Beach Italian Restaurants For The Best Seafood

There is nothing more romantic that a quiet dinner at a beach Italian restaurant. Just like how jazz and slow music is perfect for dining in those upscale restaurants, the gentle sound of the waves crashing on the shore is just as calming. The soft ocean breeze caressing your skin as you sit across that special someone, well that is just as good as it gets. And did I mention how seafood just whets your appetite like no other? Having a seaside dinner is just amazing; you do not only feel in love, you also get to eat really good food. Now, that is the kind of date you’ll surely remember.

Geography would tell us that Italy has a very long coastline and borders the Adriatic Sea, Ionian Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea. The country even comprises a few islands including the islands of Sicily (the largest island the Mediterranean Sea) and Sardinia. It is not a wonder that Italy has some of the best beaches. More and more tourists are visiting the Mediterranean country every year for its pristine, white shores and clear blue waters that, unlike other tourist destinations, remain perfect because of the sunny climate all year round. And also because of its strategic location, fishing is a prime industry even during the olden times. This is why Italian cuisine incorporates a lot of seafood dishes, and in even a few regions, locals eat more of seafood than red meat. This is why as the world continues to embrace the Italian way of cooking, we are also learning more ways to enjoy the bounty of the sea through the beach Italian restaurants that open near us.

There are a lot of Italian seafood dishes to choose from. If you are looking for a great seafood antipasti, a popular Italian choice is the “salmone scottaditto" which is basically a slice of fresh salmon that is seared on a hot plate and served with some aioli and fried leeks. The literal meaning of “scottaditto” is “burn finger” referring to the way that it is cooked and is traditionally a finger food. Aioli is a sauce that is made by with mixing garlic and olive oil as well as egg. This dish is perfect because you get to taste the delicate flavor of the salmon with the mildly strong flavor of the garlic that becomes balanced with crisp, fried leeks.

Another crowd pleaser is the “gamberi alla Toscana” or sautéed shrimp with beans and arugula salad. The arugula salad has a strong, peppery flavor while the Cannellini beans, or Italian white kidney beans, just tastes creamy and buttery in your mouth—a wonderful play of mild heat and subtle flavors that is perfect with the succulent and tender shrimps.

Now for the main dish, there are a lot to choose from but the “spaghettini ai frutti di mare” which is thin spaghetti with mixed seafood in tomato sauce. The spaghettini, which is a kind of pasta that is similar to the spaghetti but only thinner, is cooked to an al dente—tender on the outside but still with a bite to it. Meanwhile the tomato sauce is made in the traditional Italian fashion which is chopped fresh, red tomatoes that is cooked in olive oil and seasoned with salt. During the actual cooking of the dish, the entire thing can be optionally seasoned with some very Italian herbs like the woodsy oregano or basil and parsley. The entire dish is just heavenly with the subtle flavor of the pasta and the bold, varied flavors of the seafood that is bind together with the tomato sauce, a little sweet but definitely rich. A definite must have in your favorite beach Italian restaurant.