FloridaFoodHound

T-Rays Burger Station, Blue Water Bay, Chopstix and Francesca's

The summer certainly seems to be flying by.  I still can't believe we've lived in Gainesville for a year now, although this place certainly has felt like home for many months.  As you might expect, over the past few weeks we've revisited several restaurants we've been to before, as well as tried some new ones.  Below are quick reports on several of them. As always, drop me a line with Gainesville area restaurants to check out.

• On a bit of a whim, we took a day trip to Amelia Island/Fernandina Beach last week.  Before hitting the road, I looked up restaurant recommendations on Chowhound and came across T-Rays Burger Station.  It sounded like the kind of local diner/dive that would be right up our alley.   From the outside T-Rays still looks very much like an old gas station because it is or was (the pumps don't seem to work anymore).  We arrived as T-Rays was changing over from its breakfast to lunch menu.  Locals sitting patiently waiting was a good sign.  Once T-Rays opened for lunch, I ordered a special of the day, shrimp salad on a hoagie roll. Traci had a burger.  Our meals were tasty, the price was right, and for being first-timers, the service was certainly friendly.  Chalk it up as a good little find. The picture below is of T-Rays (impressive, huh?).  

• The weekend before last, we decided to celebrate Traci's new job by driving out to Blue Water Bay in Melrose for dinner. Our one previous visit for brunch a few months ago had been very enjoyable.  This time I wanted to check out their well-known seafood buffet and Traci was in the mood for a steak.  To speed up our wait (I'd guess we spent at least 30-40 minutes waiting for a table), we decided to grab the first two available seats at the bar (we actually like the feel of this side room with its rustic Florida decor more than the main room).  Next thing we knew, we were accidentally chatting with Byron Terwillegar, the owner and head chef at Blue Water Bay, who was sitting a few seats over.  Needless to say, we had a great meal and I enjoyed talking food with Byron. For special occasions or when you just want to treat yourself, Blue Water Bay and Mark's Prime are tops on my list.

• Now on to a not so stellar meal.  This past weekend, we were in the mood for Asian of the non-takeout and non-buffet variety and Chopstix Cafe on 13th St. seemed to fit the bill.  Our one previous visit to Chopstix had been a fair to good experience overall, although I can't say I fully understood even then why lots of people seem to get excited about the place.  After our second visit this past weekend, I'm further confused.  Granted, the view of Biven's Arm Lake is great and the prices are very reasonable.  The food on the other hand, to me at least, just tastes average, the service is mediocre and  the place is fairly run-down (call me crazy, but I feel cleaner in La Tienda).  On this visit I tried the spicy duck soup and Traci went with a bowl of Thai-style noodles (I forget the her particular entree).  For appetizers we ordered chicken satay and bo cuon (rice angel hair noodles, thin sliced beef and lettuce wrapped rice).  Unfortunately, nothing really stood out for us.

• In other news, I received an email yesterday that a new Northern Italian-style restaurant called Francesca's Trattoria is slated to open in the coming days.  The opening could come as soon as next Monday.  For more information, check out Francesca's website and consider signing up for its VIP list.  In the interest of full disclosure, I'm friends with Dave Khey, whose family is opening up the restaurant.  I've always enjoyed talking restaurants with Dave and since I really don't have a go-to Italian restaurant in town, I'm looking forward to trying Francesca's.  So what's your favorite local, sit-down Italian restaurant (this doesn't mean pizza joints like Satchel's and Blue Highway)?

That's all for now.  The picture above is of sunset last week at Amelia Island.  Enjoy your summer.

Cochon De Lait, Bunny Bread, Mojo Bar-B-Que and S.O.B.'s

Last weekend we took our annual summer trip to New Orleans to visit my family.  This year, we also caught the last weekend of JazzFest, which is not just great music, but also great food.  I tried the much talked about cochon de lait po-boy and instantly fell in love with it.  Who woulda thunk that shredded pork, cold cabbage and horseradish sauce on french bread could taste so good?

While we're on the topic of food, we visited the Whole Foods in New Orleans and were reminded how much we'd love to live near one of these "food amusement parks".  We do have Fresh Market and it's fine, but it's not the same.  On a visit to Rouses, a local grocery chain, we posed in front of loaves of Bunny Bread.  Growing up in New Orleans, Bunny Bread was synonymous with white bread like Xerox is to copies or Kleenex is to tissues.

Switching back to the local restaurant scene here, we did check out two restaurants in recent weeks with one hit and one miss.  First, the hit.  This past weekend, we decided to spend a day exploring Jacksonville.  Some reading beforehand on Chowhound suggested that Mojo Bar-B-Que was worth trying.  The self-styled "southern blues kitchen" didn't disappoint.  I ordered a plate of pulled pork and smoked turkey with coleslaw, corn and cheese grits (can't pass up cheese grits).  The pork was tender and the turkey slices were tasty.  Traci ordered smoked turkey with fries and corn.   The corn was knockout and you could see that it had just been cut from the cobb.  Mojo's does a variety of sauces.  Our favorites was the mojo, chipotle and mustard-style sauces.  Prices were reasonable for the amount of food we got.  The server was good and the atmosphere (casual, clean with a laidback, bluesy motif) fit nicely with the food.  If Mojo's wasn't  all the way in Jacksonville, we'd become fast regulars.

The miss was unfortunately closer to home.  Again, thanks to a positive comment on Chowhound, we decided to try S.O.B.'s of Newberry for dinner one night this past week.  Browsing S.O.B.'s website, the place sounded perfect.  S.O.B.'s cutely stands for Shrimp, Oysters, Beer.  Plus,  it is apparently owned by the same restaurateur that was behind Mark's Prime downtown and M.T.'s Chophouse.  Unfortunately, our dinner was a disappointment.  First off,   the place felt like the A/C was broken.  Second, our server was sweet, but announced it was her first day and didn't know the menu.  I ordered the all-you-can-eat fried shrimp special and Traci went with chicken fingers.  While it's hard to go wrong with fried shrimp and I thought the shrimp tasted fine, both of us agreed that the fries and coleslaw were pretty blah.   The prices are good and we wanted to like the place, but the food certainly didn't match with expectations.

As always, drop me a line with your favorite independent restaurants in Gainesville and beyond.

Blue Water Bay, 43rd Street, Campbell's and Sushi Matsuri

As even occasional readers of this blog have probably noticed by now, I rarely write about restaurant ideas for breakfast or brunch.  For the most part, we do our eating out either for dinner or lunch on the weekends.  Over the past month, though, we've tried two breakfast/brunch-oriented spots and plan to try more in the future.  We've also been on the hunt lately for a good local seafood restaurant (This weekend we're hitting the Cajun/Zydeco Crawfish Festival in St. Pete).  So far, we've been out of luck.

So on with some quick recaps of recent dining experiences in and around Gainesville.

• Blue Water Bay: What a pleasant surprise!  We went here for brunch a few weekends ago and came away impressed.  Located in tiny Melrose, we were treated to what I would consider a gourmet brunch (delicious food and great presentation).  I had the Earlton Hash (crawfish tails, rock shrimp, andouille sausage, hashbrowns, cheese and fried eggs topped with creole hollandaise) and Traci went with the Bananas Foster French Toast.  The menu is very seafood oriented and creative.  While it's definitely a drive for us, we plan to give the place a try for dinner sometime.

• 43rd Street Deli & Breakfast:  We tried the Williston Rd. location of 43rd Street Deli a few weekends ago for breakfast.  This isn't exactly Blue Water Bay, but the food and service were both solid.  I haven't been inside the other locations around town, but the Williston location is nicely done inside.  Traci had a bagel and I tried a traditional eggs benedict.  Certainly a cut above in food and menu selection than a breakfast chain joint (Denny's, Village Inn, etc).  On the way out, we noticed UF Athletics Director Jeremy Foley off in a side room with a group.

• Campbell's Seafood:  Trying to satisfy my recent seafood craving, last weekend we decided to check out Campbell's in Bronson (on the way to Cedar Key).  Traci had heard good things about Campbell's from someone at work and it had the run-down look to it on the outside that suggested it might serve up good food.  Unfortunately, the service was friendly and it was actually pleasant inside (apparently they renovated the place recently), but the food was just mediocre.  Our appetizer of gator bites was lightly fried and tasty.  As for my meal, a small piece of fried catfish on a plain bun, well, it was just plain. Traci's cheese steak hoagie sandwich wasn't much better.

• Sushi Matsuri:  Traci doesn't eat sushi and I have to really be in the mood for it.  I point out this caveat to put this review in perspective.  In any case, we tried Sushi Matsuri, a little sushi bar and restaurant located in a strip center on Archer (in the Butler Plaza megaplex) for dinner a few weekends ago.  Our beef negimaki appetizer didn't have much taste to it.  Unfortunately, neither did Traci's entree, chicken teriyaki.  So maybe the sushi is where Matsuri shines?  Maybe, but not with the several rolls I ordered.  They were small and nothing out of the ordinary taste-wise.

• Blue Highway Pizza:  We revisited this old Micanopy stand-by for dinner last weekend.  This was the first time we've been to Blue Highway for dinner (we usually hit it for lunch on the weekends) and it was very busy.  We sat up at the bar and shared an Abruzzese pizza (great mix of meatballs, garlic and mozzarella).  I also sampled a slice of mushroom pizza from the couple next to us (if you're into mushrooms, you'll love it, if not, well you'll look the other way) Satchel's may be the top dog for best local pizza, but Blue Highway certainly runs a close second.  It's also closer to our side of town, and even when it gets busy, it's nothing like the wait of Satchel's.

Speaking of local breakfast/brunch and seafood restaurants, if you have any favorites that we haven't tried, please send them my way.  I always hear good things about brunch at Ivey's Grill, but I hate long lines/waits and the two times we almost tried it, we saw the long line and left.  Paramount Grill looks like they do an upscale Sunday brunch that  we might try for a special occasion sometime. Any others?

p.s. FloridaFoodHound was quoted in an article last month in the St. Pete Times about Boss Hog Ribs in Pinellas Park, Fla.  You can check out the article here and learn more about Boss Hog Ribs here. 

El Norteno, Seabreeze, Pat & Tony's, and Falafel King

This past weekend was certainly a food weekend to forget.  We started things off on Friday evening by planning to eat at Omi's Kitchen, a little restaurant and catering business, near the intersection of Archer and Tower by our house.  Omi's might have great food, but the line was moving slowly, the two person kitchen seemed overwhelmed, and it was hot inside.  So after, a few minutes, we decided to split.

From there, we decided to go for some Mexican food at La Fiesta, which we had liked on a previous visit.  Well, just our luck, but La Fiesta has since moved (I'm assuming it wasn't just temporarily closed, we didn't get out of the car and look?) and an empty parking lot and closed restaurant greeted us.  We were still in the mood for Mexican, so we pulled into El Norteno on 75th (Tower Rd.).  The first warning sign was when we pulled up and the parking lot was less than half full, granted it was still fairly early.

The first thing that hit us when we walked in the door was a smell across between mildew and antiseptic.  The meal wasn't any better.  I've had lots of mediocre tex-Mex over the years and El Norteno ranks among the worst.  Not only was the food blah, but the portions were pretty small to boot. 

On Saturday, hoping to forget about El Norteno, we headed out to Cedar Key for lunch.  We had wanted to try the Blue Desert Cafe, but found out it is only open for dinner.  So instead we headed back to Dock St.  Instead of going back to Frog's Landing, which had solid food on a previous visit, we decided upon Seabreeze on the Dock.   Unfortunately, besides the great view on the water, I don't have anything positive to say about Seabreeze - bad food, bad service, etc.  In a nutshell, a waste of thirty bucks.

So I don't sound like I'm just complaining about local restaurants lately, we do continue to find little  places that we like.  We've now been to Tony and Pat's twice (on the corner of Archer and 34th in an old shopping center) and like this little, no-frills eighties-style pizza joint.  For gourmet pizza, Satchel's and Blue Highway are still the places to go, but for a quick and cheap dinner, Tony and Pat's does the trick.

A few weekends back, we checked out the Falafel King in Butler Plaza off Archer for lunch.  Good, reasonably-priced Mediterranean food (the baklava is so good and sweet you can almost feel your teeth rotting!).  Neither Falafel King or Gyro Plus blew me away, but I'm glad we checked both out. 

That's all for now.  I'll try to post more frequently.  In the meantime, drop me a line and let me know what local Gainesville restaurants we need to visit - and why- plus, which local restaurants to avoid!

O'Steen's Restaurant in St. Augustine

This past Saturday we decided to visit historic St. Augustine for the day.  We've been to St. Aug many times before, but this was the first time we've visited since our move to Gainesville.  The drive took us about two hours each way, and was quite different than the smooth all interstate ride from Tampa (I realize we were pretty spoiled).

I had read nothing but positive reviews about O'Steen's Restaurant and its fried shrimp so O'Steen's it was for a late lunch when we got into town.  Now, I knew O'Steen's was popular, but I still didn't think there would be much of a wait at 2:30pm on a Saturday afternoon.  Boy, was I wrong.  We put our name on a list at the window and then waited outside of the small restaurant for 40 minutes until a table opened up.  I generally hate waiting in lines, but I'm a sucker for good seafood and was curious what all the fuss was about.  Traci was a good sport and positive comments about O'Steen's chicken fingers had her attention.

Once seated, our server greeted us and we quickly got down to business.  This is a place where you get the feeling there aren't many first-time customers and most folks already know what they want.  I ordered a fried shrimp plate of course and Traci went with chicken fingers.  Each meal comes with two sides from a fairly long list of choices that reminded me of the lengthy selection of sides at Hickory Hollow in Ellenton.  I decided on macaroni salad and coleslaw and Traci decided on fries and fresh fruit.

I was somewhat skeptical that O'Steen's shrimp would really be as good as all the rave reviews, but they didn't disappoint.  This place isn't just selling nostalgia.  The fried shrimp really are some of the best I've had- nice and plump, lightly battered, not greasy - it just doesn't get much better - except when you either dip them in the pink sauce that comes with the shrimp or the datil pepper sauce at the table.

Traci gave a thumb's-up to her chicken fingers and my macaroni salad and coleslaw were both solid.  Only Traci's fries were disappointing.  I'd guess that the sides overall are nothing to write home about.  The main attraction at O'Steen's is clearly the fried seafood.  I suspect the fried oysters, if done in the same batter as the fried shrimp, are also a thing of beauty.  Prices are reasonable and service is solid. 

For being an obvious tourist destination, O'Steen's has done a nice job in my view of not letting the place get a cheesy, touristy feel to it.  The focus is still on the food.  O'Steen's is also cash-only so come prepared.   Other restaurants in the St. Aug area that we've enjoyed on previous visits include Salt Water Cowboy's and Cap's On the Water.  We've also enjoyed drinks and music at the Milltop Tavern. 

Bottom-line: I don't know the secret for "avoiding the lines" because we tried going during an off-time, but if you're up for the wait, the fried shrimp at O'Steen's are quite a reward for your patience.  You can also agree to sit up at the counter when a spot opens up, which almost might shorten your wait.    

Clamerica Festival at Cedar Key

We decided on a low-key 4th of July this year and spent the day at the Clamerica Festival on Cedar Key.  Thanks to its unique coastal waters, the small island village has  grown over the past decade into the largest producer of farm-raised clams in the country.   We had enjoyed our first visit to laid-back Cedar Key a few weeks ago, and thought Clamerica sounded like a good excuse to make another visit.

We arrived in the late morning when things were just getting going.  It was nice not having to fight crowds and traffic.  No one in Cedar Key seemed to be in a rush.  We walked around the small festival area for a while and then headed over to the dock where we had reservations for a boat tour with Captain Doug of Tidewater Tours.  The tour was the highlight of the day.  We learned the history of the area and went by many of the outer islands of Cedar Key, including Seahorse Key and the lighthouse.

Being out on the water for a couple of hours, we had worked up an appetite. Festival food I tried out included clam fritters, clams on the half shell, and a white clam chowder.  The fritters were tasty (again, it's hard to go wrong with fried), the chowder had just enough spice and was full of clams, but the raw clams on the half shell I could live without.  I'm used to raw oysters, but this was my first stab at raw clams, which have more of a salty taste then I care for.  Traci munched on a big corn on the cob, which you can see a picture of below.  We've posted other pics from the day here.  All in all, a fun experience.

Side-note: We grabbed a bite to eat at Gyro Plus on University this past weekend.  For the amount of food you get for the price, I really can't complain, but I enjoyed my lunch more at Pita Pit on Archer.  Long-time readers know I'm not a "chain person" and I generally favor local restaurants.  Of course, I'm also the same guy who said I thought Chipotle was better than Burrito Bros.  Heresy here, I realize!

Bottom-line:  If you're looking for an escape from the crowds and the hustle-and-bustle on the 4th (and aren't looking for beaches and a wild time), then Clamerica at Cedar Key is worth checking out.  For someone that has spent a lot of time in fairly large cities, it's nice to explore small towns for a change.    

Chopstix Cafe, Frog's Landing & Wise's Drug Store

This past Friday, we decided to check out Chopstix Cafe on 13th Street for dinner.  A recent search I had done indicated that Chopstix was the hands-down favorite Asian restaurant in town.  The restaurant is located right on the bank of Bivens Lake, which provides a great lakeside view from the main dining room.  The "Pan Asian" menu is huge and has pretty much any Asian dish you can imagine.

We ordered chicken satay as an appetizer.  We're used to chicken satay being served on skewers and often with a small flame.  Chopstix's satay came in a bowl filled with small chicken chunks covered in a tasty sauce.  For our main course, I ordered "The King and I" (Thai-style spicy shrimp with vegetables) and Traci went with the pepper chicken with green peppers and onions.  Both dishes were nicely done and reasonably priced.  For that matter, the prices on everything were lower than I had expected. 

My only minor complaints was that the service, while friendly, was slow and it also felt warm and muggy at our table.  I realize this was partially because we were sitting near the window and the sun was going down, but the place could also stand to crank up the A/C a bit.   I'm not one to generally complain about the  temperature in a restaurant.  Overall, though, we had an enjoyable experience and will be back.

On Saturday evening, we decided to check out Cedar Key and ended up at Frog's Landing, a casual seafood restaurant on the water, for dinner.  Service tried hard to please, but was very slow and short-handed.  The food was respectable for a seafood joint.  I ordered one of the specials, a soft shell crab sandwich and Traci had a burger.  Frog's own "Deep Croak" pepper sauce was a nice surprise.

We're looking forward to exploring Cedar Key more in the future.  My first impression of Cedar Key is that this funky, little fishing village is how Key West must have been decades ago before it  was over-commercialized. Cedar Key is a mix of independent restaurants, motels/rentals and art shops.

We also had the chance to check out Wise's Drug Store downtown on University for lunch one day this past week.  Now, we like nostalgic, old-time places, and I'm glad we checked Wise's out, but we probably wouldn't go back for lunch.  We sat up at the counter and both ordered turkey salad sandwiches and a bag of chips.  For dessert, we split an old-fashioned shake, which Gainesville.com had highlighted.

The sandwiches were small and for $4.25 each not my idea of a good deal.  The shake was fine, but not outstanding.  Service was friendly and we did enjoy taking in the history of the place.  I believe the soda fountain portion of Wise's is only open in the late morning and during lunch time.  Otherwise, I'd say this would be a good place to grab a shake in the evening.  Still, I'm glad we checked Wise's out.

Bottom-line: We certainly found a new restaurant to add to our "restaurant rotation" in Chopstix Cafe.  Cedar Key was a nice surprise and Frog's Landing was overall a solid experience.  While Wise's was a little bit of a let-down for lunch, I'd still encourage you to check out this slice of Gainesville history.

Two More Weeks in Tampa

We're now down to less than two weeks before we make the move up to Gainesville.  So instead of reviewing one restaurant this week, I thought I'd provide brief summaries of the places we've eaten at the past two weeks.  Thanks again to everyone who posted suggestions of Tampa Bay restaurants to visit one last time before we move, as well as an unexpected number of places to try out in Gainesville.

Two weekends ago we checked out the recently-opened CDB's Southside Italian Restaurant on S.Westshore Blvd (in the same spot as the old Cafe Anna).  We were told by our server that this new location is more upscale than the CDB's near USF and in Lakeland (we haven't been to either).  While the place felt cramped and prices were on the high side, we enjoyed the deep dish pizza and the roasted eggplant appetizer that we ordered.

We also made a return visit to La Teresita one evening and again ate like champs for a bargain price.  Thanks to David Jenkins, I enjoyed a delicious vaca frita. Another evening, some friends took us out to Red Mesa in St. Pete.  This remains my favorite local restaurant for Southwest-style cuisine. 

This past weekend, with my parents and younger brother and his girlfriend in town visiting, we hit Castellano & Pizzo for lunch with Cuban sandwiches all around.  We had originally planned on Wright's, but after pulling up and seeing the line snaking out the door, I knew a change of plans was in store.  We were looking for a place Friday night that was close by and on the water so we went to RattleFish Raw Bar & Grill.  We knew we'd be paying up for the view of the bay.  My fish tacos were okay and everyone in our group was generally happy, but Traci's burger was undercooked.  This place continues to slip.    

On Saturday evening, we headed out to Clearwater  Beach with plans of having dinner at Frenchy's Rockaway Grill.  The place was understandably packed ahead of sunset, and knowing that my family hates to wait, we decided to try the much smaller "The Original" Frenchy's Cafe just a few blocks away.  The food wasn't award-winning, but the prices were good, and there wasn't a wait.  We were able to walk right up and grab one of the handful of tables outside.  My steamed mussels were good, but my cup of gumbo was lukewarm.

Before we go, we still plan to check out Mel's Hot Dogs, which is a clear reader favorite, and make a return visit to The Chattaway in St. Pete.  A stop at El Taconazo is another possibility. Finally, doing a fancy Sunday brunch as a going away treat is also on our list - either Oystercatchers, the Don CeSar or the Vinoy.  Thanks again to everyone for all of the comments and ideas over the past year.
 

Marchand's at the Vinoy: Good Bar, Better Food

Last Thursday evening, after going to Traci's work-related holiday banquet at the St. Pete Yacht Club, we walked over to the Renaissance Vinoy Resort for drinks.  Getting drinks at the Vinoy after this event has become something of a tradition for us and a good excuse to visit the beautiful old hotel.

The Vinoy and the Don Cesar Beach Resort  on St. Pete Beach are my two favorite old hotels in Tampa Bay.  I haven't had a chance to check out the Belleview Biltmore Resort, regarded as the largest occupied wood frame structure in the world, in Clearwater.  While the Vinoy and Don both show their age at times, they exude a charm and elegance that most new luxury hotels can't match.

The Vinoy has a smaller side bar off its lobby and a fancy larger bar inside its well-regarded Marchand's Bar and Grill.  Marchand's bar is located right in the middle of the restaurant's impressive main dining room, which specializes in cuisine with a Mediterranean flair.  While we've always just stuck to drinks at Marchand's before, last week we decided to check out the food at the restaurant as well.  I'm glad we did. 

We ordered a sun-dried tomato and feta hummus to share and I also ordered two crab cakes.  The combination of the feta and sun-dried tomatoes in the hummus was tasty and the appetizer included an array of fancy fresh breads for dipping in the hummus.  My crab cakes came with scoops of a funky guacamole concoction on top of them, and were nicely done without much grease or bread crumbs.

Marchand's is expensive, and choosing from the bar menu let's you enjoy the same good food at reduced prices.  I asked the bartender about the Vinoy's Sunday brunch and she claimed it was "the best around."  I'm sure the bartenders at the Don say the same thing, but I have heard that the Vinoy does a very nice Sunday brunch.  We'll have to go back sometime and try Marchand's for a full meal. 

Note that Marchand's did well on its last health inspection report with only a handful of violations.

So what's your favorite Sunday brunch restaurant in Tampa Bay?

Bottom-line:  If you're in downtown St. Pete sometime and looking for an interesting place to get a drink and some appetizers, the bar at Marchand's Bar & Grill inside the Renaissance Vinoy is worth checking out.

Inspection Scorecard:  Last Inspection - August 2006 - Violations - Critical (3), Non-Critical (2). 

Maritana Grille at the Don CeSar: Good "Special Occasion" Choice

In a break from barbecue and burger joints, Traci and I had dinner last Wednesday at the Maritana Grille at the Don CeSar resort on St. Pete Beach. We had decided several weeks earlier that we'd splurge on a meal to celebrate our anniversary and had picked the Don.

While the Maritana Grille consistently makes the lists of the top restaurants in Tampa Bay, I was still a little concerned that the place wouldn't live up to its rep. Restaurants inside hotels, even high-end ones, can sometimes be more style than substance. This certainly wasn't the case, though, at the Maritana Grille. We had a high-quality, very enjoyable experience.

The Maritana Grille is located right off the Don's main lobby towards the front of the hotel. One entire wall of the small restaurant is lined with impressive fish tanks filled with tropical fish. The overall style of the restaurant is clean and classic without feeling stuffy and overly formal.

We each started off with a Maritana Caesar salad and I decided to also order foie gras with caramelized onions and bleu cheese for myself. The foie gras was delicious and the blue cheese flavor wasn't overpowering. The salad was tasty and was neatly served in an edible cheese bowl. We also munched on a great selection of fresh bread (don't miss the bread sticks!). Our server also brought out a chef's sampler of carrot curry soup that was surprisingly good.

For our main course, I ordered pan seared scallops with lobster rissotto and Traci ordered a grilled filet mignon with truffle mashed potatoes. The scallops were excellent, although the rissotto was bland. Traci's filet was nicely done and the truffled mashed potatoes were knockout. Our server also brought her out vanilla bean mashed potatoes which were delicious.

We were already stuffed from dinner and had debated passing on dessert, but eventually gave in. We ordered the Maritana ice cream tasting, which on this night included scoops of poppyseed and pecan ice cream and a scoop of raspberry sorbet. The three scoops were lightly drizzled with chocolate sauce. Two glasses of a dessert wine finished our memorable evening.

Service was very good and attentive (our server brought me out an extra scallop because he said one that came with my entree "looked too small"). We don't regularly splurge on high-end restaurants, but when we do we want to be impressed and Maritana Grille didn't disappoint.

Bottom-line: If you're a fan of high-quality Florribean cuisine and are looking for a "special occasion" place in a historic setting, Maritana Grille at the Don CeSar is a good choice.

Inspection Scorecard: Last Inspection - December 2005 - Critical (3), Non-Critical (3).