Caponata at La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali

I am on a mission: Find Rome’s best caponata and spread the word. In order for you to understand this long held passion, a guess and explanation of what caponata actually is. In essence caponata is a Sicilian sweet and sour eggplant relish or salad and everyone who makes it has their own recipe. When I make it I like to make the dichotomy between the sweet and savory aspects of the dish very pronounced. I use apple cider vinegar and make it with walnuts instead of pinenuts. Some people add green peppers, others raisons. Because of this, caponata is not easy to define. And because of this, I love to order it every opportunity that I have.
Here are my top four in Rome:
1. Roscioli- Via dei Giubbonari, 21
Their caponata brings this dish to new heights. Along with their excellent service, their caponata is close to divine. The eggplant is well cooked, it is never mushy. They don’t use a tomato paste and it is not overly greasy. On top of that they use walnuts and dried figs and I swear I detected some cacao. Heavenly. It doesn’t run cheap. If I recall correctly, the last time I went there for lunch and ordered caponata it was about €12, but that also included a glass of spumante, a wonderful assortment of breads, they also own one of Rome’s best forni, finished with a chocolate at the end of the meal. Roscioli has an excellent wine by the glass menu. I enjoyed this with a Cesanese del Piglio.
2. La Taverna dei Fori Imperiali- Via della Madonna dei Monti, 9
Our own Sienna designed their business card and logo of a black cat under an arch. They have a few of Sienna’s paintings as well. When meeting friends here, I make sure to order the caponata, it is wonderful, has a great consistency, it is not mushy, it has the perfect balance of sweet and sour.
3. Vino al Vino-Via dei Serpenti, 19
Vino al Vino is my favorite wine bar in the neighborhood of Monti. In fact, in our Culinary Delights of Monti walk we end our journey together for a mini wine tasting and to sample the glorious caponata of Vino al Vino. It’s made them famous. Theirs is much more traditional Sicilian style. It is more reddish, and slightly more on the savory side than sweet. Theirs has a fair amount of oil, so make sure to sop up every last morsel with a basket of local bread.
4. Italy Hotline’s own chef Francesca. Whenever I know that Francesca is catering an event I am attending, my mouth begins to salivate. I won’t give away any details, but suffice to say that if you learn to make Francesca’s caponata in a cooking class you won’t be sorry. You’ll have a wonderful dish to add to your own repertoire of dishes. It’s the perfect pot luck dish because it is usually served cold. You can make it a day in advance and it just gets better. She makes hers as little caponata crostini. Brilliant.