Photograph by Robert Scheer
Massimo and Margherita Romani offer traditional meals from Northern and Central Italy.
By LESTER CHANG
Imagine visiting Rome and catching a glimpse of that city's culture, lifestyle and cuisine.
That is the experience owners Margherita and Massimo Romani hope their patrons will find on a visit to their restaurant, Margherita di Roma, located in the Oaks Shopping Center.
Dishes at Margherita di Roma are prepared "the classical Italian way," Margherita said.
"In Italy, if you want fish, you taste the fish. If you want the meat, you eat the meat. We cook it that way," Margherita said. "In America, it seems people don't want to taste the flavor of the fish or the meat. They get a lot of spices, and that is what they eat."
Massimo lived in Rome for 50 years and successfully operated a restaurant for two decades. In 1982, the couple visited Santa Clara Valley and fell in love the place. That was when they seriously considered relocating here.
Despite warnings from relatives that they might fail as restaurant owners in California because they didn't know enough about the industry here, they took the plunge and moved.
The Romanis opened a 63-seat restaurant in Saratoga in 1988, but closed it to open the Cupertino restaurant in 1993. The family-owned restaurant seats 150.
The restaurant won the "Best Desserts" award at the Cupertino Art and Wine Festival's Taste of Cupertino in 1996. It also won the "King of Pasta" award at the 1995 festival.
To help guide restaurant patrons, Massimo, the head chef, explains what dishes are, how they are cooked and how one complements another.
Most of the 100 or so items on the menu have origins in Northern and Central Italy. Northern Italian cooks are known for using a lot of cream in dishes, while Central Italian cooks use lots of cream and tomatoes.
Massimo has mastered both types of cooking during 28 years as a chef.
Some of his most popular dishes are tortellini Margherita, which uses cream, cheese, mushrooms, ground sausage and pasta, made from a special family recipe; cioppino livornese, a combination of seasoned fish, tomato and herb sauce; and vitella con asparagi (veal rolled with Mozzarella cheese and asparagus).
Dishes range from $4.50 to $16.
The restaurant also offers Barolo wine, among the finest wine made in Italy, Massimo said.
The dining experience is enhanced by the decor: flowers, linen tablecloths, framed drawings of Rome, including the Coliseum, a 300-year-old tapestry depicting inventor Leonardo da Vinci, and an espresso bar.
Music from the 1940s and 1950s are piped in, and live piano music is occasionally offered on Fridays.
Lisa Forysthe, a sales manager in Los Gatos, and Ron Worman, a business associate, said they eat at Margherita di Roma whenever they want "the best Italian food."
"I have traveled in Italy. What you look for in a true fine-dining experience is to have the ambience and the cuisine," Worman said. "That is what you get here."
Margherita di Roma, 21275 Stevens Creek Blvd., Cupertino. Open for lunch from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., and dinner from 4 to 10 p.m. Sunday brunch is from 10 to 2 p.m.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, October 2, 1996.
©1996 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.