Osteria Teatro Strabacco

MEMORIES: Unfortunatly for us all, this place does not exist anymore! When it comes to restaurants in Ancona, Osteria Teatro Strabacco was our favorite.  A restaurant that offered typical Italian food in the middle of the city center, but hidden enough so that it’s not crowded and is frequented only by those that knew of its existence (now you know, but you can’t go), this cozy nook had drawn in names from all over the globe.

StrabaccoAt Strabacco, food hospitality was treated like the theater- every evening, and every meal, was a different scene with different props, backdrops, actors, colors, tastes, smells, and audiences.  With its three levels and solely wooden furnishings, even the building itself could be likened to a stage.  Add the mass of colorful objects, old photographs, candles, old-fashioned lamps, and plastic figures, and you truly feel like you’re walking back in time (yet somehow eccentrically modern) through a fairytale.  And this was all before food even came into consideration.

The quality of dishes leaving the kitchen was always superb, and the selection of wines was truly remarkable (1,200 of them to pick from!).  If asked, the oste Danilo Tornifoglia (known as Kiki to friends and native Ancona-ians) would have taken you downstairs, where you would find an old piano and a wine cellar that was tough to beat when it comes to showcasing the wines of Strabacco3Marche.  Both cuisine and wine inventory focus mainly on traditional productions from the region, but there were also rotating specials and unusual twists.  Pasta with a minty cream sauce?  Bruschetta al lardo?  Yes, please, we’ll try it all.

And, is worth adding that their tiramisu was the best that we’ve ever had- and, while traveling the world, we have made an effort to try our favorite dessert every time that the opportunity presented itself.

Whether you are an artist or a professional, need a nice date spot, a casual dinner, or a wine break, Strabacco would have impressed you for sure.  Even if you are just passing through the streets, alone and without a destination in mind, come set food inside.  Much like a “chef’s table”, there was the special tavolo quattro; one of the large communal tables that was filled with just as many personal stories, laughs, and new friendships as with memories of people (both famous and anonymous) that have sat at its benches and discovered Danilo’s charm.

Osteria Strabacco
Via Oberdan,2
Tel:  071 56748

Giulia Mare

One of the restaurants lining Via del Golfo, Giulia Mare was chosen as our lunch stop due to its snazzy design and name (after all, anything with Italian Julia‘s in it can’t be too bad).  Good choice, overall.

Giulia Mare is technically on the beach strand, but on the “city” side of the road.  Thus, you can still watch the herds of bathing suit-clad people stroll by and the line of the sea in the distance, but you are separated from the sand (or, pebbles) by the main street along the Numana beach.  The perpetual roar of passing motors would by my only real criticism of this abode; especially in the outside patio, it’s difficult to hold a conversation with a constant stream of scooters whizzing past on the other side of the low hedge.  Once moving inside though, the noise subsided and I enjoyed the experience.  Walls made up of huge windows; kind of like an aquarium, almost.

The cuisine is simple: seafood.  Especially for popular seaside towns, portions were big and prices not expensive.  After an antipasto misto di pesce and a shared pasta dish, we were both pretty full.  Service was swift and professional, and she answered my indecision with a list of tasty suggestions (and a lot of time for deciding).

Giulia Mare 1The main draw of the place, at least for me, is its design.  Neo-architecture, simplicity, minimalism, glass and the color green.  A nice change of environment from the old, sepia stone houses that host most things in Italy .

Giulia Mare 2Nice atmosphere, clean place, good-sized portions, and fresh food.  If you’re looking for a meal on the summertime Numana strand (near the port, in transition between Numana and Marcelli) this place gets out vote.  Simple, but with taste (both for the eyes and the mouth).

Giulia Mare
Via del Golfo 5
Numana
tel: 071 7360192