Something Wyld

The menu at wyld's café is clear, focused and blessedly brief, with about seven entrées and as many appetizers and desserts. But it's also full of innovative presentations I would probably never cook at home. And isn't that one of the best reasons to eat out?

This contemporary wine-bar/café, which seats about 75, is the creation of veteran chef Michael Smith, who owns it, and executive chef John Federici, who rules the kitchen. They worked together in other restaurants before striking out on their own, and both have input into Wyld's menu, which they adjust to celebrate the changes in the local growing season.

The kitchen concentrates on doing just a few things, but does them quite well, including the unusual Kurobuta chop. This is pork from an heirloom variety of pig called Berkshire, raised at Snake River Farms in Montana. Its appearance on the Wyld's menu represents a commitment to the current move to preserve obscure varieties of meats and vegetables by linking up small-production farmers and breeders with restaurateurs.

The Berkshire pigs are treated in much the same fashion as Japanese Kobe beef. (Snake River breeds those cattle, too, called American Kobe, a mix of Black Angus and Wagyu stock.) The Berkshire pork chop is thick, dark in color, moist, richly marbled and as full of flavor as any pork chop you've ever tasted. At $27, it's the most expensive item on the menu, but pork chop fans should add it to their taste collection. The chef tops the meat with caramelized onions.

Also excellent are cashew-encrusted grouper ($22), the grilled filet mignon and pomme frites, braised lamb shank, and my new favorite dish, Hudson pasta. This exceedingly rich mélange is composed of duck and foie gras sausage tossed with cavatelli pasta, shiitake mushrooms and roasted duck in a butter sauce spiked with sage. At $19, it's a marvelous one-dish meal and a duck lover's delight.

Desserts are house-made riffs on today's standards. The ubiquitous crème brûlée takes its bow at Wyld's in the form of a crêpe with a caramelized sugar crust ($6). Bread pudding is fragrant with cinnamon, and the mousse parfait is both pretty and light after a heavy meal. The star of the dessert menu may be the chocolate toffee cake with Kahlua and crème anglaise. Share a piece. With this dessert, Federici recommends Indian brown ale instead of a dessert wine or coffee.

The spirits menu offers other interesting imported brews, including Dead Guy ale and Sambadro, from Brazil. The wine list (by the bottle or half-bottle) sensibly pairs meat and seafood offerings with bottles from California, Spain, New Zealand and France. A dozen or so are available by the glass, at prices ranging from $6 to $10. Bottles average $28.

Wyld's Café 4271 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs. (239) 947-0408. Dinner: Monday through Saturday, 5-10 p.m. Credit cards. Reservations suggested. Parking available in back of restaurant. Wheelchair accessible.

Midway through a spectacular vacation full of tropical shrimp on skewers, fancy island pink drinks served in coconuts, and plates that come with edible orchids and exotic mixed greens, your taste buds often let your body know that you need a vacation from vacation food. That might be why folks who stroll up and down fashionable Fifth Avenue South in downtown Naples clad in Lilly Pulitzer or Tommy Bahama often wander into Corks, which advertises itself as a steakhouse, Chicago style.

Spacious and comfortable, Corks, which can seat 150, is done up like a Scottish country inn with plaid carpeting and a handsome big bar on one side of the room and a long, narrow dining area on the other.

The dining room has dark-green walls, peaceful low lighting and lots of privacy for every table. A large silvery butler's cart holds a magnificent slab of prime rib (cooked medium),

which your server will carve for you.

Among the 10 or so appetizers-all familiar-are French onion soup, escargot and mussels. The crab cakes in a roasted red pepper coulis are full of crab, lightly breaded and have just enough kick to wake up taste buds. Appetizers are in the $10 to $12 range. For entrées, look for pork and veal chops, chicken Florentine, baked stuffed shrimp and salmon filet as well as a surf and turf-lobster and steak.

We were well satisfied with the filet mignon ($29.95) and the succulent bone-in ribeye, a big meal at $33.95. Sides include creamed corn with two cheeses, sautéed mushrooms, and a creamy potato casserole that is a house specialty. If you're looking for a one-dish meal, do try the steak pie at $15.95. It's hearty pub food. The wine list has lots of beefy reds to support the menu as well as some whites. Corks' reserve wines run from $80 to $250 a bottle.

Showing no mercy, Corks offers a big finish with choices of cheesecake, strawberry shortcake, Key lime pie, and a chocolate brownie dressed up with coffee ice cream, caramel and chocolate sauce. The portions are generous and the experience a comforting respite for travelers satiated with tropical grouper sandwiches, yellowfin ceviche or mango sorbet topped with a mint leaf.

Corks 862 Fifth Ave. S., Naples. (239) 403-7770. Dinner: nightly, 5-11 p.m. Credit cards. Reservations accepted. Parking on the street or in lot behind restaurant. Wheelchair accessible.

CHEF CENTRAL

Martin Murphy's Grilled Duck Breast

Northeast native Martin Murphy loves the foods of fall, recalling warm days and chilly evenings that inspire seafood chowders, pudding, roasted game and nut and berry compotes. Murphy likes to offer seasonal menu changes when he holds cooking classes in the Kitchenaid Culinary Center at the new Robb & Stucky Casual Living showroom in Bonita Springs.

Before joining the Culinary Center, Murphy was food director of the Blue Pepper market in Fort Myers, just part of a 20-year career that included three years at Regatta of Cotuit on Cape Cod and Café Chardonnay in Palm Beach. This recipe, he says, incorporates autumn's game, fruits and nuts into "a salad to lighten it up for the Florida weather."

Robb & Stucky Culinary Center 26051 Tamiami Trail, Bonita Springs. (239) 390-2222.

Grilled Duck Breast with Warm Pear and Pecan Dressing

(Serves four)

2 Long Island duck breasts, skin removed

Spice mix

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/2 teaspoon granulated onion

1 teaspoon sea salt

pinch of fresh ground pepper

Mix spices and rub into duck breast; let duck sit covered at room temperature for one hour before grilling. Preheat grill on high 15 minutes. Grill duck breast on medium heat, searing juices in. Grill four to five minutes, then rest for five minutes for a medium-rare to medium temperature. Some pink in the breast is good for flavor and moisture. Select a 15-ounce duck breast for two people for a light lunch. For a dinner salad, use one breast per person.

Salad

Use assorted types of lettuces such as Boston bibb, red leaf, romaine hearts, radicchio, endive and frisse. Cut the bottom off the endive, then slice the individual leaves on a bias near the top using only the light yellow tips for the salad. Gently mix the lettuces and hold in a large bowl.

Reserve on the side

4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

2 ounces dried cranberries

1 ounce dried apricots, thinly sliced

1 heirloom apple, thinly sliced and lightly dipped in orange juice to prevent discoloring

1 ounce fresh sage leaves picked from stem

Dressing

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon fresh chopped garlic

1 teaspoon fresh chopped ginger

1 tablespoon fresh chopped shallot

2 ounces chopped pecans

1 Bartlett or Bosch pear, cored and small-diced

1 tablespoon honey

2 ounces sherry vinegar

2 ounces apple juice

6 to 8 ounces vegetable oil

Sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Heat a saucepan over medium heat and add butter. When butter foams and starts to brown, add shallots and ginger. Cook for a few seconds, then add garlic and pecans. Cook for a minute or so. Add pear, vinegar and apple juice. Reduce liquid by half and lightly season. Whisk in vegetable oil and let simmer for a minute. Then remove from heat.

Pour a small amount of dressing into the mixing bowl with the lettuces and toss them gently. Place a small mound of salad off-center on the plates.

Take a small amount of the ingredients held on the side and sprinkle over and around the salad. Slice duck breast thinly lengthwise and fan the slices shingled off the salad into the large bare part of the plate. Drizzle more dressing on duck slices and the salad. Finish up with a healthy grind of black pepper.

Accompany with a big California zinfandel.

Nibbles & Sips

About 300 gourmands and oenophiles from all over the world descend upon Naples this month from Oct. 19 to 23 as La Chaîne des Rôtisseurs holds its Grand Chapitre and National Council Meeting, hosted by the Naples chapter of this prestigious international food and wine society.

The conference is called A Taste of Paradise. Lacey King, head of the Naples Bailliage, has organized the event, which includes fancy dinners in private homes, at LaPlaya Resort and at the Ritz-Carlton, Naples.

Lemonia at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples has an authentic Italian chef in the kitchen. Massimo Veronesi was born near Verona and graduated from hotel school in Gardone. Most recently, Veronesi was the Chef de Cuisine at the Ritz-Carlton, Dubai.