When in Rome, Eat at These Five Restaurants

Café TAD
Neighborhood: Piazza di Spagna
Foodie Tips: A must-stop for serious shoppers, the café attracts a sunglass set of full-time fashionistas and ladies who lunch.

Located on one of the trendiest shopping streets in Rome, Café TAD is found within a boutique department store that tames the clothing desires of Italy's hottest actresses and starlets. This small-scale department store is a regular stomping ground for A-List shoppers looking to score high-end fragrances, the odd designer furniture piece, a blowout by hair stylist Roberto D'Antonio or simply a quick bite at the utterly chic Café TAD.

A modest café with Italian kitchen prepares gourmet lunches and to-go bags for local office workers, Café TAD is a hotbed of fashion insiders and sassy retail workers that frequent it for 1 p.m. lunch. In between shopping for labels like Proenza Schuler, Balenciaga and Hussein Chalaya, a stiletto-sporting clientele indulges on delicate pastas, macrobiotic salads and seafood specialties cooked up from a one-room kitchen.

The International Wine Academy
Neighborhood: Spanish Steps
Foodie Tips: Membership is surprisingly affordable, around 20-Euro for a one-day pass that includes serious wine consultation.

Virtually every cobblestone of the Piazza di Spagna is filled with camera-drawn tourists looking for that one perfect shot of the Spanish Steps. At the top of the steps and just around the corner, removed from the flash bulbs and gelato shops, is where you'll find the exclusive International Wine Academy, which is owned and operated by the owner of Rome's famed Hassler Hotel.

It's one of Rome's best-kept secrets. A combination of luxury four-room boutique hotel, wine school and gourmand eatery attracting devoted wine lovers looking for something as simple as an afternoon of tasting or as comprehensive as a six-lesson history course in regional Italian wines. Housed in a 16th-century palazzo, the historic location was the site of the legendary feasts of Lucullus, hedonist consul of Rome and also Italy's first true foodie.

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