Palermo, May 14—
AFTER THREE REALLY quite nice meals here it was time for a little disappointment, so for midday meal we went to a place long popular with the publishers of tourist guides. It's been in business since 1834, so it should have things pretty well down by now; it's catered to everyone from priests to gangsters, so it should please anyone; it's in a prime location, so lunch there on the terrazza, gazing at the fine Norman façade of S. Francesco d'Assisi, would be gratifying to at least one sense no matter what.The operation confused me at first: on entering, you see a line of steam-table pans, then a sort of soup kitchen. You take a tray, line it with a paper, get yourself some plastic cutlery, and tell the cooks — if they're listening — what you want. Not what I wanted at the moment, so I asked the guy at the cash register if it wasn't possible to order our meal.
Naturalmente, he responded, waving at the pavilion outside across the street. There we found two equal-sized sections, one with unset tables for those who'd loaded their trays, the other with red tablecloths on white tablecovers, waterglasses, and metal cutlery.
In the spirit of scientific inquiry I ordered food I'd eaten elsewhere in the last couple of days: caponata, the loose ratatouille-like melange popular here, and bucatini con le sarde, prepared here with saffron as well as the requisite fennel, onion, pine nuts, and sardines.
Alas neither was up to what we'd had previously. The caponata seemed tired and bland to me, the eggplant overcooked, the flavor lacking spirit. And the bucatini seemed simply thrown together, the fennel and onions tossed at the sardines rather than cooked down with them. Lindsey wasn't as critical as I, but then that's why I travel with her.
Viognier, Mandrarossa, n.v.
TONIGHT WE WENT back uptown to last night's restaurant, getting there so early the menu hadn't been printed yet. No problema, I told the waiter, we have our own — showing him the copy we'd taken last night. He smiled, but protested that there were changes. But what I'd wanted to order was available: four dollops of Robiola di capra Girgantino, one of my favorite cheeses, served with steamed chestnuts and honey; and gnochetti Sardi con pistacchi di Bronte, little Sardinian gnocchi in an Alfredo sauce with lots of ground pistachios in it. It was all delicious.
Catarratto, Girgis, 2007
La Dispensa dei Monsù , via Principe di Villa franca 59, Palermo; tel. +39 091.609.0465
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