still on the list

So yesterday we went to Louie's Modern for dinner for the first time since our November return.  We were a little skeptical after checking out the menu online because there was obviously a new hand in the kitchen. The menu seemed slanted to the middle east in a way it hadn't been before. Having things on a bed of Israeli couscous is fine as long as it is one of many options but having all dishes with that set-up was more concerning. But we went.

We hit the jackpot with our server Jacquie. Top notch woman with a vast understanding of food and ingredients and opinions.  We always hate it when you ask a server "Between X and Y which would you recommend?" and the response is "they are all good" - that does NOT answer the question and is a very lazy and non interactive way of dealing with the customers - it says I simply don't have the time for you or the understanding of our food to make a recommendation.  Jacquie was NOT that way. She knew her food and because she wasn't too busy in this week before the holidays was able to give us plenty of details to help us make terrific decisions.

We had gone through the menu and picked out some things we were interested in but upon hearing the specials made some changes. Each of us ordered one item from the specials and one from the menu and then we shared a stater of amazing Chicharones (maybe the best ever.)

so let's start with that and then go on-

actually all the SHARES sounded pretty good- and I was leaning towards the burrata but when I decided on the special salad with farro and currents and butternut squash, we went with the amazing  chicharones....

 Both wines showed really well - and the red was a perfect accompaniment for the salmon (my main)

Phil had the crab and shrimp Louie salad with egg, avocado and tomato and I had the special salad with the currants and farro.

then Phil had the special (Maine lobster with a scallion risotto) and I had the salmon from the menu

we both had gelato for dessert - mine vanilla bean and his chocolate hazelnut

since we were the last customers (other than stragglers from a party of thirty in the back room) we were able to catch up on all that is new at both Tableseide (first generation retired and next has stepped into the management roles) and several new places around town that they have opened.

overall we were VERY happy with the food and especially with the service.  #itsallgood - so it stays on the list!

uninspired

Last night we tried the sister restaurant to Louie's Modern and found it uninspired.  We went with John and Barb. We had a great server and the staff were extremely welcoming -seating us right away even though it was a busy night and we were early.  Sadly the menu - which would be called eclectic if the food were fabulous but was really more "all over the map".  I think they are trying to be too many things to too many people.

We ordered starters of a Chinese style shrimp and calamari dish (which was very good) deviled eggs (better other places including Louie's) clam chowder (didn't hear any raves from the other side of the table) and tuna seared with wasabi and ginger sides.  Then a second course for B & J of tomato bisque (which they didn't finish between the two of them) while Phil and I split a wedge salad which was a huge portion but the lettuce to other ingredient proportions were off and the addition of proscuitto was a "miss" on the texture and flavor both- it needed to be crispy and stronger in flavor and seemed redundant with the smattering of bacon (tip to chef- go with more bacon and ditch the prosciutto).

I actually thought the Double Dragon Flash Fry was the winner here-

by the way the super seed crackers were terrific! (devile egg accompaniment)

The mains -

I went for the grouper BLT, to do a head to head with the one across the street at Veronica that was such a winner last week, and this one lost - and lost badly. This sadnwichcould be beaten out in a taste test by any self respecting Florida seafood joint (Star Fish, Tide Tables come to mind)

Phil had grouper crusted with crab and said the idea was good but execution lacking as the grouper itself wasn't hot under the crab.

Barb had the lamb chops and that seemed to be the winning choice - they were nicely prepared and she was happy with them.

John's main was the lobster french toast, which looked VERY good but I wasn't hearing ooohing and aahhing from across the table-

Desserts WERE good- so we ended on a high note- P and I shared a cookie (skillet sized) and Barb and John shared key lime pie... which looked very nice and they seemed happy with based upon the clean plate.

As I said - our server Theo was excellent and the rest of the staff did an exemplary job on the tough night of Valentine's Day - only wished the food lived up to the level of the service - just not brilliant... the photos are kind of decieving because everything actually looked pretty darn good... and the place is big and spills on to the sidewalk with a nice atmosphere - so a nice place to eat outdoors in the cute southside village area of Sarasota... but there are other options (see "we win" post of just last week)

Because this is the sister restaurant to one of our favorites in town we wanted to love it - so maybe we went with too high expectations - and don't get me wrong - it is a fine restaurant just not a special restaurant.  And in thinking about it a bit more - it is perfect for what it is - a place around the block that many can walk to for dinner and feel at home - kind of like a Cheers for food in southside village... and in that it completely succeeds.  But destination dining it is not - it will have to leave that to brother Louie's Modern....

Today a food tour of St Armand's Circle and then dinner with Carol and Al!

a new place for dinner

Last night - after two weeks of horrible crowds and cranky servers at places surprisingly overwhelmed by tourists for the extended holiday weeks (the holidays falling on Friday seemed to have something to do with it) we thought is would be OK to venture out on Sunday night expecting most of them would have left.

We decided to try a new-to-us place in downtown called Duval's Fresh Seafood.  It sits near the foot of Main just up from the traffic circle by the Opera House.  We made a reservation and arrived a bit early but were seated immediately.  We had called ahead to check on corkage fees (which were reasonable) so we brought our own wine.

The waitress was very solicitous and brought warm bread right away along with wine glasses.  But it went down hill from there.  We had read reviews online and were looking forward to a lobster bisque which was recommended across the board.  The weather had turned cool on Saturday and so on Sunday night we were in long pants (aaacccckkkk!!!!) and wanting to taste the lobster bisque to see if it could unseat the decades long supremacy of the bisque at AMOB (Anna Maria Oyster Bar.)

So when we both ordered the lobster bisque the waitress explained that they were out of it and then went on to explain in GREAT detail why it was so good- LOL (thereby only making us feel worse about it.) We had to prompt her about whether there were other items they didn't have -and yes they were out of two of the three fresh catch of the day fishes and no they didn't have another well reviewed appetizer the ribeye spring rolls and they had no more pork tenderloin.  Mind you we still hadn't gotten to the eight o'clock hour at this point. It was roughly 7:35.

So we both ordered mussels to start (which were the nice smaller shelled PEI mussels) but the sauce didn't seem all that flavorful, lots of garlic but not well balanced somehow.  However, as noted the mussels themselves were excellent.

During our wait for the appetizers the waitress came back and informed Phil that the Seafood Bouillabaisse described as: "lobster, shrimp, calamari, mussels, and local gulf fish in a roasted fennel and tomato broth" would be without the lobster because they had run out but that the chef would add scallops or extra shrimp or both, if he wanted - he chose both.

I ordered the cobia special pan seared accompanied by risotto with spinach. The cobia was supposed to be served in a lemon buerre blanc sauce which seemed to have been rationed.  The fish was well prepared but the risotto was gummy instead of creamy.

And when they brought Phil's bouillabaisse it turned out to be with lobster. According to the waitress, another table had gotten fed up in trying to order things and left - and the lobster reserved for one of those patrons had then gone into Phil's dish... along with the promised extra shrimp and scallops LOL- except there were NO scallops in his bouillabaisse....

We had read good things about the bread pudding dessert and decided to split one - and it was the best dish of the evening.  To give them their due the manager came over and asked how they had done and we were completely open with him about our problems with the meal.  We had already had a discussion about whether to return or to write them off.

I had voted to return given how awful the last two weeks were everywhere.  We actually left our very favorite place at lunch one day and took carry out from the market to eat at home.  Another night an outdoor table that was "no problem tonight" when we called an reserved for dinner- disappeared so we had a 25 minute wait in the bar after our reserved time. It has just been crazy. So I was willing to return but Phil said there are so many good restaurants why waste the time coming back to an OK place that is out of multiple menu items at by 7:30 PM?  He had a point.

We related the issues with the meal to the manager and he asked us to please come back and give them another chance and comped us for both the dessert and the corkage - which was very generous of him.  That said, we probably won't put this one at the top of the list- I will make sure we go back but it won't be anytime soon.  Sadly this isn't a place that was just having a shakedown after a recent opening- this is a top place in town and has been for a number of years.

a few photos - of course-

the place is smallish and nicely decorated but acoustics were such that it was quite noisy at roughly 90% full-

We did have a terrific old chard from Rollin Soles days as the winemaker at Argyle- 2001 and still vigorous with perfect acidity- only a tiny trace of being maderized just enough hint at a roundness to balance the acidity.  Really good and the second wine of Rollin's this week that we have raved about.

the mussels in an artistic design for a dish that was not working all that well (especially for the servers)

the cobia- which in the photo looks well enough sauced but I think it got lost in the gummy risotto...and this may just be a cook's style difference because I make a pretty mean risotto and I tend to make mine creamier than this unless I am using it as a base for etouffee or a gumbo or something more liquid based....

Phil really loved the tomato fennel broth - but I may have mentioned the promised scallops were completely missing from his main dish- LOL (but a half of lobster tail did show up)

by the time the dessert (which we can highly recommend) came I was distracted with our critique to the manager and forgot the photo - so here's the description from the menu-

"DUVAL’S SIGNATURE BREAD PUDDING A not so traditional bread pudding made with a trio of danishes  and baked to order producing a soft warm inside and crispy outer shell! This award winning dessert is served with house made chantilly whip cream!"

and here is a photo from the internet - which probably is a better one than I would have taken anyway- LOL

so a big MAYBE on this one- I would like to return and give it another shot because I think it had potential - we'll see if I can convince Phil to go along with that plan... so back to Cuba posting- coming up our fabulous evening in Muraleando, a Havana barrio.... where this terrific community art project and community center has been developed/constructed over a decade of work by the dedicated neighborhood residents.

wherein we fall in love

So we fell in love last night with a new (to us) place, called indigenous.  We had a perfectly prepared meal with several knock your socks off courses and fabulous service (Thanks Jessica!) outside on the patio lit with fairy lights on an evening with 70* weather.  How could you not fall in love with a place under those circumstances? LOL

We had heard of the place before and had once called to get a reservation but they were so booked all they had was 5:30 LOL which as most of you know - is lunch to us... But last night we were able to get an 8:30 outside reservation and found the menu, the food and the server, very much to our liking. And you can BYO with a corkage fee.

This is a definite "return to" restaurant.

They are known for a number of dishes but many things change season to season so we were thrilled to find out that our two appetizers were among the standard menu items- we chose the Parmesan Beignets and the Mushroom Bisque.  While the beignets were wonderful, the bisque was exquisite- I gave some thought to ordering it for dessert as well! (the photos do neither of these dishes justice!)

 the mains were equally excellent - I ordered the special of line caught mangrove snapper with a fattoush salad mix under and a creamy sauce of basil and cilantro - seriously good! Phil had a lamb dish with savory middle eastern flavors.

the night was warm and the lighting was perfect- you could see your food and dining partners yet enjoy the fact that it was night- with a little sliver of a moon in the sky...the water glasses left their humidity on the coasters but it seemed a perfect temperature to us.

so if you get down this way and have an evening to spend in Sarasota- the place is near the Towles Court arts district- definitely go out of your way if you need to because this place is "worth the journey" as they used to say in Michelin guides... excellent meal and evening!

you have to try

when my step-son Jeremy was little, he had a way of turning a phrase into a kid version of something people always say.  In the instance of this post- it was "you have to try before you don't know" and this became quite the saying in the family apparently. To this day, Phil will say that instead of you don't know until you have tried... LOL

so last night we went to another new (to us) restaurant and here is the quick summary- "no and yes"

the name of the place is Roast - and it is in a really cute old building right next to the Opera House...

it started off very badly- even though we had a reservation the woman at the front put the table ahead of us (walk ins) at the last outdoor table.  then she told us that she had a nice table inside for us- and it was a small crappy table shoved into a small corner where you had to squeeze past two other diners even to get to the two chairs backed up against the wall. we had brought a 1990 burgundy and opened it beforehand as we have been having pretty bad luck here with servers breaking old corks due to using the waiter's style wine keys to open the bottles and not taking the time to work with older corks. the wine glasses were Libby style thick glass - which was strange because 1. the place is kind of a higher priced/higher end steak and meat place and 2. they have lots of reds on their own wine list that you would think they would want to show off more to the advantage of the wine they were selling.

anyway- we were feeling pretty darn cranky when the server (who was very nice) gave this answer to a question about the preparation of the "Denver Lamb Chop Barnsley Style" and were told that it "was good" and "made with some oil and herbs on the top" - so without any further information Phil decided that if that was the best they could make it sound then he would order a steak.  then when the food we ordered was brought out the staff person who delivered the food had no idea who had what and had to ask "who had the..." which drives me nuts because anyone who has ever waited knows there are codes for which diner is which - like always start with the person at the 12 o'clock seat and work clockwise when writing it down- even if you don't take the orders in that order you can leave space so that the kitchen staff - food delivery staff knows who gets what...just lazy from a systems standpoint.

however, all of that being said- the food was actually really good and the server was attentive throughout the meal and very pleasant- and it wasn't her fault about the crappy table or the crappy wine glasses or the fact that the woman at the front gave preference to the walk-in over the reservation for the last table outside-

so no I wouldn't recommend it from this visit but yes we may go back and try again in hopes that the service end got better- and next time bring our own wine glasses...

the very nice outdoor area we wanted to sit in (below) and the indoor dining (above)

the excellent menu-

our 90 burg-

the starters- wedge salad and steak tartare- both excellent-

I had the beef sliders and Phil the rib eye - and we ordered both the duck fat fries and the truffle fries
and each of us liked one better but not the same one- LOL

we ended with a credible sticky toffee pudding that was worth going back for--- so all in all a mixed review - excellent food but the systems and set up not so much...

and a quick note about another place we tried  last week- Bridge Street Bistro - where the service was excellent and the place very nice with good wine stem ware and a wonderful setting on the porch three floors up overlooking the beach- but the food was only good- not excellent- wish these two places could get together and teach each other the skill set they are missing-

headed to the airport now to pick up company- so more after they depart on Friday!