Category: Restaurants

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Sicilian in San Diego?

What I found surprising before moving to Sicily is that there is a lot of Sicilian presence in San Diego.  Most of the Little Italy places have roots with Sicilian families that immigrated to the States way back when.  The story as I heard it was that they all moved to San Francisco, but the great earthquake of 1906 scared them all down to San Diego.  In San Diego they found a better climate and great fishing.  This lead to Little Italy becoming a mecca for tuna fishing and canning.

Before we moved out here I would talk to some of the Sicilians at Filipi’s in Little Italy.  They told me of certain places to see and where to stay away from the mafia folks.  They definitely glorified the mafia image a bit, probably due to the many Hollywood movies and such.  The reality is that we haven’t had any kind of “experience” with any type of mafia and we feel safer here than San Diego.

I digress…  I receive mail from local San Diego places still that have my forwarded address.  Last week I received a flyer from an Italian restaurant in San Diego called Il Fornaio.  They have this cool routine where they focus on certain regions of Italy and Sicily came up on this flyer.  I thought it was really cool to see this from here in Sicily!  The menu looks pretty legit and the wines that they imported are definitely some of the popular wines that we drink out here.  Unfortunately there is a bit of delay in mail to get here in Sicily so the event is over at the restaurant, but if your in the area and want a taste of Sicily in your backyard they might still have it available.

I know what your asking yourself right now… what would Nick chose on the menu. 🙂

Antipasti I would probably go for the Arancini

Pasta I would go with the Calamarata alle Melanzane because this looks like their attempt at Pasta alla Norma, which is the main Sicilian pasta dish.

Secondi is a very tough choice… all 3 of the choices are very solid… but if I had to make a choice it would probably be the Agnello because Im a sucker for lamb dishes.

For the Sicilian wine I would definitely chose the “La Segreta Ross, Planeta, 2010″ .. its one of our regular favorites here.  The only difference is that we pay $8 a bottle while Il Fornaio has it listed for $35.  I know what your thinking again… ” I don’t really like this Nick character”… ha.   But consider the fact that if you wanted a traditional Sicilian meal like this one you would be paying $1500 for a flight and have to risk your life with the Italian drivers… That upcharge of more than 4x doesn’t sound so bad anymore right?

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Prague 1 – Intro to Goulash Country

Things have been super busy over here lately and I haven’t been able to even come close to keeping up with the travel posts here.  Im going to try to at least get the big trips posted soon.  This post is going to be part 1 of 3 for our trip to Prague.  I took a ton of pictures there and didn’t want to cram it all into one post.  I actually took all the pictures with my iphone as well.  I didn’t want to lug Continue reading “Prague 1 – Intro to Goulash Country”

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Agrigento Sicily – Valley of the Temples

Agrigento is a place that every visitor of Sicily should try to make.  Especially if you are into archeological things.  Agrigento is well known for its well preserved Greek temples that date back to 580 B.C. !!  Now I understand why they call America the New World.   Wikipedia has a page about Agrigento that has a lot of information (LINK).

We stayed the weekend in Agrigento to make sure that we got all the sights in.  Plus its about a 2 hour drive from where we are on the island.  I was excited because one of the few surf stores was supposed to be in Agrigento, but after searching Continue reading “Agrigento Sicily – Valley of the Temples”

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Cooking Lesson: Pesce al Sale

There was an outing organized for a cooking lesson at a downtown Catania restaurant called Ristorante Crociferi.  I was lucky enough to get the day off of work, but Jess was not able to join in.  The lesson was Pesce al Sale (Salt Fish), which is a very traditional Sicilian dish.  This marked the first time that I tried the dish let alone made it.

Surprisingly it is very easy to make.  You basically make a salt paste with coarse and fine salt mixed with water.  You then cover a cleaned out whole fish with the paste and bake it.  The coating of salt traps all of the moisture and fish flavor and makes for a very tasty dish…. surprisingly the fish does not taste salty!

We had a great lunch paired with our fish. Thanks to Ristorante Crociferi for allowing crazy Americans to come into their kitchen.

Ristorante Crociferi

Piazza S. Francesco 14 Catania

http://www.ristoranteicrociferi.com/

 

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Murgo Winery

The weather in Sicily is perfect right now.  The island is turning green very quickly with all of the vegetation starting to grow.  Also it is too early in the year for the tourists to start their occupation of Sicily.  With all this in mind, Jess and I really wanted to explore and find a new winery.  We heard of a winery that was pretty close to where we live.  We tried to organize a little group to share in the experience, but it turned into an episode of herding cats. 🙂 .  So we decided to just fly solo and serve as the guinea pigs for the group.  Luckily we were greeted very warmly at Murgo winery and Continue reading “Murgo Winery”

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La Curva – Capo Mulini Sicily

Jess and I actually went to this restaurant back in January, but Im just getting around to the post.  Its not easy having all these places to go and then actually writing about them…. its a happy problem. 🙂 .   Im going to keep this short and sweet and say that this restorante is a great nearby restaurant for seafood.  Its a bit pricier than your local pizzeria, but you have to change it up from time to time.  This restaurant is in a town called Capo Mulini, which you can see from our porch looking down at the water.   Its in between Acitrezza and Acireale. During the summer this town is swamped with people since its right on the water and all the tourists are in town.   We figured this would be a great time to try it out and we got lucky with a very sunny and warm January day.

La Curva’s food is all about seafood, so if your not into that..  “foget abaat ittt.”  Luckily I have gotten Jess to drink the seafood kool aid so to speak and she is now a legitimate seafood person.  Especially after this meal where I had her try “Alici Marinate” (Marinated sardines) and “Insalata di polpo” (Octopus salad)… and she liked it!!!  The food was prepared so well that it is easy to like.  The highlights of the meal for me were the antipasti that I mentioned above and the Donna Fugata wine that we had.   My entree, “Cous Cous di Mare” (Seafood cous cous) was good, but I was really expecting something out of this world.  Jess had “Ravioli di pesce spada” (Swordfish raviolis), which she liked.

 

http://www.trattorialacurva.com/menu.htm

Trattoria la Curva – Via Nissoria – Capo Mulini – Acireale – Catania

Click on the first image for the slideshow.

 

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La Banchina – Nighttime Pane Condito – Catania

My hockey teammates have a ritual of going out to get food after practice during the week.  Keep in mind that our practices usually end around 11pm.  This is another example of the difference in culture in that most Americans dont have a regular midnight meal. 🙂 One of the favorite spots is La Banchina where we get a delicious Pane Condito.  Pane Condito translates to “Seasoned Bread”, but the reality is that its a huge doughnut shaped sandwich that is thrown in the pizza oven.  You have all different options in terms of the contents of the sandwich that range from all the usual Italian suspects like pomodoro, prosciutto crudo, salame, and mozzarella.  Pictures of menu are below.

You can find many places that serve Pane Condito around Sicily and the Catania area.  La Banchina (Translates to “the pier”) is located just outside of downtown Catania (Via del rotolo 42, Catania)  My teammates seem to prefer this particular place and I can see why.  The Pane Condito has a great balance of flavor between the bread and the fillings.  If I need to be rolled off the plane when I return back to the States 300 lbs. heavier, this will probably be one of the reasons.   When in Sicily right?

Click on the first image below for the slideshow

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IL Tocco – Acireale

Our friends Aaron and Ashley told us about this place and we were excited to try it with them.  IL Tocco is in  a great location of Acireale, the neighboring town to ours.  (Via dello ionio, 38 ) The restaurant is perched up high on a point along the coastline and has some amazing panoramic views.  Also adding to the ambiance is the feeling that you are in a giant tree house.  There are big trees that are growing right in the middle of the restaurant.

The food was on point and the pizza was the best that we had so far in Sicily!

Here is a link to their website:  http://www.iltocco.it/

 

Click the first picture below for the slideshow: