After a wonderful dinner, we returned to Da Bacco for lunch and dinner the next day to see if our…read morefirst night had been unusual. Things went from very good to great. Stefano not only continued sharing his knowledge of Sicilian wines but recommended Enoteca Picone to further our experience which was perfect advice.
Lunch for me was fried octopus, which was 4 legs, each 6" (150 mm.) long and crispy on the outside and tender but slightly chewy on the inside like great fried chicken. I had seen a plate the night before and actually dreamed of them. They did not disappoint.
She chose another iteration of cozze from the specials menu. These mussels were steamed in beer with fresh ginger and were comparably good to the sautéed but slightly more subtle. It turns out that dishes on the specials menu can work their way onto the standard menu if the patrons insist and the chef came out to ask for a comparison. We repeated the contorni plate of chef's choice vegetables that repeated the potato slices but added grill zucchini and oven dried onion that was sweet with all of the bitter components gone and the consistency of a very thin potato chip.
We tried to rein in for dinner with pasta only. I had the Sicilian classic Pasta a la Norma with strong fresh tomato, soft eggplant, and sweet onion. It demanded scarpetta even with a white linen table cloth. She had pasta with prawns that was subtle and delicate with a lighter tomato sauce with herbs. We repeated the wines from the night before. We left feeling sad to think we probably wouldn't be back on this trip but smiling from the stomach up.