Mazara del Vallo

Mazara del Vallo is one of the most important fishing centers of Italy, located on the southwestern coast of Sicily.
During our recent trip we enjoyed some time at a beach popular with kite surfers and wind surfers.
During the evenings we enjoyed delicious seafood dinners. One night we experienced an unbelievable seafood soup with couscous.
On another evening we went to the Trattoria delle Cozze Basirico. Frommer's 2010 guide gives this description:
Set on the southern outskirts of the town of Mazara del Vallo, about 5km (3 miles) from the center, this restaurant might remind you of an oversize railway car that just happens to serve vast amounts of seafood to hundreds of diners every night throughout the summer. Don't expect grandeur; this is a gutsy, two-fisted place whose walls are open to the sea breezes. The overworked staff is coyly clad in exaggerated sailor costumes. There are no printed menus here: A fast-talking waiter will tell you that the only options are selections from the buffet-style antipasti table, several different preparations of mussels, and steamed octopus in either lemon or tomato sauce. Drinks of choice include wine or beer, a suitable accompaniment for the restaurant's widely acknowledged specialty, mussels.

For the antipasto we each had a steamed octopus in tomato sauce,

served on the plate looking up at us.

For the "primo" we had gamberini pasta (shrimp).

We shared a spada steak (swordfish) for the "secondo."

Two bowls of muscles, one in lemon sauce and the other in tomato sauce, brought our meal to a conclusion. We had no room for dessert! (Well, we might of had a gelato on the way back to the hotel!)