POSITANO

PLACES TO EAT

POSITANO/AMALFI COAST

Donna Rosa
97-99 Via Montepertuso
39-089/811-806
www.deliciousitaly's page on donarosa
(You'll have to have your concierge get you a cab to get up to the Hole in the Mountain village above Positano, but it's well worth it - our newest find in Italy and, we'd guess, our favorite restaurant now on the Amalfi Coast.)

Peeled prawns in lemon and olive oil on arugula and radicchio, Salmon, anchovies, and prawns marinated in white wine vinegar, Pappardelle with porcini mushrooms, peeled prawns and cherry tomatoes, or Fantasy of pasta - Scialatielli, Pappardelle, and Ravioli Donna Rosa - everything is fresh that day, and the menu varies with the seasons. Except for the pommes frites, all the sauteed foods are cooked in American pinon (or pine nut) oil. The only place we've found pine nut oil online is from Norway. It's a stronger flavor than canola (less so than olive oil), but, in pans which require little oil, it adds a zing.

This is the story of how this restaurant came into being just a few years ago. The young ones of the family - the grandchildren of Donna Rosa - had spread throughout Italy in their various occupations and professions when their mother called them together - she wanted them to find something they could all do together as a family. The result, after many conferences and soul-searching, was to get out grandmother Donna Rosa's cookbook and open this marvelous place to eat and enjoy life. Mom, Rafafaella, does the cooking; Dad (better use Italian, not English), Vincenza is out front; and the daughters, Rosida and Erika, work the room. Like all the great Italian restaurants, it's not just the food you go for.

For another opinion, that of Diane Lane of the movies, go to
http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/just-back-from-positano-diane-lane.

Scanned in below is the cover of the menu, with a photo of Donna Rosa herself.

Don Alfonso
80064 S. Agata sui due Golfi
081 878 0026
(Outside Sorrento, 20 minutes from Positano; if you're not traveling in the daytime, with excellent directions, hire a cab or car and driver.)

One of only 3 3-star Michelin restaurants in all of Italy (we dismiss one of the others at the Hotel Aldrovandi), we absolutely recommend the tasting menu for your first visit. Reservations months in advance are essential, since the Italians flock here from as far away as Rome. We prefer La Braja in Piemonte only for its atmosphere. Don Alfonso is an extraordinary restaurant, but its ambience is mostly bright overhead lighting and we're getting enough along in years, well Russ is, to wish for romance as well.

Nevertheless, the food is magnificent, fruits and vegetables raised organically on the family farm, as are the fowl. (A reward is offered to anyone who can find out what wood they use to smoke the chicken breast, which is served in filo dough.) Between us we had 14 courses not counting the four desserts each. Each course was small and perfect, and, yes, we almost exploded. This is a must if you are anywhere near Sorrento or the Amalfi Coast.

Le Sirenuse
Terrace Cafe
089 875 066
www.sirenuse.it
On the main drag as you ascend away from the harbor/beach. It's on your left about 100 yards before the end of the town. Easy to find.

The Terrace Restaurant at Le Sirenuse. On the left, the outside portion, on the right the stunning interior. The restaurant has decent food and the view, as you can see, is breathtaking.

The pictures tell it all. And it's an easy walk from anywhere in Positano. Go for lunch. Wish you were staying at the hotel. (For more on staying there - the above was written before our two stays - go to Places to Stay - Positano.

Across the street is the famous Le Sirenuse shop, where exceptional one-of-a-kind [think turquoise and rhinestone sandals] clothing and jewelry items await you.

Da Gemma
Via Fra Gerardo Sasso 9
Amalfi
089-871-345
(Just off the main square near the Cathedral)

We went to Amalfi and Ravello in 2002 for the sights, of course, but mostly to eat at Da Gemma, and to eat the Fish Soup. You must make a reservation in advance, preferably from the States (although your concierge or front desk will be able to pull it off once you're in Italy, unless it's July or August). One of the four best meals we've ever had, in Italy or anywhere else. Kaye would never touch squid or octopus until Da Gemma; then she had to be arm-wrestled not to take it all. We went back in 2004 and it's as wonderful as ever. To get there, you hire Lucio (see Places to Stay - Positano) and let him take you to Ravello, where you stroll and buy ceramics, then down for lunch at Da Gemma with a stop for Bellinis at San Pietro on the way back. At the end of that day, as you sip your dinner wine, you will have had a perfect day. Someone will say "It doesn't get any better than this." You'll think for a moment, but nothing better will come to mind. Honest.

Cafe Positano
Positano
(Just up the road from the branch where the walking only street goes down to the harbor and beach. Your hotel will have the number and directions. Make a reservation and ask for the terrace across the road from the restaurant. A great view (See below).

Hotel Eden Roc
Via G. Marconi
84017 Positano
Tel: 089.875844
089 8212132
Fax: 089.875552
www.edenroc.it

In our review of the hotel in 2002 we said that food was not the strong point of the newly-opened restaurant at Eden Roc. We're reliably informed (we didn't have time to go) that many of the folks of 'Posi' think it's the best in town, which would be praise indeed. We're going to dine there (you don't 'eat' at fine restaurants - you dine) in 2005 and will report.

Again, a shot we had to take from a postcard - sorry, but it shows you the view.

Buca di Bacco - La Pergola
Via del Brigantino, 35/37
848017 Positano
089.811.461

The hotel's primary restaurant is quite acceptable, but when you have Da Gemma, Don Alfonso, Eden Roc and Palazzo Murat within 30 minutes, you may not get to it. We love Buca di Bacco - La Pergola, on the beach, for one of those meals that are wonderful in loco and that you can never repeat at home with the same flavor. Anchovies, margarite pizza, and Vesuvio white wine are not going to slay your guests in L.A., but after a day of walking or shopping or just hanging poolside, on the Mediterranean, contemplating life, the fresh anchovies, the pizza and the Lachryma Christi wine seem beatific. The other restaurants along the harbor are similar, but we like Buca best. (In Los Angeles Wally's Wines in Westwood carries the Lachryma Chrisit wines, at about $20 a bottle.)

Hotel Palazzo Murat
Restaurant Al Palazzo
Via dei Mulini, 23
089 875 177

It's the location, on the walk down from the main drag to the beach, and the wonderful gardens under the dome that give this restaurant its charm. And the food is quite good.

Do not, however, go there the night before the celebration of the patron saint of Positano, June 15. We did. The bells in the cathedral rang for 43 minutes straight. Less than romantic.

Sorry about the photo - we had to pull it off the hotel website, but it shows you some of the beauty of the location, with the duomo in the background.

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