Restaurants in Genoa, Italy
I have a list of places that I want to visit in my lifetime. Topping that list right now is Italy. It doesn’t really matter where in Italy … just somewhere. Eventually I want to see Tuscany, Rome, Sicily and Naples, among other areas.
If you are planning a trip to northern Italy, the New York Times has some great restaurant suggestions in Genoa.
Genoa also has a population that cares deeply about food, in a way that is ordinarily reserved for towns and villages. The artichokes from nearby Albenga are practically worshiped; anchovies are considered daily fare (you may eat more of them in a day here than you do in a year at home); pine nuts, olives, local seafood and herbs (especially basil, of course) are all ubiquitous, and the continuing dedication to the old ways is evident on nearly every street, in the bakeries that make farinata (the chickpea flatbread akin to Nice’s socca), vegetable tortas and focaccia, in the vegetable markets the size of closets and in the shop that sells tripe and nothing but.
Here’s their list summarized:
- Trattoria Maria Vico Testadoro 14r, (39-010) 581 080
This isn’t a fancy place … They are only open for lunch and it’s frequented by local workmen who sit at the communal tables together. Nonetheless, Times reporter Mark Bittman says “it’s one of my favorite restaurants in the world.” That is mega-high praise from a food critic.
- Pintori Via San Bernardo , 68r (39-010) 275 7507
The food described from this restaurant, which is more formal than Trattoria Maria, is nothing short of WOW. This is a family-run Sardinian restaurant.
- Berlocca Via Macelli di Soziglia, 45r, (39-010) 247-4162
“Berlocca is a converted torta farinata, the local name for an old-fashioned takeout joint with the oven in the back. The restaurant makes farinata in the winter, when it’s not too hot to keep the oven on all day long, and bakes very good bread and focaccia year-round.”
- Osteria di Vico Palla Vico Palla, 11/13/15r, (39-010) 246-6575
Combinations that bring together pastas, pestos, fish and other ingrediants endear this menu. They are also credited with having better desserts than most other places in the city.
