By Marci Shatzman
We got a reachout a few weeks ago to do a new restaurant review. With the owner, host and chef David Vito Quaderno in the kitchen, as city people we were right at home in Savia Sicilian Restaurant in Mizner Plaza, the pink shops on NE 2nd Street across from Mizner Park. So much so, we brought a house guest there a week later, and as Chef David likes to say about first-timers, now we’ll be regulars.
This cozy linen napkin restaurant that only seats 30 reminded us of our days at the Italian Market in Philly and Chambersburg’s Italian restaurants in Trenton N.J. With one big difference. As the name implies, this is Sicilian cuisine, much lighter than other Italian fare we were used to. Luckily, one of college friends is Sicilian, so we were prepared for lighter sauces and that’s what you’ll find here. I love eggplant. So, I started with one of two Savia’s eggplant appetizers, caponata Siciliana with olive oil, onion, capers, celery, pine nuts and the delicious sauce Chef David should bottle. There’s also eggplant rollatini; bruschetta on the light crusty Italian bread it’s so hard to find here; calamari with shrimp we tried the second time and shared; and stuffed fried rice balls with Bolognese and mozzarella. Appetizer prices are $12 to $16 with very lightly fried calamari at $22 that’s huge and shareable.
We’re eating our way through the menu, so we didn’t try the soup of the day yet. At the tasting, I had diced eggplant with micro meatballs, basil, tomatoes and salted ricotta. My husband Brian had linguine capo mulini with a white wine sauce, lemon zest and juice and tiny pieces of shrimp, calamari, and mussels. The next time, our guest and I shared spaghetti with anchovies, black olives, tiny pieces of sword fish, capers and oregano. The other spaghetti dish has Sicilian pepperoncino and is described as spicy. Other pasta dishes include lasagna with vegetable Bechamel, carrots, spinach, zucchini, peppers and Parmigiano Reggiano; linguine with calamari and squid ink, and rigatoni or gnocchi that another guest described as the “best gnocchi I ever ate.” Chef David didn’t pay me to say that. Pasta prices range from $24 to $36.
There are seven seafood selections, including grouper in the lightest orange sauce you can imagine. Two kinds of swordfish dishes, stuffed calamari, branzino and octopus. Prices range from $32 to $46. There are three meat selections, the aforementioned beef meatballs and a fried chicken breast for $30 each and ossobuco, a veal shank I haven’t sampled yet that’s $48. There’s also a choice of salads, and desserts from ricotta cheesecake to cannoli, pannacotta and tiramisu I always choose and did here, washed down with cappuccino. Prices are $13 or $14.
Not to forget about the wine. There are nine reds, three whites and three kinds of Prosecco. We stuck to glasses of Nero d’Avola DOC Catuj, a light red we enjoyed twice at $12 a glass. Both glasses and bottles are available.
The décor has framed photos of Sicily and a screen with an ongoing video of the tourist attractions that will make you jump on the next plane. There’s now an opportunity to join Chef David and Savor Our City’s Denise Righetti from 5 to 7 p.m. the third Tuesday of each month for Italian cuisine, conversation and camaraderie. Their phone for reservations is (561) 617-5424.