Raphaele

Last night, again on Antonio’s recommendation, we made our way to a local restaurant on the edge of town. We didn’t even leave the B&B until 9 PM, so arrived at the small café very late. I can’t pronounce the name of it for the life of me. It was something like Bococini, but that’s four syllables and the actual name only has three syllables [Bocconci]. It was run by a young man named Raphaele whom Antonio suggested we ask for him when we arrived and say that Antonio sent us. Immediately, the three of us had a great rapport. My mother walked right up to him and said, “Are you Raphaele?” to which he replied with a big smile on his face, “Who wants to know?”

He is only 31 but has started this restaurant which he calls Italian slow-food franchising, as opposed to American fast-food franchising. This is a walk-in, sit-down, table cloth kind of restaurant, but he is selling franchises of them and has now opened a total of eight in Italy and in the past two weeks has opened one in Malta and one in Tenerife.

Before he took our order, Raphaele brought us complimentary glasses of strawberry wine in glasses rimmed with crystallized sugar. Everyone reading this (of legal drinking age!) should run right out and find a bottle of strawberry wine. So sweet and fruity that one could easily drink a whole bottle sitting in the shade on a sunny afternoon. We had it chilled, but over ice would be even better.

The savory menu is built around cheese (hallelujah) in all of its manifestations: salads, pizzas, spreads. He also offers fresh cuts of meat grilled on lava rocks. My mother started with bruschetta with the freshest tomatoes I may have ever had dressed with the lightest of olive oil an garlic. (One word: yum.) Then she had a mixed salad (more on salads later if I have time) and ended with a medium rare steak char grilled on Vesuvian ash. Perfecto.

I had a Caprese pizza with those same tomatoes and fresh buffalo mozzarella that spread like cream and tasted almost like goat cheese. This is an area known for its buffalo mozzarella, and I can see why.