Naples, Ischia, and Capri, Italy

“Traveling is a fool's paradise... I pack my trunk, embrace my friends, embark on the sea and at last wake up in Naples, and there besides me is the stern fact, the sad self, unrelenting, identical, that I fled from.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

Naples is a city that is a pretty ugly, dirty, and chaotic on the outside.Hidden away on the inside, it is pretty, history-laden, and bursting with charm and flavor and art from the Renaissance to Roman times.It's a place where three 11-year old girls piled on a careening scooter will come close to taking your life, forcing you back onto a filth-strewn, construction-blocked sidewalk. The driver will give you a chirpy horn toot after the fact to remind you who is capo di tutti capi.

Naples is also where you will taste magnificently simple but wonderful food and see gorgeous church interiors.Basically, you go to Naples for something completely different.Which was what we wanted.

Lucky for us, a Neapolitan native was on the plane and gave us a ton of good advice. I'll give you a brief rundown on the food.

For pizza, we went to the famous Da Michele. People line up for a table at all hours. They only make two kinds -- margherita and marinara.

I discovered the wait for a table at this modest-looking spot was quite long. You take a number and wait outside for it to be called.However, you can put a takeaway order in straight away and get it in about 10 minutes.

We got ours and went to a pastry cafe across the street where they let us eat our pizza and order a few beers to go with it.

After all the hype about this pie -- it was in our guide book and a magazine article, as well -- I thought it should be great. And it was. Simple genius.I searched for a way to describe the flavors and the word that came to my mind was "bright."

The San Marzano tomato sauce really jumped out. The mozzarella, made from cow milk, not buffalo, had a clean, cream-like taste. The airy, almost fluffy crust had a char and smokiness picked up from about 90 seconds in the superhot oven. They say they've been doing it this way since 1870.

And this great pizza cost just €4.50 (a little more when you factor in airfare and hotel).

Not far away, just around the street from the Duomo, was another recommended place, which was our favorite.

Antica Osteria Pisano di Ippolito Anna had only eight tables, an open kitchen, and a great, cheap home-style cooking.I had the rigatoni a l'amatriciana for €5.Just Parmesan, pork, and tomato sauce with fresh tomatoes, but it didn't need more.

Their seafood pasta (I don't have a picture) was just terrific. The clams and mussels were the sweetest and freshest I can remember, and the pasta, which had absorbed the flavor of the sea, was perfectly salted.

Four dishes, plus house wine and mineral water came to €36.

We also tried the touristy Gran Caffe Gambrinus. It has a lovely interior.But the expensive cappuccino was nothing special.

The sfogliatelle, a beautiful filo-like pastry stuffed with orange-flavored ricotta was not so fresh -- a little too chewy.We had a beer, two glasses of wine, a coffee, an orange sorbet, and the sfogliatelle and the bill was €35.

Finally, we took a ferry ride out to Ischia.It took an hour and cost €16 per person each way. I rented a 125cc scooter (€30 for eight hours), put V on the back, and we circumnavigated the island.Apparently, according to EU law, you now need a proper motorcycle license to rent a bike like this. Which I don't have.

But as V said, "It's Italy, baby. Anything is possible." And it was. I just had to convince the woman I knew what I was doing.

Anyway, we stopped at a very nice beach in Forno, near the thermal baths on the side of the island opposite from the port.It's a place we'd like to return to someday.

We had lunch at La Sirena del Mare.It looked like a simple beach restaurant, but the food was better than expected. With the roaring sea in front of us, we had a very lemony plate of marinated anchovies (€7.50).I had a seafood risotto (€11), which was basic and just OK, a little gritty.The mixed salad (€4) didn't look like much, but it had fantastic tomatoes.They had the perfume of a fully seasoned tomato sauce all by themselves. It's just so rare to find that in tomatoes elsewhere.

Near the end of the ride, we stopped at the Castello Aragonese.But they wanted €10 to go inside, so we just admired the outside.

We also went to Capri.We enjoyed lying in the sun for a few hours on the stony beach at the harbor. But otherwise, it was way too touristy and crowded.There were lines for boat tours, lines for the funicular up to the town, lines for the funicular tickets, and lines for gelato.We had a bad, overpriced, tourist-trap lunch.

This was our second time on Capri, and we decided there was no need to return again.

Would I recommend a visit to Naples? I don't know. It's not for everyone. There's a lot not to like.

I'd just say that it is something of a fool's paradise. The stern fact is that you should expect the worst. But then you just might enjoy what's best.

Read the full post

Summary only

Czech Please on Washington Post and Slate

"The press is the best instrument for enlightening the mind of man, and improving him as a rational, moral and social being." Thomas Jefferson

That genius Jefferson forgot to mention that it is good for finding out about where to eat and drink.

Speaking of which, I was following the press this morning, The Washington Post to be specific, and I came upon this column by Anne Applebaum. It is about the expansion of Starbucks into Central Europe.

And where she mentions the move of the coffee empire into Prague, there is a link to my post on the subject. The article is also posted on Slate.

I'm not sure how Ms. Applebaum came to be a reader, but I'm glad to welcome hers here.

Read the full post

Summary only

Perpetuum - Prague Duck Restaurant (Closed)

** This restaurant closed in early 2012

"Be like a duck. Calm on the surface, but always paddling like the dickens underneath." Michael Caine

I was among several friends who have been wanting to try Perpetuum for a long time.We'd all heard good things about this upscale place specializing in duck in Dejvice.

We wanted to make a group visit. But it wasn't until recently that the stars aligned and our schedules collided.

V and I got there first and walked down the steps by the bar into the dining room.There were six of us, and we were given our own room.The restaurant was pretty quiet that night. Only two other tables were occupied.Eventually, our group was assembled. It was quite dark there, and some had trouble reading the menus.

I held mine up to the light and had to read the offerings out loud for the table.

We were given a breadbasket.It had some decent rolls, but I was partial to the bread sticks.

On the side was something pretty unique. There was a little dish filled with cold duck fat, mixed with slivers of duck meat and vegetables.I thought it was delicious, putting all thoughts of the cardiovascular implications out of my mind. It was an interesting twist on the Czech tradition of serving pork fat before meals.

The beer on tap was Budvar 12 degree.It was 40 CZK for a half-liter.

Others ordered a bottle of wine, a 2007 Malbec from Doña Paula Estate (790 CZK).Everyone was happy with it. There were a few wines in the sub 1000 CZK category, but many that were higher. We wished for a few more economically priced options.

For a starter, V had the duck carpaccio (140 CZK).The delicate, thin red slices vanished quickly off her plate. But perhaps the most interesting was the apple-celery salad in the middle. Really lovely flavor, with a very light, extremely creamy texture.

I had the duck breast marinated in a Madeira reduction (150 CZK). It came with a tartare of plums, served with pineapple cooked in aged aceto balsamico. The meat was very flavorful, and the fresh pineapple was a nice touch. But I did like V's better.

Four of our group had the sweet and sour tomato salad with spring onions and chopped chives (60 CZK).It is listed as a side order, but the restaurant was happy to serve it as an appetizer. The consensus was that it was quite sweet, but that was to be expected, given the menu description.

For a main course, three people ordered the half home-bred duck with stuffing, apple–white cabbage marmalade, and a sage sauce (380 CZK).You can also get just a quarter duck (280 CZK).

J said it was "beautifully cooked," crispy on the outside, moist and tender inside.

"It's amazing how such a tradition dish can shine in the hands of a bright chef," he said. "The combination of the apple and sauerkraut with the stuffing really helped make it special.

This dish was on "The Chef Recommends" section of the menu. Everyone who ordered it also agreed they'd recommend it, as well. V loved it.

L had a quarter of a roasted duck with vegetable pancakes and mushroom juice (280 CZK).I didn't try it, but it looked good, and she said she liked it.

I ordered the grilled Barbarie duck breast on mashed potatoes with smoked onion, stir-fried spinach and a caramelized apple (360 CZK).The meat was served medium rare. The breast was not so tender, so a sharper knife would have helped. It was fresh, but somewhat bland by itself. But that issue was solved when I combined it with the apple, which I cut up into small, bite-sized pieces.

There was also a pitcher of thick, rich duck gravy that I added to make it even better.

I thought the wilted spinach was cooked just right. It was warm, but still had some crunch to it. It said the dish came with pancetta, but it looked more like a slice of bacon. I enjoyed the dish, but I think I'd go with what V and the others had next time.

The tab for the six of us was 4260 CZK. We thought it was a good value and a fair price. That included several after dinner drinks, coffee, and tea. Including tip, it worked out to 800 CZK per person.

Everyone loved the food and the style of the place. The service was efficient, friendly, and unobtrusive. There was no sense of impatience, even though we lingered quite late, engaging in a friendly, but pointed political debate over the coffees.In a place like Perpetuum, one must realize that somewhere close by the placid domain of the dining room, a few people must be working pretty hard behind the scenes to make it such a pleasant and flavorful experience.

Very duck-like.

Perpetuum - Prague Duck Restaurant
Na Hutích 9
Prague 6
Tel. (+420) 233 323 429

Read the full post

Summary only