Big Bites by the Bay

When it comes to Stoney's Steakhouse at Bayfront, you have to think big. From the plush, heavy high-back chairs to the sizable dinner portions to the full wine list, the place is a grand indulgence where you can enjoy enormous lobster-stuffed mushrooms before a plentitude of entrée options while indulging in a $7,000 magnum of Chateau Petrus Pomerol. Large, comfortable and chic, Stoney's is all about big-time, big-city enjoyment.

Kevin Stoneburner, the restaurant's namesake, is a Naples developer and a founder of Bayfront, a colorful waterside complex of condominiums, restaurants and retail emporiums. Stoney's general manager, Anthony Fazio, oversees the prodigious wine list that is mostly Californian and French, and the executive chef is Christopher Blough, whom you'll spy in the semi-open kitchen

or circulating in the dining room where he carves juicy-meaty-fatty prime rib tableside or assembles fiery desserts such as bananas Foster.

Besides the usual steak offerings (the meat is high quality and properly cooked), the menu excels in classic dishes both haute and of the comfort-food variety. Options include individual beef Wellingtons as well as meatloaf and chicken divan, Atlantic salmon, prime rib, steak au poivre, veal porterhouse, free-range stuffed chicken and grouper as well as a lovely surf-and-turf platter. With steaks you may choose among four sauces for an extra fee, but all entrées come with a choice of potato and salad. Entrées range from $30 to $50, excluding extra sides such as the lightly battered onion rings (which I recommend), wine or dessert. For a corkage fee, guests may bring their own wines with them.

Appetizers ($9­-$17) are primarily in the classic cuisine category and include traditional escargot (tasty, but not garlicky enough for me), lobster bisque, shrimp cocktail with huge shrimp, mussels, oysters Rockefeller and French onion soup. Seared ahi tuna is a nod to more modern fare.

The décor at Stoney's is comfortably lavish with dark wood paneling and trim, exposed pale stone, a copper-colored tin ceiling and bold contemporary art in gold Old Master frames. There's a mural in the bar opposite the entrance worth enjoying and you can eat in the bar area, although the live entertainment and hard-surface flooring make it a noisy option. The dining rooms are laid with white cloths and napkins and enhanced with candlelight and soft mood lighting paired with a dark floral patterned carpet that absorbs sound for a quiet and intimate experience. Dress is resort-casual, which does not mean shorts. You're not likely to see children at Stoney's; it's a grown-up kind of place.

Service by a uniformed staff is up to the standards of the food and décor. Expect plenty of personal attention, but none of it hovering.

Maybe Naples didn't exactly need or crave another steakhouse. But it's fortunate that Kevin Stoneburner saw the bigger picture. There's always room for quality.

Stoney's Steakhouse 403 Bayfront Place, Naples. (239) 435-9353. Dinner: nightly 4:30 p.m.-11 p.m. Live entertainment in the bar on weekends. Credit cards. Reservations recommended. Valet parking. Wheelchair accessible.

Robert parks, the chef/owner of the 45-seat Twilight Café, is the man in the moon, the one who directs the kitchen while surrounded by a moonscape décor dreamed up and executed by artist Tom Shultis. The entire quirky little place pays homage to the moon; and every night Parks gets to cook in the middle of a piece of art; strange and amusing art.

But there is nothing strange about the food; it's delicious and copious and reflects the chef's feelings about nourishment and his need for change. "Spoken like a chubby chef," he says, "I believe there is no such thing as too much food. I like to eat big portions and that's what I serve. And I rotate things on and off the menu based on what is fresh and available and what's popular with my guests. If something doesn't get ordered, off it goes. That way I can say my menu is full of popular house specialties." The veal chop was the first success on the menu when Twilight opened in Sanibel 10 years ago, and it's still on the menu. And the broccoli is famous among local foodies. The common vegetable is marinated and then grilled over an open oak fire. The broccoli comes to the table crunchy and with lots more flavor than you'd expect.

Star of the appetizer menu is a plate of twin crab cakes. These hefty rounds barely hold together on the plate or fork because they're full of lump crabmeat with barely any filler. Parks says they're harder to cook that way, but it all pays off in the taste. As an appetizer ($10.95) you get two, but for an additional $3.95 you can add a cake to the platter. Served on spinach leaves puddled in a light sweet pepper cream, the cakes are first rate.

Parks' menu has a substantial vegetarian component. Some of the offerings include a vegetable-pasta toss or grilled eggplant with basmati, rich and sweet bean ratatouille or grilled vegetables over red beans and brown rice or grilled portobello over red pepper linguine with three-bean sauce and spinach. Instead of just grilling a few vegetables and arranging them on a plate, the vegetarian menu at Twilight celebrates creativity and forethought about pairings with regard to texture, color and layers of flavors. There are also five low-carbohydrate alternatives and a children's menu, too. Entrées average $23 and come with flavored rice or smashed potatoes (some skins in there, too) that are studded with ingredients such as crawfish, wasabi, roasted red pepper or chives.

Both fusion and authentic entrées fill the menu so you can dine traditionally on grilled pork chops or medallions of beef or rack of lamb, or you can be adventurous and go for the grilled grouper over Polynesian risotto with coconut milk and mango salsa or maybe grilled scallops over tangerine linguine tossed with marinated cucumber salad and a sweet onion vinaigrette.

Wines range from $25 to about $50 per bottle (mostly Californian) and by the glass from $6-$8. Desserts usually number four, and on our trip included apple dumpling (a superior choice), carrot cake, chocolate cobbler and tiramisu. The atmosphere is noisy and relaxed. Silverware is mismatched and not changed out between courses. White butcher paper covers the small tables. We had to ask for water, but fresh bread arrived as we sat down along with a little tub of tasty honey butter. Service is efficient and friendly.

The focus of Twilight Café is on the food (once you get past the décor). It's a place to seek out when you want a large dinner prepared by an experienced chef with a lot of delicious tricks under his toque. For your taste buds it's like a trip to the moon.

Twilight Café 751 Tarpon Bay Road, Sanibel Island. (239) 472-8818. Dinner: from 5:30 p.m., Monday through Saturday. Closed Sunday. Children's menu available. Credit cards. Reservations accepted. Parking in restaurant lot. Wheelchair accessible.

Nibbles & Sips

White tea is the next trendy brew, with a subtle flavor that you can customize with your own enhancers. It is believed to have a higher concentration of antioxidants than either black or green teas, and it's also lower in caffeine. White tea isn't really white, but rather a washed-out, pale green. When brewed, it looks like diluted apple juice and has a mild, slightly sweet taste without the grassy undertones some object to in green tea. Look for Celestial Seasonings and the Republic of Tea if you want to give it a sip.

Expect to see dulce de leche cropping up on more dessert menus around town as Hispanic culinary traditions flow throughout Southwest Florida. Dulce de leche is a kind of caramel spread; its name roughly translates to "milk jam." It has a rich, intensely sweet flavor, but it lacks the butter that's typically found in caramel candies. Dulce de leche is made with sweetened, condensed milk and sugar boiled until the whole concoction turns brown. The dessert-related applications are many and varied-dulce de leche milkshakes, pies, cakes, flans, tarts, cookies and candies. American pastry chefs are busy experimenting.

Publix sells fresh pizza dough daily. Bring it home, let it rest on the counter for an hour and then spread it out in your favorite pizza pan, customize with toppings and bake in a 400-degree oven for about 30 minutes. I've done white pizzas (with feta cheese, pesto and artichokes) as well as traditional ones with pizza sauce in the jar, sautéed fresh vegetables and sliced sausage. Good success. The crust is thick, so only use half the dough if you want wafer-thin crust and don't bake it as long. You can be creative with this dough and make appetizers as well as whole meal pizzas. The dough is usually kept in the refrigerated case near the bakery. If you don't see it, ask at the bakery counter.

A successful way to get potential buyers to investigate model homes at a new golf and country club community is to sprinkle a few restaurants nearby. So now there are two new public restaurants at Palmira Golf & Country Club in Bonita Springs.