Mother and Child, Sicily

July 5, 2014

They were strolling hand-in-hand down the street like extras in some Sicilian film. They stepped into the tabacchaio and when they emerged, I went in pursuit. How was it that I’d never seen them before, in this dinky place of 2500 people?

Sicilian Mom & Son, Copyright Jann Huizenga

Concetta handed me her card. Turns out she runs a restaurant called U Saracenu,  in the heart of Ragusa Ibla. I haven’t eaten there since those days when my house was a kitchen-less mess.  The place seemed then like a throwback to a much earlier era, and when I popped in today, nothing in the decor had changed. The previous owner, built like a fridge, used to tell me exactly what I wanted to eat.

“I’d love a big salad, please.”

“Oh no. This no weather for salad. You need hearty fare in this rain.”

And he’d lumber from the kitchen balancing a steamy bowl of minestrone, or ricotta ravioli doused in ragú.

But he has retired, and the chef (Concetta’s hubby) and Concetta are now the proud owners, serving the same old-style, no-nonsense, no-pretense Sicilian fare at prices you’ll like.

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Inside U Saracenu, Ragusa Ibla, Sicily, copyright Jann Huizenga

The front room is the lightest room and you sit next to an old feed trough; the restaurant is a former animal stall.

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

U Saracenu, Ragusa Ibla, copyright Jann Huizenga

Translated, the name means “At the Saracen’s Place”–referring to the Arabs or Moors who ruled Sicily for a couple hundred years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chef at U Saracenu, Ragusa Ibla, copyright Jann Huizenga

Chef Angelo Gelasio

 

 

 

 

 

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