We had some truly fine fine food on Sanibel! Mezzaluna, one of the original owners of The Bubble Room apparently signed a 10-year non-compete agreement when she left that establishment. This past February she opened a place called "Katy Gardenia's Kitchen and Mermaid Club" on Sanibel. She's carried the Bubble Room funkiness here - most of the tables are shadowboxes with mermaid memoribilia. Would that be mermaidibilia? Anyway, the food was absolutely unbelievable. Hubby had chipotle glazed pork loin (bone in) with blackberry applesauce, and I had cedar-planked salmon. Everything was out of this world; the only criticism was that my side of kalamata olives, sun-dried tomatoes and feta in a balsamic vinaigrette was delish, but a bit strong for the salmon. Fab flavors though. We split an orange-flavored choc mousse (with praline crumbles) . . . mmmmmm.
We had an equally wonderful dinner at Trader's . . . I had crab-stuffed shrimp on wild mushroom risotto. Good risotto makes me weak in the knees, and this was awesome. The big guy got pork loin (boneless) in an Asian barbecue sauce - demi-glace with 5-spice and some undisclosed yummies. I suspect a bit of balsamic vin and a little heat. Dessert was out of the question. Darn - the blackberry cobbler sounded pretty good.
We went up to Captiva one evening and had dinner at the Key Lime Bistro. I had scampi -it was very good, but next to the osso bucco special that one of our friends had, it was only that. The osso bucco was incredible - unctuous, **** . . . I very nearly embarassed myself. Hubby got the crabcakes and they weren't that great. Growing up in Maryland has made us crabcake snobs, and I honestly have been disappointed whenever I've had them out of state. I really couldn't judge how these compared to other non-MD crabcakes.
We went to The Jacaranda, which is supposed to be one of the "better" restaurants on the island. I got scallops baked in maitre d'hotel butter and bread crumbs, hubby got snapper en papilotte. These were certainly prepared nicely - both dishes were very moist, but they really didn't have very much else going for them. They were pretty boring. The highlight of that visit, though, was the tropical creme brulee, served with jackfruit, toddy palm, and fresh berries. The creme brulee itself was nothing spectacular, but I was really excited about having the chance to finally taste jackfruit (a.k.a. the ever-popular and stinky durian). It wasn't what I thought it would be (I'm not sure what that was), but it was very tasty - it's hard to imagine it as being contraband on a boat! This was Florida, and the votes aren't tallied on the toddy palm - does anyone out there know what that is?
Another must-eat on Sanibel was the Key Lime pie at the Normandie (West Wind Inn). It was absolutely wonderful . . . better than my own at home.
I can't wait to go again next year!!
[ July 27, 2001: Message edited by: MaryeO ]  | 
Going to Sanibel Island 
