Il Latini - Florence, IT

Since the private club that we were newly members of was all full for the rest of the weekend, my travel buddies and I went for plan B. It was a place that two of my friend’s Italian teachers had suggested to her: Il Latini.

Good sign number one was that this tiny restaurant is tucked away on an obscure back street of Florence that was not even on my trusty map. It looked classically Italian and quite adorable from the outside. When we walked in we were greeted by good sign number two: chaos, or what appeared to be chaos, anyway. As you may recall from reading about Da Baffetto, often the best Italian restaurants are filled with nonstop movement. Il Latini was filling up quickly and we were hastily shuffled into one of the small side rooms with cured meat hanging from the ceiling and were seated at the only remaining free table. The homemade crusty bread was sitting out for us, and the two liter bottle of house red wine was immediately opened.

Our waiter came over soon after and, without giving us menus, asked if we wanted antipasti. We barely got a “sure” out when he shook his head to stop us and simply said “I’ll take care of it.” Knowing that most of the antipasti we would receive would probably contain meat of some kind, we managed to wave him down again and let him know I was a vegetarian. Despite the face he made (a mix between confusion and utter disbelief), he had no problem setting me up with my very own cheese plate (I was beyond happy), and insuring that the rest of the meal featured plenty of meatless options for me as well.

We were quickly brought several antipasti. First, we got a plate of sundried tomatoes stuffed with some sort of ground meat pâtè. Next was crostini topped with a meat spread and soon after came the cured Italian sausages. Finally, we were brought the classic smoked ham plate.

When we were ready for our primi piatti (first course), our waiter made a few verbal suggestions of what to get, but we figured this was more courtesy on his part than anything else. We were going to get what he gave us, and truthfully, we were fine with that. We ended up getting 3 pasta dishes and one soup dish. Two of the pastas contained meat. The first was rotini pasta with a ragu sauce while the second was thick noodles with a red sauce and wild boar.

The vegetarian dishes were traditional homemade ravioli stuffed with ricotta cheese and spinach and a vegetable-grain stew. The stew was the all around winner across the board (even over the meat dishes). We all liked how thick it was, and the flavors were concentrated and hearty. It was a rainy night, so the soup was a perfect comfort.

Despite the fabulous looking meat dishes and tempting vegetable plates we had seen being eaten at other tables (not to mention the reputation Florentine steak has), both our stomachs and our wallets could not handle us getting another main course. However, we did manage to force down some dessert. It was a challenge, but it simply needed to be done.

We were brought a plate with small servings of 4 different desserts. There was a traditional chocolate cake, a panna cotta, an ice cream cake (although it was more just a cake with a chilled cream filling as opposed to what we think of in the United States), and a vanilla cake mound filled with cream and chocolate. While they were all delicious, my favorite was the cream filled mound. Truthfully, the part of dessert I liked best of all was the small glass of moscato wine we were given. It was bubbly and sweet.

When we were ready to pay, the owner came over to write out our check. He was a small, old, happy Italian man will white hair and a smile that lit up the room. The waiter told him which dishes we received and he did a quick tally in his head and wrote down 100 Euro on the slip of paper. We had been hoping we would get to pay less than 30 Euro each and were happy it came to an even 25. When we left, we took a look at the menu outside and tallied up our total ourselves. The owner ended up giving us a small discount which we greatly appreciated.

Even though we did not get a special performance after our dinner like we had the previous night, our experience at Il Latini was just that: and experience. It was high energy, fast paced, and purely Italian.

Il Latini

via dei Palchetti 6/r

50123 – Firenze

http://www.illatini.com/

Chocolate, Cheese, and Buffets as You Please- Florence, IT

I have recently come to a conclusion: I love Florence. It is an absolutely beautiful city. I love that it is small enough to be easily maneuvered on foot and is filled with art, history, culture and, of course, food. In three days, I managed to have three entirely different, yet equally delicious, food experiences leaving me with a full stomach and satisfied soul as I traveled back to Rome. The first of these experiences was an artisan chocolate festival.

Let me repeat that: artisan chocolate festival. And it was exactly 1 block from my hostel. Win. La Piazza Repubblica was filled with around 20 tents of different chocolate companies offering samples of their products, showing off how each was unique in their own way, and selling chocolaty snacks to excited consumers, such as myself. I sampled some of the truffles, gourmet chocolate spreads of several varieties and flavor infused chocolate bars. The chocolate covered banana rolled in chopped peanuts was my favorite snack, although the cup of strawberries dowsed in chocolate was a close second. And, of course, the hot chocolate was fantastic. The dark chocolate kind was as thick as pudding. Needless to say, several of my meals while in Florence were topped off with a chocolate treat.

My next meal ended up being my absolutely favorite dining and overall experience in Florence. Better than chocolate!? It seems impossible, I know, but it is true. Chocolate could not quite stand up to my evening at a private (members only) club featuring a two hour, buffet style gourmet Italian meal cooked by a famous Italian chef in a restaurant/performance venue featuring a post-dinner entertainment act... all for 30 Euro.

We read about this place in my friend’s travel book and made it a must on our list of places to go. We lucked out because most nights require reservations for the dinner service, but it was not necessary the night we went. We paid the 5 Euro membership fee (which is good for a year) and the 30 Euro for the meal and performance and were told to pace ourselves (on both the food and the unlimited house wine) – yeah right.

We walked into the dining room (giddy as ever, I might add) to see an almost medieval looking room with stone pillars reaching from the wooden floors to arched ceiling under which several wooden tables were situated, surrounded by red velvet armchairs accompanied by candle light. We seated ourselves at a table on the far right side of the room close to the stage with a view of the kitchen through large glass windows. The entire dinner service we could see the food being made and we watched it get passed from the kitchen to the buffet table as the chef yelled in Italian what the dishes were. Never did we understand him, but we loved the energy created by the echoing voice of a passionate chef who clearly loved what he did.

As far as the food was concerned, it was wonderful. The first items that came out were all vegetable dishes of some kind. There was a broccoli puree, spiced carrots (served cold), roasted potatoes, an eggplant puree, and a beet and radish salad. In addition, there was a cauliflower gratin and a dish which was referred to as gnocchi, but was cut in a block instead of formed into puffs of dough. Regardless, it was fantastic.

The next dish was a “special salad” of warm chickpeas, mussels, faro and an assortment of other veggies. Then there was a whole roasted fish, which looked and tasted like a large sardine, a veggie stew with Moroccan couscous followed by mussels and broth. In addition, there were homemade rolls available with every course, and let us not forget about the wonderful house wine.

Finally came dessert: a thin rolled cookie shell with freshly whipped cream, a moist chocolate brownie, and café. Not too sweet, super rich, and unbelievably satisfying.

After the dining portion was over, the furniture was quickly moved around to have the chairs positioned in front of the stage for the performance that was to come. The acts change regularly and feature musicians, actors, poets, or any other type of entertainment you can think of. We were going to get to listen to the chef of the restaurant himself speak about food. It would have been absolutely perfect had it not all been in Italian. I could catch the general idea of what he was saying, but it took a lot of concentration to keep up with him and focusing that intensely for 90 minutes straight was difficult to do after consuming so much food. Nonetheless, I enjoyed hearing how he talked about food. The passion came through yet again and I felt happy to be a part of his club.

We ended up returning the next morning for the 7 Euro breakfast buffet. It was not quite as much food as the evening before (which was probably a good thing), but the fresh fruit, warm toast, and plethora of butter, cheese, and fruit spreads was simply perfect. I wished I could eat every meal here. We would have returned for dinner again, but they were already fully booked the rest of the nights we would be in Florence, so we were forced to eat elsewhere… To be continued.