Italian Culinary Adventure 2003 ~ Days Eight & Nine ~ Taormina, Sicily

View Of Taormina, Sicily

We departed for Rome bright and early to return the car to the Rome airport where we picked it up, and for my husband and I to catch a flight to Sicily. The rest of my family planned on spending a couple of nights in Rome before flying home. The drive to the Rome airport took longer than anticipated, but we finally arrived, dropped off the van, said goodbye to the rest of our family and checked in at our gate. The flight to Catania from Rome was just an hour and a half long, and we arrived right on schedule. Unfortunately though, not all of our luggage arrived with us. We reported our missing suitcase, found the driver I had booked through the hotel, and headed to Taormina.

I had chosen to stay at Baia Taormina which was situated a short ride from the historical city center. The hotel was built on the side of rocky cliffs, with a beautiful view of the sea. The drive from Catania to our hotel in Taormina was just short of an hour, and was an interesting mix of populated towns, rocky mountains, and lush flowering bushes lining the highway. We arrived, checked in, and set out to explore the historical center taking the hotel shuttle bus into the city.

Taormina stands at an altitude of 250 meters overlooking the sea, at the base of Mount Tauro, and facing Mount Etna. Since it was Saturday evening, the center was packed with people, both tourists and locals. The main street, Corso Umberto, and the three large streets that run off of it, are lined with shops, bars, and restaurants that we spent a couple of hours exploring, along with Taormina's famous Greek theater seen at the left. Taormina was actually larger than I had expected, and was quite clean despite the number of tourists that visit it daily. Geraniums cascaded over window sills, while brightly colored Bougainvillea climbed up the walls of many buildings. We then sat at an outdoor bar in the piazza in front of the Duomo, and watched the sun set over the sea along the rocky cliffs in the distance. At about 8pm, we decided to head over to our chosen restaurant, La Grigia, a small, pretty place in the center of town. We were seated at a small table in the front of the restaurant, and ordered some sparkling water and a bottle of the local white wine.

My husband ordered an antipasto of seafood carpaccio to begin his meal, while I ordered the scallops listed on the menu. The scallops were described as "gratinate", which I thought would mean they would have been breaded and baked. Instead, the scallops arrived swimming in a heavy cream sauce which I felt was too heavy for the delicate scallops. My husband's carpaccio consisted of thin slices of salmon, tuna, and swordfish, lightly drizzled with lemon and olive oil. The dish was extremely fresh, and delicious.

For our second course, I chose involtini di spada, or swordfish rolls prepared with wild fennel. Thin slices of swordfish were filled with a mixture of bread crumbs, fennel, onion, garlic, and herbs, and were then lightly grilled. A dollop of tomato sauce flavored with more fennel was used to garnish the swordfish rolls, enhancing the light, fresh flavor of the fennel. My husband chose swordfish prepared "Palermo style", which we found meant cutting the fish into slices, lightly breading and then sautéing. It was served with lemon wedges and was delicious. We have since prepared swordfish a number of times at home in this same manner. See my recipe for Palermo Style Swordfish.

By the time we finished dinner, we made our way back through town enjoying the fresh, salty sea breeze. We caught the hotel shuttle back to the hotel, and enjoyed a liqueur and coffee in the outdoor bar listening to a talented piano player for a short while before heading to bed.

Hotel Baia Taormina
Statale dello Ionio, 39
Marina d'Agrò ( Messina )
Sicily Italy
+39-0942- 756 292
+39-0942- 756 293

Ristorante La Griglia
Corso Umberto 54
Taormina
+39-0942- 23980
My Impressions: Although I didn't enjoy my first course, the food was good. I did not enjoy the atmosphere as much as I had in the other restaurants in Taormina however, and in fact our table was just a little too crowded in a tight corner.

The next three days were spent in the same manner beginning with a nice buffet breakfast at the hotel, after which we headed down to the pools when they opened at 10am. The hotel has both a saltwater and a freshwater pool which are situated side by side overlooking the sea. My husband sat in the sun, while I read under a large umbrella, enjoying a few relaxing days after the fast pace we kept the previous week. We ate a light lunch salad at the poolside restaurant each day, and luxuriated in the Sicilian sun and sea breeze. The hotel also has a workout room and day spa which guests can take advantage of if they desire. Late each afternoon, we showered and changed, and took the hotel shuttle into the city to eat dinner. Although I initially tried to find a suitable hotel in the actual historical center, once I arrived I was glad our hotel was away from the busy streets. We were just a short shuttle ride into town whenever we chose to go, but had the solitude of a peaceful seaside hotel where we were at Baia Taormina.

Day Nine

The traffic into town was much heavier than it had been the night before, and the streets were much more crowded. It seemed that many folks wanted to spend some time in town after enjoying the sea for the weekend before heading home. Taormina was also celebrating La Festa Della Madonna that weekend, with a parade through town, and many other festivities planned through the local churches which brought all the locals into town that weekend. There were also a couple of weddings in town, with a crowd of family and friends marching behind each of the wedding couples as they made their way through the streets of Taormina. After I finally could not take any more of the crowded streets, we headed over to the main piazza once again to sit and enjoy the evening with a nice glass of aperitivo while we waited for the crowds to thin.

The restaurant of choice that night was La Dracena, and since it was such a beautiful evening, they were seating everyone outdoors in their pretty garden area. We ordered more of the local white wine, and perused the menu for a while before choosing what we would eat. I ended up choosing the pasta special of the day which was homemade lobster ravioli in a light, creamy, tomato and lobster sauce. I had been worried as seafood stuffed pasta can be at times bland, but the flavorful sauce studded with chunks of lobster meat, brought the dish together nicely. My husband chose the local specialty, a pasta with sardines, which consisted of a large plate of gemeli pasta topped with a simple sauce made with sardines, wild fennel, and bread crumbs. Not being a big fan of sardines myself, I was hesitant to taste it, but actually the sardine were so fresh, it was delicious.

For our second course, I chose the Palermo style swordfish my husband had enjoyed the night before since it was so tasty, and it was just as delicious as we had remembered it. I had a salad of mixed wild greens to accompany it, which complimented it nicely. My husband chose yet another swordfish specialty, this one cooked in a sauce of tomatoes, capers, and green olives. We were very satisfied with our meal choices, and found we were truly enjoying the fresh seafood specialties of Sicily which were very different from most of the meals we had in Tuscany.

Ristorante La Dracena
Via Michele Amari
Taormina, Italy
+039-0942- 23491
My Impressions: I would definitely recommend this restaurant. Our meal was delicious, the atmosphere in the outdoor garden where we sat thoroughly enjoyable, and the staff pleasant and efficient.

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Buon Appetito!
Deborah Mele 2003
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