I had the amazing good fortune to attend a dinner last night at Primizie Osteria celebrating the East End restaurant’s second anniversary. Owners Mark and Lisa Spedale hosted the convivial event which highlighted dishes and techniques garnered during their recent 9-day trip to the island of Sicily and the smaller island of Salina, featuring the bounty of local foods. The Spedales have been generous SFC supporters and hearty advocates of local farmers and ranchers.
Items on the Local Specials Menu include both traditional Sicilian preparations and Sicilian-inspired creations. Each dish sampled offered flavor layers that work perfectly together making each bite a fork symphony. “Primizie Osteria will offer the Sicilian menu through the end of this year and showcase another Italian region starting in January,” said Mark.
The Spedales commitment to palate-tantalizing preparations while feting the pure flavors of the freshest of fresh ingredients shone through last night. Steaming bowls of Zuppa di Pesce were presented family style accompanied by toothsome garlic focaccia, perfect for lapping up the luscious Limoncello broth. Gulf seafood from San Miguel Seafood featured prominently throughout the evening. In this case, Gulf head-on plump shrimp, grouper and red snapper snuggled beside tender bits of calamari, black mussels, and little neck clams- all enveloped in that complex broth. Garnishing the dish were chewy yet crisp, thin, deep-fried lemon slices that cleansed the palate between bites.
My lucky dining companion (i.e., my husband) and I continued with seafood entrees once again featuring Gulf fish from San Miguel Seafood. I delighted in a perfect pan roasted Gulf Scamp grouper over a seared chickpea fritter – crisp on the outside, creamy inside, slices of flavorful Italian cucuzza squash, scattered Sicilian green and black olives, and dotted with earthy squid ink.
Sauteed Gulf red snapper was the centerpiece of my husband’s entrée surrounded by blood orange supremes, braised fennel, caramelized Italian onions, and bacon-wrapped fried potatoes. The light flavors lyrically played with one another, but those dang bacon-wrapped potatoes stole my heart.
Farther down the table, I spied a fellow diner raising to his mouth a perfectly pink Loncito’s lamb chop. This smart man obviously did not want to risk missing a morsel using mere fork and knife.
Others tucked into rosemary roasted young heirloom half chicken and a simple penne pasta tossed in a pomodoro sauce and topped with generous slices of aubergine golden fried in Texas Extra Virgin Olive Oil.
Lisa shared with me a taste of her Spaghetti con Bottarga, dressed in Texas Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Italian parsley, peperoncino, caramelized garlic, Salina Island fried caper berries and shaved Sicilian salt cured tuna roe. The couple brought back from Italy the tuna roe, an item I had never before sampled. It had a surprisingly delicate texture and was flavorful without being overly salty.
Mark prepares house made Italian Sausage using a family recipe. Lisa pointed out the formidable, bright red painted sausage grinder perched on a ledge in the corner of the restaurant. Fondly referred to as “The Pig”, the Spedales found that this relic of a grinder out-performed any of the newer varieties they encountered.
Dessert was a melt-in-your-mouth semolina almond cake topped with toasted almond gelato and flavorful chocolate-dipped honeycomb; a pistachio cannolo served on the side. The honey and comb are sourced from Livingston, Texas with the resulting chocolate-honeycomb combo the creation of Mark and Primizie’s pastry chef.
The meal ended with Limoncello toasts to Mark, Lisa, and executive sous chef Chris Dragna.
The beauty of a Primizie meal is to rise from the table with a palate that has been stimulated by a beautiful marriage of flavors along with a belly that has been generously sated but not stuffed. Food Heaven a la Siciliana.
I do want to note that Primizie offers close proximity to downtown, patio dining, reservations, and ample parking – a real plus for central city dining.
Thank you Mark and Lisa for sharing your gifts while supporting so many area producers.
Featured Local Products used by Primizie:
Wateroak Farm – Full Quiver Dairy Farm – San Miguel Seafood – Pedernales Valley Farm – Texas Olive Ranch – Burgundy Beef – McCall Creek Farm – W Farm & Ranch – Pure Luck Far and Dairy – Loncito’s Lamb – Texas Quail Farm – Animal Farm – G & S Groves – Oak Hill Farms
