The small crew of the “Focolare restaurant”
The D’Ambra family has been the daughter of the island’s viticulture for over a century, great-grandfather Francesco was the largest exporter of wine, in chestnut barrels, in the 1930s on the island of Ischia. From the spirit of farm that has always accompanied the family, D’ Ambra Loretta and Riccardo assisted by their 8 children, they have given life to the idea of the “Trattoria Il Focolare”. The Trattoria was founded in 1991 with the idea of carrying the ideal of ”Ischia: an island of land!“, Which has always been its history and erected its peasant economy for at least 90% of its territory! In the kitchen they unleash themselves with flavors and imagination, but never distracting themselves from reality, the males of the Agostino and Francesco crew, with the collaboration of mother Loretta.
The girls of the family welcome you into the dining room, Silvia, the family agronomist, will help you to decide how to orient yourself in the world of Focolare flavors, Mariateresa will make you “sweetly” close the evening by offering you her desserts, Antonella our little “Sommelier ”, helps you to decide how to water the dishes; Luciana, Laurae Cristiana will accompany you throughout the dinner. In the daily kitchen the crew tries to talk about its territory at the table with the “wild” Mezzanelli where in the dough there are wild herbs which in dialect are called “Tunz e Paparastiell’, herbs belonging to the Tarassaco family or the Ravioli di Scarola which it is a creative dish of traditional inspiration, its base is the Scarola Pizza, the ischia-style snails, eggplant parmigiana and the salad with sea fennel.
Everything takes place in a virtual culinary gallery, the trattoria “Il Focolare”, under the careful guidance of the “keeper of the mountain” Riccardo D’Ambra, who thus tells the Focolare in an interview with the local newspaper: “I am the son of this island and its peasant history “I didn’t know how to strip myself of these origins of mine, when I decided to open an activity. In exalting however the typical features of the island, I could not close myself to the new, to everything that comes from afar, but equally tells of traditional uses. From here to the introduction in our colorful and colorful menu of the Aberdeen Angus, of the Piemontese Breed of Fossano, of the Caciocavallo Podolico of Basilicata Region, of the Snails.
For this reason, in the restaurant’s logo you can read “… in defense of the typical cuisine, not just the island without borders”. That without borders is of fundamental importance, to sense the spirit that animates me and my family in going forward in this wonderful adventure search for the beautiful things of Italy “…
