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Il Cortile del Re stays true to traditional Tuscan cuisine

Wade Spees
The Post and Courier

Il Cortile del Re

Il Cortile del Re can trace its building's roots to the 1700s when parts of the structure served as a kitchen and dining room. It has continued the tradition in fine fashion with a tight enoteca — wine bar — fronting King Street, two small intimate interior dining rooms and a protected patio at the rear of the building.

This restaurant and wine bar, which takes its name from the Italian for "courtyard of the king," caught my attention because of the graveyard of corks that fill its front window. The perfect window dressing for both a wine bar and a trattoria inspired by the foods of Tuscany. It is said that Tuscany was "baptized in wine" and if that is true, Chianti is its holy water.

On a recent weekend visit, the place was packed. The crowd at the bar was three deep, and the space for the wait staff and back servers to navigate was slim to nonexistent. But like a carefully choreographed dance, meals were served, chairs were air-lifted overhead, and tables were quickly turned from parties of two to parties of eight. Quickly, efficiently, yet with no sense of urgency the restaurant transformed its space as required for its guests.

The food is that of the Tuscan region, and the menu happily informs you this is no spaghetti and red sauce place, do not expect the kitchen to adjust the recipes, and implores the diner to "just taste it in the traditional way." They are giving you good advice.

The antipasti work very well with the wine bar. From assorted crostini ($6) with a variety of seasonal toppings to a selection of Italian cheeses ($10.50), you can easily assuage your hunger, enjoy a fine glass of Vernaccia di San Gimignano or a Super Tuscan Gaja "Promis" and call it a night.

The fungo al forno ($7.50) is a large mushroom cap filled with goat cheese, basil pesto and garlic. It is accompanied by a small spring mix salad and can easily satisfy a vegetarian diner. A traditional antipasto platter ($12.50) is designed to serve two but with its white bean and tuna salad, olives, roasted peppers, buffalo mozzarella and salume (cured meats), serves four as a start to any meal.

Soups are the perfect balance of surf and turf. A zuppa di pesce alla Livornese ($7.50) reels in local fish, generous portions of herbs and floats them all in a light tomato broth. Just don't ask for grated cheese. It is not a traditional finish to a seafood dish, but my Italian mother-in-law always loved parmesan with her seafood, so we have been breaking custom for many years in our house.

The legumi Toscani ($6) is the national bean soup of Tuscany, where the residents are called the "mangiafagiolis" or the bean eaters. Pureed cannellini (a white kidney bean) and garbanzo beans (also called ceci) are pureed in a broth flavored with garlic and rosemary. Spoon in some of the fragrant olive oil provided for your bread and you are in soup heaven.

The caprese salad ($7.75) is stacked tall with bufalo mozzarella and tomato slices and a side of spring mix adds flavor and texture to this summer salad. The del fabbro ($7.50) combined baby arugula, shards of parmesan cheese, chopped tomatoes and a drizzle of sweet balsamic, a balanced interplay of sweet, salty, peppery and nutty.

Look to the pasta menu to provide a traditionale spaghetti alla Bolognese ($15), spaghetti ai frutti di mare ($16), and the house-favored ravioli ai funghi porcini ($15).

Now if your appetite is satisfied by a bowl of pasta, Il Cortile is a bargain, with better ingredients and more nuanced cooking than any chain can produce.

It is hard to refuse boar in a Tuscan-inspired restaurant. Cinghiale is the fall-into-winter mainstay of the Tuscan region and Il Cortile's version ($21.50) was spot on. Tender ribbons of pappardelle, a stew of cannellini beans, tiny bits of carrot, nubbins of boar, a whisper of saffron and shaved curls of parmesan cheese melding it all together created a balanced dish of Northern Italian simplicity. We just wanted more of it on the wide-ribboned pasta.

The pescata del giorno ($27) seared a delicate sun fish, whose texture was a bit like skate but its flavor was delicate like flounder. The treatment was agro-dolce — sweet and tart with sultanas (white raisins), tender garbanzos, golden tomatoes, cannellini beans and bright and peppery arugula. The flavors were clear and direct. And that sums up the cooking of Tuscany and its nearby regions. The cooking is subtle and spare; the locals say, "The south cooks with passion, the north cooks with art."

Desserts stay within the Italian culinary vernacular and for that we give praise. Not all reflect the northern climes, but at least their pedigree is traced to Italy — tiramisu, tartufo, sorbetto packed in flash frozen "carriages" of fruit, and gelato bring sweet endings to your meal. Take the Tuscan route and order the vin santo with biscotti. Dip your crisp, twice-baked cookie into its bath of sweet wine and end your meal feeling like royalty on a street with a regal name.

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