gmhTODAY 23 gmhTODAY Dec Jan 2018 | Page 102

Dining Out with Friends Sweet Written By Larry J. Mickartz Appetizers M Palermo Street Food Eggplant "Parmigiana” Pastas Chicken Gnocchi any of us locals know Sweet Sicily as a great place for cookies, pastries and desserts. But most do not know that owner Severino D’Anna also serves dinner. We invited our long-time friends Mike and Janet Thompson to Sweet Sicily. Janet is a talented entertainer with an Italian heritage. Mike is half Italian. We fi gured we needed their family backgrounds to help us check out this new dining spot. Sweet Sicily does not have a wine license but does allow the patrons to bring in their own….and that we did! Our wine choices that eve- ning included a 2016 Fernwood Chardonnay, a Sarah’s Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve, and a Russian River 2013 Papapietro Perry Pinot Noir. They all turned out to be great choices for the variety of flavors we were about to experience. Sweet Sicily does not have a lot of seating…there are four or five small four-tops and some high tables along the east wall. Things were a little crowded at our table but we soon for- got all about that when our appetizers arrived. We ordered Palermo Street Food (Panelle, Potato Croquettes, Little Rice Balls) and Eggplant “Parmigiana” (Eggplant, Tomato Sauce, Parmesan, Sicily Basil.) Severino brought out some specially prepared bread to go with our appetizers. The bread was really good with a slightly sweet flavor and a hint of hot spice. The Street Food was spectacular. Three different flavors and textures. All done perfectly. The Panelle were won- derful; the croquettes had just the right texture and mixture of Italian herbs and the rice balls were crunchy on the out- side and delicious on the inside. Two of us proclaimed our dislike of eggplant but were quickly converted over to this flavorful mixture of sweet tomato sauce, basil, mozzarella and delicate eggplant. The Palermo Street Food got the “wow” vote of the evening! We passed on the salads and went straight into pasta specials and the Secondi Piatti (entrees). From the specials menu on the wall, we ordered the Gnocchi (Chicken, Spinach, Tomato) and the Penne “Pesto Sicilia” (Garlic, Tomato, Fresh Basil, Roasted Almonds, Peccorino Cheese) .For the entrees Janet went for the Chicken Parmigiana (Chicken Entrees Chicken Parmigiana Penne "Pesto Sicilia” 102 Chicken Rolls "Sweet Sicily” GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN december 2018-january 2019 gmhtoday.com