Agrodolce - Sicilian in Cafe Gratitude space - Berkeley

From the Trattoria la Siciliana family:

http://insidescoopsf.sfgate.com/blog/2016/06/22/sicilian-restaurant-planned-for-cafe-gratitude-space-in-north-berkeley/

We had a nice dinner there tonight.
We shared an eggplant roll-up dish (on the specials menu - don’t recall the specific name) as well as the carpaccio. Both were delicious. I then had Involtini del’Campo, which I really enjoyed. The other 2 had the meatballs with rigatoni from tonight’s specials menu. We washed it down with an old bottle of a red Toscano from home. Too full for dessert.

One very nice thing they will do is when I asked how many of the eggplant pieces come with the dish ($12), she said “2” and then immediately also said “we can make you an order and a half, so you each get one.” ($18). Perfect. I wish more places offered this.

One more tidbit - the “AC system” is “sustainable” (as is common for the area) meaning that it was too warm in there. The back (side) room was at least 10 degrees cooler than the front (entry) room. Fortunately, we were in the cooler room. I probably wouldn’t return on a very hot day.

I guess I neglected to post about our meal there last September. We were walking down Shattuck looking for a place that could seat us without a long wait. They’d only been open a few days and things were chaotic. We sat outside and it was very pleasant. I plan to go back but haven’t gotten around to it yet.

We had another lovely dinner there this past weekend (3rd visit).

We started with a nice tuna crudo, Other couple had a frittura mista and loved it.
I then had a pappardelle with sausage (specials list) - quite enjoyable - and I tasted the lamb shank with fried polenta triangles just to my right. That dish was the star of the night. Other couple each got a seafood risotto, and they were quite pleased.

A medium bodied red Italian wine (I don’t recall which) went well with the food, and we were too full for dessert. Out the door, with a tip, for $200 (for 4).

A Monday visit this time. 3 of us started with the large salumi plate and the frittura mista, along with a bottle of a pink fizzy. A great start.

For the main courses, I had the lamb shank. The others had meatballs, and the bucatini. This, with a great bottle of Nero d’avola.

Somehow, we squeezed dessert in. A panettone bread pudding (star of the course) a cannoli (one of the better I’ve had - must have been “just filled” as the shell was excellent), and a perfectly fine tiramisu.

A great comfortable meal for a Monday night. Pleasant service, with very good food and wine.

1 Like