And finally, a cannolo split between the two of us bc it was ginormous. Freshly filled with wonderful, creamy, sweet-but-not-too-sweet sheep’s milk ricotta & chopped pistachios from Il Segreti di Chiostro, recommended on the same site that sent us to the dive bar for the arancina. Highly recommend.
that looks super!
here are some others - with mouthwatering pics of cannoli, other pastries and - arancini!
Fortunately I just ate lunch before looking at these
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arancini and canolo — so wonderful. And a good caponata as well
Looking at the menu at the Osteria just amazed me — I had to check the date to make sure it wasn’t an old post but I guess some places have avoided the inflation runup. I mean, the secondi prices were just unbelievable. And looking at the instagram, the same as three years ago.
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We are used to dining for far less than in the US while in Berlin, but these prices really blew our minds.
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these are largely family businesses - the labor cost in the US has shot up massively.
I havent been in Sicily for a year, but Id say they have to price very competitively to survive.
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I’ve haven’t back down in Sicily since pre-pandemic, but I have been through northern Italy a lot. There, I’ve seen movement in prices, however so slightly upwards. And that is at family-owned businesses, as well. North of the border, where we live part of the time, it is more evident, even if it is measures in E0.10 increments, not dollars at a time.
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I agree. some movement but not as radical as here. I think the loss of food industry labor in the US, as well as the pressure to pay a living wage for the first time here (unlike Italy) has been a big factor in the US price rise. Obviously both countries face rising food costs. We will see when we return to Lake Garda in a few weeks - tho there most of our dinners will be paid for by our hosts so we will be oblivious of the cost.
We really enjoyed Buatta Cucina Popolana. We weren’t able to get reservations there but we walked in right at open and were able to dine outdoors. Probably the best bucatini con sarde of the trip and its anelletti was outstanding.
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Osteria Gli Archi di San Carlo has moved from Erice down to Trapani so another delicious eating option down there unfortunately one less in Erice!
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@JenKalb not to hijack the post but recs in Erice? We are thinking late lunch/early dinner for a day trip that will include Segesta and Erice. We can’t get to Trapani - and are thinking of trying for a couscous there .
The place we liked in Erice has moved down to Trapani town and I am not sure that there is any place of distinction to eat up there now. Someone else here may disagree. You can visit Maria Grammatico’s bakery of course.. Since Erice is on top of the hill right behind Trapani, in fact we walked to the funicular to get up there, since there didnt seem to be any town buses running the sunday morning we went, (there is a funicular running up, not sure its running right now) I am sure you can hit all 3 in a day. Trapani is a fascinating city with a whole group of restaurants to choose from. How are you travelling? If you had a car you could definitely see Segesta in the morning (its not a long visit, hour or so), Trapani for lunch and Erice in the afternoon before heading back to Palermo. You might have time to see the salt works too although not enough time for Motya island. Trapani is a long skinny town sticking out into to the see with a lot of crumbling, atmospheric churches and other buildings. We liked the historic centro very much. and there is a beautiful madonna statue in a church up toward Erice that is worth seeing…The food in that area has a particular moorish influence which is distinctive - its very close to Tunisia - but warning, I did not like the couscous!!!
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@JenKalb was the couscous different than what you expected? We thought a couscous as a foil to all the Sicilian food we will be eating for days and days. We are interested in the intersection of cultures in Sicily and know that there are/were major African influences over in Trapani. We are getting a driver for a long day trip from Palermo and back- yet to be determined who - anyone with recs is welcome to email me. We are getting our own car the morning we leave Palermo heading to Valley of the Temples then Ragusa, (prob. stop in Noto) and onto Ortigia and Catania for the last 5 nights where I have many places to eat that are bookmarked!
When I went to Erice in Jan. or Feb. of 2024, the funicular wasn’t running - it is definitely seasonal. The cab ride up and back from Trapani was expensive (not a problem if you have a rental car of course). I may be kicked off the board, but I was unimpressed with the goods at Maria Grammatico.
we looked and didnt eat -were full from our lunch. I love sicilian pastries and cookies but some are better than others and may not be to modern american tastes, either! It is a sight to see either way.
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I felt the same way about the cuscus and wanted to try it - it was a seafood version very strongly flavored with seafood broth and a lot of paprika and I simply didnt like it. I had it at two different places with the same reaction…you see the moorish inflluence in the pasta sauces with almond pesto and the very different use of herbs, mint particularly…the dishes are often moorish in design …there is even a kasbah down in Mazara delle Vallo. As you go down the coast that town is very evocative with remnants of the era of the normans and moors and a particularly wonderful greek bronze statue dredged up from the sea on display.https://www.world-archaeology.com/issues/issue-105/review-the-dancing-satyr-of-mazara-del-vallo/
Selinunte, north of Agrigento has a whole field of ruined huge temples in wildflowers with very few visitors - We stayed all the way up in the ruined old town of Agrigento and were able to visit the archeological museum next to the site too which is very good but as a result of spending a morning doing these things, we were not able to eat at the great resto La Madia in Licata on our way on to Modica.
There is really not time for all of the wonderful things on the western coast but dont think it is limited to the Valley of the Temples which is the most crowded, bare and tourist impacted (not to say I would have skipped it, but I liked Selinunte better as a place too be). We had planned to stay in Noto on our recent planned trip we had to cancel. I am still not sure that it is the right place in that area…it is one of those tourist impacted places too. You will get tired of being in crowds I think.. Stay some place where you want to have dinner … probably Ragusa or Modica would be better for that. or one of the coastal towns nearby. None of these are far from Siracusa in any event.
PS if you like nature, the Vendicari Nature Reserve S of Noto is cool, as is the Zingaro reserve on the NW corner, W of Palermo. But if your time is limited these too will be too much.
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Totally agree. I was glad I went, and gave half of what I bought to my fantastic cab driver who came back to pick me up.
I asserted about 25 different things in that post LOL, which one did you agree with?
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Uh, yeah, not obvious! I meant that going to Erice would make Trapani incredibly easy.
by the way, there are a lot of different sides of sicilian cuisine, not least (as in the rest of italy) the difference between the coastal and inland cuisines. You’ll see fish on the coast and a few miles inland fish will disappear except in more upscale places and the menu will be meaty . The inland region surrounding Ragusa is around Ragusa is especially porky.. There will be seasonal cuisine and lots of vegetable dishes. We particularly liked the fava dishes, including the soup with wild fennel. you will not be bored unless you go to the tourist places where it is caprese salad day all year round.
Madonna of Trapani https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_of_Trapani
