It was a beautiful Sunday morning on Fort Meyers beach and we were scheduled to make our way to Sanibel Island for the day. Teresa and I jumped into our rented convertible and put the top down for the drive to Sanibel and started looking for the Over Easy Cafe. We had read about it in an advertisement in a brochure we had picked up at our hotel. Sometimes things just work out very well in that regard. The ad said that Over Easy had a variety of Benedicts on the menu and that's what caught my attention right away. I love Eggs Benedict and I always try those when they are offered.
We arrived at 9:00 Am and it was not crowded, which was a plus, and we were seated in a quiet corner of the place. The decor was amazingly inviting and colorful; bright colors of yellow, red and blue, much like my favorite Scandinavian colors and it felt like home to both Teresa and me.
I looked at the menu for those Benedicts and saw what I just had to try; it was not a Benedict at all but their Crab and Baby Asparagus Omelet with Swiss Cheese and Hollandaise on the side. It was served with Sourdough Toast and Orange Marmalade. It was the most amazing omelet I have ever eaten! It was unbelievable! I was in food heaven for the entire time at the restaurant. I wanted to order it all over again just because it was that good. It was perfectly cooked and the Hollandaise was a nice balance of lemon and buttery egg.
Teresa ordered the Fried Egg Sandwich on a Bagel with Provolone Cheese and tried the Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice. She said the juice was wonderful and I don't normally like Orange Juice but I tried it and it was unbelievable. Remember, I don't like Orange Juice and this stuff tasted like it had dropped right off the tree and had been pressed right there at that moment; It could make me like Orange Juice!
The next great thing they offered was their coffee. It was Green Mountain and it was excellent. I wanted to stay in this restaurant all morning. Our server's name was Faviana and she was a delight. I told her that the decor was very comfortable and she said that she agreed and that it was a cheery place to come to work. It showed in her attitude and service. It is so nice to see people that enjoy what they do and make their place of work a place that is attractive for anyone who happens upon it. I have to say that this was the absolute highlight of our trip in terms of quality and atmosphere. I could eat there every day if it were possible.
The next stop on our culinary tour was a Monday morning breakfast stop at Heavenly Biscuit in Ft. Meyers Beach. We had heard about this little place from a lady that managed the Americinn at White Bear Lake, MN. She said that she had lived in the Ft Meyers Beach area and that we should try the Heavenly Biscuit. It turned out to be a very good find. The biscuits were excellent, moist and perfectly cooked and their special of the day was a Bacon, Egg and Cheese with Tomato, which both of us tried along with their Home Fries. The fries were very good; a very crispy, well browned potato with crispy skins and onion as well as a hint of garlic in the mix.
The restaurant was a bit like the Swamp Sisters here in Saginaw, MN; a small place where you placed your order at the counter and found your place at either a table inside or one of three tables on the porch of what had at one time been a small home on the main drag of Ft. Meyers Beach. This restaurant also was one of those you could easily spend a vast amount of time enjoying while watching the activity in the neighborhood. I fact, you could tell that this was a popular place because we saw the same cabbies there both times we went and saw that the locals frequented the place every day. It just had to be good, and it was!
Plan a trip soon, my friend and eat well!
Tim
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Monday, March 21, 2011
Culinary Adventure part III
Today I continue our adventure in Southwest Florida with a trip to Snapper's, in St. Pete's Beach. We arrived at about 4:45 PM which is a bit early for dinner but it worked out for the time we happened to be there so we went for it. This turned out to be one of my favorite places to eat in the area. We began with a salad that had the most amazing dressing on it. I asked the server what was in it and, of course, she couldn't tell me but did divulge that there were three mustards, three vinegars, eggs, shallots, and garlic in it. I told her I would try to figure it out because it was so good. She asked if I cooked and I said "definitely!".
Teresa ordered a Cashew Crusted Mahi Mahi with a Mango Tomato Sauce and Grilled Bananas with Puff Pastry wrapped Potatoes. It was very nice to say the least. I ordered Blue Crab Cakes over a rice that seemed fairly sticky with some Coconut Milk, Red Bell Peppers and
Scallions. It was excellent! It tasted like my Walleye Cakes but with a more ocean fish hint because of the crab. I loved it! We topped off our dinner with a Petite Key Lime Pie, which had a Chocolate Wafer Crust and a Raspberry Coulis under it to accent the dish. It was very nice and just the right size for the dinner we experienced.
Good eating,
Tim
Teresa ordered a Cashew Crusted Mahi Mahi with a Mango Tomato Sauce and Grilled Bananas with Puff Pastry wrapped Potatoes. It was very nice to say the least. I ordered Blue Crab Cakes over a rice that seemed fairly sticky with some Coconut Milk, Red Bell Peppers and
Scallions. It was excellent! It tasted like my Walleye Cakes but with a more ocean fish hint because of the crab. I loved it! We topped off our dinner with a Petite Key Lime Pie, which had a Chocolate Wafer Crust and a Raspberry Coulis under it to accent the dish. It was very nice and just the right size for the dinner we experienced.
Good eating,
Tim
Thursday, March 17, 2011
The culinary vacation continues
In my last post we started our culinary adventure in Florida and we continue today with the next stop on the trail at Keegan's Seafood Grille, at Indian Rocks Beach, Florida. This was one of the destinations we found from Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and It very quickly became our favorite spot for seafood in the area. We ended up coming back three times to this spot because it was just that good! We started on this Wednesday evening with the She-Crab Soup which was a velvety cream-style soup loaded with shredded crab meat and was absolutely delicious! The next course was a Ginger Encrusted Green Leek Grilled Swordfish served with Lime Zested White Rice and a Fresh Pineapple/Orange Relish and a Szechuan Aioli to top it all off. It was amazing!
The restaurant itself was not necessarily outstanding and it was more of a typical local bar and grille type place with a couple TVs on the wall and the usual booths and tables but the food was so outstanding that we forgot all about the surroundings and were captivated with the flavors at hand. Our server was really cool and we enjoyed talking with her throughout the meal. We decided that we were definitely coming back the next day for appetizers before dinner.Upon our return, I saw on the menu that they were offering Burgundy Marinated Escargot and Sesame Seared Ahi Tuna for the first courses and we just had to try those. We arrived at 6:30 PM and ordered both of those items; they were again, absolutely amazing! The Ahi Tuna was seared rare and served with soy sauce and wasabi sauce. The Escargot, which I LOVE, were served in Mushroom Caps in Butter and Garlic with Herbs; fabulous! The main course was a Mediteranean Rubbed, Grilled Escolar with Italian Parmesan Smashed Potatoes and a Mixed Olive Tomato Relish/ Dark Balsamic and Citrus Reduction. Teresa ordered a White Sangria that was freshly mixed and excellent! It was made with Chablis wine and from what we could taste had Orange juice with pulp, some simple syrup, Lime, Cinnamon and possibly some Allspice and , of course, Ice. This restaurant was truly becoming our favorite of the trip. Everything we tried was perfectly cooked and full of flavor. I would definitely encourage a trip to this place very soon! We had originally decided to go to another spot for dinner but after trying the appetizers we couldn't resist staying for the main course.
My choice for this evening was a Grilled Grouper Sandwich served on a grilled Onion Roll with lettuce, tomato and a sauce; again, very good, indeed! This had been a very successful day in terms of finding the best places to dine and we wanted to return the next day to see what the special dish of the day might be, as each one we had tried so far had been wonderful.
We will continue our adventure tomorrow with some more culinary delights.
Eat well and often,
Tim
The restaurant itself was not necessarily outstanding and it was more of a typical local bar and grille type place with a couple TVs on the wall and the usual booths and tables but the food was so outstanding that we forgot all about the surroundings and were captivated with the flavors at hand. Our server was really cool and we enjoyed talking with her throughout the meal. We decided that we were definitely coming back the next day for appetizers before dinner.Upon our return, I saw on the menu that they were offering Burgundy Marinated Escargot and Sesame Seared Ahi Tuna for the first courses and we just had to try those. We arrived at 6:30 PM and ordered both of those items; they were again, absolutely amazing! The Ahi Tuna was seared rare and served with soy sauce and wasabi sauce. The Escargot, which I LOVE, were served in Mushroom Caps in Butter and Garlic with Herbs; fabulous! The main course was a Mediteranean Rubbed, Grilled Escolar with Italian Parmesan Smashed Potatoes and a Mixed Olive Tomato Relish/ Dark Balsamic and Citrus Reduction. Teresa ordered a White Sangria that was freshly mixed and excellent! It was made with Chablis wine and from what we could taste had Orange juice with pulp, some simple syrup, Lime, Cinnamon and possibly some Allspice and , of course, Ice. This restaurant was truly becoming our favorite of the trip. Everything we tried was perfectly cooked and full of flavor. I would definitely encourage a trip to this place very soon! We had originally decided to go to another spot for dinner but after trying the appetizers we couldn't resist staying for the main course.
My choice for this evening was a Grilled Grouper Sandwich served on a grilled Onion Roll with lettuce, tomato and a sauce; again, very good, indeed! This had been a very successful day in terms of finding the best places to dine and we wanted to return the next day to see what the special dish of the day might be, as each one we had tried so far had been wonderful.
We will continue our adventure tomorrow with some more culinary delights.
Eat well and often,
Tim
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
The Culinary Vacation
Teresa and I just got back from a culinary vacation of sorts that I have been wanting to do for a while now. One of my favorite shows on satellite TV is Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives on Food Network and I thought it would be fun to do a trip to find a few of the restaurants highlighted on the show. I found three of them in the Tampa-St. Pete area of Florida and what better time to visit Florida than winter in Minnesota?
We set off on Tuesday last week for St. Pete's Beach and landed at the Sandpiper Resort for a few days. We rented a Chrysler Sebring convertible for the week and headed out to find some great little spots to eat. We got to the hotel about mid-afternoon and settled in, then cruised the main drag with the top down on the convertible for some interesting food spots. We found Crabby Bill's just down the road and landed there for dinner about 6:00 pm. It was a fun place featuring fresh seafood as well as the usual stuff, like burgers and fries. We chose their Grilled Grouper Sandwich with lettuce, tomato,and onion, served with fries and cole slaw. It was excellent! To top it off, we were there at sunset and up on their second floor deck. There was also a wedding taking place on the beach below us, which was a nice surprise. The food was great, the sunset beautiful, the beer was cold and we capped the meal with a very nice slice of Key Lime Pie. It was a very nice start to the week!
The next morning we tried a very cool looking classic diner right next door to Crabby Bill's called Mad Fish. What caught my attention was the polished stainless steel of the traditional diner exterior and I hoped the interior and the food were as cool looking as the exterior. The interior was definitely as classy as the outside with Honduras Mahogany wall panels and polished stainless details everywhere inside. It had the feel of very classy diner with Cobalt Blue teardrop Halogen pendants over each table and nice tablecloths and fresh flowers at each booth. The downside was the opening greeting from the hostess. She was at best, disconnected and at worst, crabby. She did warm up a bit as we talked to her so I wrote that off to a bad day.
I saw that they offered Eggs Benedict and I always try that when available. Teresa had the Poached Lobster Omelet. Mine was very good, the Hollandaise a nice blend of lemon and butter. The dish also came with some interesting Home Fried Potatoes. They appeared to have been deep fried medallions of potato with a nice combination of seasonings on them. It was served with Sourdough Toast and excellent coffee. Teresa's omelet was not quite so successful. With Lobster we always expect the best but she found the omelet to be somewhat greasy and the lobster way overcooked, on the way to very rubbery; disappointing to say the least. I would, however go there again and give them another try. My food was very good and I can hope that the same girl doesn't work there next time. In fact, there was a manager there we spoke to about some of the local attractions and he was very helpful and pleasant, which made the experience much more palatable, if you will.
Later that afternoon we were on our way back from Tarpon Springs and found a local brewery at Dunedin and stopped there to try their offerings. Teresa tried their Apricot/Peach Ale, which definitely highlighted the fruit flavors with a mild hoppy finish to it. I had their Redhead Red Ale, which, amazingly, tasted exactly like Steve and Tim's Inaugural Brew, Steve Rudh's and my first attempt at brewing beer. It was uncanny. The brewery was housed in an addition to an old house in a residential neighborhood of Dunedin. I had a couple of huge roll-up glass garage doors to provide an open-air feel during warm weather and some very cool stainless welded tube tables and stools, reminiscent of the stainless tubing connecting the brewing vats at the rear of the building. the server was great and it was a nice stop along the way. It was a beautiful day in the low 80's with the top down cruising the Southwest Coast of Florida on a culinary mission to find some great food and this day had turned out pretty well so far. We hadn't tried any of the three Triple D joints yet but those are yet to come.
Eat well, my friend.
Tim
We set off on Tuesday last week for St. Pete's Beach and landed at the Sandpiper Resort for a few days. We rented a Chrysler Sebring convertible for the week and headed out to find some great little spots to eat. We got to the hotel about mid-afternoon and settled in, then cruised the main drag with the top down on the convertible for some interesting food spots. We found Crabby Bill's just down the road and landed there for dinner about 6:00 pm. It was a fun place featuring fresh seafood as well as the usual stuff, like burgers and fries. We chose their Grilled Grouper Sandwich with lettuce, tomato,and onion, served with fries and cole slaw. It was excellent! To top it off, we were there at sunset and up on their second floor deck. There was also a wedding taking place on the beach below us, which was a nice surprise. The food was great, the sunset beautiful, the beer was cold and we capped the meal with a very nice slice of Key Lime Pie. It was a very nice start to the week!
The next morning we tried a very cool looking classic diner right next door to Crabby Bill's called Mad Fish. What caught my attention was the polished stainless steel of the traditional diner exterior and I hoped the interior and the food were as cool looking as the exterior. The interior was definitely as classy as the outside with Honduras Mahogany wall panels and polished stainless details everywhere inside. It had the feel of very classy diner with Cobalt Blue teardrop Halogen pendants over each table and nice tablecloths and fresh flowers at each booth. The downside was the opening greeting from the hostess. She was at best, disconnected and at worst, crabby. She did warm up a bit as we talked to her so I wrote that off to a bad day.
I saw that they offered Eggs Benedict and I always try that when available. Teresa had the Poached Lobster Omelet. Mine was very good, the Hollandaise a nice blend of lemon and butter. The dish also came with some interesting Home Fried Potatoes. They appeared to have been deep fried medallions of potato with a nice combination of seasonings on them. It was served with Sourdough Toast and excellent coffee. Teresa's omelet was not quite so successful. With Lobster we always expect the best but she found the omelet to be somewhat greasy and the lobster way overcooked, on the way to very rubbery; disappointing to say the least. I would, however go there again and give them another try. My food was very good and I can hope that the same girl doesn't work there next time. In fact, there was a manager there we spoke to about some of the local attractions and he was very helpful and pleasant, which made the experience much more palatable, if you will.
Later that afternoon we were on our way back from Tarpon Springs and found a local brewery at Dunedin and stopped there to try their offerings. Teresa tried their Apricot/Peach Ale, which definitely highlighted the fruit flavors with a mild hoppy finish to it. I had their Redhead Red Ale, which, amazingly, tasted exactly like Steve and Tim's Inaugural Brew, Steve Rudh's and my first attempt at brewing beer. It was uncanny. The brewery was housed in an addition to an old house in a residential neighborhood of Dunedin. I had a couple of huge roll-up glass garage doors to provide an open-air feel during warm weather and some very cool stainless welded tube tables and stools, reminiscent of the stainless tubing connecting the brewing vats at the rear of the building. the server was great and it was a nice stop along the way. It was a beautiful day in the low 80's with the top down cruising the Southwest Coast of Florida on a culinary mission to find some great food and this day had turned out pretty well so far. We hadn't tried any of the three Triple D joints yet but those are yet to come.
Eat well, my friend.
Tim
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Brunch
One of the great local restaurants in Duluth recently began to serve a Sunday brunch menu. A few weeks ago Teresa and I stopped at Nokomis Restaurant on highway 61 near Duluth on our way to Silver Bay to see my dad at the veteran's home there. We were pleased to see a new brunch menu and it turned out to be excellent. I began with a Bloody Mary and it was very good.
The menu is not a typical brunch buffet. It consists of an omelet of the day, a soup of the day and several dishes that always appear. The first time there I was intrigued by the Green Eggs and Ham. It was neither green eggs nor ham, but a Croissant with Pulled Pork, a Poached Egg and Herbed Hollandaise (the green part); absolutely phenomenal! It is served with a choice of greens or their beautifully browned Breakfast Potatoes with Garlic and Parmesan, Bacon or Sausage. I chose the Bacon and it was cooked crisp and had a wonderful applewood smoked flavor. Teresa had the Breakfast Sandwich with Prosciutto, Egg, Applewood Smoked Bacon and Herbed Mayonnaise on Grilled Sourdough Bread. It was marvelous as well!
One very cool surprise is a pre-brunch treat that is different each week. This one was a fresh Beignet, hot out of the fryer and rolled in Cinnamon Sugar; very nice. In subsequent visits there have been a Blueberry Scone and today's was a Cheddar, Chive and Bacon Fritter with Creme Fraiche. All of these were perfect. In fact, I don't much care for scones because they are usually dry as bones but the one they served was warm, moist and flavorful.
Today Teresa had the soup of the day which was Tomato with Orange Zest and Creme Fraiche and a new Breakfast Pot Pie. The soup was a creamy consistency but did not appear to have any cream in it. The garnishes were Browned Butter Bread Crumbs and the Creme Fraiche. The Orange Zest was what made the soup! It lent an amazing freshness to the creamy consistency and the flavors worked extremely well together. The Pot Pie was not served in a pot but was a base section of Puff Pastry and then a gorgeous sauce with Chicken, Bacon, Carrots, Potatoes, Onions and Thyme with a top crust of Puff Pastry and served with House Greens.
My daughter Stacy was along with us and she had the Granola Crusted French Toast. On outings like these we like to each order something different so we can taste them all and today we did that again. The dishes were all exceptional and as we were driving down the road on the way to Silver Bay I told Teresa I thought that this restaurant really shines with their brunch menu.
We will be back soon and bringing some folks along with us to experience it.
Good eating,
Tim
The menu is not a typical brunch buffet. It consists of an omelet of the day, a soup of the day and several dishes that always appear. The first time there I was intrigued by the Green Eggs and Ham. It was neither green eggs nor ham, but a Croissant with Pulled Pork, a Poached Egg and Herbed Hollandaise (the green part); absolutely phenomenal! It is served with a choice of greens or their beautifully browned Breakfast Potatoes with Garlic and Parmesan, Bacon or Sausage. I chose the Bacon and it was cooked crisp and had a wonderful applewood smoked flavor. Teresa had the Breakfast Sandwich with Prosciutto, Egg, Applewood Smoked Bacon and Herbed Mayonnaise on Grilled Sourdough Bread. It was marvelous as well!
One very cool surprise is a pre-brunch treat that is different each week. This one was a fresh Beignet, hot out of the fryer and rolled in Cinnamon Sugar; very nice. In subsequent visits there have been a Blueberry Scone and today's was a Cheddar, Chive and Bacon Fritter with Creme Fraiche. All of these were perfect. In fact, I don't much care for scones because they are usually dry as bones but the one they served was warm, moist and flavorful.
Today Teresa had the soup of the day which was Tomato with Orange Zest and Creme Fraiche and a new Breakfast Pot Pie. The soup was a creamy consistency but did not appear to have any cream in it. The garnishes were Browned Butter Bread Crumbs and the Creme Fraiche. The Orange Zest was what made the soup! It lent an amazing freshness to the creamy consistency and the flavors worked extremely well together. The Pot Pie was not served in a pot but was a base section of Puff Pastry and then a gorgeous sauce with Chicken, Bacon, Carrots, Potatoes, Onions and Thyme with a top crust of Puff Pastry and served with House Greens.
My daughter Stacy was along with us and she had the Granola Crusted French Toast. On outings like these we like to each order something different so we can taste them all and today we did that again. The dishes were all exceptional and as we were driving down the road on the way to Silver Bay I told Teresa I thought that this restaurant really shines with their brunch menu.
We will be back soon and bringing some folks along with us to experience it.
Good eating,
Tim
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Bacon and Egg Meatloaf
I had a craving the other day for some comfort food. Actually, I have a craving most days for comfort food but specifically I was needing some meatloaf. I stopped by the grocery store and bought a pound of 80/20 ground beef and a pound of ground pork which I feel makes the nicest meatloaf mix. I began to look at a few recipes to see what I might like to taste in a good loaf and settled on a basic recipe and then added a few of my own ingredients. Here's how it went:
1 lb. 80/20 ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1/2 cup crushed saltines (12 crackers pulsed in a food processor)
1 large egg lightly whisked with 1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
10 grinds freshly ground Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon Penzey's Shallot Pepper (http://www.penzeys.com/)
2 strips Thick Cut Bacon, cut in 1/2" pieces and cooked until crisp, reserving the bacon fat and adding it to the meatloaf mix.
1Tablespoon grated Horseradish
3 Hard Boiled Eggs, whole
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well to incorporate. Use 1 Tablespoon of the reserved bacon fat to grease a shallow ceramic baking dish and then place about 1/3 of the mixture in a loaf form in the dish. Place the 3 Hard Boiled Eggs in a line on top of the meat, then place the remaining meat mixture on top of the eggs and form into a loaf, packing it around the eggs to encase them within the center of the loaf. Place the baking dish on a sheet pan lined with parchment or foil and bake for approximately 1 hour. Remove the loaf from the pan and place on a platter. Let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes and then slice and serve with mashed potatoes.
Stinkin' good!
Tim
1 lb. 80/20 ground beef
1 lb. ground pork
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1/2 cup crushed saltines (12 crackers pulsed in a food processor)
1 large egg lightly whisked with 1/4 cup whole milk
1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
10 grinds freshly ground Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon Penzey's Shallot Pepper (http://www.penzeys.com/)
2 strips Thick Cut Bacon, cut in 1/2" pieces and cooked until crisp, reserving the bacon fat and adding it to the meatloaf mix.
1Tablespoon grated Horseradish
3 Hard Boiled Eggs, whole
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well to incorporate. Use 1 Tablespoon of the reserved bacon fat to grease a shallow ceramic baking dish and then place about 1/3 of the mixture in a loaf form in the dish. Place the 3 Hard Boiled Eggs in a line on top of the meat, then place the remaining meat mixture on top of the eggs and form into a loaf, packing it around the eggs to encase them within the center of the loaf. Place the baking dish on a sheet pan lined with parchment or foil and bake for approximately 1 hour. Remove the loaf from the pan and place on a platter. Let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes and then slice and serve with mashed potatoes.
Stinkin' good!
Tim
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