I guess many of you know that my family is originally from Sicily, and many of the tastes and recipes at Il Michelangelo’s are influenced from that region.  But what you may not know is that my father was also a chef and I guess you could say that his love of cooking and his high mastery of the art, infected most of my family to take it up as well.   He even taught my mother to cook!

 My mother is named Maria and is 87 years young. She still lives in Palermo, Sicily in the house I grew up in, and this past October my brother Aldo and I paid her a “surprise” visit.   We landed in Rome and took another short flight to the island where we were met by my brother Pino (also a chef, now retired) and taken in great secrecy to our house.   My mother was of course shocked to see us, and became very emotional, filled with happiness.  She is still mostly healthy and active and being surrounded by all her boys was very overwhelming but joyful.

 During our stay my brother Pino prepared for us his patented “Pani ca Meusa” one of the best Italian dishes you never heard of.  Probably because of what is in it:   a delicious soft Focaccia bread filled with cow lung, heart, spleen, thin sliced and cooked in liquefied fat then boiled.  (Don’t worry I’m not planning on adding it to the menu…)  It is a staple of Italian street food where I grew up and the taste of it is like opening up a chest filled with warm childhood memories.  Pani ca Meusa comes either “schettu” or “maritatu” meaning with or without ricotta.  If you are ever brave enough to make it, by all means make it with the ricotta!

 We stayed with my mother for 9 days.  Inevitably going back to Italy involves a level of eating most Americans would find hard to digest.  Every day there were multiple visits to see friends and family and every visit to friends and family revolved around a meal, wine, cheese, and great conversation.   I can say that the simple but delicious food served in most home’s in Palermo are the deepest inspiration for the food in our restaurant.   For instance our Spedini, so widely regarded by our customers, was a recipe my brothers pried loose from my tight lipped father before he passed.   It was difficult to get anything out of him, it was “a pinch of this, a bit of that, a handful of this…” but a few of his masterpieces have survived to influence the menu at Il Michelangelo’s.  In his life he worked at a hotel called the Albergo delle Madonie, a very high end hotel in Petralia Sottana where he ran the kitchen.  He would bring home scraps of food and fresh meat for us and whip them into creations that made us cry:  succulent and delicious meals that we all still remember like it was yesterday.

When we had to leave, my mother and my brothers and sisters were sad.   My mother will never leave Palermo and at 87 every parting feels permanent.   Nevertheless I came home with new ideas and inspirations from my travels, and 10 more lbs I need to lose.   Look for some more of the simple but delicious meals that inspired me on our specials menu.  

And if you are ever considering a trip to Palermo or any part of Sicily, don’t be shy about asking me where to go and what to do and most of all,  what to EAT!

 All the best – Dominic Sr.

If these are some of the images that dance through your head when you think of thanksgiving, you’re not alone.

But consider these little know facts recently unearthed about the real history of thanksgiving…   Historians now believe that Christopher Columbus (a solid Italian) actually left behind a book of his mother’s favorite recipes!  This was later discovered by Pilgrim William Nathanial Carver while planting potatoes, and was secretly used to plan the original Thanksgiving feast…

• Recently discovered documents and forensic evidence indicate that the first thanksgiving turkey may have been covered with a red sauce…
• Since tomato’s were considered poisonous until the 19th century, it is believed that early settlers were actually trying to poison the Indians..
• There was a huge fight in the kitchen of Pilgrims Mary and Samuel Fuller about how many onions to put in the sauce…
• The great, great, great, great, great grandmother of Connie was believed to have sent the first riceballs for thanksgiving dinner…
• A large fight broke out between an unidentified Indian and pilgrim over whether the pasta was really “al dente” or not…    Spaghetti was thrown and it was noticed that it stuck to a nearby tree.   Thus the tradition of tossing pasta against a wall to check for doneness was born…

So you see that to say that Italians appropriated and improved the Thanksgiving holiday is really unfair, we were there from the beginning!

Don’t believe us?  (you’re very smart…)   Well come see for yourself what an Italian Thanksgiving feast looks like!   We promise rice balls are on the menu, and some other of Christopher Columbus’ mothers creations, done Il Michelangelo Style.

Come make your own uh… revised Thanksgiving history with us!

Two Generations of Dominic's welcome you!

This is the official blog of the restaurant which both Dominic Sr, chef Dominic Jr, and the entire Cascio Clan will be contributing vigorously to in the coming months.   We call our blog “iShare” reflecting our philosophy that good food and good stories should be shared with all our good friends.  (and perhaps also our preference for Apple computers…)   Through the iShare series, head Chef Dominic Jr. will be hosting a series of open cooking demonstrations and sharing his tips on cooking techniques and the unique imported ingredients that make our food so special.   We’ll tell you about food, about Italy, a little more about food, some things about our family, and then some more about food…  you get the picture right?   We hope you in turn will share your thoughts with us on any and all related subjects.   Our food is rich and delicious but our relationships with our many friends are even richer.   We sincerely look forward to hearing from you.

The Dominics