At the end of our two week stay in Italy--Florence and Rome, we decided to spend our last couple of…read moredays in Lido di Ostia, as it is near the beach and convenient to the airport for our trip home. We chose to eat at Povero Pesce, which seemed to get good reviews online, and especially on Yelp. We found out, as we tracked toward the location, that Povero Pesce no longer exists in Lido di Ostia, but has been replaced by Il Pesce di Ostia. No matter, still a fish-based menu, which is what we were looking for on the beach after a couple of weeks of going completely off our diets!
We approached the restaurant and started questioning if it was inside the McDonalds next door, as we could see the M through the front patio window. Again, not to worry. This little place, a bit off the beaten path in Lido di Ostia, was a beautiful small sit-down restaurant of its own. Quaintly decorated of perhaps the Victorian era, the nice woman at the front of the house led us to a table. We were glad we got there at opening, as it the dining room was quite small, and by the time our meals were served, it was full. We like to find restaurants that haven't been "Americanized", and were rewarded here. They had an English menu, but nobody that we could find spoke English at all. Almost completely a fish menu, there was a daily special at each course. We had a bit of trouble understanding what these were because of the language barrier, but the server was very helpful, using her iPhone when necessary to show us the words :). This was one time that I felt self-conscious about not being able to speak their language a bit better (or at all), but they did not make us feel like we were imposing. We each ordered a starter, first course, and main, and each were very fresh and delectable. Mussels and calamari were prominent on the menu, and my husband and son loved every bite of the salads and pasta dishes containing these mollusks. I ordered sea bass for my main, and it was wonderful--moist, nicely roasted, with a lovely beurre blanc. The white wine was to my husband's liking, as well, and although the menu here was very small, they did seem to pay attention to providing fine local wine options.
As usual, based on our experience in small Roman restaurants, dessert and espresso are always graciously offered. We found a different style of dessert in Lido di Ostia. Cheesecake and Tirimasu are always an option, but not what you expect. Each came in what I would consider to be a large bowl full of a creamy custard. The cheesecake offered a swirl of either chocolate or berries in syrup, with the graham crust sort of a chunk at the bottom of the bowl, covered with the creme anglais-type cheesecake. The Tirimasu was similar, with the lady fingers offered at the bottom of the bowl, and not soaked as a part of making the dish so that it was more like a crunchy crust rather than the moist layered cake-like experience I was expecting. While delicious (who doesn't love coffee or cheese-cake flavored cream?), they are definitely a shareable, unless you are ready to consume what must be an outrageous number of saturated fat calories! We had these similar desserts served at both the restaurants we sampled in Lido di Ostia. I mean, who isn't ready for a splurge when you are on your Italian vacay?
