CEGLIE MESSAPICA--three nights outside an untouched jewel of a town

[erica1]

From our Bari Hotel, we took a taxi to the airport (28 euro flat rate; but book ahead as taxis are scarce in Bari) and picked up our rental for the drive to MASSERIA CAMARDA, a 5 minutes drive from one of the prettiest, and certainly then least touristed, of the main Valle d’Itria towns. Alberobello and Locorotondo are swamped with bus tours, while Ceglie, which I found just as beautiful, draws few tourists and those who do come are often headed for CIBUS. Anointed with a SlowFood snail, this is considered among the best restaurants in Puglia and I’d put it on a level perhaps just lower than Pietro Zito’s legendary ANTICHI SAPORTI further north.

We booked two meals here ahead of arrival: One dinner and a Sunday lunch and both were wonderful. We were fortunate enough to arrive the day before the summer menu was replaced by that of fall, so we sampled dishes from both.

Dinner, on a Friday night in October:

Owner Liliino Silibello is ever-present and family members work the kitchen.
Service is excellent, although a bit slow on Sunday afternoon.

Dinner:

Narrow street leading to the restaurant (park near the Municipio; be careful, as we got a 42 euro parking ticket:

Courtesy vegetable/lentil soup (excellent)

Mixed antipasti included stratciatella (fresh) cheese; stuffed with ricotta zucchini blossom; vegetarian meatball; fried Cardoncelli mushroom; cold stuffed eggplant. Photo shows portion for one person:

Lasagna with meat–astoundingly good:

Millefoglie of zucchini with ricotta, and zucchini chips on top–astounding, again.

Strips of pork (this is a half order!) with caramelized red onion, glazed with Negroamaro sauce–yet again, a winner!!

No room for dessert, sadly.
Bill was 73 euro, with water only.

Sunday lunch brought an entirely new menu; we knew from the first time that we could not go much further if we chose the mixed antipasti, so we each had a pasta dish only, and I had an antipasto:

Owner Lilino Sibibello arranges the cheese platter,w which was accompanied by honey:

Warm salad of cooked puntarelle with pomegranate seeds and squares of toasted bread to offset the bitterness. Like every other dish, this was a winner:

Among the signature dishes: Sagnapenta (a thick, long fresh pasta) with a ragu made from tomato and ricotta forte (smelly cheese from Ceglie; comes in a jar) that’s been flavored with horse meat. (The horse meat is braised and the leftover infused liquid is used to make this dish). Exceptional and a must try.

Lasagna of chicory and mushrooms; creamy and good but I could barely make a dent; it was rich.

Desserts of Biscotti Cegliese, made with ground almonds, amarena cherry jam, and cinammon, local to the town but not very sweet, with chocolate gelato with strips of fruit rind.

Unusual (to me) liqueur made from olives, from Bari; this was one of a tremendous selection of spirits; they are also known for their cellar.

Bill, with one wine Pugliese Greco wine and water: 63 euro

[erica1]

MASSERIA CAMARDA

We chose this country farm hotel for its proximity to Ceglie. It’s also close to Ostuni but that town gets so many tourists today that we preferred to located out of the fray. I cannot say enough about this place, and its owner, Alex Fiorio. He and his father are famous as former captains of the racing teams of Ferrari and Lancia, so the masseria draws many Italian car aficionados.

All off. the produce comes from the farm, or from neighbors who barter with it for foods. (Alex sells wheat to a neighbor, who gives him, in turn, cheese; the farm’s pigs go to a neighbor for slaughter and Alex makes his own salumi.

There are three dogs around but they do not bark much at all, and do not jump up onto you.

We were so fortunate to be there on the day that the olives were picked to be sent to a nearby frantic, so I was able to watch the process of the olives being shaken off the trees into a net, and put to the machine that removes the leaves and twigs. Just great; this usually happens around 14 October, but since there had been three dry days in a row and the fruit was ripe, he called the guys in to do the work (by machine). By 3pm (we had to leave at noon!10 they will have the new oil from the frantic and because it will be the first pressing, early in the harvest, the oil should be good quality. (He no longer ships to the US,I asked)

I picked a ripe persimmon off the tree; we ate almonds-- oiled and salted–that had been picked that morning. the property has pigs, chickens, figs, pears, cherries, and grapes, and more that I cannot remember. This place was a find, and our truly suite was very reasonable as compared to many of the more famous masserie outside Ostuni and closer to the coast; we had one of the two “Trulli suites,” which had kitchens and good, clean equipment; we paid 220 euro per night, but there are nice rooms for quite a bit less than that.

Shaking the branches of the 300-year-old tree:

So the olives, leaves and twigs fall into the nets below:

The nets are collected after the fallen fruit is poured into barrels:

..and put into the back of the truck:

The barrels are poured into a machine in the truck that separates the fruit from the leaves and twigs:

Ecco la!! Off to be pressed…

The masseria serves dinner on prior arrangement and all ingredients are from here or nearby farms.

[Leely2]

I thought Cibus was lip-smackingly good from start to finish. And Ceglie Messapica such a wonderful town, with, it seemed, several good restaurants. Looking forward to reading more.

[erica1]

DA GINO (at the edge of Ceglie, free parking on site)

After the parking ticket of the previous night, I wanted a good place with easy parking, so Alex recommended DA GINO, which I later read is a SlowFood pick.
The owner is famous for. gathering wild vegetables, herbs and flowers and there are unusual dishes on the menus at certain seasons like a pasta made with marigolds and one with bougainvillea flowers and leaves. The seasonal pasta that Saturday night was with sorrel leaves.

I’ve never tasted cucumbers with so much flavor:

This is the smaller portion of a shared order: Cavatelli with ricotta forte, tomato, and pork neck. One of the best pasta dishes of the trip and a tremendous portion that was for times the size of a typical portion in the US.

We ordered poorly; I was craving meat but the lamb chops were dry and overcooked, although he flavor was lovely:

Why did I think that boneless pork ribs, grilled, could be great? These were not–again, very dry and these were just not good at all:

I think the chairs, and the odd art installations are crafted from barrel staves.

This is a family restaurant; it was packed by 9pm on a Saturday with diners that all appeared to be locals, (many families, some with little kids) the owner closely oversees the dining areas, and I imagine that one could have an excellent, hearty meal here as long as the grilled meat was left off the meal.

54 euro with one glass of wine