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Places of the Month Taste of the Month |
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Cana Wine Bar Finding Sicilian Wines Cin-Cin Restaurant Wines of Sicily Giardino dei Melograni Restaurant This wine bar is located in a medieval building at Via Alloro 105 in old Palermo. It's a narrow street that runs behind Piazza Marina not far from Piazza San Francesco d'Assisi. They're open evenings. Cana's name alludes to the ancient town where Jesus turned water into wine. Operated by a charming local couple, Cana offers delightful tastes (and sales) of Sicilian reds like Nero d'Avola and native Sicilian whites, as well as international varietals (such as Chardonnay) made by Sicily's best vintners. A number of fortified and sweet wines are also available. You can order by the bottle or the glass. You'll be surprised at the wide variety. (We were, and we live in Sicily.) Everything here is Sicilian, and its tranquil, intimate, quasi-medieval atmosphere makes Cana more intimate and accomodating than most of its competitors. Just finding these places is so difficult that it's usually only the locals who know about them, and our tour manager sometimes discourages our informing the general public about places like Cana because doing so gives ideas to competing tour operators. (Sorry Margherita, but the place and the people were so nice that we didn't want Cana to be overlooked by our readers.) Realistically, most of these establishments are so poorly advertised to an international clientele that they're virtually invisible to people planning a visit to Sicily. It's a simple fact that finding the best Sicilian wines outside Sicily is anything but simple. There's Corvo, and Tasca's Regaleali, good houses which enjoy international distribution, but what about all the others? Few boast a substantial presence in foreign (non-Italian) markets. Even if you come to Sicily, you'll have to find a shop like Confezionando (see above) for a good selection of wines and liqueurs. Now there's a simple solution. Buy them over the internet! For the cost of shipping and a minimum order of six bottles, Clapp (whose unusual name has a complex history we won't describe here) will send your purchase directly to you. Their Sicilian wine website has English descriptions of dozens of Sicily's best vintages. In fact, Clapp is the only international vendor of Sicilian wines on the internet based here in Sicily. They're not importers or e-commerce newcomers, but retailers with years of practical experience in this field. And their wines are exceptional.
The meat dishes are superb, things like tender pork steaks in Marsala wine sauce with almonds. Better than veal Marsala. The pastas are more than satisfying. Our favourite, in the cooler months leading into Sicily's early Spring, is the tempting pasta with urchin sauce. This dish has been served in Sicily for centuries, though a local chef claims to have invented it (bringing to mind the fettucini "Alfredo" madness in New York), but Cin-Cin's is the best version we've had. If Cin-Cin is the haunt of "Palermo Bene," the city's upper crust, it's due as much to the elegant atmosphere and attentive service as the cuisine. Removed from the "group tour circuit," it is centrally located and remarkably serene in a city whose "popular" restaurants are characterised by annoying background noise. That's just one element of its appeal. You may find it refreshing to dine in a fine Sicilian restaurant where English is understood. Compliments to the owners' long sojourn in the United States, there are occasional Cajun offerings. Located at Via Manin 22 in Palermo, Cin-Cin is open for lunch and dinner Monday through Friday, and Saturdays for dinner. They're closed August and part of July. A complete dinner with wine runs to about 35 euros, and major credit cards are accepted. (For more information visit their website.) The folks here in Sicily who promote tourism and Sicilian products at the "official" (governmental) level aren't exactly, let's say, "the sharpest pencils in the box" when it comes to editorial and marketing skills. (That's why you're reading our site instead of one of theirs.) That said, Sicily's private sector sometimes functions remarkably well. Recently, Sicilian Wine Lovers, a private organisation, launched the best website we've seen that is dedicated entirely to Sicilian wines. In fact, it's the only Sicilian wine site we have seen that is published in English and frequently updated. It has a quarterly online magazine. Check it out at WinesofSicily.Info. A great restaurant in Mondello, outside Palermo, a short distance from the other resataurants. It's on a side street a brief five-minute walk from the shore. Good seafood dishes, great pizzas and good desserts. In Summer, there's also a schedule of live music and dinner theatre. Visit their website. |
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It's fashionably Baroque --aristocratic in a seventeenth century kind
of way. Cin-Cin (whose name comes from a phrase used in Italian toasts)
specialises in Sicilian cuisine, with the occasional Cajun dish --more about
that in a moment. What should be mentioned is that many Sicilian recipes
were, until recently, handed down orally from one generation to the next.
This accounts for "variances" in the same Sicilian dish in the
hands of different chefs. It so happens that Cin-Cin's interpretation of
certain traditional Sicilian recipes is the best we've tasted.