Go Get Carbonara at La Gattabuia
Where to get the best carbonara in Rome…
Word on the street is that La Gattabuia (Via del Porto, 1) has one of the best carbonaras in the city of Rome. The restaurant itself is well aware of this reputation, and they wear it with pride. (Well, to be more specific, they claim to have “la carbonara perfetta,” a boast which needs no translation.)
La Gattabuia is a relatively new spot, especially in a city where many ristoranti can trace their roots back several hundred years: a family by the name of the Taitos founded this restaurant in 2003. Despite the restaurant’s comparative youth, the building itself has seen many different iterations of restaurants fill the space, and la Gattabuia’s interior has actually been featured in several classic Roman films over the years, including Mamma Roma, directed by the famosissimo Pier Paolo Pasolini.
Here’s everything you need to know about the dish of carbonara before you try it. In the classic Roman recipe, carbonara sauce should only have four ingredients: black pepper, egg yolks, Pecorino cheese, and guanciale, that bacon-esque meat that gives the pasta its kick. Guanciale is actually made from the cheeks of a pig — one urban legend tells that poor laborers in meat packing facilities invented this dish, inspired by a need to use all the refuse scraps that weren’t good enough to sell. You’ll note that “cream” is not one of the ingredients, despite the creamy taste of the dish; if you ever see an Italian restaurant offering carbonara made with cream, run, because you’re not in an authentic restaurant.
To make the dish, you start by cooking the guanciale in its own fat with a bit of pepper. This is a supremely fatty cut of pork, and it truly doesn’t need anything to grease the pan. Then you add cooked pasta to the pan, let the pasta get coated in grease, and then — this is important — take the pan off the heat. Only then can you add the egg yolks and the grated Pecorino. Exposing the egg yolks directly to heat will cook them, which would mess up the custardy texture that you get when you mix all these ingredients together.
I’ll be honest with you: the Romans I’ve spoken to are not lying about la Gattabuia’s carbonara. It is pretty damn perfect. The noodle they’ve picked to feature at la Gattabuia is unorthodox; you’ll more often find carbonara sauce served on spaghetti or some other long, thin noodle. The choice to use rigatoni instead acts to highlight each morsel, making every single bite noteworthy. La Gattabuia also chooses to showcase their guanciale with pride: instead of cutting it down into small cubes, la Gattabuia’s guanciale is large and flat, much like bacon. The flavors in this carbonara were exactly on point: it’s impossibly creamy, with a hint of sourness coming from the Pecorino, and the flavor of the black peppercorns is really given a chance to shine.
After my meal at la Gattabuia, I immediately started daydreaming about this carbonara. I actually had to visit the restaurant again before I left Rome. There are so many restaurants in Rome serving carbonara —it’s literally harder to find a restaurant that doesn’t serve carbonara — but this particular version sticks with you. Don’t just take my word for it; go to la Gattabuia yourself to taste this classic dish, and see if you agree that this is la carbonara perfetta.
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