In Florence: a wonderful cozy restaurant filled with locals

In Florence, Tim and I happened upon a lovely little restaurant tucked away from the tourist traps and filled with local Florentines.

The chef/owner Nicola is originally from Puglia, and moved to Florence 25 years ago, so the cuisine is a blend of southern Italian and Florentine. The food was fantastic.

The restaurant's name is Sed Lex. (See also Tripadvisor and Yelp.)

Nicola helped us pick out what dishes to order, explained how to enjoy each dish, and recounted a bit of his life story. It was a wonderful experience; we felt like we were guests in his home. Nicola is extremely passionate about good food and wine!

Chef/owner Nicola

The dining room is intimate -- it seats maybe 20 people -- and cozy. The decor is off-beat and entertaining.

Wall art

We started off with the appetizer sampler platter, on Nicola's recommendation. (Looking around, all of the Italians at nearby tables also ordered the sampler platter.)

The appetizer sampler included salami:

Delicious salami

It also included some assemble-it-yourself crostinis, which were fabulous. Nicola explained how to assemble the crostinis. Here is how it's done:

Start off with some homemade bread slices, then spread Nicola's homemade hot sauce on top:

Fresh hot sauce made from southern Italian peppers

Then add fresh sauteed mixed vegetables:

Addictingly good sauteed veggies

Then top with fresh burrata cheese spread!

Burrata cheese

Here is the result:

Assembled crostini

The crostinis were fantastic.

The next dish in the appetizer sampler was a bread-meat-tomatoes dish that was fluffy and light as air. Delicious!

Yummy bread dish

It also included focaccia:

Fresh focaccia

Next, we enjoyed tagliatelle with mussels:

Tagliatelle with mussels

And a very flavorful dish with beef and cheese, well-charred and a perfect medium rare:

Delicious beef and cheese dish

We also had a nice side of fresh pomodori with olive oil and balsamic vinegar:

Fresh cherry tomatoes

The food was fantastic -- definitely the best we had in Florence -- and possibly the best we had in all of Italy.