The Epic Lunch.....

   A couple of days ago Chris and I decided to re-visit the nearby hilltown of Forza d'Agro, and have some local seafood for lunch.  Forza d'Agro, along with Savoca, have been used for filming scenes from The Godfather and other movies.  Both of these hilltowns are charming beyond words, Chris wrote about Savoca in an earlier post.  After checking out reviews on Tripadvisor, we settled on the restaurant called La Montagnola da Simona for lunch, in the "centro storico", or old town center.

   Simona greeted us herself, and appeared to be the only staff on duty.  The only other guests were two Italian couples.  As she seated us, I mentioned in Italian that we were American, but understood a little Italian.  She then explained, rapidly in Italian, that there was no menu, that she prepared only fresh seafood, there would be a lot to eat, and was that "va bene?"  No price was mentioned, at least none that we heard or understood.  We looked at each other with that all too familiar "now what have we gotten ourselves into" look, and said OK.

   Simona brought us a bottle of white wine with the restaurant's own label, along with the usual bottle of water and basket of bread.  A young man arrived at the restaurant about this time to assist, and he and Simona handled the entire prep, cooking, and service themselves.  After a short wait, the first three plates of food were brought to the table.  Each of these, and all that followed, were the size of an appetizer for two... so any three or four of them would have made a full meal.  Turns out we were served thirteen of such plates, plus two duplicates when we commented on how good they were, plus desserts, after dinner drinks, and coffee.

   Here's the list...  hard to believe, but we ate almost all of it...  chunks of sauteed octopus, baccala (salt cured Cod), caponata with shrimp, smoked salmon, involtini of swordfish (two orders because it was so good), shrimp in a tomato remoulade served in a large clam shell, tuna fish with crushed almonds, baked stuffed mussels, fritter of anchovie, shrimp scampi (yummy), cernia (type of local fish) ravioli with shrimp and salmon sauce, spaghetti with mussels, clams, and ricci (sea urchin), risotto with mussels and small lobster claws, lemon granita (Italian ice), two orders of ciacchiere (strips of fried dough w/ powdered sugar), two different homemade after dinner "digestivi", one made from mint, the other fennel, to "aid in digestion", and coffee (espresso).  What a meal, lasting over three hours, needless to say not much was needed for dinner that night.  A truly epic lunch...
   
Joe and his still licking scami off her fingers wife

(pictures to follow)