Brusco lo Strabuono: Italy comes together on a bruschetta

Brusco lo Strabuono is a colorful and welcoming new eatery that has opened just a stone’s throw from Rome’s Piazza Triluzza and unites great, traditional Italian recipes with bruschetta.

It is the brainchild of three enterprising young people with a passion for fine food– Valeria Bortolan, architect; Stefano Bigoni, engineer; and Alessandro Bursi, chef  - who were convinced that tasty bruschetta variations could be a winning Italian fast food. The ingredients are listed and explained in Bruschetta City, a series of on comic-strip posters that line the wall. The location is just the first in a larger and more ambitious project, as Valeria and Stefano explained: “Brusco lo Strabuono is just the first of what we hope will evolve into a chain of ‘bruschetterias’. This because we have developed a concept and format that is easy to replicate elsewhere”.

Brusco offers small portions of great Italian foods served on a slice of good bread creating an authentic Goument Bruschetta, a snack for any time of day to consume with a cocktail on site or walking though the picturesque Trastevere neighborhood in practical and colorful containers. Alessandro uses only fresh ingredients in his recipes that he has selected and reinterpreted from the vast tradition of Italian cuisine. We recently sat down with all three partners to exchange ideas and opinions on the tasty combinations.

There are over 20 types of bruschetta on the menu, both salty and sweet, some available in both a ‘Buona’ (Good) or a ‘Strabuona’ (Super-good) version, the latter with an added ingredient to exalt the flavor even more. Everything is prepared at the moment to ensure freshness and fragrance. The homemade bread is of the highest quality and from a trusted bakery while the slices are of a perfect size to be easily eaten while walking. They are toasted to remain crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside while the ingredients are selected according to the season.

The selection of the various bruschettas is vast and enticing and include Polpetta (Meatball), which is like your grandmother would make; Cacciatora, with chicken; Brutale, with hot ‘nduja salami spread, peppers and provola cheese; and original creations like Strabuona, with mascarpone, bacon and pan-fried potatoes. Fuori Norma (Off the Charts) has a double helping of whipped cream rather than salted ricotta cheese and is one of the vegetarian offerings along with Cacio e Pepe (Cheese and Pepper), Parmigiana and Sciccheria (Chic). Ratatouille is also excellent and is perfect as it is even if it is vegan. In order to meet customer needs, there is also a menu for children made using smaller slices of toasted bread. It is important to leave some room for the sweet bruschetta desserts: with Nutella or Crema con pinoli (custard and pine nuts).

It being impossible to try them all, common sense forced us to make choices and so we bit into the bruschetta Carbonara (the name says it all); Mr. Pink, with zucchini, burrata cheese and ‘mortazza’ (mortadella); and Stoccata, with the sauce of the Roman-style cod soaking perfectly into the toasted bread. I could not resist the Sciccheria, with its confit tomatoes, and Bismark, with sausage and fried eggs which has always been a favorite for me. And I must confess that I had room even for the delicious ‘sweet’ bruschettas which were a delight.

Should you have no desire to leave your home, Brusco offers home delivery through the Deliveroo service. However, I think you should try the bruschetta in the colorful locale in order to also enjoy the enthusiasm of these young people which makes the food, if possible, even more ‘Strabuono’.