Hot Dish
Inside the Gulfshore's Dining Scene
02/11/09Hot Dish: Feb. 11 2009Inside the Gulfshore’s Dining scene. Local Chefs Shine for Naples Winter Wine Festival Event For a glorious week, Naples was the epicenter of the food and wine world, as the 2009 Naples Winter Wine Festival raised more than $5 million to benefit the Naples Children & Education Foundation. Seventeen of the nation’s top chefs gathered for a reception last Thursday at the Inn on Fifth, where local chefs from Fifth Avenue South served a wonderful tasting of their locally renowned dishes. From left: Chefs Jonathan Benno of Per Se, New York; Mary Ann Esposito of PBS's Ciao Italia; John Tesar, formerly of The Mansion, Dallas; Eric DeLano of Trilogy, Naples; Sean Brock of McCrady's,Charleston, S.C.; Sandro Durante of Vergina, Naples. The local chefs included Eric... Posted at 06:25 PM | Permalink |
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01/28/09Hot Dish: Jan. 28, 2009Inside the Gulfshore’s Dining Scene Napoli, Italy comes to Naples, Florida MiraMare Ristorante is the newest finer dining spot in Southwest Florida. It sets the bar very high for any Italian restaurant, or any restaurant, for that matter. The food is delicious, and the location is to-die-for gorgeous, with a stunning view, day or night, of Naples Bay. As I enjoyed my meal during this opening week, an Italian woman nearby said her tuna tartar salad tasted just as it did in Naples, Italy—how much better does it get? The cuisine is overall that of Northern Italy, with experienced Chef Giovanni Scamardella working his magic with a skilled and light touch with seafood and veal. This isn’t your Americanized pasta and meatball place. This is where you come to savor... Posted at 10:46 PM | Permalink |
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01/14/09Hot Dish: Jan. 14, 2009Inside the Gulfshore’s dining scene. Happy New Year! Over the past year, there have been about as many restaurants opening as closing. It’s time to try the new spots’ fine cuisines. Here are two very good picks: Aurelio’s Brings Thin Crust to Gulf Coast Aurelio’s Pizza makes a great Chicago-style, thin-crust pizza, served for years at the Naples location on U.S. 41, and now at the second spot on Main Street in Gulf Coast Town Center. For years, I’ve considered Naples’ Aurelio’s to have one of the best thin-crust pizzas around in a fun, family-friendly atmosphere. Now, owners Jack Haberkorn and Jack Canna have added a winner to the other dining spots at this shopping center. Aurelio's owners Jack Haberkorn and Jack Canna The new Aurelio’s... Posted at 04:38 PM | Permalink |
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01/05/09Hot Dish: Dec. 24, 2008Inside the Gulfshore’s Dining Scene Naples Welcomes McCormick & Schmick’s Fresh Seafood Fare McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant has opened with a splash at Naples’ Mercato. From the welcoming dark-wood-and-brass bar to the dining room’s semi-private booths, there’s a rich, old-fashioned charm, with tasteful use of woods, subdued Frank Lloyd Wright-style stained glass lighting and truly comfortable chairs. McCormick & Schmick's And talk about fresh—the menu changes twice a day as shipments arrive. There’s blackened snapper from Key West ($15), Idaho’s almond-encrusted mountain trout ($19), Prince Edward Island’s Malpeque oysters and prosciutto-wrapped sea scallops from Georges Bank, Mass. ($24). I flipped over Canada’s Bay of Fundy Atlantic... Posted at 11:44 PM | Permalink |
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12/10/08Hot Dish: Dec, 10, 2008Inside the Gulfshore’s Dining Scene Goodbye to Crü It’s the end of a brief, yet glorious era for Fort Myers’ Crü, which offered the last of its “Lush Wines and Pure Food” on Sunday in The Bell Tower Shops in Fort Myers. Launched in 2004 by owners Liz and John Kagan with then-Executive Chef Shannon Yates, Crü rode the crest of the housing boom, as affluent realtors, mortgage brokers, attorneys and others enjoyed the hip scene, dining on expensive, delicious and creative food, champagne and fine wines. They often arrived in chauffeured limousines and didn’t blink at $600 tabs for an evening for four. Heady stuff in heady times. Shannon Yates left for other ventures. Brian Roland became executive chef for a while, leaving in October to start M... Posted at 04:49 PM | Permalink |
