even more films

So third day on the film fest brought two more good films - one of them a standout!

First, I saw 44 pages- a delightful documentary about the renown HIGHLIGHTS magazine for kids.

there was a short film with the 44 pages documentary called Les Cloys

It was interesting enough but I didn't have any emotional connection to the film- it was just an intellectual (just the facts ma'am) type of response...

And then we saw the fabulous MISSION CONTROL-

by the time we left the theater we had only a few choices for a dinner - so we headed to Selva Grill and had some good ceviche and empandas and fish (sea bass for me and paella for Phil)

home late and up early and tonight the same as we do two more films and dine at Columbia for the last time this "winter"...  so stay tuned for more fun at the film fest and more posts on the Uzbekistan trip too!

add it

to the list of places we have tried for dinner in Sarasota... good - not spectacular but a good option for when we say to ourselves "where haven't we been in a while" and are bored with the regular places during the winter....

MoZaic on Main Street around the corner from the Opera House-

We had never been there before but our friends had - they were pretty neutral about this choice but it was Sunday so there was some restriction on choices --- Anyway here is what it looked like- going with dessert first because those were the most photogenic courses LOL

chocolate tart with raspberry-

two ice creams times two-

molten chocolate below -

poached pears-

and now back to the menu for starters and dinner choices-

Gene and I had crab cakes (he for entree and me for a starter)

this might be the winning dish of the night - a crab salad with fresh dressing with lemon and mint - it was excellent! MaryAnn was kind enough to share so we could taste the flavors...

Phil ordered the shrimp starter -

Gene's starter New England clam chowder-

Phil and MaryAnn both had the lamb chops and I had the risotto as a main-

 
as usual we closed the place down with our conversation flowing easily over the three hour meal... when we arrived the dining room (located off to the left of the photo) was full LOL but we outlasted them all - they brought in the outdoor tables and chairs and the two last servers were sitting at the bar just hanging out until we wrapped things up - LOL- with still much more to discuss...

tonight we catch up with Lew & Ellie in St Pete... and then tomorrow back to school LOL and Wednesday back to the great white north... except we are hoping we won't have white! so stay tuned...

louie, louie

LOL- I know I know- if you are of a certain age you get the title and that may be what you came for... but this is a review of a new-to-us restaurant in downtown Sarasota that we LOVED!

Now there are any number of reasons why a restaurant may be liked but to get to LOVED you need three things- great food, great service and lovely ambiance, and this one had it all.  It began with a really truly warm welcome at the front desk. Then although the dining room was nearly full, the hostess offered us a choice of tables rather than forcing her choice upon us.

The restaurant really doesn't show well in the photos because it is lit in a cool blue -which I am sure is terrifically soothing and also cooling in the long hot and humid summers here (we don't know because we are in lovely Chicago for our summers...LOL) It also wreaked havoc with food photos (I really really try not to be disruptive and use a flash at restaurants - there are other diners perhaps not interested in every course being documented...LOL -so that is fair warning about the strange blue tones to the food photos etc..

Although the corkage is a stiff $25 per bottle- we brought our own because as we always tell the restaurants- our wine is old and needs to be drunk - and since we eat out a lot that means we need to drink it in their places - not just ours...

the room is actually lovely despite not photographing well-

 here are a couple of photos in daylight that are from their website which show off the lovely room-

back to my "blue period" photos- the menu- changed into B&W for reading purposes- LOL

we had the black and blue pizzetta and the tuna to start- sharing both - the pizzetta won but both were marvelous...

then because it was cold outside (48*) Phil tried the seafood chowder- no clams just the good stuff! He was a happy diner...

I went for the wedge salad- a favorite that I use to compare restaurants to each other- this was very nice - a tad overdressed but next time I will just order "on the side"... the netsuke bacon chunks were fab! (there is actually a LOT of lettuce under there and it was so large Phil had to eat the second half of it for me)

then for mains Phil went for the lamb and I had the trout preparation - mine was perfect- the bone removed and the trout butterflied and served on the skin- really good prep with mashed cauliflower as part of the set up....

the lamb came with chops, meatball and meatloaf with sides of mixed veg and truffle mashed potatoes.

and I can't believe I missed the photos of the amazing dessert that we shared and what's worse is I can't find one online either LOL- trust me this one was more than a cookie ("dark chocolate skillet cookie" by name)- it was so chocolate that you could smell it as it was brought to the table fresh out of the oven- molten like but crusty - ooooohhhh! it was completely luscious- we had no trouble taking it down despite it being course number four.... wish I could show you but, alas no photo exists.

so what I haven't told you yet is how terrific Kristin our server, and Jeffrey the manager were.  Both attentive to their patrons and friendly. And they both had a trait I love - a sense of humor.

 Jeffrey suggested that we book on a night that we could meet Eric as he is the "wine guy" and would be a good person to get to know - he gave us his card so next time we reserve we can ask if he will be in that evening....

A wonderful evening - made even better by extremely nice people and great food. We highly recommend this for anyone looking for a special night out! And now- LOL - back to the Cuba and the UNESCO World Heritage town of Trinidad.... now more than half way through the Cuba trip and if I finish my posting by Saturday I will have done it in only a month (I know that is nothing to brag about - this has been such a busy time for us that I can only use that as a lame excuse for the delay.) Stay tuned I will get you through the country and back to the U.S. in time for the holidays- LOL