Two nice italian restaurants in Salvador

Here I am, once again, visiting Salvador. And I love to enjoy every visit by rediscovering the many and numerous different flavors from my home town. But sometimes I get tired of the torrents of anthropology that comes with every dish in Bahia and long for a more basic meal. When that feeling assaults me, I often choose Italian cuisine – which tastes much more “basic” than anything flavored by dendê oil.

Recently, I have tried four Italian restaurants in Salvador. Two of them I will not even mention, but I must recommend two cool ones, both in Pituba, the non-touristic neighborhood where  I was raised and lived half of my life. The firt one, Di Lucca, is incredibly affordable and very cozy. The second, La Pasta Gialla, by Brazilian praised chef Sergio Arno, is a bit more expensive, but also very good.

Di Lucca
Rua Minas Gerais # 339, Pituba. Telephone (71) 4141-4341. Sundays and Mondays opens only for lunch (from 11: 45h to 15). The rest of the week, is open from 11: 45h to 15h and 18h ​​to 23h.

With only 20 seats, this restaurant is a remarkable champion in category "good, nice and cheap." The service is friendly and efficient and the food, which is what matters most, is excellent. The smart decor manages to recreate an Italian restaurant with very few elements (basically the use of color), resulting in a space clean and warm at the same time.

The menu, written down on a blackboard, is based mainly on the combination of pasta + meat. The dishes are meant to share, since every portion serves two people – but I dare say most of them would be enough for three.

We ordered steak to the parmigiana, one of the house’s hits, and tagliatelle with seafood. Both dishes where perfect. The pasta served at Di Lucca is always fresh, since its homemade.

The dishes are so generous that only my niece Carolina had appetite for dessert. With soft drinks, our wonderful meal cost $ 30 per person, a super bargain. I strongly recommend Di Lucca, but you must arrive early, to avoid the queue, especially at dinner time.

La Pasta Gialla

Rua São Paulo # 488, Pituba. Phone (71) 3011 to 6599. On Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays, opens only for lunch (from 12 to 15 hours. Sunday until 17h). Wednesdays and Thursdays from 12h to 15h and 19h to 23: 30h. Fridays and Saturdays, from 12h to 15h and 19h to midnight.

Open in 2009, this restaurant has a nice décor, impeccable service and all the dishes we ordered were great. We started with eggplant parmigiana and crispy polenta, both excellent.

Wue ordered tagliolinni al ragù, gnocchi, funghi porcini ravioli and mozzarella ravioli. For desert we chose panna cotta, flambéed banana with ice cream, tiramisu and crème caramel. A very nice meal that costed around R $ 70 per person— without wine.