Ristorante Il Dehor
In the Foresteria Baglio della Luna hotel, Contrada Maddalusa (S.S. 640), Valle dei Templi
Cuisines: Italian, European
About
Set within the thick medieval walls of the Foresteria Baglio della Luna hotel, 5km (3 miles) west of Agrigento, this is the finest restaurant in Agrigento, and one of the best in all of Sicily. Its excellence is the work of chef Damiano Ferraro, an Agrigento-born, London-educated culinary genius who has reinvented aspects of traditional Sicilian cuisine in ways that elicit rave reviews from discerning diners from throughout Europe. Guests dine on a terrace or in one of two rooms that are ringed with important 19th-century paintings and tapestries. The 50€ ($65) fixed menu is traditional Sicilian and a bit cliché-ridden, but the 53€ ($69) tasting menu truly shows off the genius of this most talented chef. The appetizers are the best along the southern coast of Sicily -- just wait until you sample the octopus and shrimp with new potatoes in a bisque flavored with escargot butter, or the sea scallops with king prawns on cannellini beans with candied lemon in a sea urchin sauce. We could return here every night for the pastas, such as tortellini of spiny lobster in a jus of summer truffles. Wild salmon is served in a consommé of cherry tomatoes with little ravioli of melted fennel and chopped garlic. Desserts don't get much better than the chocolate fondant with a pistachio parfait and two sauces.
