Category: Restaurants

Tidy Tidbits: Friendship & Food

JWF Leave a comment

FRIENDSHIP

The experts say, and I’m inclined to agree, that the older we get, the more we appreciate and value long-term friendships.  I now have close friends I have known for more than forty years and some more than fifty.  We recently had lunch with my girlhood friend and her husband.  I’ve known J. since we were in 4th grade.  She lived across the street from me for some years, and I was in and out of her house, much quieter than my home.  We played together, compared and competed on grades through high school, and often discussed and debated the differences between her religion’s Catholic teachings and my Protestant ones.  

Through college and into our 20’s, we had opportunities to get together, but then, didn’t see each other for several years at a stretch.  We kept in touch at Christmas and birthdays and through sightings by our mothers or our families.  I got to know several of her aunts and uncles and cousins and she my three siblings.  Later on, I and the Chief Penguin attended her wedding and then rejoiced with them when she and B. adopted a daughter.  Other than the Chief Penguin and my siblings, she has known me longer and better than anyone else.  Our mini reunion this week was a happy event, and we picked up right where we left off the last time!  We parted, vowing to be in contact more frequently. 

DINING AROUND

Bradenton Buzz—Chateau 13

Chateau 13 is a relatively new wine bar and restaurant in downtown Bradenton and it’s a winner!  Offering sophisticated and inventive fare, it’s worth a visit.  There’s bar seating, high top tables, and then a smallish dining room with standard seating.  They don’t take reservations, and by 5:30, shortly after they open, the dining room was full.  The menu has light bites, small appetizers, and full-size entrees.  For the bites and appetizers, think tapas.  We stuck to these sections of the menu and sampled some Parmesan truffled popcorn (fun!), Calabrian chili shrimp with broccolini, beef tournedos with foie gras, croquettes with prosciutto and a Caesar salad.  These are small portions so if you are very hungry, try an entrée. The shrimp, tournedos and croquettes were all superb!  Nice selection of wines by the glass too.   Closed Sunday and Monday.

St. Pete Beach—Leverock’s Great Seafood Restaurant 

Leverock’s is in the South Pasadena section of St. Petersburg and a great spot for lunch or dinner.  We met friends there for lunch and Tabitha, our waitress, greeted them warmly as they are regulars when they visit Florida.  Leverock’s fish is very fresh, and they have a wide selection prepared in a variety of ways, from sandwiches and wraps to salads to entrees with rice and veggies.  Two of us tried salads, the black and blue one with rare tuna and a Caesar salad with a perfectly grilled piece of salmon.  Our friends ordered their favorite salmon entrees.  Service was friendly and efficient.  Worth another visit.

Note: Header sunset photo ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved).

Florida Frolic: St. Augustine

JWF Leave a comment

FLORIDA FROLIC:  ST. AUGUSTINE

In our quest to become better acquainted with our home state, we’ve been taking short trips to cities not that far from us.  For the last two years, we and good friends made a December trip to Winter Park to visit the museums, cruise on the lake, and sample the local eateries.  This year, our destination was St. Augustine, the oldest city in the United States, located on the east coast, and about four and half hours away.  Christmas was the theme and there were several decorated trees in the square, plenty of holiday lights, and an overall festive feel.  

St. George Street is pedestrian only and the main drag in the historic district.  To be frank, our initial impression was a negative one.  Too many souvenir shops, too many hokey “historic” sites, and a plethora of pubs and bars.  It seemed a combination of Lake George Village and the worst of the Jersey Shore.  Add to that our inauspicious lunch at the Bull & Crown marked by glacial service and, with the exception of the delicious sausage rolls, food that was just average.

With a bit more poking around, life improved.  We discovered some attractive shops and galleries, we toured the main Flagler College building which was formerly the very luxurious Hotel Ponce Leon, and we signed on for an Old Town Trolley excursion around the city.  

Fountain in courtyard at Flagler College

This hour and a half ride (you can get on and off at any stop all day long, but we didn’t) gave us a good feel for what’s here—from the Fountain of Youth Park to the first Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum, to the distillery, to the historic fort, to several architecturally distinguished churches, to the Lincolnville Neighborhood with its distinctive frame houses.  Our trolley drivers made too many references to discounts and which attractions were free, but otherwise they were informative.  

Given that we like good food, we selected restaurants ahead of our arrival.  The two dinners and our second lunch were all delicious.  Here’s where we ate. We’d happily return to any one of these restaurants.

Collage.  I’d call their food continental, rather than French.  In any case, the small dining room is an elegant coral-walled space and the dinner service was most professional.  Several of us had the yummy carrot datil bisque to start followed by bronzino on a bed of spaghetti squash and couscous with cherry tomatoes.  Others enjoyed the superb black grouper and the diver sea scallops.  Datil peppers, hot like Scotch bonnets, are grown locally. 

Black grouper entree

Sangrias Wine & Tapas Bar. We were the only diners at Sangrias at lunchtime, but the food exceeded expectations.  We ordered the chicken pesto wrap and the crab cakes with salad along with a few beers. Our food appeared quickly and everything was tasty.

Catch 27.  This is a casual place that serves excellent food, all very fresh.  We dug into the trio of dips (guacamole, pimento cheese fondue, and pico de gallo) with chips to start.  The guys began with Minorcan seafood chowder, and then we were on to flounder with risotto and sherry cream and red sorrel that was amazing, buttermilk fried chicken, and fish tacos with a house salad.  Everything was supremely good!

Penguin cheer

St. George Inn.  We stayed overnight here (this hotel consists of six buildings around the historic area) and found their wine bar, Bin 39, most inviting in the evening.  It was also the breakfast room each morning. We were pleased that the small buffet included bagels, croissants, bread, cheddar cheese, sliced ham, and salami with a selection of jams and spreads.  Just about perfect to begin a day of sightseeing!

Note: Photos and text ©JWFarrington.

Tidy Tidbits: Out & About

JWF Leave a comment

ENDLESS SUMMER

This is so far a strange November.  We’ve changed the clocks and it gets dark early, but the sun is still hot during the day and the mercury scrapes 90.  Overnight it doesn’t get really cool (still low 70’s) and the days are sticky humid.  Usually by now, the local paper has had at least one article touting the arrival of “sweater weather.”  Coming from up north, I like the ring of that, but no one is wearing sweaters here yet—and we continue to go to the pool in the late afternoon.  

Ah, it’s lovely, but will summer ever end?  I’m pining for fall or at least Florida’s version of it.  But this morning, my wish was granted—60 degrees and no humidity. Finally!

OUT AND ABOUT

Last Sunday, we went to a concert series new to us.  It brings to Sarasota rising young classical performers. This particular concert featured an outstanding 20-year-old cellist and a very accomplished pianist.  

Zlatomir Fung (theviolinchannel.com)

The cellist, Zlatomir Fung, was the first American in decades to win first place in the Tchaikovsky International Competition. Pianist Angie Zhang studied at Juilliard and now teaches there in addition to performing around the country.  Together they played several of Beethoven’s sonatas for cello and piano in the second of two concerts.  It was superb, and we felt fortunate to have such a variety of music in this area.

DINING—POSH AND CASUAL

Shore on Longboat Key is the sister restaurant to Shore at St. Armand’s Circle.  It’s in a new fancy building with a variety of dining spaces inside and out.  In either case, you are likely to have a view of Sarasota Bay given the great expanses of glass.  It’s a high concept place, swish in décor, with some sophisticated, very good food.  We went early, shortly after they opened, and the demographic was largely retired folks.  By the time we left, the crowd was livelier and younger.   You can arrive by land or by water.  

Lovely fish entree

The Chief Penguin and I shared the generous calamari appetizer which was more of a salad with cabbage, peanuts, and spices and very tasty!  I ordered the sea bass entree which was exquisitely beautiful and delectable.  Prices are somewhat higher than other area venues.

Swordfish Grill, on the other hand, is down home casual.  Located on the water in Cortez, it frequently has live bands. Seating is on the outside deck or inside at a mix of booths and tables.  We hadn’t been here in awhile and were pleased to re-discover that the food is very good.  Among our group of five, we sampled and enjoyed the crab cake, scallops, pompano, and the swordfish bites.  Despite the name, swordfish is not on the regular menu!  The accompanying cole slaw was fresh and the French fries crisp and not soggy.  Wines by the glass and several kinds of beer are also available.  This is a good place for a group, but can be noisy if you’re planning on serious conversation.

RECENT READING

Ecstasy by Mary Sharratt

Alma Mahler (telegraph.co.uk)

This new historical novel focuses on musician and composer Alma Mahler and the many loves in her life, but especially on her relationship with her husband, eminent composer Gustav Mahler. She had affairs of the heart both before him and after, but Gustav captivated her.  When she married, she agreed to give up music to dedicate herself to his career.  Despite their mutual love, the loss of her own music was crushing. In an era when women were expected to be subservient wives and mothers, Alma was greatly conflicted as she tried to meet Gustav and society’s requirements.  A compelling portrait of an ebullient, anguished and extremely passionate woman.  (~JWFarrington)

Note: Text ©JWFarrington.

Maine: Boothbay & Beyond

JWF Leave a comment

MOON DAY

If you’re of a certain age, you probably remember exactly where you were fifty years ago today on July 20, 1969.  I had a summer job at Cornell University and was living in a rooming house near the campus.  My fiancé, now the Chief Penguin, was doing Air Force training in northern Maine at Loring Air Force base.  I lived in Ithaca without a car (I didn’t own one) and walked everywhere.  Usually my kind father came and retrieved me and I went home to Auburn for the weekend, but not this one.  (I think my folks were going out of town.)

Given how momentous an achievement the moon landing was, students and others were invited to gather in one of the Cornell lounges for the historic moon walk.  With no personal computers, iPads, or iPhones, twenty strangers and I sat, eyes glued to the small TV screen.  Transfixed, we held our collective breath and watched as Neil Armstrong took his first steps on the moon’s surface, planted the American flag, and uttered that memorable statement, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”  Although we might phrase it slightly differently today, it was an awesome occasion!  Now we have billionaires dangling the lure of space travel for ordinary people with dreams of getting to Mars.  Will travel to Mars really be in our future, who knows?

CURRENT READING

I bought Kiese Laymon’s Heavy: An American Memoir just because it looked interesting.  A black man raised in poverty in Mississippi, Laymon addresses this work to his mother, the “you” referred to throughout.  I am about halfway into it and not sure what my final response will be.  I’ll report back when I finish it.

COASTAL DINING

From Boothbay Harbor to Southport, we get around the local dining scene with multiple visits to favorite eateries. Here are a few notes on first visits for this season.

Harborside Tavern

We refer to this restaurant as Fiona’s Place since chef Fiona did a stint cooking at the Newagen Seaside Inn several years ago. The food that summer was especially memorable.  This year, instead of stopping for lunch at Sarah’s Café in Wiscasset (lots of construction going through town and torn up sidewalks), we continued on to Boothbay Harbor.  

The Chief Penguin ordered the chicken quesadilla (odd choice, some might say, but it’s one of his two standard lunch orders, the other being a Reuben), and I had my first lobster roll of the season paired with cole slaw instead of the fries.  Both were tasty and delicious combined with a view of the harbor from the second floor dining room.  Their dinner menu looks even more appealing so I sense we will be back!

Thistle Inn

It was fitting to have our first night’s dinner here as we’ve dined at the Thistle many times over the thirty summers we’ve come to Maine.  Recently, the food has only gotten better.  

We sat outside on the deck under the trees in a perfect corner table.   The Chief Penguin ordered the clam chowder, which he pronounced the best he’d ever had (have to agree based on my taste of it!) and the lobster tail in a brandy cream sauce, as pretty to look at as it was delectable.  I had the house green salad and the crab cakes.  Both were good, but not exceptional, while menu prices have increased.

Ports of Italy

This Italian restaurant remains one of our all-time go-to places and is consistently excellent. Homemade pasta, real thinly sliced veal prepared several ways, including the newest addition, scaloppini with pencil thin asparagus; and occasionally, by special request, veal saltimbocca. The Caesar salad is big enough for two and is nicely dressed with thin strips of Parmesan.  Inside is cozy, but the spot to be is on their screened porch above the street.  Nothing special about the view, but airy and just right for a summer night.  We have been coming here so many years now that both the maître d’ and Tony, the waiter, greet us warmly.  

Cozy’s Waterside

Charred shishito peppers

Our casual favorite, Oliver’s at Cozy Harbor on Southport, has been reincarnated as Cozy’s.  The menu is mostly burgers of all types, hot dogs, the requisite clam chowder and  lobster roll, other sandwiches, and a few salads.  We’ve had one dinner thus far and began with the wonderful shishito peppers. The Chief Penguin thought the fish and chips entree was an excellent rendition.  My grilled haddock sandwich on brioche was also quite nice.  I miss some of the fish entrées on the old menu so the jury is still out as to how often we will dine here.

Note: All photos ©JWFarrington (some rights reserved). Header photo is an idle boat at Molly’s Cove.