Restaurant: La Cantinetta Antinori

Location: Florence, Italy

Date: June 17, 2011

Cuisine: Modern Tuscan

Rating: Slick and tasty

On our first trip to Florence (we went thrice) we met up with an Italian friend and her family and they brought us to the Antinori wine empire’s casual enoteca, where they combine slick modernized Tuscan food with a large selection of excellent wines.

The lovely room in Palazzo Antinori.

A nice light quafable mineral laced white. We went through about half a bottle a person at lunch!

The menu. Sorry the meat courses are out of focus.

Assorted bruschetta, Tuscan standard.

Insalta Caprese.  Tomato and buffalo mozzarella. Basil and olive oil.

Panzanella. Traditional Tuscan salad of soaked stale bread, tomato, basil, onions, olive oil.

The ubiquitous Insalta Misto.

Taglierini agli scampi freschi. Thin noodles with tomato, basil, garlic and you guessed it, a giant crayfish creature.

Fagioli. Tuscan fava beans and olive oil.

Sea bass, capers, sun dried tomatos, potatoes.

Pounded veal in mushroom sauce.

Filetto di manzo. Beef filet and potatoes.

Almond semifreddo with caramel. This is SO up my dessert alley. Creamy and sweet. Oh yes. Oh yes.

Expresso, to counter the copious amount of wine I consumed.

This was a nice place. Not radical, not staid. Fitting of a hot spot in Florence, it’s basically traditional Tuscan fare with 10% modernization. Given the quality of the ingredients and the base cuisine, this is more than enough for a great meal.

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