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.