Ristorante Diana, Bologna, Italy, tasted on March 21, 2004 — When you have a limited amount of time in a city you need to choose where you eat carefully. While appetite can be endless, time is precious as is space in your stomach. You'd think it would be obvious where to eat. Countless sources are all hawking their recommendations. But who to trust? In fact, to be blunt, the distinct lack of reliable sources is partly why this website was created. We strive to be that reliable source. But who do we go to? Lauren had a good notion in asking Armandino Batali, proprietor of the only real Italian sandwich shop in Seattle, his own salumeria, and father of celebrity chef Mario Batali where he likes to eat in Italy. His recommendation? Ristorante Diana in Bologna - apparently (according to Lauren) his favorite restaurant in all of Italy (and also preferred by son Mario). Always willing to give people the benefit of the doubt, we made our way to Diana for our first dinner in town.

Diana was a site to see, an old school restaurant filled with smoke licking the wood paneled walls. Fancily dressed waiters carved meat tableside. If the smoke wasn't so thick it might have been charming. We wound our way through the fog to the backroom where there was some modicum of a non-smoking section and ordered.

We started with the Bresaola Della Valtellina which had stunning color and rich flavor. Even better was the Prosciutto San Daniele. This ham was among the best I've ever had. Salty, yummy, and explosive in flavor. Great. More meat, this time in a spreadable form - Spuma di Mortadella con Crostini Caldi. It was like a baloney paste. Mild, interesting, and pink.

Next up was Risotto al Carciofi. The artichoke risotto was savory and nice. The Taglioline con Tartufo were ok. The truffles on buttered noodles were subtle, too subtle I think. But the Bavette al Profumo di Limone - lemon noodles with julienned ham was quite good. I didn't think I'd like lemon pasta, but in fact I loved it.

Truffles were sort of a theme as we ordered the Supplemento Tartufo and ended up with truffle on most of our dishes. In case anyone's confused, this is definitely not a bad thing. We had a combination of turkey, Ham, cheese, and truffle, as well as a Patate Gratinee Tartuffi (potato, cheese, and truffles). It's hard to really make dishes with these ingredients badly. Finally we had the scampi in shells. I thought it didn't have huge flavor, but Alex liked it.

Here's the thing about Diana. Everything was certainly good, but not special. Let me explain. It's like eating pizza, or caviar for some people. They're both foods people love. And they're both foods that even when not great, people who love them will still eat them. Pasta, truffles, cheese, ham. I really can't complain about any dish that contains any (or even all) of these ingredients. That said, other than the lemon pasta, it wasn't exactly a memorable meal, and ultimately that's what we're looking for.