Restaurant

Cutilisci

Catania's clearest attempt at a Sicilian answer to Neapolitan technique: a mother yeast, island ancient grains and a long rest, in a fish restaurant on the harbour rather than a pizzeria. It is also the city's most instructive record, because the one published tasting of it is unkind and the later account is not, and a guide that only carries the second is not reporting.

Via San Giovanni Li Cuti 69, 95127 Catania · Catania · Neapolitan

A diner cuts into a ball of stracciatella at the centre of a pizza in bright sunlight, yellow and red cherry tomatoes and basil around it, the rim tall and blistered, on an outdoor table. — From Cutilisci

Why it is here

Catania's clearest attempt at a Sicilian answer to Neapolitan technique: a mother yeast, island ancient grains and a long rest, in a fish restaurant on the harbour rather than a pizzeria. It is also the city's most instructive record, because the one published tasting of it is unkind and the later account is not, and a guide that only carries the second is not reporting.

What to order

Whatever shows the ancient-grain base — the flour and the mother are the argument here, not the topping.

What we looked at

Lievito madre only, Sicilian ancient-grain flours, 48 hours of rest, built for digestibilityA fish restaurant with a pizza programme rather than a pizzeria, on the little harbour at San Giovanni Li CutiThe sourcing rule is stated as whole-supply-chain rather than kilometre zero: good wherever it comes fromJudged harshly in 2016 — a badly risen, heavy, over-baked disc at a price the reviewer called salty — and described very differently six years later. The record carries both rather than the flattering one