The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
Casing Out Catania
This is our last full day in Catania and it just seemed right that we see at least some of it before we leave. The plan for Marina to take us around town a bit had to be scrapped. She is making the panetone (Christmas cakes) for the family and it is a week-long job. But we are finding the town is more compact than it looks on the maps so we set off sometime after noon to find some lunch.
Here four days and we still hadn't had a real pizza, so today we set out to address that lapse. The pizzeria of choice was Fratelli La Bufala which either means the brothers of the buffalo or the brothers' hoax! Whatever it means, they have hundreds of similar restaurants from Istanbul to London, Miami and New York. This is a serious business ... and the spot Marina and Andrea recommended as their favorite place for pizza!
When you first walk in you see the wood-fired oven glowing to the right and the glassed-in kitchen dead ahead. The kitchen was spotless, always a reassuring sight. The downstairs dining room was packed and the staff was scurrying about (a bit too frantically for my taste, but no matter). They took us to the big upstairs dining room which was nearly empty and much quieter than the scene below. Service was slow (out of sight, out of mind?)
I ordered a classic Margheria pizza, Margene went for the Amalfitana with provolone, cherry tomatoes, arugula and basil. The pies were huge but with very thin crusts in the center that were soggier than I expected. Still, in Italy you eat pizza with a knife and fork anyway, so it all worked. The products were tasty, though, and the glass of Sicilian Syrah made for a very civilized lunch. Thus fortified, we hit the streets.
Like much of Sicily, Catania's roots are deep. The city was founded in 729 BC by Greek colonists as part of an armed effort to control the entire east coast of Sicily. The city was conquered and reconquered several times until the Romans took over in 263 BC. In the middle of downtown Catania you can still see the remains of part of a Roman amphitheater built of lava rock. This once massive structure originally held 15,000 people and was the largest of its kind in Sicily. There are other equally ancient remains scattered around the old city center.
As we wandered the back alleys, we came upon a small Christmas market selling local handicrafts. Margene bought a hand-painted ornament for her sister-in-law whose family was originally from Sicily. Nice to find something that wasn't made in China! Then we got to the Piazza Duomo, the main city square dominated, naturally enough, by the Duomo (cathedral). The Fontana dell'Elefante (Fountain of the Elephant) surmounted by an improbably Egyptian obelisk is now the symbol of the city.
I was struck by an old grand palazzo that had been converted to apartments. The huge courtyard with the fountain and orange trees (bearing fruit!) speak of a very different era.
Dave Mattingly, one of my newsletter subscribers, told me we must stop by Dolci Nonna Vincenza ... and he was so right! This amazing company operates two shops in town and two more in the airport -- one on each side of security! It's an amazing transformation to go from the rugged street environment into the "grandmotherly" atmosphere of their shop.
I was impressed with the products, of course -- the sweet ricotta-filled cannoli are to die for! -- but also the style of the place. As opposed to the typical pastry shop where the display cases are right out in front, they put the more commercial aspects of the business in a second room -- with a chandelier, yet! The first thing you saw when you entered the shop was a counter displaying their gift assortments and such. This was also where the money changed hands, not over the pastry counter like a common bakery!
We bought half a dozen small cannoli and two pastries for breakfast. Given the finish and finesse of the place (one of the staff sought us out and handled everything personally for us), I was expecting a steep tab. I could hardly believe it when the total came to less than 6 euros! The package of cannoli was gift wrapped with a ribbon and displayed on a gold (paper) plate. Tucked into the ribbon was a thank-you note that reinforced the idea that you are doing business with a person more than a corporation. They definitely go the extra mile for their customers. No wonder their shops are the busiest in the city!
© 2013 Restaurant Doctor
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