200 posts, The Color Run and a Restaurant Review Rome: Pizzeria Luzzi

Well, it's been a couple of busy days.  Lots of work and lots of play and of course lots of food. But no time for writing until now.  200 blog posts!  Holy cow, I can't believe it.  I didn't think I'd be able to keep it up. It's been years that I've had this blog but only in the last year and a half have I actually been consistent.  And with consistency I've been getting more hits, and more people reading through, glancing through my posts.  Thanks so much for anyone who's been reading for a while and to anyone who's just taken a look!

Cherry granita

And now on to my havoc weekend.  Yesterday I ran my 2nd Color Run, this time right outside Rome in Ostia on the sea.  It was an amazing day with gorgeous sun and heat.  And for those of you who have never run a Color Run DO IT.  I don't love running all the time, but it's a great way to stay fit and the color run is a great motivation to keep going.  It's a FUN 5k because at the kilometer marks you get painted. It's so much fun to have color thrown at you while you walk or run with friends. It was definitely a great day.  The one in Ostia is particularly fun because it's on the water and turned into a day long event with granita and piadini and
then dinner out at a wonderful restaurant.
We got to the course around 2pm to sign in and get our packs. Then we walked for a while and the others
got Piadina, which is a grilled sandwich typical of Northern Italy on a large tortilla and it's delicious. I didn't get one because I'd already had lunch. We sat on a beach at a place called Hakuna Matata and got amazing cherry granitas. Cherry ice, super refreshing while sitting overlooking the water.
Then around 6 it was time to line up and run. So much fun.

The before shot

So much color...

The After Shot

The party and throwing color!

I am still removing paint from my hair and skin! 5 kilometers of fun (even though I wish there had been a

water stop half way down the race). And then a party! Live DJ, more color throwing and outright hilarity.
We had a couple of beers, danced, and had a lot of fun.

And then when the music stopped, around 8:30, we headed back into Rome for some delicious dinner and some hilarious glances from passersby, because we did not shower and get cleaned up before heading over to the restaurant. Four of us were completely covered in paint splatters.  We went to

Sunset over the fantastic party

And that's how we took the subway to the restaurant

a restaurant right near the Coliseum called Pizzeria Luzzi. I've been there 3 or 4 times this year and it has some amazing pizza and food in general.
And the waiters were great last night. They thought we were hilarious and didn't send us away even though we were quite the spectacle.  They joked with us and got us a table outside pretty quickly even though the place was packed. It's always packed tto the brim so be prepared to wait for a bit, but it's absolutely worth the wait. I would suggest sitting outside because there's a lovely breeze and inside, especially during the summer, can get quite stifling with the brick oven burning away. It makes for lovely pizza, but the heat is quite intense. I always prefer sitting outside, even in winter.  They have  outdoor seating with lovely heaters.
Once you're seated the service is quite quick and attentive. They pay attention but don't rush you out. There were a couple of mis-communications. For example, the waiter said there was no meat in the Suppli (a lovely Roman style fried rice ball) but there was. It wasn't a problem for me, but my vegetarian friend wound up not eating it.  It was delicious, crisp on the outside with lovely rice cooked in Bolognese sauce (hence the meat) and mozzarella.
The other mis-communication was about spicy olive oil. One waiter said they had it, another said no. In the end, there was no spicy oil, but there was ground peperoncino, ground red pepper flakes. Minor for sure, but quite entertaining for us.
Three of us ordered beer and three ordered the house white wine.  The beers were great and really refreshing after all the running and walking we'd done and so was the house wine.  The house wine is always fantastic and cheap as well, which is amazing.

The mushroom pizza (tried on a previous visit)

Our food took a little while to arrive, but we were chatting and rehashing the day so we barely noticed.  The pasta dishes came first for the two who ordered pasta.  Their timing is not perfect.  Inevitably some dishes will come out before the rest, but we didn't mind at all.
I tried the fettucine al porcini and it was quite tasty. It's really for mushroom lovers and has that lovely, yet potent taste of porcini. The bolognese was great as well, rich and delicious.
Then our pizzas came.  On the table we had a margarita (classic, delicious mozzarella), a diavola (with spicy

salami), a prosciutto e funghi (ham and mushroom)

My beautiful capricciosa

and a capricciosa (artichoke, hard boiled egg, mushroom, and prosciutto crudo).  Mine was the capricciosa and it was fantastic.  I doused it with a little ground peperoncino but it didn't need it. I just wanted a little spice in my life.

The pizza diavola

The pizza crust was incredible, light and thin and not burnt, with just enough delicious cheese. I really love the combination of the ingredients.  It's definitely one of my favorite pizzas.  Luzzi's definitely does it was with really fresh ingredients.
Everyone loved their pizzas and pasta. We cleared our plates!
And the best part was that our bill was so low. The 6 of us payed 11 euros each and that was enough for tip as well.  Luzzi's has amazing prices and the food is simply spectacular.  I highly recommend it.