a giant fail

yes- we do occasionally have an epic fail when it comes to restaurants and we had one last night-

last spring - right before Phil left for Chicago we went to SOMA Creekside for dinner.  We were waited on by a very nice and professional young lady named Ashley and she led us through a number of good choices on the menu.  We knew there would be no time for a return before heading north for the summer but vowed to come back in the fall... so here we headed, in just a little over two weeks after arrival, for dinner.   This turned out to be the complete opposite of our last experience at this place.

we unfortunately had said nice things about the place to our dining companions so we looked quite stupid as the evening progressed since the service was worse than any we have had in ages and the food was only passable in most instances and in two dishes - inedible (the jerk chicken which our friend ordered and left on her plate and the crispy calamari salad which I had and was so overwhelmed by the wasabi in the wasabi vinaigrette dressing that I only made it half way through before giving up on it.

to say the waiter was inept was an understatement - we ordered a round of appetizers - of which he got two wrong completely and therefore they weren't served together - and meanwhile one of our party had a main while the late appetizers of others were finally served... a total mess! so when we ordered our mains we were extremely specific about what dishes we wanted and despite Phil literally reading the whole line of the menu item TWICE to the guy - he brought the wrong dish again... and so we had "two rounds of mains as well" and certainly not intentionally.... actually it was three because the one had been brought as an appetizer by mistake - so that diner was really done before two other diners had their meals delivered and the fourth diner (with the mistaken order -which he had repeated twice slowly and read the WHOLE main with the set up to the waiter each time) didn't get his main meal until the rest of us were "finished" -

it was a complete and total fiasco, so when he asked if we wanted dessert we said "no, thank you" and asked for the checks. then to add insult to injury as they say - he couldn't make change for one of the twenties one couple gave him in payment for the meal... seriously???

To make sure I give the whole story - the guy did bring us some half stamped "rewards cards" for something called 10/10 at lunch as a peace offering - but we would have really preferred better service and we all agreed they would be recycled the minute we got home... this was the worst performance by a service team member I can remember in years

Phil and I discussed whether they had found this guy on the street and asked him to sub for someone at the last minute... maybe he was on drugs- he didn't even seem to know the food terms from the menu.... and confused a request for the pork appetizer (which was quite specific) with the pork main even though we only ordered one round of food at a time... then he confused a fish with risotto side with a completely different prep and set up... ABYSMAL....

our first time this year - and our last time ever.... the kitchen seemed over taxed with only TWO tables of patrons and the waiter was either stupid, on drugs, or wasn't even really a waiter... one mistake in an order - hey it can happen but four major errors in spite of the diners reiterating their orders is really inexcusable.

ridiculously bad experience... forewarned is forearmed....

so that put into terrific perspective our decent if not stellar meal the night before- at another Bradenton restaurant (on AMI) the Sign of the Mermaid- where we had excellent service - really terrific and a good meal with superb pie for dessert (the woman of the couple who own the place is an AWARD winning pie baker!)

both places are BYO with a corkage fee- so on equal footing there--- but only there- if you are choosing between the two there is a clear winner here- go to Mermaid...

our apologies to John and Barb who suffered through the evening- the saving grace is we all had good company to commiserate with about the experience.  And now back to Romania...

one more new restaurant

Last night we finally got over to SOMA Creekside in "downtown" Bradenton... and had a really nice meal.  We brought a fabulous champagne from Waris-Larmandier and a 1990 Pernand Vergelesses. We ordered all kinds of things to try to see if this was a place we would return to when we returned and decided YES...

yes the Cuvee Sensation was sensational! It's been sitting in the cellar since the millennium and is still so young!

and this Delarche burgundy was delicious!

here are the various menus -

an excellent tuna ceviche!

above- tater tots- not amazing but good enough- and below -fried green tomatoes which were very good-

a blurry seabass which tasted wonderful-

a worthy calamari with peanuts- and a sweet chili sauce!

we tried the last four of the five desserts - the winners were the blood orange mojito popsicle and the caramel brownie- with the strawberry cheesecake coming in close behind...

Tina offered us excellent service along with good suggestions- and we would definitely return again...

Phil's new home

Last night Phil found his peeps at a "new to us" venue called Fogartyville.  Here is a little blurb about the place-

Fogartyville is a special gathering place for those who truly appreciate music and community. Nothing draws people together like a shared musical experience, and nowhere is there a more welcoming environment for audiences and musicians than the vibrant and diverse community that is the Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center. The Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center is a project of the Peace Education and Action Center and is a gathering place where art, culture, music and politics intentionally collide to inspire social change.

here are a couple of photos from a sarasotafoodies.com blog post - to give you an idea of the venue-

and here is probably more than you ever needed to know about the room:
Our 2400 sq ft acoustically insulated venue comfortably seats 110 persons. We feature a 170 sq ft stage (32" high) with professional lighting, 3 stage monitors, 2 flying Mackie SRM450's and one JBL EON 10" for distributed sound. We have 2 subwoofers and sound is run from the front of house using a Mackie DL1608 digital mixer operated by an experienced sound team. (LOL)

but what this meant to us was that we weren't going to this place with our 15,000 new best friends...

we were there to hear Roy Book Binder play - here is the blurb about him-
Roy Book Binder is a living treasure of American Blues, Ragtime and Old Timey music. He is the epitome of the singing, songwriting, storytelling Bluesman troubadour. From the early sixties Roy became a student and friend of the Rev. Gary Davis and it was from these early days he became equally at home with Blues and Ragtime. He is known to shift from open tunings to slide arrangements set to his original and sometimes quirky tongue in cheek compositions, with both traditional and self-styled licks, drawing on many musical influences. He will be accompanied by Frank Bowman on the clarinet.

here are his publicity photos:

sponsored by a local radio station - 

we were seated at the front left hand side of the stage and had two lovely table mates (Nancy & Judy from Park Slope, Brooklyn NY) and then we heard from Roy  - who was later joined by the clarinet player Frank Bowman-

we were the first to arrive - not knowing the system (they give you a reserved table if you buy tickets in advance) - so we had plenty of time - especially since Roy didn't start until almost 8:30 (for an 8pm concert) - however he did play for two hours with only one short intermission and he IS 73 years old so I cut him a bit of slack...

here is the crowd last night - sorry about the pixelation- but it was dark and I only had my cell phone camera-

my review: entertaining old guy - with easy to listen to music but a lot of it seemed the same to me- and I know I wasn't imaging it when he closed with a song he had already played (it wasn't like I knew any of his music and would have gotten confused about it...LOL)

so a big yes on the venue- and a small yes on the performers- sure would be nice to see The Tillers here.... AND

when looking for photos and facts on the Internet I came across this amazing story just by happenstance- so I don't know why the place is called Fogartyville since it is in Sarasota but here is some fun information about the real Fogartyville... ALL quoted from an article in the BRADENTON TIMES by MERAB-MICHAL FAVORITE

They Called it Fogartyville (an article in the Bradenton Times by Merab-Michal Favorite)

Captain John Fogarty blew into the Manatee River section during a storm. After the gale had passed, he and his crew sailed upriver in search of a village they had heard of called Manatee. There they provisioned the ship for the rest of the voyage, and departed. But something about the Manatee River had impressed Fogarty, and he would one day return and create the town of Fogartyville.

Within two years Fogarty had returned with brothers Tole, and William Henry (Bill). The brothers built a family home and boatworks, starting what they began referring to as Fogartyville, which is located at the Manatee River at the end of present-day 26th Street. In the ensuing years the brothers developed a thriving business with the construction of (fishing) smacks, schooners, sloops and yawls as well as some smaller boats

The Fogarty’s also built the first dry dock on the river with the help of another captain from Key West. By 1880, at least 30 families had settled in Fogartyville. But because Manatee Ave. was not yet constructed, their primary means of transportation was by boat. Hundreds of boats came out of the Fogartyville Boatworks. They also exported smoked mullet as far away as New Orleans.  

In 1885, a bridge across Jacques’ Creek and one across Ware’s Creek completed a road from Manatee to Fogartyville called Manatee Ave.; by 1895 the population in the small village had reached 100. The sons and daughters of the four original Fogartys grew up and became captains and boat builders and married others from around the small community. In 1899, Fogartyville obtained its first post office with J. Howard Gray appointed as first postmaster and Captain John Fogarty serving as the last before the post office closed its doors in 1915.

The founding fathers began to pass away one by one in the early 1900s, then in 1903 Braidentown became incorporated and extended its western borders to include Fogartyville – the small boat building town was beginning to lose its identity. By the 1920s, it was known only as West Bradenton.

here is an historical photo from the newspaper -

and I realized I had a photo from the South Florida Museum of the Fogarty Boat Works- 

so now I have a story to go with that photo- and in another strange coincidence just last Monday my teacher of Maritime History had recommended looking for Merab-Michal Favorite's articles as worth checking into to... or looking out for... or catching up with...

in any event I just "ran across it"- LOL --- tonight we are off to Seminole (who knew where it was before today?) for a house concert starring a Phil favorite Tim Grimm... so this week Phil is in hog heaven with the music - me not so much... and that's on top of having to reschedule the Wednesday night theater tickets... so my birthday week has not exactly been a celebration I would have planned - but I did get a google doodle for my birthday! which I thought was pretty darn cool!

singing the blues

Last year we were out of town (in Louisiana for our Cajun class) when the sold out Blues Festival was held (with Shemekia Copeland headlining) - so we vowed to come this year and when tickets went on sale - we snapped them up...

It's a nice one day thing- with many places in the area running day before or day after events at bars and other music venues.  Here is the line-up for the riverside stage for the actual blues fest-

the location of the event is right on the Manatee River which leads into Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico 

the event map-

the event logo-

there were also food vendors with some tasty items-

Here are some of the food items sold by from local restaurants:
•Ortygia: Sicilian Chili, Chocolate Pâté.
•Yachtsea Grille: Bayou Mac-n-cheese, Polynesian Pork Shanks, and Chicken Sausage Gumbo (inspired by Marcia Ball’s gumbo recipe).
•SOMA Creekside: Mangrove Snapper and Short Rib Tacos, Crispy Calamari Salad, and Local Fried Green Tomatoes.
•Cedar Reef Fish Camp: Shrimp-n-Grits, Blackened Gator Chowder, Mini Key Lime Crème Brûlée.
•Anna Maria Oyster Bar: Fish-n-chips.
•Hickory Hollow: Deep Fried BBQ Ribs, Pulled Pork Sliders, Loaded Yucca.
•S.O.B Burgers: The Voodoo Burger and homemade french fries.

so we went over for ....the second half of the day arriving as Samantha Fish was ending--- I really wanted to hear EG Kight but just couldn't get it together to be there that early- and since we didn't really want to hear Samantha Fish we decided to wait until the afternoon/evening acts...

we had some BBQ from Hickory Hollow for lunch and then headed into the stage area for the afternoon acts...

And here is the review of the acts we did see in order of how much we liked them -

Jimmy Thackery an AMAZING guitarist- where has he been all our lives? answer in the Nighthawks... but now he is leading his own band - what an incredible talent!

you can see from the photos - he played as the sun was setting- one in daylight one under the spotlights...

then in the number two slot a shared review of Lil Ed and Billy Branch... with a slight nod to Billy Branch just because he studied with Junior Wells (a favorite for decades) - both acts were excellent with Lil Ed getting points for his foray into the audience while playing...

two of Billy Branch-

a number of Lil Ed photos-

he was having a good time!

then in the next slot, of my favorites, I would put Marcia Ball- excellent piano - really rousing as the blurbs said but her voice hurts me... it sounds like a female Rod Stewart- totally blown- she can barely talk without a raspy/hoarseness much less sing... so I would say while I enjoyed the band and the act, it was uncomfortable to listen to her-

we didn't know how this was going to go - so we bought the reserved seating - otherwise it is bring your own chairs-  next year - and there definitely will be a next year- we will bring our own so we have more room and less hard seats... plus being right in front of the stage was great for seeing the acts but the hearing part would actually be more enjoyable a bit further away... live and learn.

a worthy investment of time and money... and we capped it off with a later dinner at SOB Burger's actual restaurant and had some really great burgers as well.... all in all a good Saturday afternoon/evening!