On our way back to Positano from Pompeii, we stopped in Sorrento for lunch at O’ Parrucchiano La Favorita, located at 71 Corso Italia (www.parrucchiano.it). This restaurant has been one of our favorites on several prior trips to Sorrento. The history behind the place is it was started by a former seminarian in 1868 at this location, the seminarian had learned to cook in the cloister and decided he would rather cook and serve food to the people of Sorrento. Over the years the restaurant grew from just two rooms to several levels that now lead to a massive garden on a higher level than the street. Within the garden area are lemon trees and a wide variety of plants and flowers creating a pleasant and relaxing atmosphere.
We were greeted by Raphaelle who speaks excellent Long Island English. We asked about his accent and learned that he spent many summers in Oyster Bay where his sister and her husband have a deli specializing in pork. He even accented his ‘g’ on the end of Long Island the way the locals do.
Raphaelle made recommendations and served a 2010 Zonin Amarone della Valpolicella, which we found to be one of the best Amarone’s we’d tried on this trip. We learned that it is readily available through Vivino and wine stores in the US. He also recommended a local wine, the Aglianico grape based 2013 Caggiano Taurasi Vigna Macchia Dei Goti. Raphaelle informed us that a Taurasi was recently found to be superior in a tasting to the Borolos which had long dominated that particular competition. We bought a bottle and while preferring the Amarone in a head-to-head, found it a very nice and compelling wine. Further investigation shows that the Taurasi is a long-lived wine that improves with age. If we had purchased an older vintage it may have rivaled the Amarone.
Raphaelle recommended and we all tried the stuffed zucchini blossoms, which were to die for. The restaurant does not publish its menu and unfortunately I did not record the descriptions of the dishes we chose, but they consisted of: grilled fish including calamari and swordfish; homemade spaghetti with a simple tomato sauce; square pasta, which we thought would be like ravioli, but is actually spaghetti that is square until cooked in a creamy sauce; and a steak which was described as very flavorful. Since we were there for lunch, we skipped dessert, although they have a variety of daily specials as well as a long list of traditional favorites. On prior visits we sampled the daily specials and found them to be outstanding.
O’ Parrucchiano is one of our favorites in Italy. Our group especially liked the banter with Raphaelle, his Long Island accent and recommendations, thought it to be among the best meals we have had on this trip, and a pleasant experience while not being as expensive as many of the restaurants we had visited in Positano.
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