Love Those Foreign Accents

If you’re looking for a blueprint for life, you could do worse.

The only problem is re-entry. I’d like to say that I handled our return to laundry, bills, blazing heat and I-75 traffic with patience and grace, but I like you too much to lie to you.

"Why, oh why, does no one bring us any helado?" I asked Tom. "Doesn’t anyone in Florida love us at all?"

We got our answer almost immediately in the form of the June opening of a Spanish restaurant called Toro at Bell Tower Shops in Fort Myers. One night at Toro did more to gentle me back to my happy Andalusian frame of mind than I had imagined possible.

To understand the soul of Toro, just look into the radiant, smiling face of its operating partner, Jerome Sanchez, a Blu Sushi veteran who owns the restaurant with partners Mark Luth and Roger "RC" Campagnolo. Sanchez has a smile that is palpable over the phone. He sounded like a happy French leprechaun when he took my reservation—his grandparents are Spanish, but his parents are French, which seems to boil down to a Continental reduction of warmth and taste—and then greeted us at the door with open arms. Jerome kissed my hand and led us both to our table while murmuring sweet nothings about the meal in store for us. I felt loved.

"Do you think he figured out who we are? Is it a bid for a rave?" I asked Tom as we took in the chic décor.

"Nah. Look around. He’s kissing everyone."

Toro occupies an intimate space with indoor and outdoor seating. Jerome’s wife, Fabienne, styled the interior, and softening touches like flowers and splashes of red and white infuse the brushed metal gray and black with warmth. As we took it all in, waiter Terry Lawson brought us some fresh bread with oil and balsamic vinegar.

Jerome surfaced again to help us make some decisions.

"I tried over 500 wines for our cellar," he told us. "Over 75 percent of our wines are Spanish." He explained that the quality and the value of the wines drove his choices. "May I pair different wines with your dishes?" he asked.

When we set Jerome loose in the wine cellar, neither Tom nor I realized that we were unleashing a grand passion in Toro’s proprietor. We were not just having dinner at a neighborhood eatery: We were embarking on an intense culinary adventure that would last five hours. Terry brought us 11 dishes prepared by executive chef Mike Walnik and his team, and Jerome placed a different glass of wine beside each one.

First came the gazpacho ($5.90), a delicate, fresh take on the staple with chunks of avocado, and the fresh anchovies ($8.90) marinated in olive oil, lemon and fresh herbs. Jerome proved his oenophilic prowess by setting beside these delicacies a French riesling, the 2004 Trimbach Alsace ($9 glass/$32 bottle). Our tongues were quickly ablaze with fresh, sharp flavors. Next, he defied expectations by serving our carpaccio of tuna with miso dressing ($11.90) with a dry Spanish sherry, Pedro Ximenez Alvear’s Fino ($5/$29). A surprise hit came in the form of the arugula with warm lentil salad ($6.90 small/$10.90 large).

"This white truffle oil vinaigrette is amazing," I murmured to Jerome as he dashed past us. Moments later, he returned with the bottle and poured some on a plate for us. We mopped it up with bread and contemplated its miraculous flavor.

We couldn’t leave the land of the Toro Tapas (appetizers) without sampling the Prince Edward Island mussels sautéed in a white wine garlic and shallot broth ($10.90). One bite and I knew that I would have to clean the plate.

"You look happier than I’ve seen you since we left Spain," Tom said. He squeezed my hand, and reached across for a taste. "Mmm … I think I understand why." Jerome knew to pair the mussels with the 2005 Chardonnay Vega Sindoa Navarra ($8/$28).

"Is it me, or do these taste like more expensive wines?" I asked. Tom sniffed his glass and nodded.
At this point in the evening, we were singing along to flamenco music, clapping as the staff made a drum-beating fuss over a birthday, and making friends with the couple at the next table, dermatologist Dr. Marvin Porter and his wife, Lesley. They seemed to be the unofficial mayors of the Bell Tower, shaking hands with some of Southwest Florida’s best and brightest, including the founding director of the Florida Gulf Coast University Foundation, Bill Horowitz, and his wife, Andi.

We sampled four entrées, two designed for carnivores, and two for the seafood crowd. All of them came equipped with impeccable wines. The Paella "Toro" ($21.90) was as good as the home-cooked paella we ate in Spain, paired with the superb 2006 Saint Veran Chardonnay Verget Bourgogne ($14/$41). We luxuriated in the bouillabaisse ($25.90) with a 2005 Albarino Nora Galicia Rias Baixas ($11/$37). The braised lamb shank with truffled mashed potatoes and parsnip confit ($25.90) came with a 2005 Grenacha Vina Borgia Campo de Borgia ($7/$24), and rounded out the entrée assortment with a 10-oz. Kobe ribeye steak with baby root vegetable sage and goat cheese veloute ($44.90).

At this point, if we had any shred of dignity or shame, we would have kissed both of Jerome’s hands, said hasta luego to all of our new friends, and crawled back to the car. Instead, we ordered two of the six available desserts, the banana foster ($11.90) that Terry flambéed for us tableside, and the almond croissant ($7.90) with pistachio ice cream. Jerome must have imagined we could still be parched. He sent over a heavenly Spanish confection called the 2005 Moscatel Jorge Ordonez & Co. Victoria Mala ($88 per bottle) dessert wine, which we were only too happy to consume.

Dining at Toro is an event to be savored. It will smooth out the rough edges. Jerome will make you feel welcomed, pampered and philosophical. Most of all, you will be convinced that you are living the good life as surely as any Spaniard living on the coast of Andalusia. Trust us: That feeling is worth much more than the price of a meal.

Toro, 13499 S. Cleveland Avenue, Fort Myers. (239) 437-8676. www.torolife.com. Dinner Monday–Thursday, 3–10:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 3 p.m.–12:30 a.m.; and Sunday brunch, 11:30 a.m., dinner, 5–10 p.m. Credit cards accepted. Handicapped accessible. Reservations recommended.

Miss Saigon Gourmet
From the parking lot, we weren’t sure that Miss Saigon Gourmet was open. In fact, we weren’t entirely sure even as we were standing in the restaurant’s foyer, gazing at its empty tiki bar and tables. To be completely honest, we still had our doubts even as we were being guided to our seats by our slender, shy waitress, Audrey Worell.

"I love this place," Tom whispered. "It’s so unpretentious."

All doubts vanished the moment we tasted our first bites of the combination platter of appetizers, with egg rolls, a chicken skewer, a spring roll, squid and salad, which came with three sauces: clear nuoc cham, peanut and apricot ($15.95). We might be sitting in a quiet, restful space, but someone, somewhere, was cooking up a veritable hullabaloo.

Miss Saigon Gourmet is the hard-won brainchild of a beautiful Vietnamese refugee named Suzanne Nguyen. What began as a thriving takeout restaurant in December 2005 grew into a seated restaurant in January 2007.

At first glance, the restaurant itself doesn’t look like much, but when you look more closely, you will see that a great deal of thought and pride has gone into the smallest details of its décor. For instance, the wall hangings are commissioned, silk-embroidered scenes of Vietnam, all made there and bearing the restaurant’s name.

Audrey brought Suzanne over to talk with us as we sampled dish after amazing dish. As the restaurant began to fill with devoted customers, we heard several people call out, "Hello, Suzanne!" She greeted everyone with warmth and friendship, and periodically darted into the kitchen to oversee a variety of preparations.

"Are you reviewing this place?" someone asked us. (When the décor is spartan, the notebooks are impossible to hide.)

"Yes," I said. "Do you come here often?"

Tom picked up his pen. "What are your favorite dishes?"

Our new friends enthused about the Miss Saigon spring roll ($4.95), the vegetarian spring rolls ($4.95), and the chicken soup entrée ($7.95 medium/$8.95 large). As soon as we tasted the dishes, we understood their loyalty.

We particularly loved the soup, but were even more ecstatic about the special shrimp and ground pork soup ($10.95). We were given fresh basil to add to both broths, and we were surprised to detect a strong licorice flavor.