Al Peperoncino
Near Basilica San Paolo to the south of Rome, Al Peperoncino is a pretty safe bet for steak or pizza.
While they do offer the usual pasta dishes (including daily specials), the major draws at Al Peperoncino are the pizzas and the meat. The pizzas are cooked in a forno a legna—the wood-burning oven without which a pizzeria just isn’t a pizzeria. As for the meat, the straccetti and the steaks are very good, and their special “Peperoncino” steak is remarkable: big, juicy, and still sizzling so hard that it fills the room with smoke when it arrives. The tagliata al rosmarino is also good.
For antipasto, they do fine scamorzine (scarmoza cheese baked under a slice of proscuitto or speck), and for dessert, the Crema Catalana is good. (In the summer, there’s also fresh fruit.)
The clientele at Al Peperoncino is mixed and informal. Although it’s a large venue, with a sizeable outdoor seating area, Al Peperonicino always seems to be full; at peak times, they even put a row of chairs on the pavement for people waiting their turn.