La Nicchia, set in a converted dammuso in the rural village of Scauri Basso, is the most ambitious restaurant on the island. The chef cooks Pantescan classics with a light contemporary hand — caper pesto on smoked tuna, ravioli stuffed with island ricotta and mint, a slow-braised rabbit with zibibbo grapes — and the kitchen runs its own small caper farm out the back.
The dining room is in a series of vaulted dammuso rooms with whitewashed walls; in summer most diners eat outside under a pergola overlooking the sea. Reservations are essential in July and August, and dinner only.