Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Taste Sicilian Favorites at Cacio e Vino

Salvatore Fraterrigo is the kind of chef who can get lost in New York City. The sweet-tempered, Sicilian chef has quietly made his way into the hearts of Southern Italian food-lovers without the usual kitchen fits and heated hubris that often accompanies Italy-born chefs working in America.

Sal stands back and lets his caponata, his baccala croquettes, and his arancina di riso speak for themselves. And that they do: in the most delicious way. His eggplant caponata couldn’t be a tastier blend of green olives, pine nuts, capers, and raisins with the featured vegetable. His salt-cured cod croquettes are fried and then crusted with sesame seeds to add a burst of texture. And his arancina, a most celebrated dish of Italy that usually consists of day-old, deep fried rice, is a gourmet rendition that consists of beef ragu and peas encased in fried rice that has been saffron-infused.

Those three dishes are reason enough to check out the cellar-esque spot in the East Village; however, no visit would be complete without sampling the pizza and the pasta. Risotto with cuttlefish ink comes a deep black and is large enough of a portion to share with a friend or as an appetizer for the table. Pizzas come in two sizes: personal (12”) and to share (16”). They are baked in a brick oven, and the pizza chef, Alessandro Ancona, knows that using cherry and oak wood is the real trick to making great pizza.

The quattro stagione pie balances savory and sweet flavors of extremely fresh mozzarella, mushrooms, marinated artichokes, salty black olives, and sweet tomato sauce. The olives and the mozzarella are particularly good. The pizzas are served bubbling hot, and patrons can watch and hope that theirs is the pie being pulled from the oven in the rear of the restaurant.

What could make this food so tasty? Besides importing the Italian chefs, Cacio e Vino also uses many f.o.b ingredients like sea salt hailing from Tranpani, capers from Salina, and Noto almonds. Though this East Village outpost is one of the few places to sit down to Sicilian food, it’s really all that you need. In the words of chef Salvatore, “there is another really great place to get Sicilian food: in Sicily!”

No comments:

Post a Comment