Last night this Phyllis got to see a different Phyllis and her husband Michael, as we are visiting them here in Naples for a couple of days. They chose CHOPS CITY GRILL (www.gr8food.net) in Bonita Springs, just to the north as they had no set menu on New Year's which can sometimes be a drag.
Chops City Grill has nice simple decor and nothing to really wow you visually. When we arrived at 9:15pm it was packed, but by 11pm when we left, we were the only folks at a table in our section; Florida does go to bed early!
They offered us a complimentary bottle of LOUIS PERDRIER CHAMPAGNE which was nice and we chatted away as we perused the huge menus. Phyllis and Michael split a tasty DOUBLE WEDGE SALAD of Iceberg and Boston with Point Reyes Blue Cheese, Applewood Smoked Bacon, Watercress & Radicchio in a mild blue cheese dressing. The warm sourdough was tasty and melted in my mouth and the butter oddly comes sitting in pool of olive oil.
Will opted for the SHORT STACK (which was not really a stack) of JUMBO LUMP CRAB CAKES with Lobster and King Crab in a sauce of Sun-Dried Tomato, Roasted Garlic and Champagne; an exciting and tasty preparation with huge chunks of all the shellfish.
My ROASTED OYSTERS "Chopafella" came in Garlic & Voda Cream and each of the three tasty mollusks were topped with a huge chunk of KING CRAB, ANDOUILLE SAUSAGE (to add a bite), SPINACH & melted SMOKED GOUDA; it was a divine dish.
We moved on to tasty ARCADIAN "Fiddlestix" PINOT NOIR 2003 from the SANTA RITA HILLS which was bold and fruit forward and really worked with the tasty entrees. We all ordered the 6 ounce (smallest size) FILLET which were dry aged on premises. They can be ordered in several different ways (Will and I went for the PEPPERCORN CRUSTED) and with difference sauces from a rich thick BEARNAISE to a masterful BLACKBERRY CABERNET (which our server ingeniously recommended to pair with the peppercorn versions).
The steaks were beautifully presented atop a piece of grilled EGGPLANT and topped with tasty crisp ONION RINGS. Unlike our steak houses back home, here in Florida a side dish is included. We tasted the CREAMED SPINACH with CRISPY ONIONS which was nice, but not up to the level of the creamed spinach we get at those fancy big steakhouses. On the other hand the SEA SALT BAKED POTATO with Applewood Smoked Bacon Bits and Chives with Sour Cream was an inspiration.
It was indeed a wonderful New Year's Eve with dear friends, good food, good wine and many prayers for what has to be a much better 2009! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Tonight--we all dine at SEA SALT, a recently opened top rated place in downtown Naples owned by our other set of dear friends living here Ingrid & Fabrizio Aielli, who moved here from Washington where they used to own TEATRO GOLDONI!
