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039: One of the best authentic Italian meals ever
Antichi Sopori is definitely serves one of the best authentic
Italian meals ever — really one of the best meals ever period.
And, to be perfectly honest, I use the word "authentic" mostly
for Google. Because, while these dishes are spectacular, the chef
takes traditional Italian foods and refines and redefines them to
create totally original tasty little morsels. In other words,
while the dishes could have originally come from your grandmother's
kitchen, these particular dishes are probably something no Italian
grandmother would make. Certainly not Mama Cappelli.
A majority of their ingredients for each dish come from their
large garden a few meters away from the restaurant. So it is
a nice, heavy vegetarian meal (until you get to the meat course, of
course).
The head chef, Pietro Zito, couldn't be a nicer guy and his
staff really is top quality. The waiters know everything
about the menu and every dish, while also serving everything with a
flourish and a smile.
Hopefully the pictures and descriptions along with the podcast
give you at least a taste of the amazing meal you can have when
visiting.
A little wine to start off the meal
You'll see a bottle of their extra virgin olive oil
also in the background.
Baby fresh fava beans
Served in a light sauce of lemon and oil.
Cheese antipasti
Clockwise starting at the top: Dried sausage. Ricotta
with candied celery. Pecorino with candied carrots. Caciocavallo
with candied onions. Capicola with pickled broccoli spears.
Vegetable antipasti
Clockwise starting at the top: an artichoke cooked
"old-style" with cheese inside; a frittata made from fresh baby
greens; kale stuffed with ricotta and squash
Artichokes
Grilled baby artichokes on a bed of mashed
potatoes
Onions Gratine
Onions covered with breadcrumbs and cheese and baked
until brown.
Focaccia
Foccacia made with Senator Cappelli grain (the same
grain as our pasta)
Sheep's milk cheese with fresh fava beans
The
cheese literally melted in your mouth and paired with the tart fava
beans the combinations was blow-away
Troccoli
A
square spaghetti-like pasta with a sauce of brazed scallions,
brazed tomatoes, and smoked sausage
The scarpetta
Remember, bread is not there to fill you up before
your meal! Italians use bread to mop up any sauce left after the
pasta is gone. Literally it means "little shoe" I guess because it
looks like you are making a little shoe move across your plate?
I'll have research that name...
Orecchiette
Orecchiette (or little ears) a very traditional pasta
in Puglia made from grano arso with a wild broccoli rape. Be sure
to listen to Paul's explanation of what grano arso is and why it's
called tat. It's at around the 11 minute mark.
Note this is not the exact pasta we had. It's the same
pasta, but a different sauce. But I wanted to show you this
dish so you could see the style of pasta
Crudite
Polignano a Mare carrots and fennel
Fresh fava beans
Straight from the restaurant's garden
Lamb with roasted potatoes
Roasted lamb thigh. This melted in your mouth. One of
the best lambs I've ever had.
The lamb with gravy
The
gravy was almost as good as the lamb itself. This dish was
something I'd love to perfect at home. I think that's a challenge
to myself!
Pork steak
This
melted in your mouth, too. I mean. I was dying. This was so good.
To be honest, their meat dishes have never been the highlight of
their meals, but they really stepped up their game with these two.
I would go back just for this. And I LOVED everything else. But
seriously. I hope these become standard on the menu!
Cassata (sort of)
Sponge cake soaked in either fruit juice or liquor,
later with ricotta cheese and then a thin shell of chocolate with
chocolate sauce drizzled on top.
This is, again, more their take on a traditional cassata so I
use that term loosely. But whatever it's called, it's
delicious.
After-dinner drinks
Nocino and limoncello with some sugar-coated almonds.
Want to make your own limoncello, check out our recipe here. Trust
me. It's so much better.
Here's where you'll find our "Crack" Almonds: Sugar. Like the ones you
see pictured here.
Baba a rum
A
small spongy cake soaked in rum served with cream.
Deconstructed Tiramisu
Lady
fingers dipped in coffee later with marscapone topped with a
sprinkling of chocolate and crumbled almond cookies
Apple Torte
Not
my favorite, but still delicious
Mama Cappelli
I'm
not sure she LOVED the place as much as we did. She liked all the
meals, but as with any traditional Italian grandmother, if it's not
the way her family made it, it's not really the right way.
Here's where you can find out more about Antichi Sapori.
Do you agree it's one of the best authentic meals ever?
What are you thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.
View all episodes
By Paul Cappelli & Steven Crutchfield, discussing all things Italian: food, cu
4.7
168168 ratings
Antichi Sopori is definitely serves one of the best authentic
Italian meals ever — really one of the best meals ever period.
And, to be perfectly honest, I use the word "authentic" mostly
for Google. Because, while these dishes are spectacular, the chef
takes traditional Italian foods and refines and redefines them to
create totally original tasty little morsels. In other words,
while the dishes could have originally come from your grandmother's
kitchen, these particular dishes are probably something no Italian
grandmother would make. Certainly not Mama Cappelli.
A majority of their ingredients for each dish come from their
large garden a few meters away from the restaurant. So it is
a nice, heavy vegetarian meal (until you get to the meat course, of
course).
The head chef, Pietro Zito, couldn't be a nicer guy and his
staff really is top quality. The waiters know everything
about the menu and every dish, while also serving everything with a
flourish and a smile.
Hopefully the pictures and descriptions along with the podcast
give you at least a taste of the amazing meal you can have when
visiting.
A little wine to start off the meal
You'll see a bottle of their extra virgin olive oil
also in the background.
Baby fresh fava beans
Served in a light sauce of lemon and oil.
Cheese antipasti
Clockwise starting at the top: Dried sausage. Ricotta
with candied celery. Pecorino with candied carrots. Caciocavallo
with candied onions. Capicola with pickled broccoli spears.
Vegetable antipasti
Clockwise starting at the top: an artichoke cooked
"old-style" with cheese inside; a frittata made from fresh baby
greens; kale stuffed with ricotta and squash
Artichokes
Grilled baby artichokes on a bed of mashed
potatoes
Onions Gratine
Onions covered with breadcrumbs and cheese and baked
until brown.
Focaccia
Foccacia made with Senator Cappelli grain (the same
grain as our pasta)
Sheep's milk cheese with fresh fava beans
The
cheese literally melted in your mouth and paired with the tart fava
beans the combinations was blow-away
Troccoli
A
square spaghetti-like pasta with a sauce of brazed scallions,
brazed tomatoes, and smoked sausage
The scarpetta
Remember, bread is not there to fill you up before
your meal! Italians use bread to mop up any sauce left after the
pasta is gone. Literally it means "little shoe" I guess because it
looks like you are making a little shoe move across your plate?
I'll have research that name...
Orecchiette
Orecchiette (or little ears) a very traditional pasta
in Puglia made from grano arso with a wild broccoli rape. Be sure
to listen to Paul's explanation of what grano arso is and why it's
called tat. It's at around the 11 minute mark.
Note this is not the exact pasta we had. It's the same
pasta, but a different sauce. But I wanted to show you this
dish so you could see the style of pasta
Crudite
Polignano a Mare carrots and fennel
Fresh fava beans
Straight from the restaurant's garden
Lamb with roasted potatoes
Roasted lamb thigh. This melted in your mouth. One of
the best lambs I've ever had.
The lamb with gravy
The
gravy was almost as good as the lamb itself. This dish was
something I'd love to perfect at home. I think that's a challenge
to myself!
Pork steak
This
melted in your mouth, too. I mean. I was dying. This was so good.
To be honest, their meat dishes have never been the highlight of
their meals, but they really stepped up their game with these two.
I would go back just for this. And I LOVED everything else. But
seriously. I hope these become standard on the menu!
Cassata (sort of)
Sponge cake soaked in either fruit juice or liquor,
later with ricotta cheese and then a thin shell of chocolate with
chocolate sauce drizzled on top.
This is, again, more their take on a traditional cassata so I
use that term loosely. But whatever it's called, it's
delicious.
After-dinner drinks
Nocino and limoncello with some sugar-coated almonds.
Want to make your own limoncello, check out our recipe here. Trust
me. It's so much better.
Here's where you'll find our "Crack" Almonds: Sugar. Like the ones you
see pictured here.
Baba a rum
A
small spongy cake soaked in rum served with cream.
Deconstructed Tiramisu
Lady
fingers dipped in coffee later with marscapone topped with a
sprinkling of chocolate and crumbled almond cookies
Apple Torte
Not
my favorite, but still delicious
Mama Cappelli
I'm
not sure she LOVED the place as much as we did. She liked all the
meals, but as with any traditional Italian grandmother, if it's not
the way her family made it, it's not really the right way.
Here's where you can find out more about Antichi Sapori.
Do you agree it's one of the best authentic meals ever?
What are you thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.