Osteria dei Mascalzoni

From the lunch menu posted on the osteria's site:

• Prosciutto di Parma from Ponte Romano, or warm spalla cotta with sweet-and-sour onions: €12 each.
• Tortelli d'erbetta or pumpkin tortelli with butter and Parmigiano: €12.
• Tagliolini with prosciutto, potato gnocchi with gorgonzola, garganelle with salame paste and pumpkin: €10.
• Grilled beef tagliata: €12. Roast beef, scaloppina al Marsala, grilled chicken: €10.
• A pasta or main of the day: €10.

A plate of tortelli, a main, a side and cover comes to €27. That is hard to beat this close to the center.

The evening menu, dated February 2026, adds the more ambitious dishes. Every primo costs €14: tortelli d'erbetta, cappelletti tossed with culatello di Zibello, anolini in brodo, radicchio tortelloni, paccheri with strolghino ragù, and risotto alla parmigiana.

• Culatello from Dallatana with curls of butter: €16. Mixed Parma salumi: €14.
• Torta fritta, eight pieces: €4.
• Rosa di Parma €15, punta di vitello ripiena €16, beef tagliata €19, Chianina chateaubriand €22.
• Sbrisolona with Marsala zabaione €7; torta Susanna €6.

The spalla cotta at dinner is credited to Cavalli Emanuele, a producer who shares the chef's surname; the menu does not say whether they are related.

Since 2017 the Cavallis have also taken their dishes on the road in a 1970s Ape three-wheeler, and Filippo Cavalli has presided over Parma's Street Food Quality association. The truck works private events and catering, so if you see the Mascalzoni Ape at a Parma party or fair, it is the same kitchen.

The menus are friendlier to non-meat eaters than most Parma osterie. At lunch there are three big salads at €9, including one with pecorino, green apple, walnuts and balsamic cream, and a crisp tomino cheese with grilled vegetables at €10. At dinner, look for fried artichoke with carrot mayonnaise (€12), garganelle with artichokes and pecorino cream (€14), radicchio and scamorza tortelloni (€14) and an artichoke caponata with baked polenta sticks (€12). Both menus note that some products may be frozen.

Call +39 0521 281809. The osteria is explicit that sending an email does not confirm a booking. The room is small. For a comparison of central prices, see Trattoria del Tribunale, where tortelli are €11 at any time.