In my nearly five years writing this column, I’ve steadily worked my way through the expansive array of Italian dishes — most of them coated in red sauce.
In the interest of diversification, I’m turning to the lemon-butter sauce of piccata. It’s not my go-to, but this Northern Italian dish’s time has arrived.
Our two contestants are: CD Roma Restaurant in St. Pete and La Dolce Vita Trattoria on St. Pete Beach.
CD ROMA RESTAURANT
I was passingly surprised that I’d never eaten at this family-owned institution, which has been around since 1988. That’s probably because I’m east side and CD Roma is west side, just a few blocks south of Tyrone Square Mall.
The eatery was doing brisk business when we arrived at 6:30 Tuesday. The mid-sized dining room features muted colors, mostly different shades of brown, tables and booths, and has an open kitchen. Big screen TVs showed sports programming on mute. The music played so softly I couldn’t tell whether it was Dua Lipa or Tuvan throat singing — and I was okay with that. Bonnie and I chatted easily.
We ordered Chicken Piccata ($21) and a Pear-a-Dice Salad (as in “paradise” not “pair of dice,” $14). We chose Vegetable Minestrone soup to go with the entree.
Appearance
I was pleased to see angel hair squiggling out from under the chicken breast. It had been quite some time since I had the skinny spaghetti.
Taste and Texture
The chicken checked all the boxes: lightly breaded, thin but not too thin, tender and moist. The sauce was lemon-forward but not overbearingly so, probably because its subtle butyraceous quality muted the tart citrus.
The pasta could’ve been a bit more al dente, but it rolled nicely onto the fork and joined the chicken for many a satisfying bite.
I dug the capers, though more for texture.
The hefty salad contained a lot of good stuff — crisp pear slices, soft avocado, candied walnuts, little clumps of goat cheese — and it was coated in a punchy citrus vinaigrette.
But the spring mix consisted of greens that were large, leafy and stalky. It was hard to assemble a bite that was small enough to comfortably insert into my mouth. I was concerned about getting poked in the eye with a stalk.
LA DOLCE VITA TRATTORIA
The restaurant occupies a low-slung, let’s call it modest, building on the east side of Gulf Boulevard. The red velvet ropes out front have faded to a blend of white and pink.
At 6:30 Wednesday, we walked through an enclosed, empty patio, then into a space with two small(ish) dining rooms. White tablecloths matched the walls. A neon sign bathed the front room in a blue hue. We sat at four-top flanked by a banquette.
Our Italian server, Nico — a tall, handsome lad — waited on us with a kind of subdued flourish, in keeping with the restaurant’s fine-dining vibe. We ordered Chicken Scallopine ($27.90) — after assurances that it’s the same as piccata — with penne pasta. We added a Caprese salad ($17.90) to start. I asked Nico for a ginger ale. He replied, politely, that he didn’t know what ginger ale is, and that the restaurant did not have it.
Appearance
The room’s relative dimness and blue cast made cell-phone photography difficult. I noticed that the chicken in this piccata/scallopine was not coated.
Taste and Texture
In my experience, all caprese salads are essentially the same — most of them are good, occasionally one is great. It all comes down to the tomato. This version was solid, with tomatoes more crispy than juicy. That’s to be expected, though, seeing as it’s virtually impossible to find a good tomato in Florida.
I found the entree’s lemon-butter sauce to be more potent than that of CD Roma. I added sprinkles of parmesan cheese to tame some of the tartness. The chicken breast was thinner than the competition’s, and the lack of coating made its flavor (combined with the sauce) more bold and immediate. The penne had the al dente down pat.
And the Winner of the Gotta Lotta Piccata, Chicken Edition Is …
CD Roma.
I (slightly) preferred CD Roma’s more comfort-food take than La Dolce Vita’s bolder version. And CD Roma’s meal proved an exceptional value.
