This goes back a long time
It was maybe the mid 70’s when my buddy Joe and I happened upon Villa Pensa in Little Italy in NYC. Joe, Bill and I were regulars for 15 years. We ate mountains of calamari and drank gallons of an inexpensive Sicilian red wine called “Corvo.” My family knows all about the great food and ambiance of the place. Ever since then I have been trying to replicate the calamari marinara featured by Villa Pensa. It is not a complicated dish but I could never even get close to the Villa Pensa standard. Corvo had become ridiculously over priced and had disappeared from the market way back in the 80’s. I had given up.
Just before going to Florida for the winter I found Corvo at my local wine store for about $8. I travel to St. Louis regularly and to my amazement a suburban Italian restaurant named “Paul Manno’s” serves an incredibly good calamari marinara. I went 2 nights in a row earlier this month, ate calamari and started dreaming again.
Tonight Ann was out with friends and I decided to re engage the squid. I bought some Corvo and went to work. San Marzano tomatoes in the sauce, cooked it down a few times and added Corvo a few times before I added the squid and parsley. It was delicious. VP is not threatened but I set a new personal best. Could it be that Sicilian Corvo?
