Southern Italian Food That Tastes Like Sicily

My coworker Maria grew up in Palermo, and she spent her first two years in San Francisco complaining that nobody here knew how to make real Sicilian food. “It’s all northern Italian,” she’d say. “Where’s the caponata? Where’s the arancini that doesn’t taste like cafeteria food? Where’s pasta with sardines?”

Then someone from her Italian class told her about the Sicilian specialties at Soma Restaurant & Bar. She went there skeptical, ordered the pasta con le sarde, and got quiet when it came out. After the first bite she looked up and said, “Okay, this is actually right. They know what they’re doing.”

That’s rare in San Francisco – finding Southern Italian cuisine that actually tastes like it came from southern Italy instead of from someone’s vague memory of a vacation in Rome.

What Makes Sicilian Food Different

Sicilian food isn’t just “Italian food from Sicily.” It’s a completely different approach to cooking that reflects Sicily’s history of Greek, Arab, Norman, and Spanish influences.

I talked to this guy from Catania at a wine bar once, and he explained that Sicilian cuisine uses ingredients you don’t see much in northern Italian cooking. Sardines, anchovies, pine nuts, raisins, saffron, eggplant. Sweet and savory combinations that feel weird if you’re only familiar with northern Italian food.

Real Sicilian specialties in San Francisco should reflect this diversity. Not just pizza and pasta, but the unique dishes that make Sicilian food distinct.

At Soma Restaurant & Bar, the Sicilian dishes feel authentic because they use the right ingredients and understand the flavor profiles that make Sicilian food work. They’re not just adding eggplant to generic Italian dishes and calling it Sicilian.

Pasta Con Le Sarde Done Right

Pasta con le sarde – pasta with sardines, wild fennel, pine nuts, raisins, and saffron – is a classic Sicilian dish that most restaurants don’t even attempt because Americans think sardines are weird.

Making it right requires good sardines, actual wild fennel (not grocery store fennel bulb), toasted pine nuts, and the right balance of sweet and savory. Get any of those wrong and the dish doesn’t work.

The pasta con le sarde at Soma tastes like the real thing. The sardines aren’t fishy in a bad way, the fennel adds that anise flavor that’s essential, and the sweet-savory balance is right. Maria orders it every time she goes there because it reminds her of home.

Arancini That’s Actually Good

Arancini – fried rice balls – shows up on lots of menus in San Francisco, but most of it is terrible. Mushy rice, bland filling, soggy breading. Nothing like what you get in Sicily.

Good arancini should have rice that holds together but isn’t gummy, filling with actual flavor, and a crispy golden exterior. The rice should be seasoned with saffron. The filling varies – meat ragu, cheese, peas – but it needs to taste like something.

The arancini at Soma Restaurant & Bar is crispy outside, creamy inside, with filling that has actual flavor. Maria says it’s the closest she’s found to what her nonna used to make.

Caponata as It Should Be

Caponata is a Sicilian eggplant dish with tomatoes, olives, capers, and a sweet-sour flavor from vinegar and sugar. It’s served at room temperature as an appetizer or side.

Most restaurants make watery, bland caponata that tastes like confused ratatouille. Real caponata should be chunky, flavorful, with distinct sweet and sour notes and the bitterness of olives and capers balancing everything.

The caponata at Soma gets the texture and flavor right. The eggplant is cooked properly – not mushy, not undercooked. The sweet-sour balance works. It tastes like actual Sicilian caponata instead of generic cooked vegetables.

Pasta Alla Norma

Pasta alla Norma – named after the opera by Sicilian composer Bellini – is pasta with fried eggplant, tomato sauce, and ricotta salata. Simple ingredients, but it requires technique.

The eggplant needs to be fried properly so it’s creamy inside with a little texture. The tomato sauce should be simple but flavorful. The ricotta salata adds a salty, tangy element that makes the whole dish work.

The pasta alla Norma at Soma Restaurant & Bar is done right. The eggplant has that perfect fried texture, the sauce isn’t drowning the pasta, and the ricotta salata is shaved fresh on top. It’s a dish you don’t see done well often outside of Sicily.

Southern Italian Cuisine Beyond Sicily

Southern Italian cuisine includes more than just Sicily. Calabria, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata – each region has its own specialties.

Calabrian food is spicy, with lots of ‘nduja and hot peppers. Campanian cuisine gave us pizza and pasta dishes from Naples. Puglia does orecchiette with broccoli rabe. Basilicata has its own traditions with peppers and lamb.

The Southern Italian options at Soma include dishes from different southern regions, not just Sicily. They understand that Southern Italian cuisine is diverse, not one monolithic thing.

Seafood the Sicilian Way

Sicily is an island, so seafood is central to Sicilian cooking. But not fancy seafood – everyday fish like sardines, anchovies, swordfish, tuna. Prepared simply with olive oil, lemon, herbs.

Sicilian seafood dishes are about letting the fish taste like fish, not covering it with heavy sauces. Grilled swordfish with salmoriglio sauce (olive oil, lemon, oregano). Pasta with sea urchin. Sardines stuffed with breadcrumbs and herbs.

The Sicilian seafood at Soma reflects this simple approach. They’re not doing complicated preparations. Just good fish cooked right with traditional Sicilian seasonings.

The Sweet and Savory Thing

One characteristic of Sicilian food that confuses people is the combination of sweet and savory. Raisins in pasta with sardines. Pine nuts with sardines. Agrodolce (sweet and sour) preparations.

This comes from Arab influence in Sicily during the medieval period. The flavor combinations feel weird if you’re not used to them, but they work when done right.

Soma Restaurant & Bar embraces these traditional Sicilian flavor combinations instead of dumbing them down for American palates. The dishes taste like actual Sicilian food, not like adapted versions for people who think sweet and savory don’t mix.

Eggplant in Every Form

Eggplant is huge in Sicilian cooking. Caponata, pasta alla Norma, eggplant parmigiana, grilled eggplant, stuffed eggplant. Sicilians know how to cook eggplant properly.

The key is removing the bitterness and getting the texture right. Salt it and let it drain. Fry it in hot oil. Roast it until it’s creamy. Don’t just steam it and hope for the best.

The eggplant dishes at Soma are cooked with Sicilian technique. The eggplant actually tastes good instead of being a mushy, bitter mess.

Sicilian Pizza Versus Neapolitan Pizza

Sicilian pizza is different from the Neapolitan style most people think of as Italian pizza. Thicker crust, often rectangular, topped differently. More bread-like than the thin, crispy Neapolitan style.

Sfincione is the traditional Sicilian pizza – thick, soft crust with tomato, onions, anchovies, and breadcrumbs. Very different from what Americans think of as pizza.

The Sicilian-style pizza at Soma has that thicker, chewier crust that’s characteristic of Sicilian pizza. It’s not trying to be Neapolitan pizza with a thick crust – it’s actually Sicilian style.

Breadcrumbs as a Topping

In Sicily, toasted breadcrumbs are used like parmesan – sprinkled on pasta, added to vegetables, used as a coating. This comes from poverty – breadcrumbs were cheaper than cheese.

Pasta with sardines gets topped with toasted breadcrumbs, not cheese. Some vegetable dishes use breadcrumbs for texture and flavor.

Soma Restaurant & Bar uses breadcrumbs in traditional Sicilian ways. They’re not just defaulting to parmesan on everything. The breadcrumb-topped dishes taste authentically Sicilian.

Olives and Capers Everywhere

Sicilian food uses lots of olives and capers because they grow well in the Mediterranean climate. These ingredients add briny, salty flavors that balance the sweetness in many dishes.

Caponata has both. Puttanesca sauce (which comes from southern Italy near Naples) is built around olives and capers. Many Sicilian fish dishes include capers.

The Sicilian specialties at Soma don’t shy away from olives and capers. They use them generously, the way Sicilian cooking is supposed to.

Saffron in Unexpected Places

Saffron shows up in Sicilian cooking more than in northern Italian cuisine. Arancini rice is colored with saffron. Some pasta dishes use it. It’s part of the Arab influence on Sicilian food.

Using real saffron is expensive, which is why many restaurants skip it or use turmeric as a cheap substitute. But the flavor is completely different.

The saffron in dishes at Soma tastes real. The arancini has that distinctive saffron flavor and color, not the fake yellow from turmeric.

Vegetables Cooked the Southern Way

Southern Italian cuisine treats vegetables differently than northern Italian food. More grilling, more olive oil, more room-temperature preparations.

Grilled peppers with garlic and olive oil. Roasted tomatoes. Marinated zucchini. Sautéed greens with lots of olive oil and garlic.

The vegetable dishes at Soma Restaurant & Bar reflect Southern Italian techniques. They’re not doing delicate northern Italian vegetable preparations. They’re doing bold, olive-oil-heavy southern dishes.

Chickpeas and Lentils

Legumes are important in Southern Italian cuisine. Pasta e ceci (pasta with chickpeas), lentil soup, fava bean puree. Protein sources that were affordable for poor southern Italians.

These dishes are hearty and satisfying when made right. The legumes should be cooked until they’re creamy, flavored with olive oil and herbs.

The chickpea and lentil dishes at Soma are cooked properly. The legumes have texture but aren’t crunchy, and they’re seasoned well enough to taste like something besides bland beans.

Citrus in Cooking

Sicily grows amazing citrus – lemons, oranges, blood oranges. Sicilian cooking uses citrus in ways you don’t see in northern Italian food.

Orange zest in certain dishes. Lemon juice finishing seafood. Blood orange salads. The bright acidity of citrus is characteristic of Sicilian flavors.

Soma Restaurant & Bar uses citrus in traditional Sicilian ways. Not just squeezing lemon on fish as an afterthought, but actually incorporating citrus into dishes where it belongs.

Ricotta That’s Fresh

Ricotta in Sicily is fresh, creamy, and sweet. Used in both savory and sweet dishes. Baked into cassata, mixed into pasta fillings, served with honey as dessert.

American ricotta is often grainy and bland. Good ricotta should be smooth and slightly sweet.

The ricotta at Soma tastes fresh. Whether it’s ricotta salata on pasta alla Norma or fresh ricotta in other dishes, the quality is noticeably better than grocery store ricotta.

Tomatoes When They’re Good

Southern Italian cuisine uses tons of tomatoes, but good tomato-based dishes require good tomatoes. In winter, that means good canned San Marzanos. In summer, that means fresh tomatoes that actually taste like something.

Bad tomatoes ruin Southern Italian dishes. You can’t hide them behind other flavors.

The tomato-based Sicilian dishes at Soma use quality tomatoes. You can taste the difference in the sauce, in the caponata, in anything with tomatoes.

Simple Preparations

Sicilian and Southern Italian food is generally simpler than northern Italian cuisine. Fewer ingredients per dish, more focus on the quality of individual ingredients, less reliance on butter and cream.

This simplicity is harder than it looks because you can’t hide mistakes. If your eggplant is cooked badly or your olive oil is cheap, it shows.

The Sicilian specialties at Soma embrace this simplicity. They’re not trying to make dishes more complicated than they should be. Just good ingredients prepared traditionally.

Wine Pairings for Sicilian Food

Sicilian wines are different from northern Italian wines. Nero d’Avola, Nerello Mascalese, Grillo, Catarratto. Wines that pair with the bold flavors of Sicilian food.

The wine selection at Soma includes Sicilian wines that actually pair well with Sicilian dishes. They’re not just recommending generic Italian wines for everything.

Southern Italian Antipasti

Southern Italian antipasti is different from northern. More seafood, more grilled vegetables, more bold flavors. Less prosciutto and fancy cheeses, more anchovies and marinated vegetables.

The antipasti selection at Soma includes Southern Italian options. Grilled octopus, marinated peppers, olives, caponata. Things you’d actually see on an antipasti spread in Sicily.

The Spice Level

Southern Italian food, especially from Calabria, can be spicy. Peperoncino (hot pepper) shows up in lots of dishes. Not overpowering heat, but a background warmth.

Northern Italian food is generally not spicy. So Southern Italian cuisine that includes appropriate heat is more authentic.

Some of the Southern Italian dishes at Soma have the right amount of spice. Not dumbed down to bland, but not so hot that people can’t eat them.

Desserts From Sicily

Sicilian desserts are distinct – cannoli, cassata, granita, almond paste cookies. Heavy Arab influence with lots of sugar, honey, and nuts.

The Sicilian desserts at Soma Restaurant & Bar include traditional options. Cannoli with good ricotta filling, not the stuff that tastes like it’s been sitting for days. These desserts reflect actual Sicilian traditions.

Why This Matters in San Francisco

Most Italian restaurants in San Francisco focus on northern Italian food or generic Italian-American dishes. Finding good Sicilian and Southern Italian cuisine is harder.

For people from southern Italy or people who’ve traveled there and want to find those flavors in San Francisco, places like Soma that actually do Southern Italian right are important.

Maria finally stopped complaining about the lack of good Sicilian food in San Francisco once she found Soma. She goes there when she’s homesick for Palermo and wants food that tastes like what she grew up eating.

Just Try the Sicilian Dishes

If you’ve never had real Sicilian food, the Sicilian specialties at Soma Restaurant & Bar are worth trying. Order the pasta con le sarde if you’re adventurous. Get the arancini if you want something familiar but done really well. Try the caponata.

See what actual Southern Italian cuisine tastes like instead of the generic “Italian food” that most restaurants serve.

My coworker Maria brings all her Italian friends there now. It’s become the spot where the Italian community in San Francisco goes when they want food that actually tastes like southern Italy.

That’s what good Sicilian specialties should do – transport you a little bit, remind you of the actual flavors of Sicily and southern Italy, not some watered-down American interpretation. Just real food made the way it’s supposed to be made, with the ingredients and techniques that make Southern Italian cuisine distinct from everything else called “Italian food.”