After a long day of travel and car ferries, and a Google Maps that was taking us in the wrong direction finding the restaurant, we walked in at the end of their lunch service. They were very kind to still seat us and we had a wonderful meal centered around tuna, the historic local industry. We were tired and opted for the tasting menu which was a lunch special. Fantastic flavors, starting with a platter of 4 antipasti...classic preserved in oil, tuna pate, cured tuna over ricotta with a touch of pesto, and grilled octopus with pesto. Yes...pesto. This area had a lot of Ligurian settlers over the years, so they brought pesto from Genova with them. And I love how the Sardinian and Sicilian chefs break the seafood/cheese rule and combine the two! The cured tuna over ricotta was a play on the classic Sicilian smoked fish with ricotta and honey. Next up were two wonderful pastas....a thick rope-like pasta, similar to Korean ddukbokki with pesto and a terrific light vegetable couscous, also traditional in the area. After that was the grilled tuna, served rare over a tomato-less ratatouille and drizzled with a reduction of Cannonau red wine and a bit of balsamic. I hate balsamic reductions, but this was so subtly done I thought it was a glace de viande meat reduction. Dessert was a fun take on cassata siciliana, deconstructed a bit in a good way. The waiters were charming, helpful, and the whole ambiance relaxing. read more

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