mbresso

I'm making up a little list. In New Orleans there's gumbo, jambalaya and Hurricanes; in San Francisco, sourdough bread, Dungeness crab and Irish coffee; and New England has their lobsters, etc.

So, in that vein, if you were visiting the AMALFI COAST,

(1) What city or regional food or drink specialty is something you MUST experience because it's just not the same anywhere else; and

(2) At what place or establishment in particular prepares or provides it the best?

Eloise

Limoncello (a digestif made with the rind of the Amalfi lemon), for one. The best are those that are made locally from the local lemons. A brand that I happen to like is Valle dei Mulini.

There is a lemon pastry that looks vaguely like a breast -- round with a "nipple" on top -- made with a pâte brisée bottom, filled with a light lemon cream and covered with a lemon fondant. I'm sure it has a name, but I'm afraid I've forgotten it. I bought it at an elegant pastry shop on the "main drag" in Amalfi.

ira

Hi mb,

On the AC, anything made with the local lemons.

Cooking with leaves from the local trees.

Local olive oils and wines.

Pizza Margherita made with tomatoes grown on the slopes of Mt. Vesuvius. They do have a different taste.

Giovanna

I absolutely love Gnocchi Sorrentina, a specialty in Sorrento.

Caprese salad is another favorite and, as Ira said, because the tomatoes are so delicious it makes the salad here very special.

mermaid_

I liked the calamari dishes I had in Sorrento. All the seafood along the Amalfi Coast is delicious, to tell you the truth.

This may seem an odd recommendation, but we ate at our hotel's restaurant, not in town. I knew from family who'd stayed there before that they had an excellent chef, and we were not disappointed! The hotel is Il Nido; website with full menu and photographs is www.ilnido.com. Take a look and be prepared to wish you were in their dining room right now.

Eloise

Torta Caprese, a very light cake made with chocolate and ground almonds, dusted with icing sugar. I'm sure it's available in any café or pastry shop; I had it at the Caffè Gambrinus near the Teatro San Carlo in Naples.

ira

Also, go to Napoli and try the sfogliatelle .

TexasAggie

ira, what is sfogliatelle?

MLT

Some of the best meals I've ever had were at Hotel San Pietro on the Amalfi Coast just outside of Positano. While it's not actually indigenous to the AC, my husband and I had the best frozen bellinis on San Pietro's beautiful terrace with its amazing panoramic view of Positano.

Memorable dishes included: spaghetti with local grown cherry tomotoes, garlic, olive oil and fresh basil; fresh buffalo mozzarella grilled on lemon leaves; grilled langoustines with herb butter and lemon -- all simple yet exquisite.

caroline_edinburgh

mermaid is right, "All the seafood along the Amalfi Coast is delicious". I've never eaten meat once there. There's one pasta dish in particular called something like scogliatelle - fat twists of pasta with mixed seafood - mmm !

Another fave - mozzarella barbecued on a lemon leaf.

Eloise

TexasAggie: Since Ira has not returned to the thread, I'll take the liberty of telling you what sfogliatelle are.

They are shaped a little like some sea shells and I've heard them called lobster-shaped. They are made of leaf pastry and come in different sizes. They also come with different fillings: riccota lightened with whipped cream and with dried fruit added (sometimes also chocolate bits), lightened ricotta with a lemon flavor, vanilla custard.

The ricotta ones tend to be large and to be eaten as pastries. The smaller ones filled with custard are sometimes served at breakfast.

Steve_James

Ahhh - sfogliatelle! Now you've got me droolin' - I could murder one right now.
With limoncello

There's a little place off Piazza Garibaldi where you can eat them straight out of the oven ...

Steve

ira

Hi TA,

Eloise is correct.

Go to www.google.com, enter "sfogliatelle"
click "images"
to see what they look like.

ThinGorjus

Eloise, I also have had that "nipple" cake you wrote about. I can't remember the name either, as it has been about 7 years since I have been in Sorrento. I didn't like the cake, actually, as I found it to be dry.

I have about 17 bottles of Lemoncello around my house. I never drink it, but the bottles are so pretty I use them as decoration.

Eloise

Thingorjus: The cakes (actually, they're pastries rather than cakes) are called Delizie di limone, and you can find a picture of them here:

http://www.deriso.it/dolci.htm

We must be thinking of different things, because the delizie are composed almost entirely of lemon cream and lemon fondant, with only a pâte brisée base.

hipvirgochick

eloise -- please stop talking about lemon. it's my FAVORITE! not only is my mouth watering, but my eyes too!everything else sounds almost as yummy. i can't wait!