Il Conto, Per Favore

There's something magical about dining out in Italy. Whatever makes this magic, I cannot say. It's more than the food itself, or the whiffs of garlic and tomato, or the beautiful and more fashionable people, or even the beautiful and not-so-beautiful and cluttered and dark and tacky and elegant restaurants themselves. Oh, and it's more than the service, though once you've come to know Italian waiters their American counterparts come off as doting grandmothers or sycophantic kid brothers. Or worse: mosquitos.

John Henderson of the Denver Post writes of the difference between restaurant culture there and here:

In Europe, they get it. Eating out in the United States, however, it's often like dining during a locust plague. Waiters and waitresses constantly buzz around as if they're paid by the word and not the hour. I've been harassed less in Tunisian bazaars.

I once dated a woman whose daughter worked in one of those awful chains you can find in every suburb in America. She said management told her by the time the customer walks in and walks out she should make 23 contacts. That's not service. That's one refilled Coke away from a stalking charge.

Meanwhile, in every restaurant in Rome I had exactly six contacts. That's it. One time I sat outside with friends at Trattoria al Forno in the old Boheniam neighborhood of Trastevere until 12:30 a.m. While we talked the beautiful Roman night away, the waiter brought us a bottle of complimentary limoncello and cookies.

We were the last table occupied and the wait staff sat resting a few tables away. I asked our waiter if they were waiting for us to leave.

"No! No!" he said. "Non c'e' problema."

When we left at 1 a.m., they picked up our money, our dishes, packed up the chairs and went home.

On our last trip, we dined at Trattoria al Forno, by the way. It was late, and too cold to sit outside, but the food (if not the ambiance) was transcendant. And the service? Totally professional. Subtle. Perfect.

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And, while I'm on the topic of dining in Italy, I have a recommendation for a great meal in Bologna. If you'd appreciate a delicious, authentic Bolognese supper without forking over what amounts to a down payment on a house back home, walk three blocks from Piazza Maggiore to Trattoria Ristorante Belfiore. It's cozy. It's family-run. And it epitomizes the best of Bologna's cuisine. Squisito!