Roman Restaurants: Ala Toscana

Ala Toscano
Via Germanico, 58
00192 Roma (RM), Italy
+39 06 97615872



A Tuscan centered restaurant, this eatery focuses on good meat and lots of it. While walking to the bathroom immediately upon being seated, I found myself in a veritable gallery of cut, aged, and hanging dead animals. It made my heart pitter-pat with anticipation. The Europeans are much more realistic about the consumption of meat then we are in the Americas, are okay with window tableaus of hanging and flailed rabbits and lambs, do not become distressed when confronted with hocks or other unpleasant details. I like it.


A simple starter of prosciutto (thicker cut then what I'm used to, but good) and some figs. The figs are notable in that they are golden and very large, different from what I've had before. And expensive. Everything in Rome is goddamn expensive.


A prehistoric-type veal chop. Veal is cheaper then beef in Italy, which always amazes Americans. This was delicious, tender, and slightly primal. My mom grew more possessive of it then she usually does.


My dad ordered a simple steak. Steaks in Italy are usually thinner, rarer, and more flavorful then what we eat in the USA. This was delicious down to the beef-fat. Good Italian restaurants can truly do justice to a side of cow.


I ordered beef with porcini mushrooms, a sort of Tuscan stir-fry with rosemary, fresh and meaty porcinis, and cuts of thin steak. I really enjoyed this - rich as hell, would have been delicious on some sort of chewy bread as a sandwich. Fresh porcinis are a delightful thing in Italy, vastly better then the reconstituted ones.


As a side dish I had some very nice leaves of broccoli rabe, or at least that's what they told me. Whatever it was, it was a slightly bitter leafy green, one of my favorite things when cooked in a little olive oil and garlic. Could eat this all day.