Tiny Kitchen, Great Chocolate Cake & a New Naples Poll

Friends and neighbors,

This week, I’m starting with one of the smallest new restaurants in Naples. Tiny Kitchen opened on Park Street this summer serving handmade empanadas, and it’s a welcome casual addition downtown.

Then, chocolate cake. I may shudder if I see panna cotta on another dessert menu. Keep these places in mind when you really just want chocolate and plenty of it. I found seven worth knowing, from longtime local favorites to, yes, beloved chains.

And apparently August has turned us into a town of salad eaters. Last week’s poll results are below, along with a new question that should be considerably more contentious.

Hope you get to dig into something good this week!

Cheers,

Tiny Kitchen is aptly named. The new Argentine street-food spot on Park Street occupies just 680 square feet, with about 21 seats inside. Somehow, there is still room for a turntable.

The restaurant opened this summer and is very much a family affair. Alejandro Veiga runs it with his wife, Samantha Skarl, and his mother, chef Marta Veiga. The specialty is handmade empanadas, with a menu that changes depending on what's available.

Start with the traditional beef empanada, based on Veiga's grandmother's recipe and made with beef from Jimmy P's, bell pepper, onion, garlic, paprika and cumin. Other fillings have included spinach and Swiss chard with house-made ricotta and Parmesan, locally grown mushrooms, sweet corn and chipotle chicken. There is an admirable amount of local sourcing happening, too: they've used mushrooms from Care to Grow Mushrooms and produce from Mondragón Farms. 

Don't overlook the choripán, either. The Argentine staple is essentially sausage on bread with chimichurri, which is about as much interference as good sausage requires. Salads round out the small, rotating menu.

There’s street art on the walls and a stack of records you’re invited to sort through and choose for the turntable. The soundtrack might depend on whoever walked in five minutes before you.

For all the studied hospitality of the white-tablecloth restaurants around the corner, there’s something refreshing about the lack of ceremony here. You’re close to the people cooking, close to whoever is eating next to you, and invited to have some say in the atmosphere.

That makes those 21 seats important. Pick a record. Make conversation. With three generations behind the empanadas, it’s a good kitchen to find yourself in. 

Tiny Kitchen Empanadas
524 Park St., Naples • Mon.–Sat. 11 a.m.–6 p.m. • (239) 571-3364
Instagram

For all the tiramisu, key lime pie and elaborate restaurant desserts around Naples, a good old-fashioned chocolate cake can be surprisingly hard to find. 

These are the spots to know:

For a whole cake, Mikkelsen’s is probably your best bet. The longtime North Naples pastry shop is tucked away on Business Lane and has been a go-to for birthday and special-occasion cakes for years. Their Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake pairs chocolate cake with Chocolate Marquis, and you can choose from fillings including chocolate mousse, mocha, salted caramel and raspberry. The cakes are made to order, so plan ahead.

1068 Business Ln #2, Naples | (239) 596-5996 | Mikkelsen’s Pastry Shop

Don’t get distracted by everything else in those enormous bakery cases. Seed to Table’s chocolate layer cake is the classic cake-and-frosting version: tall, generously frosted and much closer to what you picture when someone says chocolate cake than a restaurant torte or mousse. One useful tip: let it come to room temperature before eating it. It makes a difference.

4835 Immokalee Rd, Naples | (239) 310-7333 | Seed to Table

Tony’s Off Third goes much darker and richer. Their pièce de résistance is the Flourless Chocolate Cake, made with 55% dark semisweet Valrhona chocolate, butter, eggs and sugar. There’s also a Maracaibo Chocolate Mousse Cake with chocolate cake, mousse made from 65% dark couverture chocolate and dark chocolate shavings. It’s easy to think of Tony’s primarily for wine and coffee when you’re on Third Street, but the pastry case is worth a look. If you want a whole cake, call ahead. 

1300 Third St S, Naples | (239) 262-7999 | Tony’s Off Third

At The Turtle Club, save room for the Chocolate Nemesis. It’s layers of moist chocolate cake and rich chocolate covered in chocolate icing, and tastes even better during sunset. It’s currently $16 and plenty to split.

9225 Gulf Shore Dr, Naples | (239) 592-6557 | The Turtle Club

I know, I know. Of all the restaurants in Naples, P.F. Chang’s. But the Great Wall of Chocolate is hard to argue with when what you want is a proper layer cake. It’s six layers of chocolate cake and frosting, covered with semisweet chocolate chips and served in an enormous wedge. One slice can easily make its way around the table (and you can even order a whole one for a birthday).

10840 Tamiami Trail N, Naples | (239) 596-2174 | P.F. Chang’s

Wynn’s is the one to remember when you want chocolate cake at home without having to special-order anything. The downtown market has been around forever, and its bakery is particularly good at the old-fashioned cakes that look and taste homemade. Check the case while you’re there.

141 9th St N, Naples | (239) 261-7157 | Wynn’s Market

For the big restaurant version, there’s Truluck’s Chocolate Malt Cake. It’s a substantial piece of chocolate cake with malted chocolate icing, warm chocolate sauce and berries. Truluck’s is right off Fifth Avenue, so this is an easy one to remember when dinner downtown ends with everyone claiming they’re too full for dessert. Order one for the table and see how long that lasts.

698 4th Ave S, Naples | (239) 530-3131 | Truluck’s

Between Mikkelsen’s for a birthday cake, Seed to Table for a big traditional layer cake, Tony’s for something intensely chocolate and Truluck’s or The Turtle Club after dinner, there are enough options here to keep you busy for a while.

Last week we asked: It's August. The oven is staying off. What are you picking up?

Here’s where you landed: 

Salad won with 21.7% of the vote, followed closely by sushi, with pizza coming in third. I’m a little surprised sushi or pizza didn’t take the top spot, although both certainly have their fans. Apparently, when August is at its hottest, Naples is reaching for something cold and crunchy. Thank you for voting! 

If you try Tiny Kitchen, I want to hear which empanada you ordered. If you end up at one of the chocolate cake spots, even better. And if salad wins another poll, I may have to start asking harder questions.

As always, send me what you’re eating, where you’ve been, and what deserves a spot in a future issue.

Until next time,

Elizabeth Bellotti
Editor-In-Chief
Naples, Florida
The Naples Florida Review

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