A Pie to Die For

If I had to pick a food of the year—one dish, right this minute—without question it has to be the coconut custard pie with Jamaican rum sauce at Bonefish Grill. Seriously. We first tried it on Mother’s Day and have never turned back. I now go into Bonefish Grill planning my menu choices around having enough room to jump into the coconut pie. My hubby brought some home as a surprise one night, which I saved for breakfast—what a way to start the day. The pie is best eaten at the restaurant, though, where the sauce is warm and makes the pie slightly gooey the best possible way.

Bonefish Grill's coconut custard pie with Jamaican rum sauce

I dined with Sean Murphy at the Beach Bistro the other night, and leave it to Sean to come up with a BP martini. It’s aqua blue, with chocolate that looks like oil on the bottom, coffee beans for tar balls, and then it’s lit on fire. Not a joke. Log on to www.beachbistro.com to see the video, Sean is so enraged at BP the restaurant created the martini to send the money to a Gulf coast fishermen’s fund. BTW, hats off to Sean, as the Beach Bistro and The Bistro at The Concession have been invited to present a James Beard dinner in NYC on Dec. 2. This will be Sean’s second visit; it’s quite an honor to be invited back and sensational for The Concession, making it a first for a private club appearance.

Beach Bistro's BP martini

I had about 10 hours in Las Vegas this week and checked out the culinary scene with my son, Eric, who recently moved there to follow his own culinary dream. We managed to have a nice dinner at RM Seafood (although the service was atrocious), and then it was a wonderful treat to head over to the Bellagio for a nighttime fountain show and French crepes for dessert at Jean Phillippe.

Sliders at Wynn Encore

Walk through the Venetian and check out their candy apples and lovely displays. They almost look more like glass sculptures, but no doubt taste amazing. Probably the most impressive dish was the tenderloin, egg and creamed spinach breakfast sliders at the Wynn Encore—worth getting up for, and I will dream about them until my next visit.

The Venetian's candy apples

Have you tried an amazingly delicious dish recently? Do share on the comment button so we can all check it out.

Posted: 8/24/2010 3:38:38 PM by Kay Kipling | with 0 comments

Scoping out the Food Scene

While walking around St. Armands Circle last week, I could not help but notice the sign in the former Cork and Bottle Shop space announcing a new Japanese steakhouse and sushi bar. I hope that this place will hit the mark, as I have always liked the corner location, just found the build-out to be odd and confusing. It seems lately that Japanese steakhouses are popping up more, most recently on University Parkway near Fresh Market.

Sign of the times on St. Armands Circle.

Speaking of University, we went over to John Dough the other day in the Cooper Creek shopping plaza. I can’t say I was overly impressed (I think you can’t beat a sandwich at Main Bar downtown), but I was happy to see the inviting loaves of challah bread at the counter and even more excited to see that my favorite yogurt store, Whiteberry, is opening a second location right next door within the next few weeks. Their yogurt is so creamy and tastes richer than some others, yet plenty healthy. Raspberry is my favorite flavor, just straight up. If you are more of a plain yogurt type, try diced mango and kiwi as toppings, a very nice plenty of sweet fruit and tart frozen yogurt.

The challah bread at John Dough looked nice and fresh.

Just on the other side, Total Wine has to be the grape mecca of Southwest Florida. I knew exactly what I wanted and the service was incredible. How they were able to lead me right away to each section and bottle was quite impressive and took away the feel of a giant warehouse store.

Total Wine really is a total experience.

Yes, again I see another restaurant going into the former space of Urban Reef, formerly Esca, and a few other non-notables. “Enjoy” is the name and let’s hope the focus is on good and consistent food and service. They may just have a winner if they do so.

Other notables:

The Hyatt has opened their boathouse for weekend happy hour with live music. And I am happy to see both Ophelia’s and Libby’s continuing their Sunday brunch menus during these dog days of summer.

The Hyatt Regency has opened the Boathouse for weekend happy hour with live music.

Posted: 8/16/2010 3:01:49 PM by Kay Kipling | with 13 comments

The Gift of Food

Food gifting came early this year, and I am one lucky recipient. It’s been a standard back-and-forth joke with Pam Daniel, VP and editorial director of Sarasota Magazine, that “some day” I would receive a jar of the coveted mango chutney that she so caringly prepares.

For years Pam has told me how it takes 8-10 hours of peeling, dicing, flavoring and canning her mango specialty, which by the way derives from her own trees. Each year I hear the equivalent of “Wow, this was a great batch,” or “I only made three jars so next time for sure.” OK, I get it, like some world-famous wine producers who keep a little black book and promise only certain allocated bottles, including for the Queen of England—I must prove myself worthy.

The coveted mango chutney.

Well, not only did I receive the mango chutney, my stash was three jars! One of the green variety, unripe mango chutney, and two of the regular. Well worth the years of waiting, and every taste is a flavorful bite of the hard work and love that someone puts into their food specialty. I see many grilled shrimp and chickens getting dressing up with this goodie.

The week just kept getting better as true culinary talent came alive from Riverview High staff. Perhaps in anticipation of the hectic start of school, the cooking expertise of Kate Mocherman’s bread-and-butter pickles was outstanding on our smoked turkey wraps, and I actually looked at the jar in the refrigerator twice to make sure we would have enough for next week’s beach picnic.

I'm counting the pickles for allocation.

Then came a bag of Jim Minor’s freshly roasted coffee. That’s right, Jim is the out-of-the-box teacher who should be on the cooking channel. He makes homemade bread like nobody’s grandmother and now is specializing in roasting his own coffee beans.

Jim Miner's Sarasota roast beans.

So, I sit here today proudly noshing as the recipient of the true comforts of home. Do you have a homemade specialty that you share? Send me a note on the comment button. We might just start a culinary gifting co-op!

Posted: 8/9/2010 9:50:27 AM by Kay Kipling | with 0 comments

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A Pie to Die For

Scoping out the Food Scene

The Gift of Food

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