THE classics of Roman Jewish cuisine were born from poverty and persecution. For nearly 300 years, the city’s Jews were confined by the pope to a narrow strip of flood-prone land called the Ghetto. Cheap, portable and deep-fried street foods were a solution to meager means and cramped housing.

The Ghetto period ended in 1870, and in the decades that followed, its ramshackle buildings were torn down and most of the Jews in Rome resettled elsewhere. Only a few hundred Jews remain living in the zone, but the area retains its cultural significance, and today it remains at the heart of Jewish life, home to two synagogues, three Jewish schools and a Jewish museum. Now, a growing number of kosher restaurants have sprung up on and around Via del Portico d’Ottavia, the main street in the Ghetto, with menus that have moved beyond fried artichokes and stuffed zucchini flowers.

Among them is Ba Ghetto Milky (Via del Portico di Ottavia 2a; 39-06-6830-00-77; kosherinrome.com), a dairy kosher restaurant on the main street opened last December by Amit and Ilan Dabush, the sons of Tripoli Jews. The Dabush family escaped from Libya in 1967 and went to Israel before settling in Rome. The menu reflects their North African, Middle Eastern and Italian roots, and specialties like couscous, falafel and hummus share the page with Roman Jewish specialties like spaghetti with mullet roe and chicory.

The Ghetto’s cuisine is inspired by the New World at Mamà Kosher Food (Via Portico d’Ottavia 14; 39-339-847-2084), where burgers and roast beef sandwiches are the signature dishes. Marco Spizzichino and Massimo Di Veroli, cousins, opened Mamà a year ago to fill what they saw as a void in the neighborhood’s offerings. “I worked in food service for eight years before opening this place,” Mr. Di Veroli said. “We thought people needed quick food that felt homemade, not like regular fast food.”