I recently got to make a long-overdue visit with Dino Zeytinoglu, the owner/manager of La Famiglia, that North Baltimore outpost of northern Italian cooking tucked away in the Tuscany-Canterbury neighborhood.

I was curious to meet “Dino,” as he prefers to be called. His personality is said to be a major part of the LaFamiglia experience. With the exception of a few hours Tuesday evenings, when he plays soccer, he is always there to greet everyone who comes in.

“They expect to see me. And I like to see them,” he said. “In the course of every night I try to get to every table to make sure everything is okay.”

I had eaten there several times before since it opened in 2009 and had occasion to taste different dishes and get other peoples’ reactions. People describe it as northern Italian home cooking and it is – if your family happens to be a staff of restaurant professionals.

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La Famiglia
105 West 39th St.
Open: Sunday-Monday, 5-9 p.m.; Tuesday-Thursday, 5-10 p.m.; Friday-Saturday, 5-11 p.m.
443-449-5555
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The restaurant lives up to its name via its cuisine. I can report that I found it unpretentious, dependable and very tasty. The name also is apt because of the friendly atmosphere created by the staff. Zeytinoglu, former manager of Boccacio in Little Italy, brought more than a dozen members of the staff with him when that popular establishment closed.

Dino’s Story

Dino is a native of Turkey and had a professional career in commercial import-export shipping. He was in Baltimore when the Gulf War broke out in 1990 and ended his shipping career. Though he had no family and few acquaintances here, he decided to stay.

He learned English at the College of Notre Dame, and then enrolled at Baltimore Community College to study business management.

After several jobs as an assistant manager, Dino took over management of Boccaccio and remained there for 12 years until the owner died and the restaurant closed. From there he moved on to a job as general manager of  the much-loved Tatin, whose owners, Gerard Billebault and Gayle Brier, eventually sold the place to him.

In 2009, the one-time French restaurant on the ground floor of an apartment building became today’s La Famiglia.

It would be hard to find a more relaxed person in the business. Dino is confident that his food is excellent quality – nothing frozen – with deliveries six days a week.

Chef Joe Bastianelli, part of the Boccaccio family, comes in early in the morning seven days a week to make sauces and soups that complement many of the dishes on the menu.

Dino surprises me by saying, “I don’t cook, at all, but I taste everything.” He said he trusts the kitchen and the wait staff.

“Everyone serving food in the restaurant can describe the ingredients and technique of any dish. They have all tasted everything,” he said. “It is always a balancing act for a restaurant to have dishes that are always on the menu and new ones each day.”

He is gracious but unapologetic, if a dish runs out, explaining that he does not like to order so much food that some of it lingers the next day to be thrown out or served to the next day’s customers

“I never want to serve leftovers – there is usually a good alternative,” he said. “What we offer is quality, ambiance and consistency.”

My Take

The night I went, I found the classic dishes quite good. The Filetto di Manzo, a rich, wine-braised beef, was fork tender. Served with wild mushrooms and mashed potatoes, it was the definition of a cold, dark night’s comfort food.

I also really like the seafood at La Famiglia, especially the mussels and the tangy tomato-based soup, laden with clams, mussels, scallops and other shellfish and pieces of fish, fresh that day.

I confess none of the shrimp dishes would be my go-to meal. On the other hand, a dish I thought I wouldn’t like, the Pettidi Pollo, thin-sliced chicken breast stuffed with fontina cheese in an aromatic brown sauce, was quite good, though not so good-looking.

My favorite dessert was the zabaglione because it is delicious and very difficult to make at home.

Cakes are made off premise and delivered fresh. Their cheesecake has a creamier texture than most Italian cheesecakes and isn’t as overly sweet as traditional ones.

If you aren’t big on desserts, a mini-cannoli with some berries might be just the right small, sweet end to your meal.

Bert Quinn, who was at Boccaccio from opening day, has made the bar and lounge LaFamiglia his domain. I even get to drink my favorite Italian aperitif/digestif– Amaro.

There is, of course a selection of wine by the glass and bottle, as well, as pretty much any cocktail you can think of.

LaFamiglia is not open for lunch, but they are open seven-nights-a-week, with a full menu as well as a lighter menu available at the bar and lounge, where dinner is also available on weekends.

They do close for major holidays. There are small and large party rooms that will seat one hundred guests and, in warmer months, weekend dinners are also served on a private terrace. There is street parking, valet parking, and a lot across the street.