Sunday, March 15, 2009

Best of Bologna

Aperitivo Hour

A few weeks ago I was trying to find a new bar for Emily and me to have aperitivos at. When I typed "aperitivo" in Google the first thing that came up was "Ape Tour."

Figuring that I couldn't go wrong clicking on a link called "Ape Tour" I checked it out. What I found was the best ever Google Map directory of every single aperitivo bar in Bologna with reviews. So far, every week we've been trying a new bar, and this past Friday we found what just might possibly become our favorite hang out in Bologna. Enoteca Des Arts.


Emily met me there after work Friday night around 8. The scene was low key, only a few locals drinking some wine. We set up shop on some stools along the wall with a bottle of Sangiovese, and every now and then the bartender would come over with wooden slabs covered in cold cuts and cheeses. All the makings of a low key evening.

And then our night turned out to be anything but low key. Our friend Elizabeth, who's from So Cal and lives around the corner from us, showed up just in time for bottle #2. Meanwhile, a group of people showed up at the bar and sat next to us. Perplexed by the English they heard across the table, they start chatting us up and next thing you know we're chatting about California, food, the economy, soccer, traveling in Europe, learning Italian, learning English, accents from all over Italy... the list goes on and on. They left no topic of conversation untouched. And of course, the bartenders joined in with their round of opinions while they took care of their old friends, and their new friends - us.

Some highlights of the latter parts of the evening include:

- Informing our new buddies (who work for the local bus company that Em and I take regularly) that the buses are great, but their ticket system is wayyyyyy inefficient. And they were shocked that in NYC the MTA strikes once every 30 years, and not a minimum of 10 times a year like they do in Bologna.

- Trying to figure out if one of the funniest dudes ever just so happened to also be jockey, because he was 4'9 and made Michael Jackson sound like Isaac Hayes. (And he invited us to his birthday party next week).

- Free prosciutto, mortadella and cheese.

-Emily halfway into the evening leaving the table for one minute, to come back and find her seat stolen by a guy who had just walked into the bar, and immediately started talking to Elizabeth.

- More free prosciutto, mortadella and cheese.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Can you please post the link to the map of bars you refer to?
I typed in ape tour in google...but, couldn't find it :-(

I'm from Florida & travelling (4/23-27) for a long weekend to Bologna & think this might be very helpful...
BTW...Great Blog!

Thanks :-)

Em and GC said...

Hi Laura! Here is the link to Ape Tour http://apetour.wordpress.com/

Also, Hello Bologna http://www.hellobologna.it/ is another good site for restaurants!

Enjoy!

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