ask for in good weather, and the kitchen closes on Wednesdays, so booking ahead - especially for a weekend lunch on the terrace - is the smart move.