Honoring Jason Collins, The Best Pizza in Rome, & Aaron Parnas is Next

From Jamie’s Desk:

By now, most of you have read that Jason Collins passed away this week at age 47 from Stage 4 Glioblastoma. For those of you who didn’t know Jason, he was the first openly gay active player in the NBA, and the first in any of the four major American professional sports leagues. It’s an amazing title, but he was so much more than that.

Before he moved on to pro-basketball, he was a star at Stanford, and even before that, at Harvard-Westlake. For the past decade, he served as a Global Ambassador for the NBA.

I was fortunate enough to get to know Jason. He was one of those rare people who, no matter where you ran into him, always had a smile on his face and knew how to light up a room.

Last November, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Glioblastoma and given just a short time to live. Through sheer will and perseverance, he stretched that time, even participating in Baby2Baby's NBA Cares event at this year's All-Star Game. I got to spend some precious time with him, where he was his usual upbeat, kind, generous self – even during his most difficult days. It was the perfect showcase of his character: he was putting kids in need ahead of himself.

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said it well: "Jason's impact and influence extended far beyond basketball as he helped make the NBA, WNBA and larger sports community more inclusive and welcoming for future generations. He exemplified outstanding leadership and professionalism throughout his 13-year NBA career and in his dedicated work as an NBA Cares ambassador. Jason will be remembered not only for breaking barriers, but also for the kindness and humanity that defined his life and touched so many others."

My heart is with his husband Brunson, his family, his friends, and his fans. He was a truly special person who made the world a better place. Jason Collins will be missed.

NOTE: I've heard from many people this week about friends and family lost to this disease, and a few recently diagnosed. I'm not a medical expert, but Glioblastoma is one of the most undetectable cancers there is. There's no routine screening test, so the best any of us can do is take neurological symptoms seriously. Headaches that get worse over time, new-onset seizures, cognitive changes, one-sided weakness, balance issues, or nausea and vomiting paired with a headache are all worth discussing with your doctor.

If you'd like more information, here's a good overview from the Mayo Clinic: Glioblastoma — Symptoms and causes.

Have a friend who’s into food, culture, and politics?

Discussed in this issue: A fundraiser tonight in LA, thinking inside the box, pizza near the Vatican, and my next LWJ guest.

Have a restaurant rec, cultural gem, can’t-miss event, or a hot sauce that changed your life? Send it my way: [email protected]

🎧 Lunch With Jamie is available as a podcast—perfect for easy, on-the-go listening. Follow along on Apple, Spotify, or Amazon Podcasts, and don’t forget to like, subscribe, share, and comment. We want to hear from you!

🎙️ My guest next week on Lunch With Jamie is lawyer and independent journalist, Aaron Parnas. We’ll talk Trump, the future of media, and analyze Trump’s first truthful statement as President — that there are more Chinese restaurants than chain restaurants combined in America.

🌮 TONIGHT – come out to Culver City to support GUAC. Enjoy some beer and tacos at Home State before the performance, and finish the evening with a cocktail hour with Manuel and Patricia Oliver, the masterminds behind this show. You can reserve your tickets here.  

As summer travel season kicks off, I wanted to make sure to cover a lot of the cities I know my members will be visiting this year. We’re starting with Rome, and Katie Parla has a great guide for you!

Katie Parla is a Rome-based food and beverage journalist, culinary guide, and New York Times best-selling cookbook author. Her latest cookbook, Rome, is available now. If you’re coming to Rome and want to learn the city's culture on a deep level, book a food tour, wine tasting, vineyard visit, or cheese making experience with her or her team. She hosts the television series Katie Parla's Rome on Recipe.TV and co-hosts Gola, a podcast about Italian food and beverage culture.

📍 Near the Vatican

Pizzarium: Gabriele Bonci’s pizza al taglio shop is very much on the map and extremely worth the hype. The dough is made with heirloom grains and long fermentation, and the toppings change constantly. Go off peak, ideally after 3 p.m., unless waiting in line is part of your spiritual practice. Potato mozzarella and rossa (tomato and oregano) are the baseline. Anything seasonal is worth considering — and just trust me, order anything topped with soft scrambled eggs.

Panificio Bonci: Same guy's bakery nearby for bread, pastries, roast meats, and pizza when you need provisions before or after the Vatican. Like Pizzarium, this place offers pizza by the slice but with more mainstream toppings. At lunchtime there's sort of a cafeteria set up serving slices of lasagna, servings of roasted chicken, and the best damn potatoes you'll ever have.

Mercato Trionfale: A short walk from the Vatican but operating in an entirely different universe, the market is one of the city’s largest and most useful food hubs. Vendors hawk puntarelle, porchetta, sheep’s milk ricotta, anchovies, offal, and whatever produce is exploding out of Lazio’s volcanic soil that week. Shop for ingredients or stop by for a cheese plate at Beppe or a market-driven meal at Partager.

📍 Testaccio, Ostiense, and Garbatella

Mercato Testaccio: The best central market for grazing. Mordi e Vai is essential for allesso di bollito (braised brisket), picchiapò (allesso in a spicy tomato sauce), and offal-based sandwiches. Da Corrado is great for cheeses, natural wine, and hot dishes. Artenio does excellent little pizzas. Go in the morning or early lunch, not after everything good has been picked over.

Mostro: A kiosk at the edge of Testaccio, Ostiense, and the Aventino that moves from specialty coffee to low-key drinks as the day goes on. Mostly outdoors, very Roman in its relationship to traffic, weather, and people who know exactly when to switch from caffeine to alcohol.

Piatto Romano: A Testaccio trattoria that understands vegetables as well as offal, which is rarer than it should be. Yes, there’s pajata (milk-fed veal intestines) and tripe. But the seasonal greens, zucchini shoots, and foraged salads steal the show.

Trattoria Pennestri: One of the smartest modern trattorias in Rome, close enough to the center to be useful and far enough from tourist sludge to remain sane. The cooking is rooted in Roman tradition but never embalmed by it. The wine list is accessible, interesting, and mercifully not full of trophy-bottle posturing.

Stecca: Abruzzo and Rome meet in Garbatella, with Franco Franciosi’s mountain cooking entering the Roman conversation. Go for lamb, legumes, excellent bread, and a serious central Italy wine list. Bar seats make it friendly for solo diners.

There was no Lunch With Jamie this week, but we’ll be back on Monday 5/18 with guest Aaron Parnas, at 1 PT/4 ET.

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