Page 208 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sicily

206  TR A VELLERS ’ NEEDS

WHERE TO EAT AND DRINK

Sicilians have perfected the art of good food, making a tasty morsel of fish go a long way is
best enjoyed when shared. Sicilian fruit, vege­ to be seen in the plethora of inventive pasta
tables, fish and cheeses are highly regarded sauces – a few sardines or anchovies, or a little
throughout Italy; Sicilians not only love their tuna or swordfish cooked with combinations
food but like nothing better than joining family of chilli, capers, olives, pine nuts and tiny Sicilian
and friends around a restaurant table, especially cherry tomatoes. We list a selection of great
if the ingredients are fresh and local and the places to eat on pp210–217, whether it’s a
cooking genuine. Fish is one of the highlights piping hot street food snack, the perfect
of Sicilian cuisine, and the Sicilian talent for auber gine parmigiano or swordfish involtini.

Informal Eating
dishes; osteria – or vineria –
Sicily has great savoury snacks, signifies that there is an emph-
sweet pastries and ice creams; asis on sourcing the very best
its groceries, bakeries and, primary ingredients and wines,
increasingly, gourmet delis can as promoted by the Slow Food
furnish all manner of goodies to movement, and, often, a more
eat on the go or for a picnic or minimalist approach to cooking.
self-catered meal.
Pizzerias abound and it’s Reading the Menu
worth seeking out a good one.
The best have a wood-burning In the traditional pattern for an
oven (forno a legno) from which Italian meal, a pasta dish is not
the pizzas emerge bubbling and the main event but a separate
blistered. For other hot takeaway course, sandwiched between an
food, look out for a rosticceria, One of the exquisitely presented dishes on appetizer and a main course or
where you’ll typically find baked offer at La Gazza Ladra, Modica (see p215) entrée. Antipasti (“before pasta”),
pasta dishes, roast chicken and are hors-d’oeuvre-style dishes;
the like. For a snack, a bar or That has all changed, and the then there are primi, or first
focacceria can provide a range choice of name for an establish- courses: pasta dishes, risottos
of panini (sandwiches), arancini ment these days depends more and, in Sicily, couscous. This is
(rice balls) and impanate on the tradition it identifies followed by a protein-based
(savoury pies). Adventurous with than price, decor or main course, often simply
travellers may want to explore ambience. Ristorante is now a grilled fish or meat (vegetarians
the street food of the cities; neutral, generic term applied may find it easier to return to
favourite Palermo snacks are to anything from a Michelin- the primi menu for a second
pane ca meusa (a hot offal starred palace to a tourist spot. course). Vegetables are almost
sandwich) and pane e panelle And while, of course, there are always ordered as side dishes
(chickpea fritters in a bun). trattorias and osterias that have (contorni). However, in the cities
existed unchanged for decades, and in tourist spots, where a less
these days, trattoria often stately approach to a meal may
Types of Restaurant
implies an interest in reviving be preferred, this pattern has
There are three main terms for and reinventing traditional become less rigidly adhered to.
a restaurant in Sicily, and until
some years ago they were quite
distinct. A ristorante was a “proper”
restaurant, with table linen and
waiters in uniform, somewhere
a family would go for Sunday
lunch or a treat. A trattoria was
more basic and down-home, its
menu chalked on a board or
recited by the waiter, with paper
to cover the tables and on
which to write the bill. Osterias
were simple hostelries where
there would be cold cuts and
cheese, and maybe a homely
pasta dish or soup, to go with
a glass or two of good wine. Pasticceria di Pasquale in Ragusa: a typical gourmet deli (see p215)

206-207_EW_Sicily.indd 206 11/3/16 2:24 PM
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Practical template “UK” LAYER
(Source v1.8)
Date 15th May 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm