Nat Nat Keeps Things Fresh

by Abigail Duffy

Braised beef with mushrooms at Nat Nat. Photo by Diego Sanchez

A unique kind of hybrid café/wine shop has been operating under the radar since 2023. Nat Nat, a casual place tucked into a little storefront on Tamiami Trail North, combines Peter Rizzo’s Natural Wines Naples with chef Ming Yee’s Café Nutrients into a natural wine shop by day and organic “neo-bistro” by night. “It has an abiding focus on what’s fresh and healthy on the food side and, of course, the wine side,” says Rizzo.

Nat Nat seats about 36 inside and 15 outdoors when the weather permits. Outside tables are best suited for date night and conversation. “The energy is inside the place,” Rizzo says, where diners learn about and sample wines the team has chosen to highlight that night. Diners can also select a bottle, purchase it, and enjoy it with their meal.

Rizzo, along with his mentee, Diego Sanchez—a young man with a passion for wine—do business with many small regional wineries in Europe that American importers don’t handle. They focus on natural, biodynamic, and organic wines, which differ from typical commercial varieties in how the grapes are farmed and turned into wine. All share a minimalist approach to the fermentation process and use few to no additives. Many are unrefined and unfiltered.

Smashed kyuri (Japanese smashed cucumbers) at Nat Nat. Photo by Diego Sanchez

“The best wine is made in small quantities,” Rizzo says. “Part of the fascination with natural wine among wine devotees is they are experiencing all these non-mainstream grapes.” He says these are wines you would drink if you were traveling in, say, the Savoie region of France or other locales with small wine producers.

As for the food, the menu changes every few weeks, which allows the chef to develop signature dishes using local sources, such as Care2Grow Mushrooms, Inyoni Organic Farm, 7 Star Ranch, and Dilly’s Fish Co. From carefully selected ingredients, Yee creates charcuterie, arugula salads, mushroom dishes, gnocchi with arugula-pistachio pesto, local snapper ceviche, and Burgundy beef stew, to name a few.

Although it may sound otherwise, “We don’t want to be a hippy-dippy food place,” Rizzo says. “We want to be a restaurant that gives finesse and elevation and appeal to foodies in general who want different experiences.”

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