On the last night in Amalfi we went to Ristorante La Caravella 6/10ths of a mile straight down hill from our hotel. The restaurant was small and unpretentious. We ordered the 7 course tasting menu. The Ristorante added an appetizer to the beginning of the meal and a desert to the end of the meal. That made for 9 courses and a painful hike back up the hill when it was time to go. Ristorante La Caravella has been in business 50 years. They have a wine shop and a ceramics shop.
It was a white table cloth kind of place. And the owner seemed a bit stuffy when we first appeared requesting dinner without a reservation. However, they soon warmed up to me after I not only dropped my fork for my second course on the floor but then the one for my third course too. A game of place the silver as far from the edge of the table as possible, ensued prior to each successive course. By the end of the meal even the guys in the kitchen were rooting me on. They loved us!!
We loved our meal, which was a medley of seafood and pasta courses. Al's favorite was the black Squid ink Ravioli. The most unique dish was a potato encrusted pasta. For desert we had a very decadent lemon filled pastry and to top it off an even more decadent spoonful of chocolate surrounding a moist bite of cake.
As usual we tried a local wine. Tonight it was Greco di tuto, 2006, from Montefredane Italy in the region of Campania.
We saw 2 dishes come out of the kitchen that we will definitely try next time we are at La Caravella. The first, Salt Baked Fish, is fish baked encrusted in a thick rock salt. After being baked the salt is removed with a hammer. I think it would be fairly easy to imitate this recipe at home, so follow the link to the recipe. The second, is a lemon souffle for 2 that was slightly bigger than a football. I kept thinking if I stared at the guy at the next table long enough he would bring me over a bite. It didn't happen.
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