Both La Tarappa and Las Palmas in Puerto Plata, if you're ever there, are run by Italians and have delicious, thin-crust pizza.
- Thread starter David B
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Best Italian Restaurant in Cabarete/Sosúa
Both La Tarappa and Las Palmas in Puerto Plata, if you're ever there, are run by Italians and have delicious, thin-crust pizza.
lol, I never did understand the concept of "trough" eating. The "all you can eat" trough restaurant has killed millions more people than covid19
Not sure where you are talking about, but there were no central americans or mexicans in the south Philly area where I'm from when I grew up there. Best Italian food I've had anywhere. Pizza and pasta with ketchup on it is basically what you get almost everywhere here in the DR.
Gus are you ok? Are you shacked up in BC again? Something ain't right here. I smell web proxy server
Sorry, I was NOT referring to South Philly in my post - but indeed someone else here confirmed my observation in some other geography.
I also am speaking as someone who lived in the EU for a long time and so my "Italian" is different from those that had Italian in the US. This is not to say that the Italian food in the US is not better than what it once was but, barring high class NY restaurant (I know nothing of CA and if I am in LA, I would go only to the Japanese Sashimi places), Italian food in the US is unrepresentative, first because historically it was food of the poor immigrants from the South, second because of US fascination with quantity (bigger portion is better and we can see the impact of that all around us) and finally, because it had to adjust to the local taste - the people of English/Scottish stock had only boiled stuff, which I enjoy during my NZ trips at English immigrants' residences, who maintain their own tradition there.
Italian food, whether from North or South is way superior - from a fish baked in oven, submerged inside nothing but sea salt in Genoa, to Orechhiette con cime de rapa in Bari. In the DR, I find better Italian food, a) because the restaurants I frequent are owned by the expat Italians, for example in Boca Chica/SD and b) there is a lot of genuine Italian ingredients available - some of which are not allowed into the US - for example someone mentioned "pancetta".
My favorite restaurant in Cabarete is my favorite, also because and this is fairly rare, that the Chef himself is Italian and not being from the South, has a different culinary footprint. In fact, the original owner of the Bologna restaurant was/is from Bologna and the food used to be excellent before it got sold off. By the way, I find the German and French restaurants around the North Coast to be very good too, again for similar reasons. I mean I found reibekuchen at a beachside place in Sosua - unthinkable!
Agree - excellent and very inexpensive. And as you say- female owner is from Italy. From very simple and delicious ( pasta tossed in olive oil, garlic and hot pepper ) to very well done "red sauce" dishes that apparently some folks say can't be found here.
Forgot to also mention : lots of Italian patrons
Of course - they are located on that infamous block on PC. That will keep away many of the "never been there - never going there" folks. Their loss.
I think i know the place, its right next to oso polar ?
I suspect it is a regional difference. The Italians , and there were many, in my region were probably from southern Italy and Sicily. I had been told that was the red sauce area. In northern Italy, where I spent several days and had some very good meals, did not include one red sauce dish on their menus. Perhaps the northern Italians happened to land in the DR. Only one good red sauce report so far ( in Puerto Plata)...
Yep, northern Italian is not what I crave. It is indeed that southern Italian peasant food in quantity that was so good from back home.
It is obvious from reading the comments here, that we all like our childhood/comfort foods better.
The northern italian cuisine is different, abounds in white sauce as butter and cream (as in France as well) historically were local produce, as is rice - which is grown only in the north, hence risotto Milanese. The red sauce is a derivative of tomato, which is a product of the sun, i.e., the South - as is wheat (pizza and pasta hence) and of course olive oil, which is the "Italian" known in the US, because of the demography of the emigrants. By all means, sun ripe tomatoes, olive oil and a few sprigs of basil leaves, on top of a bowl of spaghetti, can be quick, scrumptious and memorable but it is just a fragment of ITALIAN cuisine.
The northern italian cuisine is different, abounds in white sauce as butter and cream (as in France as well) historically were local produce, as is rice - which is grown only in the north, hence risotto Milanese. The red sauce is a derivative of tomato, which is a product of the sun, i.e., the South - as is wheat (pizza and pasta hence) and of course olive oil, which is the "Italian" known in the US, because of the demography of the emigrants. By all means, sun ripe tomatoes, olive oil and a few sprigs of basil leaves, on top of a bowl of spaghetti, can be quick, scrumptious and memorable but it is just a fragment of ITALIAN cuisine.
Their (Bruno's)homemade tagliatelle & ravioli are excellent as are all their other dishes including their pizza.
I have had their pizza many times. Not like home but not bad for here. As good as I have found in the DR where there are many lousy examples of pizza. We had what was called an Italian sausage that was incredible as well as a tangier sauce and more of it. The crust was also thicker and a Sicilian pan pizza style, (NOT like Chicago), with a medium crust. For the Rome , Italy style cracker thin pizza we would go to Antonio's next to Janets.
I never tried other dishes at Ceiba.
No doubt, but the fragment I crave. The other stuff I will leave for you and others.
As for the pachyderm place people mention on PC in Sosua, no, it is not even close to the red sauce I am talking about. Nowhere near it.
I respect your choice! I love red sauces too but cannot do that all the time.
Btw, that was funny, your referring to the pachyderm! I went there many moons ago and yes, the woman is Italian. I remember having aglio, olio, peperoncino (garlic, olive oil, chili pepper) with spaghetti there and I cannot complain but to me it is nothing to write home about.