Deciding where to eat in Italy can be unnecessarily stressful. We want to eat all the best food, and a bad meal is a meal wasted. Unlike the majority of restaurants in the US, you can’t always just go out to dinner. When you have an idea of where to go, you still have many considerations before you actually go. You have to check the menu to see if they have anything you eat, often translating it to English first. Many times we’ve wanted to go to a restaurant and then found out it mainly serves things like tripe and pate, both of which we don’t eat.
Once you know where to go, you need to see if a reservation is required. This is where it gets extra tricky. If they do, and you can make them online, easy peasy. But if they do, and you need to call, this is where it’s difficult. Our phones have eSIMS, and unless the restaurant uses WhatsApp, we can’t call them. And when we can call, we need to speak in Italian on the phone. It’s a lot easier to understand in person versus on the phone.
Once we have a reservation, we need to check the dress code. Can I wear jeans? Can The Husband wear shorts? Unless it’s a touristy restaurant, you usually can’t stroll in wearing leggings and gym shorts.
All that to say, it’s a lot easier if we focus on what we really want to try, such as the best of pizza lists. Dry Milano is an award-winning pizzeria and cocktail bar, and was at the top of The Husband’s list. It’s the 9th best pizzeria in Italy, 18th in the world.
Reservations are required and thankfully can be made online. We made a reservation for 7 pm, right when they opened, because that was all that was available. We walked over from our Airbnb and arrived a few minutes before they opened. We could see them having a staff meeting, which lasted about 15 minutes past our reservation time. When they were done, we were seated in the back of the restaurant.
We shared a bottle of Italian red, instead of having cocktails, and it was delicious. I’m really going to miss all of the delicious wines when we leave Italy.
For pizza, The Husband had the margherita and it was margherita perfection. Fluffy dough, delicious sauce, perfect surface ratio of cheese, and fresh basil. I had the pomodoro pizza. After the wine, I’ll miss the tomatoes second most. The tomatoes here are so delicious. The different varieties are full of flavor and so fresh.
I mean, look at those tomatoes!
It was up there with my favorite Rome pizza, Nanny’s Darling at Seu Pizza Illuminati. I can’t get enough of pizzas covered in tomatoes here. And this pizza at Dry Milano is one of the best I’ve had.
We also had dessert, which is another thing I rarely did in the US but do almost every night here. The fresh ingredients, smaller portions, and lower cost overall make it easy to share a dessert after every meal. We shared essentially a deconstructed brownie sundae. It was a brownie with decadent chocolate on top, gelato, and pears. It was delightful.
When you’re in Milan, I highly recommend making a reservation at Dry Milano!
Family and friends is the top of my “miss in Italy list” but agree with you that the wine and fresh flavorful tomatoes is high on my list as well.