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

what are we doing for lunch tomorrow?

this is a common question asked at any Friedman dinner- LOL

so as we were dining in Miami last weekend with brothers Steve & Larry and sister Suzanne the topic of course turned to the next meal, the next wine, the next stone crabs, the next afternoon drink locations etc etc etc....

and we did have some good ones along the way-

Saturday night at db Bistro Moderne
Sunday lunch at Garcia's for stone crabs
Sunday afternoon at Monty's
Sunday dinner at Michael's Genuine Food and Drink (MGFD)
Monday lunch at la Camaronera
Monday afternoon at Jaguar in the Grove
Monday dinner at Pascal's on Ponce

all accompanied by the 13 bottles we hauled down (via our winter home) to Miami for the dinners we planned...some excellent wines and only one bad bottle- and one that was heading over the hill but not quite there yet....

we started each night with Champagne at Larry's

the seafood plateau from db's (stone crabs came on their own platter)

salmon millefeuille-

lobster salad-

the pasta before the white truffles were shaved on top-

suckling pig-

the foie gras stuffed burger (the house specialty)

on to Sunday lunch- we were joined by my cousin Michele-

the one wine bottle was all I managed to capture of the Michael's Genuine dinner-

lunch on Monday - Phil's favorite-

the neon outside is waaay cute with a little wagging shrimp tail-

then we found a place to kick back outside in the shade where for a corkage fee we could bring champagne to while away the afternoon-

on to Pascal's on Ponce for a fabulous meal- we all chose the tasting menu and had rave reviews for the food...

we had three 1990 burgs two of which showed very well and one was just plain dead- not bad - just no there there---

so now we are back at our place (on Christmas Eve) and we had dinner here- stone crabs brought from Miami (because we would arrive in Sarasota too late for our fish places to be open on the holiday) and shrimp risotto - we skipped the salad and went right to dessert of pumpkin cake and whipped cream--- a few bottles to accompany the meal and now all are bedded down awaiting Santa and Christmas Day - LOL

of course I just made that up since all the Friedmans are Jewish- they are not waiting for Santa--- and tomorrow we will have quiche for breakfast and pizzettes for lunch and go out for dinner... and of course the plans have been discussed at length!