Back to Abraxas - Abraxas Osteria, Pozzuoli (Na)

-

 

When you open Abraxas Osteria’s home page, you’ll find these words---


We are in the Phlegrean fields, here where throughout the centuries the fire meets the sea, the seductive and wild nature offers unique scenarios and unmatched products.

Here the ancient embraces the modern with warm and lively colors: smoothed tufo stone, the brick arches, the wood, colors and shapes of objects that tell our story.
Every detail has something to tell, each detail is part of Abraxas.

Abraxas is a place where the hosts welcome friends who come back with pleasure to learn about their tales and their passion for these lands, made of laborers, breeders, fishermen and producers
who live to carry on in their companies the ancient traditions that allow each of our plates to
to be lived through warm feelings.

I read those words with a smile as I scrolled through the website with curiosity, enthusiasm, and excitement.  It had been two (omg- maybe three) years since I had visited Nando Salemme -owner, traveller, dreamer, enthusiast- and I eager to see what I Nando had done with the place.

Check it out -


Lively colors is right!  And what attention to detail.  I fell in love with my water glass-complete with a yellow and blue fish!


 

Nando's menu features not only the traditions of Campi Flegrei/Campania- but has a long list of quality Slow Food Presidio products - many chosen personally during his travels.



Toasted seaweed bread with Cantabrian anchovies and Normandy butter.  Caciobarile with giant lupins from Variano.  Plegrean fiocco.  Foccaccia with sautéed escarole, olives, walnuts and anchovies. Zucchini crochette and mint mayonnaise.  Casatiello. Stracciata with Neapolitan eggplant.




Murzill 'sapurit ...

Fresella from San Marcellino with tomato salad  and mussels from Campi Flegrei.

Next, I wanted to focus on first courses- and I was served two...



Linguine with a creamy cicerchia sauce, tomatoes, and mussels from Capo Miseno.



Potato gnocchi with leeks, shrimp, squid, and frutti di mare with lemon.


I decided to pass on second courses-that honestly wasn't easy to do, considering the top selection of quality grilled meats.  Next time!


So  I checked out the dessert menu with a deconstructed tiramisu as well as an espresso martini...


So, my impressions about my Saturday lunch at Abraxas?  Let's just say that I gave Salemme a hug when I arrived and an even bigger one when I left...

Host Nando Salemme and myself




A presto!



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to My Home - Lunch at Antica Osteria Nonna Rosa with Chef Peppe Guida

-
Image
I've lost count as to how many times I have seen Chef Peppe Guida since we met for the first time last April .  On every occasion, from dinners at Pastifcio dei Campi to visits to Marina Yacht Club , we always ended our conversations agreeing that I needed to visit him a casa sua ...his home, his restaurant, Antica Osteria Nonna Rosa in Vico Equense (Na). I chose a Saturday afternoon to visit the chef's home, which really was just that...a home.  A renovated house dating back to the 17th century.  Chef Guida took me on a little tour pointing out where the pizza oven used to be, for example, which now is a small corner intimate dining room/wine cellar.  My eyes, however, were drawn to the family room where among antique furniture and plants hanging from the ceiling was a comfortable couch. I sat down for a while to relax,  discuss the latest news from Napoli, and talk about Guida's menu over a glass of spumante and a soft warm slice of casatiello with...
Read more

Vun Andrea Aprea, Chef Andrea Aprea, Milan (Mi)

-
Image
I first met Chef Andrea Aprea 4 years ago and have been following his career from a distance ever since. Chef Andrea Aprea of the 2 Michelin starred restaurant Vun Andrea Aprea located inside the Park Hyatt Hotel in Milan.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder, or so they say – but you can’t taste a photograph!   My appointment with the chef was for 6:45 pm, I arrived at 6:40.  I didn’t want be late and miss a chance to chat with him before a busy Saturday night dinner service.  The chef joined me in the La Cupola Lounge and began to share with me his story which includes his thoughts and philosophies on his type of cooking – his Italian Contemporary Cuisine . Chef Andrea Aprea He took me back to the beginning of his career, to the mid/late 90s.  A period where he, born and raised in Naples, decided that he wanted to travel.  To explore.  A period where – he shared – there weren’t as many restaurant icons as there are today.  May...
Read more

La Scarpetta, Pepe in Grani, Caiazzo (Ce)

-
Image
Scarpetta. ..the word alone makes one's taste buds jump for joy.  Scarpetta, little shoe, is an act of love at the end of a meal. A show of respect and admiration performedw ith a piece of great bread and the remnants of a fantastic sauce left on the plate at the end a a course. That is the spirit behind Franco Pepe' s latest pizza - La Scarpetta.   Pepe's soft pizza dough paired with an amazing ragu tomato sauce.  For the sauce, Pepe chose three tomato varieties and slow cooked them so that they fused together to make an incredible tomato sauce. This sauce is not cooked in the oven with the pizza dough, but added on top afterwards.  Then a couple of shavings of Grana Padano cheese (aged 12 and 24 months) Just one more taste of happiness courtesy of Pepe in Grani.. .
Read more