Osteria Mangia e Bevi’s Grandma’s Sicilian Recipes – Backstreet Cuisine

Imagine you are at the beginning of a Marcel Proust novel. In search of lost timeor feared food critic Anton Ego. RatatouillePixar’s masterpiece, which won the 2008 Academy Award for Best Animated Film. The very moment you taste a madeleine soaked in tea or a forkful of ratatouille, your taste buds are activated and you are transported back to that Sunday morning when you had your first dessert, or that moment when you fell off your bike and had an accident. To do. My mom made dinner for me, and somehow everything seemed better.

It is this feeling, the flashback of an unconscious memory, that cousins ​​Nico Virga and Angelo Facetta had in mind when they opened their restaurant. Cavalieri di, behind the San Her Domenico Church, known as the Pantheon of Sicily; Osteria Mangiae, in Via Marta; Osteria Mangiae Her Bevi, a charm that offers not only simple home-cooked meals in Palermo, but also the real taste of grandma’s It is a typical restaurant. Specifically, Grandma Antonietta’s.

“I grew up with my grandparents,” Nico says. “Her grandmother Antoniette is a great cook and she raised me on traditional cooking. I grew up with this palate. It was her way of spoiling me.”

Nico lost his grandparents when he was 16 years old. At the age of 19 he started working in the garment industry and traveled in Sicily and around the world, but when he turned 35, he decided to change his life. “I decided to open this place because I was tired of always going out and eating sandwiches at gas stations,” he recalls.

Meanwhile, his cousin Angelo also worked in the clothing industry and owned two stores, but faced an existential crisis and closed them and moved to Spain. He returned to Palermo and worked as a bartender in his uncle’s restaurant. As soon as Nico told him the idea of ​​opening a restaurant, Angelo jumped on it.

“I had my grandmother Antonietta in mind. In fact, her spirit is here,” Nico says. They created a menu that was true to Grandma Antonietta’s recipes, focusing on the dishes she often made. For example, at Manjae She Bevi, garlic is also not used in sautéed dishes. This is precisely because there is no garlic in Madame Antonietta’s cooking. Even if you are a supplier, osteria The source is the same place Nico’s grandmother used to shop. Not only the bread but also the desserts are homemade.

When Osteria Mangia e Bevi opened, Nico was in the kitchen and Angelo in the dining room. They have carefully arranged and decorated this place and managed to create a unique and distinctive style. There is a glass-fronted wooden table, inside which dried beans, pasta of various sizes, and Sicilian playing cards are clearly displayed. Clothes are hung to dry on the restaurant’s balcony, which recreates a typical Sicilian city and home scene.

After 10 years in business, the partners have expanded their space and plan to expand further. They opened his second store in Piazza Marina, following exactly the same format. Nowadays, Nico no longer works behind the stove, delegating tasks to his colleagues, but those who join the team at Osteria Mangia e Bevi have obligations that must be followed absolutely strictly. There is one. It is absolutely faithful to his grandmother Antonietta’s recipe. Respect the letter.

“I support tradition,” Nico says confidently. There are no gourmet dishes, only typical home-cooked meals. Each dish on the menu is a piece of Sicilian history.Click here for the standard eggplant Caponata and Salde a Beccafico, sardines stuffed with breadcrumbs, pine nuts, and raisins. What I would like you to try is Papicedi Muratia small octopus is drowned in a delicious sauce of peeled tomatoes – do not forget about the classics scarpetta Finally, use the bread to soak up the sauce.

try the pasta broccoli Aliminati, a classic dish that uses boiled cauliflower instead of broccoli and simmers it with onions, pine nuts, raisins and tomatoes.Plenty of toppings all over Mudika Atulataa breadcrumb baked in a pan, was once used by the poorer classes of the population to replace the much more expensive cheese.

Please try it as part of your main course. Mangia e BeviThis is the origin of the name Osteria. It is a pork tip wrapped in green onions, traditionally roasted over a fire during picnics in Sicily. Pitti NikkiOn the other hand, slow-cooked pork chops in sauce are a real treat.

But if there is one dish that represents both Osteria Mangia e Bevi and, more importantly, Sicilian home cooking, it is pasta fritta: Fried pasta. Pasta frittas are not only irresistibly delicious, but they’re also a great solution to food waste. Very simply, it’s leftover pasta stir-fried in a frying pan with extra virgin olive oil. The result is a large noodle-like omelet with a black, crispy exterior that tickles every taste bud. In Osteria Mangiae He Bevi, he offers two variations: spaghetti with tomato sauce and fried eggplant, or spaghetti with broccoli he Aliminati.

Delicious dishes that will bring you back to life, like Marcel Proust’s Madeleine with Tea or Anton Ego’s Ratatouille. Osteria Her Mangiae Her Bevi’s Pasta Her Fritta makes you feel like you’re at your grandma’s house, like when Nico and Angelo were kids.

Published April 3, 2024

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