Stories
Matters of family....and friendship
What happened that day we discovered a delightful place
"Take a seat".Pasquale, full beard and dark eyes, welcomes us and lets us choose in his calm manner: "Wherever you like".
We decide on a more secluded table, between two windows. From here we can observe the room: lots of light, rush chairs and an enveloping warmth that is not just about the temperature.
It is cold outside the window, but the sun illuminates the countryside and is reflected on the surrounding buildings and on a slice of the sea that we never imagined we could see from here.
Pasquale, who has been in the business for more than 20 years, returns to the kitchen and leaves us to the attentions of his wife, whom everyone calls "Prof".
Eliana, from Salerno with a contagious smile, married Pasquale and Cilento. Three degrees, a permanent job at the local scientific high school and then this adventure, from the banner: ‘Le Cocole' Inn - Family Matters.
And the family and being around the table, intended as a place of socializing and refreshment, are the key points of this welcome.
From the vegetable garden behind, seasonal products are the protagonists of the menu, grown by Mastr'Angelo and prepared wisely by his wife Anellina.
"Pasquale's dad is really called Angelo, but even my mother-in-law has always called him that". Eliana smiles tenderly; and we with her.
We trust the advice of the hosts and start from the beginning: a memorable appetizer, a riot of colours and flavours.
In reality, everything you order here tastes good, genuine ... and the ragù has the scent of Sundays at grandma's house; there is a lot of tradition and local products, often reinterpreted in a new recipe, which takes the place of the previous one when broccoli gives way to artichokes ... and artichokes to courgette flowers; there is care, attention and love in everything they do.
And you feel it.
"We'll be back", we say to each other as we get in the car in the car park.
Almost seven years have passed since that day in December and we have been back often.
With that group of friends, going there is reliving the conviviality of the family reunions we enjoyed as children, it is greedily discovering what dessert Mrs Anellina has prepared, and waiting for the end of the service to have a chat with Eliana and Pasquale, as was done at the end of lunch with the cousins with a coffee.
We went back so often that we set up one ‘LeCocole day' per week, where our table is always reserved.
There is no need for notice: you can find us there.