Gorilla Restaurant Review Continues- A Tour of Palermo

Why do we call it Gorilla review? It was just one of those days when we were eating out, and moaning about tiny wine glasses and colored plates. We were also browsing a well known restaurant guide, 2 actually, and thought, you know all they have is the same 10 recommendations apiece. They're are great customer reviews online, and we thought we'd add our own. Currently limited to one half of Sicily. The Gorilla? That's where we say what we want, and we invite others to do so as well.

All the places we go to over and over, and a new one.

Kebabs. Just next to the Central Train Station on the corner of Girolamo Ardizzone and Piazza Giulio Cesare is Al Baraka Kebab, which is an Halal butchers and kebab shop. There are no tables here, but we often ask right next door at the tavola calda, if we buy a bottle of wine can we sit at their nice shaded tables with our kebab. They have been really wonderful about this, but I think the purchase of something significant is important as they also serve food.Back to Al Baraka, they slice the meat from it's skewer, and then grill it again. The bread is crisped next to the grill, fresh onions, sliced tomatoes, and with coaxing mountains of harissa. Succulent meat, fresh bread and spicy harissa for 3 euro! The price had actually dropped from 4 the last visit in December 2011. Crazy. Although this might have to do with a new kebab shop down the street.

Before and after dinner drinks? Welcome to Ai Chiavettieri, Nuova Taverna located on Via Chiavettieri, just on the edge of the La Vucciria Market. We were staying just over the road from this bar, where we found outdoor heating and over 100 wines, that you could have by the glass or the bottle. They seem happy to open anything. The selection is primarily Sicilian, but they also have more international choices. They mix cocktails as well, and always offer snacks. If you get so happy you just want to stay, they also have a limited menu. This is a local watering spot, very few tourists when we were there in December. We fell in love immediately. The owners and staff are friendly, and most importantly all seem to like working there. After our second visit, we were greeted as though we'd always been coming there, and by our 3rd we starting meeting people and scraping by with our hideously limited Italian. The problem with places like this? We started looking at apartment prices. We can't wait to visit again in spring and summer.

Enzo's, located one street over from Al Baraka, on Via Francesco Maurolico, is our favorite sit down restaurant in Palermo. Well we've not found better yet. We ate here twice in December 2011, once on Christmas Day, and again on New Year's Eve, before we caught the afternoon bus back to Cianciana. It was wet and cold on Christmas, and after making a pretense of a walk we headed towards Enzo's. Who happily was open and welcoming, we were early and the tiny dining room was still empty. We indulged in mussels (cozze) prepared with black pepper, you cannot hide the quality and freshness of the mussels when the only 2 flavorings are black pepper and lemon. Heavenly. We also had tagliatelle con sepia (pasta in squid ink), and also salt cod and steamed potatoes, a delicious white wine, Cusumano Insolia. As we were starting our second courses, we were talking about trying the Chinese restaurant next door to Enzo's, when the whole family who owns it came in to have lunch at Enzo's. Hmm, is that a good recommendation? We'll find out, but it's certainly a compliment to Enzo's. Welcoming and delicious every time.

Okay, there are 2 actually. One is Santandrea, located in Piazza Sant'Andrea just behind Via Roma. (Date of visit: Decmber 2011) You can already read quite mixed reviews about this place, from the raving to the miserable. But we'll have to add to the thumbs down side. I think we felt we were suffering from austerity measures, pay more for less. Overall the main problem was flavorless food and a rather tense atmosphere concerning service. The wait staff was barely speaking to each other, and this always makes any dining experience a bit sad. As so many tables were waiting for ages and ages (and it was not that crowded), there was a dis-satisfied hush across the dining room. It was our shared starter that really went wrong. We ordered pesce cruda, (pictured), with rather pretentious drizzle art, it would have been helped greatly if there had even been a pinch of salt, or olive oil, or lemon (all 3 things that Sicily is rightly famous for). The strangely tasteless bitter scant drops of sauce were horrible, and each little pile of raw fish, well they didn't lie, that's all it was. The fish was fresh, we can't fault that. However putting 2 euro worth of fish on a plate, and charging 13 euro you rather expect some flavor. The main courses which showed up nearly 40 minutes later, sounded full of possibility. We were being positive. You think what doesn't sound good about calamari stuffed with a mixture of pumpkin, and other seasonal root veggies, served on winter greens. Yum. Nope, again it was just this crazy lack of any taste. The stuffing was just chunks of boiled veggie. The greens were excellent. We fought over them. We didn't even have an espresso, we just wanted to leave. I think that this is really a hit or miss destination. Personally, we say no thanks.

Our second non-recommendation?? Well in it's La Vucciria Market. You read so many good reviews of places, but Ai Maccheronai is not one of them. The menu was obviously printed when they first opened, as they have none of the wines listed, but a few pricey bottles hanging about the restaurant. We should've known. I suppose if you want to know the reliability of any place, order risotto. Well, in this case it was risotto con pistacchio e gamberoni, (pistachio and shrimp). What actually arrived was grey, gluey and pretty much inedible. We don't send food back, we just don't come again. Even though the spaghetti with seafood was better, it's hard to enjoy when your dining party is staring at a plate of food that has brought her nearly to tears. That bad. Silly though, as they have a wonderful location and atmosphere with high vaulted ceilings and all they need is some good food. Food first. We consoled ourselves the next day at the no-name friggitoria (a fried food seller), located at the other end of La Vucciria toward via Vittorio Emanuele, excellent!

We don't have a photo of another fabulous place in Palermo, which is a Tunisian kebab and cous-cous restaurant on via Bara all'Olivella, three blocks away from the Teatro Massimo, called La Traviata. We sat outside last October 2011, and enjoyed some of the best cous-cous we've had in a restaurant. So we'll go again, get some photos, and write a proper review.

Buon Apetito!