REVISED. It's getting harder and harder to eat anything but pizza on a Sunday evening. Here are a few ideas from the Gambero Rosso guide. The ones I've tried and liked have an asterisk. In addition, there are a number of hotel restaurants and pizzerias as well as a few wine bars and ethnics.

*Dal Bolognese (classic, upmarket, haven't been in years)
Al Bric (Campo de' Fiori) (never been)
*La Campana (I find it tired but often irreplaceable)
Capricci Siciliani (OK in a pinch)
*Cavour 313
*Al Ceppo (upmarket, in Parioli, great food)
*Cul de Sac (wine bar, much love, much uncomfortable)
Il Focolare (Monteverde Vecchio; it's fine, just not fantastic)
Giggetto al Portico (the Ghetto classic)
*Giuda Ballerino! (Tuscolo; very good creative restaurant)
'Gusto (hate it, but it's the 800-pound gorilla of off-hours eating)
Le Jardin du Russie (never been)
Mamma Angelina (Quartiere Africano) (never been)
*Montevecchio (adorable, near via dei Coronari)
*Al Presidente (Trevi, mainly fish, lovely ambience)
*Tram Tram (San Lorenzo, chaotic but yummy)
*Uno e Bino (San Lorenzo, very good creative casual, emphasizes wine)
*Vecchia Roma (P. Campitelli, beautiful, food is uneven)
*Vinarium (similar, very good)
*Vino Garage (wine bar, no hot food)

Maine poet Duff Plunkett has given me permission to publish some of his work here. Please don't reproduce it without asking first.

Love Chowder

Let us praise one fine chowder
Thick with fish in the drink of a broad bowl
We couldn't think praise any louder
Big spoons clink bottom catching it all

Thick with praise sung by all in the bar
It must take days to stir and to taste
She grills the fish first swum from so far
Amid such thirst not a drop is to waste

One day the right recipe wowed her
Stirred the appetite all down the coast
No ordinary soup just milky love chowder
Sing if you must thick enough to boast

—Duff Plunkett

Il Sanpietrino still has the same look and style, perfect for when you want something spiffier than a trattoria without going fancy-schmancy. What is new is the menu: less creative, more traditional cucina romana, with lower prices. In the Di Mauro family, cucina romana means Nonna is calling the shots, and Nonna is Paola Di Mauro, legend in her time as winemaker (Colle Picchioni) and home cook at whose feet have sat generations of chefs and aspiring chefs.

Colline Emiliane, on via degli Avignonesi, is still wonderful but has changed its weekly closing from Friday to Sunday evening and all day Monday.

Enoteca Ferrara. No longer recommended. On our last visit we found it outrageously priced for very uneven quality and some dubious conceptions. An artichoke filled with coratella was so hard it was practically inedible, and the involtini di pesce spada were all filling, no fish. Who needs it? Better to go to Checco down the street. The tiny wine bar (no longer in Via del Moro but right on Piazza Trilussa) is a quiet place for a glass of wine, with just some cubes of focaccia on the bar. I had to ask for my receipt—very uncool.

Trattoria Monti is now closed on Sunday evening and Monday.

Checco er Carrettiere, in Trastevere, is now open daily. It also has a pastry shop/bar next door. Don't miss the carciofi alla romana (in season, of course). The supplì are outstanding, made with carnaroli rice and the sauce from the involtini, ossobuco, and coda alla vaccinara.

My favorite trattorias in Rome

These are some of the casual eateries where Franco and I go or take visitors. They're all in Trattorias of Rome, Florence, and Venice.

Armando al Pantheon
Da Bucatino (Testaccio)
La Campana (via della Scrofa)
Entoteca Cavour 313 (via Cavour)
Da Cesare (Prati)
Checco er Carettiere (casual, but expensive) (Trastevere)
Le Colline Emiliane (Piazza Barberini)
Filettaro Santa Barbara (Via dei Giubbonari)
Frontoni (Trastevere)
Pizzeria Leonina (via Cavour)
Trattoria Monti (S. Maria Maggiore)
Hostaria Nerone (Colosseum)
La Piazzetta (via Cavour)
Taverna dei Quaranta (Colosseum)
Vecchia Locanda (Largo Argentina)
Volpetti Più (Testaccio)

My favorite restaurants in Rome

These are the more upscale places we love to go. TRFV means they're in Trattorias of Rome, Florence, and Venice. NYT means I wrote about them in a Choice Tables piece in the New York Times travel section.

Antico Arco
La Pergola (NYT)
Agata e Romeo (TRFV, NYT)
Checchino dal 1887 (TRFV, NYT)
Il Convivio (NYT)
Ristorante Paris (TRFV, NYT)
Il Sanpietrino (TRFV, NYT)
Al Presidente (NYT)
L'Altro Mastai
Giuda Ballerino!