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Eating in Italy - Secondi

Elizabete presents our branzino tableside at La Terrazza on the rooftop of the Hotel Danieli in Venice

Thus far in our Italian dining journey, we’ve sipped an apertivo (my, oh my, that Campari and soda took my breath away!), had some tasty bites of antipasti, and we’ve gorged ourselves on a nice primi.

By the way, how was your “Lasagnette with Pierina's traditional ragu sauce”? Pierina is famous for her ragu at her Trattoria Caprini. I had the “Ravioli filled with goat cheese, and with “datterino” tomatoes and basil”, and I’m glad I did! Those little datterino tomatoes (the size and shape of a ‘date’…’il dattero’ in Italian) were bursting with flavor.

But, as we knew that we would be dining Italian-style, we’ve left room for a secondi, or second main course. Will we have room for the dolci? We’ll see.

So, let’s see what that second main course is all about…

WHAT TO EXPECT OF A SECONDI

When we think of the secondi course, we should be thinking about flesh…whether it be the flesh of the fish (il pesce), or flesh of a mammal like beef of a mature cow (manzo), veal (vitello), lamb (agnello), pig (maiale), or the wild boar (cinghiale). Are you wondering where chicken (pollo) fits in, it is occasionally on the menu, though not as often as even wild boar, it seems.

I want to expand a bit on the fishy part of secondi. In Italy, it is done superbly. Typically, the fish is prepared whole. It is brought out for you to see and admire (yes, be sure to ooh and ahh over it as we did when Elizabete made her presentation to us as seen in the photo, above). It is de-boned on a small cart near your table. It is then placed on your plate and set before you. And then, you’d better eat it before I eat it for you! The flesh of the fish is moist and oh, so tasty. And buttery? Yes! Expect at least one contorno (side dish), like roasted potato, and maybe a green vegetable, like broccolini. Want to see the whole process from presentation to dining? Relive our experience at Da Gemma in Amalfi, here.

WHAT’S ON THE MENU?

Click the image to see a real-life Italian secondi menu…this one from Ristorante Verbano on Lake Maggiore

Just as I did with the primi, I will share with you below actual excerpts from menus of places where we’ve dined…from ristorante, to trattoria, to osteria. If you want to know more about those three categories of dining establishments, as well as four more, then click here.

Please note that the number of menu items in each of the three categories below of seafood, meat and poultry, indicates that actual prevalence of those types of items on the Italian menu; i.e. lots of seafood, a good bit of meat, and not much poultry.

So, here are menu items taken word-for-word from actual, real-life, we’ve-actually-been-there, dining places in Italy. Along with photos, of course.

Frutti di Mare (Seafood)

Fillet of sea bass, grilled fennel and pistachio cream
Turbot with winter scents [yes, just the scent!]
Baked squid gratinated
Mix of fried selection of seafood from the Rialto market
Deep fried soft-shell crabs
Imperial Shrimp with seven spices, shiitake mushroom and red rice
Wild seabass fillet cooked in the oven, on a mirror [what?!] of bread, potato sauce and chicory
Crispy Octopus with cream beans from Lamon and celery sauce
Sea bass melted “Acquerello” rice risotto, lightly smoked, citrus hint, raw scallops
Seafood paccheri, late Treviso radicchio, tomatoes confit, glasswort
John Dory fillet "Antico Martini" style
Turbot fillet, braised Jerusalem artichokes, fresh horseradish, clam sauce -
Seared cuttlefish, its cream and liver, fennel seed sponge, parsley and baccalà sauces
Daily fresh fish from the Rialto market, grilled
Nordic cod confit, “acqua pazza”, kale, nori seaweed flavored potatoes
Turbot fillet, braised Jerusalem artichokes, fresh horseradish, clam sauce
Giant scampi grilled with fried zucchini
Steamed fish flavored with herbs and ginger
Scampi with curry sauce and Pilaf rice
Fried fish from the Adriatic sea
Fillet of sea bass with lime and cumin carrots
Roasted wild eel with honey, bitter orange marmalade, beer, celery cream and mashed potatoes

I can’t move on until I’ve commented on the last item in the frutti di mare category…the eel, or anguilla. Here’s my comment: “Yuck!!!” Though we’ve often seen them on menus (mostly in Venice), we’ve never gotten up the nerve, or insanity, to try them. The sign in the first photo lets us know that these eel were caught in ‘our own lagoon’. The eels in the second photo are alive and squirmy…I’m not even sure how you would hold onto them to dispatch them, nor how one would clean them. Sorry to belabor the point, but they give me the creeps.

Here are photos of more palatable eats in the frutti di mare category.

Just two more seafood photos…these of a lobster that we consumed on the Isle of Capri. Here it is as Ellen selected it right from the tank, and then as it appeared on our plates…one-half for each of us. I must say that this was One Fine Day! on the Amalfi coast, which you can read about here.

Carne (Meat)

Lamb with offal sauce [an acquired taste, yes?], scent of fennel flower heads, and wild herbs
Fillet of veal with broccoli and cabbage
Slow-cooked beef in Valpolicella wine
Venetian-style veal liver with white polenta and new onion
Jowl braised veal with Valpolicella Ripasso and mashed potato
"Antico Martini" veal petals
Sliced beef Angus with rosemary
Chateaubriand, Béarnaise sauce, grilled vegetables, ratte potatoes
Venetian-style veal liver, polenta in two consistencies
Fillet of beef with Norcia black truffle sauce
The "Florentine" of Sorana T-bone steak (45 days of maturing)
Sorana rib steak (45 days of maturing)
Juniper-flavored venison loin, cranberry jam, pine needle powder, rye and tapioca brittle
Grilled lamb chops with ginger baby carrots and mashed potatoes
Veal liver "Venetian style" with polenta

Pollame (Poultry)

Pigeon with black salsifies in cooked must [maybe a bit of discussion is required here…for ’pigeon’, think quail; for ‘salsifie's’, think a tuber from a plant in the daisy family; and, for ‘must’, think about grape juice, before it is fermented into wine…ok, please continue without further interruption on my part]
Free-range chicken terrine, plum and “pevarada” sauce, three potato pavé
Chicken supreme with "malga" butter emulsion and sage
Duck breast served with honey sauce and Recioto wine [it was soooo good…sorry, I wasn’t going to interrupt]

Not many photos in the poultry category, as it is not very prevelent on the Italian menu. The first photo is duck breast described just above. This was from the fabulous Enoteca della Valpolicella, which you can read about here.

Is your mouth watering? Mine sure is. I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the typical menu items in the secondi category, as well as photos that we’ve taken over the years…just before devouring the secondi.

In the next installment of Eating in Italy, I’ll be covering the dolci, or dessert. In the meantime, if you need to catchup on the earlier installments of Eating in Italy, here are the links:

Eating in Italy — The Courses and Apertivo [the types of dining establishments, the menu, and a sip of an apertivo]
Eating in Italy — Antipasto
Eating in Italy — Primi
Eating in Italy — Secondi [you don’t need a link, just scroll to the top of the page!]

OK, here’s the deal. Tomorrow it will be St Patrick’s Day. I found a four-leaf clover, which means that I get a wish on that day. I’ll tell you what that wish is (will it still be granted if I divulge it? I certainly hope so). My wish is that I will get to have each course of a meal in Italy with you. That’s it. Let’s work toward that. Until that happens, I say…

Ciao for now,

Steve

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Eat Here: Da Gemma

Index of Articles

Note the ubiquitous sfusati (bulky lemons) on the Da Gemma lamp fixtures

Today we are going to pay a lunch-time visit to a restaurant that was recommend by our concierge at Hotel Convento in Amalfi. And now, we recommend it to you, too…that is, if you happen to be on the Amalfi coast of Italy.

Since you’re staying at the fabulous Grand Hotel Convento, and it’s not too far into Amalfi town, let’s walk.

Along the way we’ll check out the small town campo, the church, and a few of the local shops.

So, join me now as, off we go to a now-favorite trattoria, Da Gemma.

Getting Into Town from Our Hotel

But, before we begin our journey into town, we need to rise-and-shine. We woke up a bit early this morning to catch sunrise from the Hotel Convento. It was spectacular, wasn’t it? You can learn a good bit more about the Hotel Convento by reading my article titled, Staying in a Convent Retreat.

A Post-Breakfast Swim

I’m sure you remember the nice swim we had after breakfast in the hotel’s cliff-side infinity pool. You looked fabulous in that new swimsuit, by the way!

Cliff-side pool of the Grand Hotel Convento

Talk about a pool with a view to infinity! Nice, huh?

To infinity and beyond…actually to Sicily

Making Our Way Into Town

OK, we’ve toweled off and changed clothes, so into town we go. Good move not wearing shorts…that’s a sure sign of a tourist in Italy.

Rather than taking the elevator down to the roadway, we’ll walk the many steps that wind their way down to town. Don’t worry, it’s all downhill from here.

There’s our destination…the red arrow points the way to the one-and-only road that pierces the heart of the ravine town of Amalfi.

[BTW: you can see the pool house about a quarter of the way into the photo from the left, and a third of the way down…and those horizontal rows of foliage below Amalfi’s mausoleum and the hillside above town, we’ll talk about those as we’re strolling in Amalfi]

As we near the bottom of the winding stairway, we look up to see our hotel poised on the edge of a cliff.

We’ve come a long way in the down-vertical direction

Wandering Our Way To Trattoria Da Gemma

Now, to work our way to our destination for lunch, Da Gemma.

In this aerial view of ravine-dwelling Amalfi, you can see Da Gemma in the blue box. But, as we are a bit early for lunch, we decide to first explore Amalfi’s charms. We’ll start with the Duomo di Amalfi (in the orange box), which is dedicated to San Andreas (aka Saint Andrew, the brother of Saint Peter). You can read a bunch about San Andreas, his relationship to Scotland, and this church, in my article titled, Transforming the Cathedral of San Andreas.

The blue box marks Da Gemma…the orange, the cathedral of San Andreas

The Piazza Duomo

As we start toward the church, there is a small piazza (more of a campo) with an age-old statue of San Andreas.

“Why the x-shaped cross?”, you ask…it’s because Saint Andrew's martyrdom by crucifixion was on a cross called a ‘saltire’ cross, which is an ‘x-shaped’ cross, like the one he is holding onto in his last moments.

You can see just a bit of the statue to the left in this very old photo of this same campo.

Here is my own rendition of the old photo, which I created using Google ‘street view’. As they say, “Close, but no banana”.

The Duomo (Cathedral)

Just across the street we see the steps of the cathedral I’ve removed all of the people from the photo except the bride, standing at the top of the steps. And, I replaced a blah sky with one of more drama. The Duomo has a rather magnificent mosaic façade.

Here you can see the exquisite detail of the mosaic, with a still-different sky.

Here are just a few interior photos, as Ellen leads us inside.

Beautiful! But, it’s time to begin our walk toward Da Gemma.

Street Life in Amalfi

This hungry, but well mannered, pup outside the butcher’s shop reminds us of just how hungry we too, are.

But, to get to Da Gemma, we have to negotiate the one-and-only street through town. Yes, this it it! Via Lorenzo D’Amalfi.

The street is so narrow that there are traffic lights that alternate traffic from north to south.

Another Google street-view photo below shows us that street light. The sign above the red light asks motorists to turn off their engines whilst waiting for a green light, rather than idling out emissions in this pedestrian laden area.

One must wait for vehicles preceding you (before you caught that red light) to travel over 1,000 feet on a green light, and then wait for oncoming vehicles to traverse that same distance before your own green light is activated…then add a good bit of pedestrian slowed time to the formula. I have no idea if this is all done automatically, or whether someone monitors the situation to change the lights at the appropriate time. But hey, it’s Italy!

See the folks in shorts? Tourists.

To avoid the occasional step-into-a-doorway routine, you can use one of the pedestrian tunnels that parallels the roadway, like this one.

A Few Street-Side Shops

Along our way, we pass shops selling this and that. This one sells mostly wine, as it is an ‘enoteca’.

And, this one features bottle after bottle of Limoncello. This sweet-tart-sweet (I’m emphasizing the sweetness, here) liqueur is made from lemons that abound along the Amalfi coast.

Limoncello is not made from your momma’s lemons, though. A single lemon is called a ‘sfusato’, and they are just a bit on the bulky side. The photo below showing sfusati hanging from the arbor was taken at our Hotel Convento. And, in the photo taken on our full-day boat trip to Capri, you can the ubiquitous terraces of sfusati layered up the hillside. Virtually all of the sfusati are destined for limoncello.

[Want to know more about having a fabulous day traveling along the Amalfi coast on your way to the Isle of Capri? See my article titled, “One Fine Day”]

And, did you notice the prosciutto hanging in that limoncello laden shop? What is that smeared on the cut-end of the leg? You can learn more about prosciutto in my previous article on Italian meats titled, “Eat This: Italian Meats - Part 1”.

Trattoria Da Gemma

Ahhh, we’ve reached Da Gemma, which means that it’s time for lunch!

Da Gemma is not a flash-in-the-pan restaurant. This trattoria has been around since 1872…and we’re glad of it.

It’s not located on the street, but thankfully, above it. Your al fresco dining is on a lovely terrace, above the hustle-and-bustle of Via Lorenzo D’Amalfi.

We’ll take those steps up to the right to get to our lunch.

As we typically do, we start our meal by enjoying a bit of the bubbly…prosecco. Cold and refreshing!

The waitstaff are super helpful and friendly…as is everyone we encountered in Amalfi. Here is Alfonso, who took great care of us.

And here are the two handsome young men behind the glass who man the pasticceria.

We’ve now ordered, and Ellen has been given a rather dangerous looking tool. We’ll have to see what that’s for.

But first, it’s time for a refreshing white wine. Alfonso recommended this Greco di Tufo. It is much like a Gavi…rich, refreshing and light…we like it! And of course, it’s a DOCG wine.

This is some sort of amuse-bouche, and at this seven-years-past-the-event stage, I have no idea what it was. But it was well plated, presented, and it tasted yummy.

As is customary for a meal in Italy, the pasta course is a ‘primi’, or first course, which is typically followed by a meat course. Notice the beautiful plating. And that tomato-heaven sauce on the pasta…bellissimo.

One most always gets a presentation of the prepared fish course

For us, the secondi meat course is a nice branzino (sea bass), cooked perfectly. It was presented table-side (above), and then Alfonso and helper began the deconstruction needed to plate the dish for us.

And, here is our fish course, complete with potatoes and a superb buttery-lemony sauce.

This dish is typical of seafood-dish presentations you will find in Italy. As proof, here is another sample of a superb fish course, this one enjoyed the next day on the Isle of Capri.

Do they do dolce in Italy? Yes, they do. The one of the left is the one we ordered. The one on the right…with limoncello…is house-provided…just in case one needs more sweets in one’s life.

All so very satisfying. Will we have room for this evening’s dinner? Always!

Along with the presentation of il conto (the bill), Ellen is presented with a couple of souvenirs of Da Gemma.

As we depart, we say a fond, “Grazie e arrivederci” to the friendly, competent kitchen staff.

La Fine

I hope that you enjoyed tagging along with us on our Amalfi adventure today.

Now, two questions:

What was that tool for that Ellen was holding? I have no remembrance of that. And I have no photos of a food item needing such a treacherous tool.
Who is going to help us get back up to our cliff-side hotel? We need a lift…literally.

If you find yourself in Amalfi town, please pay a visit to Da Gemma…you will not be disappointed. If it’s OK with you, we’ll walk with you from the hotel, high on the hillside.

And, until our next adventure…

Ciao for now,

Steve

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