Lo Stuzzichino, at Sant'Agata
sui Due Golfi
Vincenzo
d'Antonio continues his
travels around the Bay of Naples
and Sorrento, discovering little
gems of restaurants that the Michelin
inspectors somehow fail to notice...
Sant'Agata sui
Due Golfi,
that's Saint Agatha on the two
gulfs. It's a very small hill town
not far from Sorrento, and it's
famous for the best restaurant
of South of Italy: Don Alfonso with
its 3 Michelin stars. OK, but we
are talking about Stuzzichino,
not about Don Alfonso.
Why two gulfs ?
Which are these two gulfs ??
They are the Gulf of Naples and the Gulf of Salerno.
When you go to Sant'Agata, which
I hope you will, you can see the
Gulf of Naples on your right and
the Gulf of Salerno on your left
side. From Sorrento to Sant'Agata
you drive along a wonderful road
- in a few moments you can see
Vesuvius, Naples and, very far
off, Ischia. Minutes later the
Amalfitan Coast and Cilento appear
in the distance. Last winter we
saw snow! I leave Sorrento with
the noise of cars, buses and the
buzz of the continual crowd of
international tourists in my ears.
I reach Sant'Agata and I'm hearing
the noise of the silence: I'm nearer
to the sky and the sky is blue,
the same colour of the seas: two
seas, two gulfs.
From every part of Italy, gourmets
arrive at Sant'Agata to have lunch
or, better, dinner in Don Alfonso,
the best restaurant of the South
of Italy. The best restaurant between
Rome and Sicily. I agree, up to
a point. Don Alfonso has become
very important and famous, so he
often goes to cook for VIPs at
Monte Carlo and when he is absent
his kitchen isn't alright, although
he has a good staff of international
young chefs.
Anyway we'll go and see his famous
place: it is a nice place. OK,
been there, seen it, so come on.
We're going to have a delicious
lunch at Lo Stuzzichino,
only a few metres away from Don
Alfonso, but a long distance for
my wallet.
Lo Stuzzichino means something
you can eat as either a first course
or a second course and this is
the name of this restaurant's signature
dish: stuzzichino.
The kitchen is in full view so
you can see husband and wife. Smiling,
they are cooking for you - beginning
only after you make your choice.
So, you must wait, for here you
never eat ready made dishes. Mimmo
and Rosario look after the front
of house. They are bringing the
dining room up to date, without
spoiling the traditional ambience,
we hope.
For your first course I suggest
the red fez. It is a timballo
of maccheroni with fresh tomatoes
that give the strong and fine red
colour to the plate. We liked it
very much. There's bacon wrapped
around a bed of fior di latte so
that it becomes a grilled tube.
The knife that cuts it reveals
two foods that, in the brief cooking,
have married very well. Your mouth
is in agreement.
But we nearly always choose stuzzichino
which are small pizze with tomatoes
and provola, balls of rice and
bacon, pockets with ricotta and
fiordilatte, small tubes of bacon,
ciambotta. Ciambotta is a mix of
peperoni and melanzane (egg plant).
The style of the chef is to practice
the best mix between the kitchen
of both the Gulfs! We don't drink
very well. It's the only weakness
of Stuzzichino. Wines are few and
not the best, but Mimmo is about
to improve the wine list: let's
hope it will become a very good
wine list. So, we drink beer: normal,
good beer. Mandatory stop: dessert
is arriving. Delizia al limone.
Never I ate a so delicious delizia:
handmade by the chef, a great chef.
Don't ask for limoncello to
drink, it's much too ordinary,
but ask Rosaria for Negrito. Negrito
is a liqueur made from myrtle berries.
Its colour is almost black. Is
very dark, but sweet enough: very,
very good.
Hurry is far from Stuzzichino:
we have wonderful, slow food and
slowly we drink another glass of
Negrito (and another and another)
before we ask for the bill. We
were two persons and our bill was
40,000 lire, not per person, but
for both!
Yes, it is so. Ciao, Mimmo, ciao
Miss Rosaria, we'll come back here
often; here heaven is a place easy
to imagine.
Vincenzo d'Antonio 14th March
1999
LO STUZZICHINO
Via Deserto, 3
SANT'AGATA SUI DUE GOLFI - 6 km from Sorrento
Tel. 0039 081 5330010
Lunch and Dinner
Closed on Wednesday and for three weeks in February
