Fratelli La Bufala – Gravina

After looking at the place in Aci Trezza, we said to Mario that we were starving and he said there is a place nearby.  It was 8:00pm, which by Italian time is waayyy early for dinner.  He pulled into a nearby mall called Katane.  Now pulling into a mall for a restaurant doesn’t usually bode to well in the States so I was immediately put into skeptical mode.  Mario mentioned that they get fresh mozzarella di bufala from Naples almost everyday, which made me rethink this place in the mall.

The name of the restaurant is Fratelli La Bufala (which basically means Buffalo Brothers)

This guy is wondering if we were really coming in here right now

 

Empty! Except for the crazy Americani that want to eat early … 8pm is not early!!

 

So as you can see a very cool interior, but also very empty at this hour.  This is definitely not the type of restaurant you find in the malls back home.

We ordered some acqua frizzante and some great wine to start with our focaccia that was very good.  Next we ordered up one of the BIG and fresh mozarella di bufala balls.  They were not kidding around with the size.

Big ball of Mozzarella di Bufala

 

We literally had to carve the Mozzarella like a Thanksgiving turkey.  It was very good mixed with some balsamic vinegar (aceto balsamico), olive oil, and the focaccia.

A pic of the pizza section of the menu

 

Cornetto di Bufala – Mozzarella wrapped with pizza dough topped with prosciutto crudo and parmigiano

 

I went with the Cornetto di Bufala, which was very good.  The only downfall with this choice was that it was very similar to what we were enjoying as our appetizer with the bread and the mozzarella.  I definitely recommend this dish.

Jess and Mario ordered a couple pasta dishes that looked really good as well.  Jess’s dish used pappardelle pasta, which is one of my favorites… so naturally I had to sneak a taste and it was very tasty.  Her item was one of the chefs specials that night so I dont think it will be on the menu next time.

Overall this is definitely on our top list as of now and we will be returning.  I think what Im going to start doing is keeping a top 10 list for the local restaurants.   So right now this place is sitting number 1!

Buongiorno Sicilia

We made it!  The flights were long and miserable, but we are happy to be in Sicily.  It seems like we flew for days and in a way we did… We left from San Diego at 730am to Atlanta then overnight to Rome then down to Catania at 1pm.

Luckily we got good seats along the way… and I say luckily because up until checkin at the airport we didn’t have any confirmed seats thanks to many mix ups at work.  With our 7 bags… including 3 seventy pound beasts that we checked in (try packing for the next 3 months), we hunkered down in our flying sardine can.

Lugging our carryons from plane to plane was not fun especially in Rome because it was a sweatbox… A shower was a vision in our minds or maybe a dip in the Mediterranean.

Our first look at Sicily!

We didnt lose any luggage! And my coworker Jack picked us up and the adventure began….   Introduction to Italian driving … yikes. .   No Sicilian food yet!

So Long Sandy Eggo

As the days are counting down things are getting crazier.  All the preparing and work we did ahead of time doesn’t seem to be helping.  I have been in serious salesman mode and Im proud to say a successful salesman.  I was able to sell Jess’s jeep, my truck, and sadly my boat.   Its nice to know I have the salesman ability to fall back on if Continue reading “So Long Sandy Eggo”

Unhappy Movers in San Diego

Today is the day the movers crated up all of our wrapped up items for shipment across the pond.  The standard has been pretty impressive to me in terms of how well they pack everything and then also place it all into giant crates for protection.  Im not too worried about items being too busted up thanks to all this, but that protection doesn’t really do anything if it falls off the boat and floats to the bottom of the Atlantic.  Luckily we remembered to take a lot of pictures of our items before pack up.

Anyways everything was going great and Continue reading “Unhappy Movers in San Diego”

Packing up San Diego

Its finally sinking in…

Today was the day of the movers…. months of lead up to this day.  All in all it went really well.  Amazing how efficient these guys were at packing everything up nicely.  Our place wreaks of tape and permanent marker.

Like I was saying it is finally sinking in that we are moving somewhere… not really sinking in that we are moving to Italy.  Im not sure that will ever sink in exactly.

I was talking to Jess about moving and this would be Continue reading “Packing up San Diego”