AS FEATURED DECEMBER 26, 2007
N O P L A C E L I K E H O M E
A passion for Sardinia
Houston restaurateur’s new cookbook introduces
the heritage and cuisine of his beloved native land
By PEGGY GRODINSKY not cooking, using not merely the flesh,
HOUSTON CHRONICLE but also the intestines, blood, bones and
brains of the animals they eat. The island’s
Efisio Farris has an abiding passion for straightforward cooking reveals traces of
the stories, scents, people, landscape, tra- Roman, Arabian, Moorish and Catalan
ditions and tastes of his native Sardinia. tables, the result of centuries of invasions.
The proprietor of Arcodoro restau- To recreate it in American kitchens,
rant in Houston and Arcodoro & however, it’s necessary to shop for a few
Pomodoro in Dallas, he documents exotic and expensive imported Sardinian
them with tenderness and expertise in ingredients (Farris’s GourmetSardinia
Sweet Myrtle & Bitter Honey: The product line is at hand to help). It’s
Mediterranean Flavors of Sardinia paradoxical food for thought as you cook
(Rizzoli, $40), his first cookbook and your way through these elemental,
probably the first Sardinian cookbook appealing dishes.
published in English. The New York Farris embodies some of the same
Times praised its thoughtfulness, “love contradictions. He is a savvy, stylishly
and intelligence,’’ and listed it among dressed businessman with an American
“25 noteworthy cookbooks published knack for marketing. His wife and part-
in 2007.’’ ner, Lori, also deserves credit. They know
Farris, with writer Jim Eber, relates a niche when they see one. He has the
food traditions that date back thousands charm and poetic turns of phrase of an
of years and embody the island’s gutsy, Italian, and the can-do, entrepreneurial,
make-do peasant cooking. Sardinians use get-up-and-go attitude of a Texan. On
few ingredients and they use what is at Sundays, he cooks leisurely meals for his
hand. They gather honey, saffron, wild family, Sardinian lunches that slide into FAMILY COOK: Efisio Farris, owner of Arcodoro
nettles and asparagus. They cultivate Sardinian dinners. But he loves to make restaurant in Houston and Arcodoro & Pomodoro
grapes and rice. They catch shellfish from sushi, too, and has deep admiration for in Dallas, enjoys cooking leisurely meals for
the sea, hunt boar, press olives into oil and Japanese cuisine. He seems at once his family on Sundays, such as Sardinian Paella
milk into curds. Theirs is waste-not-want- with Fregula.
Texan, American, Sardinian and Italian -
but, he says without hesitation and with
“all due respect,’’ he is Sardinian at heart.
The evocatively named Sweet Myrtle
& Bitter Honey is a love letter to his
homeland, “my inheritance and my lega-
cy,’’ as he writes in the book’s afterword.
Actually, Farris says, Texas reminds
him of Sardinia. Both peoples are stub-
born, independent and have a strong
sense of history. Texas, like Sardinia, is
practically its own country.
Farris was born in 1960 and named
for Sardinia’s patron saint. He came to
America at age 25. He spoke no English;
HEARTY POLENTA: Topped with sausage and
tomato sauce, this polenta recipe makes a cozy he’d never before set foot out of Italy. On LET’S HEAR IT FOR LENTILS: Pork ribs are
casserole. Sardinia, everybody knows everybody - sweetened with saba.
AS FEATURED DECEMBER 26, 2007
or, if not, their first cousin or best friend. Arts & Letters, a cookbook store in New on the patio at Arcodoro. Italian arias tin-
But however much Farris loved the land, York City. kle faintly. Farris knows the charms of
the opportunities for a curious, ambitious “Before that came out, you really had the Sardinian wine in our glasses as inti-
young man were limited. By contrast, his to scratch to even find a few recipes. This mately as he would those of an old sweet-
early days in Manhattan were thrilling, was really pleasing to have a whole book heart. We are eating arancini (irresistible
“columns of people, rivers of people. I devoted to Sardinia. We have something fried rice balls), a seafood soup that sings
never wanted to go to sleep.’’ In America, like five shelves of Italian books here and, of the sea, pork and pancetta with mal-
the opportunities were “immense.’’ other than the Bugialli, nothing else on loreddus (a Sardinian pasta I fall for
Soon he was managing an Italian the subject.’’ instantly), scallops with fregula perched
restaurant, and before you could say uno, Sweet Mrytle & Bitter Honey makes on a seashell and fried, sweet ravioli with
due, tre, he’d met Lori. “From a tourist, I few concessions to American tastes. The bitter honey.
became a little visiting.’’ photograph of dozens of curled-up eels He drizzles his own brand of olive oil
He stayed? may put you off. The description of sam- over almost every plate: “They call me
“Not really,’’ Farris says. “I went back beneddu, “a treat made from pig’s blood the Drizzler.’’
home and got a bigger suitcase.’’ that has been cooked and sweetened . . . Disregard the Galleria-area parking
The couple married; they now have mixed with vinu cotto (reduced grape lot and shopping mall, imagine a sandy
two children, ages 10 and 13. In 1988, juice), sugar, cloves and other aromatic beach and jagged coastline, and you just
they moved to Dallas to open a restau- herbs and spices (and) stuffed into the might think you’re on an island in the
rant. At the time, Americans’ impression pig’s intestines’’ may prompt you to put Mediterranean.
of Italian food was evolving from down your fork and knife. Chances are People always ask him when he left
spaghetti with meatballs to a mosaic of the tattaliu (braided goat intestine and Sardinia, Farris says between bites.
distinct regional cuisines. organs) won’t be your cup of tea, either. “I never left.’’
“That’s when we jumped in. Before, it Farris says he fought for their inclusion,
was impossible for us. That’s when we as well as that of tough-to-find-in-
screamed, `Here we are: Sardinia!’ ‘’ America ingredients, such as wild nettles SARDINIAN PANTRY
In the beginning, Farris says, and myrtle. Houstonians Efisio and Lori Farris run
Americans would tell him that, of “Substitute? No substitute,’’ he insist- GourmetSardinia, importer of food products
course, they knew about Sardinia - then ed. “There is going to be no substitute. that may be unfamiliar to Americans.
proceed to locate the island somewhere Either you make my recipe or you are Find some of these online at
off Cuba. In the beginning, he repeats, making something else.’’ Of 125 recipes, www.gourmetsardinia.com.
customers came to Arcodoro & he adds, no more than 20 will provoke
■ Abbamele: tawny, semi-sweet reduction
Pomodoro in Dallas (formerly two squeamishness.
of honey and bee pollen, good in salads or
restaurants, now consolidated) demand- The book opens with a recipe for pane
with ice cream, cheese and fruit
ing iceberg lettuce. The Dallas restau- carasau, the island’s traditional flat
rants introduced that city’s diners to bread. Farris lavishes it with photographs ■ Bottarga: salty, flavorful fish roe, usually
radicchio, pasta as its own course and and reminiscences - and in this case, gray mullet, also known as Sardinian caviar
olive oil on the table, in place of butter. gives American cooks a break. ■ Cannonau: dry, robust red wine that
Farris’ brother is executive chef there. “Personally, I don’t recommend pairs well with pasta, roasted and grilled
The Houston restaurant opened in 1996. (making it),’’ he said. Even his restau- meats and cheese
Sweet Myrtle & Bitter Honey, a rants are supplied by a baker in Sardinia. ■ toasted semolina pasta
heartfelt, attractive cookbook-cum-trav- “We are in the 20th century, so we need ■ Miele amaro: bitter honey traditionally
el-guide, is an extension of the couple’s to take advantage of what we have. We used in desserts
two-decades-long effort to introduce cannot go back in the cave completely.’’
■ Mirto: the island’s ubiquitous wild myrtle
Americans to Sardinian cooking and, by Farris would like to open more
flavors liqueur, preserves and roast meat
extension, Sardinia. restaurants in America and expand his
“Everybody knows where curry comes import line. He is building a restaurant- ■ Pane carasau: crackerlike bread
from,’’ Farris says, “but nobody knows inn-cooking school in Sardinia scheduled ■ Casu marzu: an illegal, rotten sheep’s
where fregula comes from.’’ to open next summer. One day, he’d like milk cheese, the sort of shock food prized
Given the thousands of cookbooks to split his time between Texas and by bad-boy TV chef Anthony Bourdain.
published each year, and our keen inter- Sardinia; the family already summers Sardinians cherish the decomposing mass
est in Italian food, that’s almost shocking. there. It’s not that he misses the place, swarming with larvae as “a rich, very soft,
“The only other cookbook I can think not exactly. creamy delicacy that is both subtle and
of that even gives Sardinia the time of day “I try not to look at it that way. When pungent,’’ Farris writes.
is a big, beautiful book that Giuliano I am here, I enjoy here, and when I am ■ Saba: sweetener of unfermented grape
Bugialli published a few years ago, Foods there I enjoy the best of what is there - juice reduced to a syrup
of Sicily & Sardinia and the Smaller enjoy my family, enjoy the food, enjoy the ■ Vermentino di Sardegna: white wine
Islands, a big, splashy coffeetable book,’’ beauty. Friends. Simple things.’’ often paired with seafood
says Nach Waxman, owner of Kitchen He says this over a long, slow lunch