• E-mail to a Friend
  • Print Print
  • RSS RSS
  • AddThis

Eating Around Puglia

Return to main article

Osteria Perricci, Monopoli
Puglia has a more evolved antipasto culture than perhaps any other region in Italy. At proto-rustic Perricci, you can't get away with less than salt-cod fritters, boiled octopus, anchovies, tomato bruschetta, and raw cuttlefish. For full-blown antipasto, multiply the number of dishes by two—then follow with a buttery grilled sarago.
1 Via Orazio Comes; 39-080/937-2208; dinner for two $48.

Ristorante ai Portici, Martina Franca
The custom of having crudités for dessert never made the crossing to the United States. Neither did gnomarelli—bits of liver, lung, heart, or spleen bound in intestines. They're for fans of organ meats but also for thosewho've sworn never to eat them. At Portici, on one of the most romantic piazze in Puglia, the brochettes are part of an arrosto misto that includes sausage and baby kid chops. If you want to look like you belong, finish with raw vegetables and dip them in salt. If you want to look like you just got off the plane, dip them in olive oil.
6 Piazza Maria Immacolata; 39-080/480-1702; dinner for two $72.

Al Fornello da Ricci, Ceglie Messapica
So many people hammered away at me about this being one of Puglia's best restaurants, I finally gave in—despite my history of overwrought meals in Italy at any place with a Michelin star (Ricci has one). As throughout the region, ordering the antipasto is fun because you don't know how many dishes you'll be getting, or even what they're going to be. In brisk succession come deep-fried veal balls, which taste like gunshot; adorable mint omelettes; zucchini- and ricotta-plumped fritters; and breaded and fried balls of ricotta forte. Antonella Ricci is a talented chef, but a conflicted one, offering cucumber mousse for the Michelin inspectors and farro in rabbit-flecked tomato sauce for disciples of cucina povera.
Contrada Montevicoli; 39-0831/377-104; dinner for two $120.

Il Frantoio, Ostuni
If you like excess, you'll love this storybook masseria, whose10-course dinner makes it a must-stop for collectors of Eating Experiences. Like many degustation menus, Il Frantoio's goes on too long, with authoritative dishes (chickpea soup with fresh borage pasta) jumbled in with lesser ones (green beans in cheese baskets). Still, the goodwill is palpable, and it's hard to argue with an all-women kitchen. Nine homely guest rooms are several notches above those of other agriturismo masserie.
S.S. 16, km 874; 39-0831/330-276; dinner for two, with wine, $119.

Macelleria Demola Vincenzo and Arrosteria del Vicoletto, Cisternino
This town's butchers don't merely sell meat—they roast it and serve it, whether right in their shops or, as at Demola, in a neighboring arrosteria. The drill's the same for housewives shopping for dinner as for those who continue on to Vicoletto: step up to the counter, chat with the butcher about what's best, and make your choice. People headed for the arrosteria mix it up with a pork chop, an escallop of veal with a bread crumb-parsley-Parmesan filling, a couple of sausages, and a handful of gnomarelli. Mamma threads them all onto skewers, then walks them up to Vicoletto, where you take a seat on a hard bench at a bare table while your order sputters in the wood-burning oven.
2 (macelleria) and 6 (arrosteria) Via Giulio II; 39-080/444-8063; dinner for two $48.

Ristorante Alberosole, Bari
Alberosole exudes prosperity, with bankers in Brioni suits dining on pea pod-shaped pasta with anchovies, pine nuts, and mint. The dining room has a contemporary feel that marries handsomely with the old stone floor and cathedral ceiling.
13 Corso Vittorio Emanuele; 39-080/523-5446; lunch for two $96.

Alle Due Corti, Lecce
The menu is in a dialect most Italians find impenetrable, which tells you everything you need to know about this restaurant's commitment to pugliese culinary traditions. Loud, bright, and frill-less, this is the place for real-deal tajeddha (layered potatoes, rice, and mussels) and ciceri e tria (boiled and crisp-fried pasta with chickpeas).
1 Corte dei Giugni; 39-0832/242-223; dinner for two $58.

Trattoria Cucina Casareccia, Lecce
Casareccia's version of that most emblematic of pugliese dishes—braised wild chicory with a purée of (boiled) dried fava beans—is epic. The trattoria used to be a private house, and it still feels like one, with patterned cement floor tiles, paneling, and a desk piled with bills and letters. I've lived in France for 22 years, but it took traveling to Puglia to hook me on horsemeat, which is sweeter than beef and is done here in a salsa piccante.
19 Via Colonnello Costadura; 39-0832/245-178; dinner for two $60.

Aria Corte Sapori Antichi, Marittima di Diso
With bridles and yokes supplying the decoration, this village restaurant is an unprepossessing monument to down-home pugliese cooking. Antipasti swing from silky fried peppers with capers and mint to timbales of fresh anchovies with tomatoes and bread crumbs. Athena and Alistair McAlpine ate here almost daily for months while restoring their convent.
32 Via Roma; 39-0836/920-272; dinner for two $48.

Copyright © 2008, American Express Publishing. All rights reserved.