A Foreign Delight: "da il Latini"

For this week we move out of the United States and into Italy for a restaurant out in the alleys of Firenze, Italy. Throughout our trip through Italy we ate at many places that were very good (it is true italian food after all), but no place was as great as "da il Latini".

People lining up outside the restaurant before opening.

Don't be fooled by the look of the exterior as they lead you to your table you will see that it is actually massive on the interior. As you walk through the restaurant you will see all different sorts of meats hanging from the ceiling in nets. This happens to be a precursor to what kinds of foods they will be serving you when you find your way to your table. For those who are vegetarian I assure you that they have pasta and salads that are just as amazing.

Like many other Italian restaurants, they like to start off with some salted meat and some sort of fruit. Both are meant to help with the wine that you will undoubtedly be consuming because you are in Italy after all and if there were any place in the world you would drink wine, it would be Italy. In this instance, the fruit was cantaloupe.

Chicken, Beef, Pork, and Lamb.

One of the best reasons to go to
da il Latini is for this dish. Meat lovers rejoice for this plate as it contains four different types of meats for you to try ranging from chicken to lamb. The meat is fresh and juicy and cooked to perfection. Don't be fooled by this picture as the dish is much larger than it appears here. We were barely able to finish it with 9 people. One of the reasons may be because they feed you like it's a feast and food is numerous.

After dessert, they serve you this for the last meal of the day. It is called Limoncello and it is an Italian made liquor. It is pure lemon juice mixed with a strong liquor. They serve biscuits on a plate with the liquor and is meant to be dipped and eaten in that fashion. If you wish to just drink the liquor itself then I will warn you that it is very strong stuff. For the last thing served before leaving, it will certainly give you a kick.

These were just a few of the dishes that were served during an ordinary meal. I say this again, there is no need to worry about all the meat if you are vegetarian because they will serve you accordingly. My sister is a vegetarian and when we told our servers that she is vegetarian, they served her individual dishes that vegetarians could eat. The service is great and the people that work there are nice. If you find yourself near Firenze, Italy on your trip, I would recommend taking the time and going out of your way to eat here, preferably with an empty stomach. There were many other dishes that I didn't talk about but here are some pictures from the meal:

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