Dinner at La Trattoria Cafe Napoli...

Yesterday was quite a busy day and very tightly scheduled! We had skating in the morning which is the norm but then I had a baby shower, St. Patrick's Day Party and dinner out with one of my best girlfriends and her husband! Believe it or not everything went nice and smooth which is usually the case when I leave us plenty of time to get to things!

We got home for the party and the baby sitter arrived on schedule so off we went. Now, my girlfriend and I have been trying for over a year now to set up a date for the 4 of us to go out. This is normal. One or the other of us are usually committed to something else on the weekend. But she had told me about a very small restaurant in Fort Myers that we "just had to try". As many times as she said this we just could not get it to work but the real kicker was that she would never tell me the name of the place and only that it was on US41 in Fort Myers???!!! Not real helpful. After last night though I know why. This was one of the best meals I have had out in soooooo long. Which is really sad. The restaurant situation here just is not good. We are in a major tourist area and I think that sadly may be the problem! I have had so many dinner's out that were at the best mediocre. I am eating better at home but the service and the clean up suck so I still like to go out. That said this meal was incredible.

While not strictly Italian, this restaurant focuses on what is in season and what they have in abundance at a certain time of the year. La Trattoria Cafe Napoli which is on US41 in a very unimpressive side strip mall. Tiny and romantic, it has maybe 7 tables seating maybe 20-24 people. Everything is cooked to order with a very dynamic woman owner. When she came to our table to ask us how our dinner had been I had to ask where she got all of her produce. She gets it from an organic farm over in Homestead (Miami area)! No surprise to me. I had ordered Pesto Gnocchi. I love gnocchi but I love pesto even more so this was a match made in heaven for me! The pesto was a cream sauce and it had small chunks of zucchini as well as the gnocchi, That was how I knew that she was a seasonal cook!

I do not like to do restaurant reviews but if you want to read one click here, but suffice it to say that I can't wait to go back!

As Always...

Happy Entertaining!!!

Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com