Mangia, Mangia, Mangia
On Friday the 23rd we got up early to drive to Birgi to pick up Rachel at the Victorio Florio Aeroporto. We had a tasting and lunch appointment at the Planeta winery just outside of Sambuca di Sicilia at noon so we drove the Strada Provinciale highways from the airport through the mountains and valleys to Sambuca. At a hairpin turn just north of Montevago, east of Partanna we stopped to take this shot. That's a road sign for the curve and I and Rachel silhouetted against the valley wall at the bottom of the photo.
At the winery we met with Ginevra Fiorani, the wine shop manager for our tasting. We tasted about 6 different wines with our appetizer in the enoteca and then she took us to the great room for our lunch. Imagine our surprise when we walked into this grand old space, the an original palmetto winery that has been converted to a reception hall with long tables, tapestries and paintings. In the center of the space there was a table with a linen table cloth, china and crystal, full, formal place settings that was to be the scene of a phenomenal lunch. We had pasta with fresh artichoke hearts, spedini of rolled mashed potatoes with a uova secca (raisin) pasta and fried potatoes, with orange slices covered with toasted almonds for dessert. Plus, we got to have the remains of a bottle of their Etna white and the 2006 Merlot, that is only available for sale at that winery. After stuffing ourselves even more than the spedini we ordered a case and a half of wine and had it shipped home and about 3 spare bottles to drink with Christmas Eve and Christmas dinners. This will probably become a standard activity on our future trips to the island. Rachel intends to make it so whenever she's down in Sciacca.
After getting back to Sciacca we had to take naps before heading out to dinner at Ristorante Italia da Nino down at the port. We were there 2 weeks before and had promised to be back. I had written about this place in a previous blog. Once again we had a wonderful meal, well prepared and delicious. We had reservations this time and there was a large baptism party also at the restaurant. What a scene. The little place was packed.
Today, Christmas Eve, we had lunch reservations at Da Vittorio, rated by Conde Nast as one of the top 50 restaurants in the world. There are 2 in Seattle, Canlis and the Walrus and the Carpenter. We left Verdetecnica early to drive down the coast rather than take the fast route inland on SS115, the main southern coastal highway.
Again, a wonderful lunch. We had the full mixed seafood appetizer where you get one of each of their seafood appetizer dishes. Rae had the gamberi and pistachio pasta, Cathy had the grilled swordfish and I had a pasta with fish roe (John Dory fish?) and small shrimp. We ordered a bottle of Occhipinti SP68 white with our food. We can see why this place is rated so high. This was another unbelievable meal. Dessert was Chocolate/Almond parfait for Rae, pistachio semifreddo for Cathy while I had a simple lemon sorbetto. Rae and I could not finish our pasta dishes so we have future lunch's in the fridge/freezer. I've uploaded photos of the appetizers. There is one missing, the baby octopi in a zesty oil and tomato sauce.
Tonight it's veal piccata and green salad for dinner at our home away from home.
Tomorrow we take Rae to the top of Mt. Kronio to the San Calogero basilica since she's never been up there and then we head to Realmonte, east of Ribera, to see the Turkish Steps, a unique rock formation on the beach.
Ciao for now.