Florida Gastronomy ("Cracked Conch or Lobster?") and Parting Shots

Ah, a toast to la dolce vita! That shot was taken at an Italian restaurant off South Beach, Miami, the Tiramesu. For starters, if I remember correctly, Mindy had the Caprese (buffalo mozzarella), Corey had the Antipasto de Casada (cold cuts), and I had the Seppioline alla Veneziana (cuttlefish, sort of like a cross between octopus and squid, although they simply listed octopus in the English menu tranlsation). I don't remember what the entrees were now, but I recall we had a Chianti with dinner and I had a port for dessert in lieu of Vin Santo. I do remember dinner was quite good, however. The next night we went out to a Cuban place that was also pretty decent.

Dinners in Siesta Key were ok, fairly run-of-the-mill, not too fancy. One night I had deep-fried something or other, the next night the girls had pizza, and I think I had mussels. In Key West, the first night we ate at an Italian family restaurant (meh), the second night was a bit better at an outside place, and the last night we went to the Grand Cafe, Key West. The outside place was nice, the food on the verge of being very good (my steak was overcooked), but they ran out of "surf" in the "surf and turf" offering (one of my favorite restaurant choices). I seem to recall they had run out of other stuff as well, but I can't place my finger on what it was now. Mind you we didn't get there till 9 pm or so, which is kinda late. The "we're out of" excuse was encountered again at the Grand Cafe where I wanted to have cracked conch as appetizer. Disappointing. I had the Florida lobster instead (found the surf, finally), but it was served in butterfly fashion instead of having the tail exposed. The latter is much easier to get at. Anyway, Key West has pretty good grub, as well as plenty of drink, cheers!

Gastronomically, Cocoa Beach was a sheer disaster! We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott, and it has got to have one of the worst restaurants I've eaten in in a long while. Maybe ever. It's a definite candidate for Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares program. (If you haven't seen this show, I highly recommend it; Ramsey has no problem ripping into loser chefs.) In fact when they asked us if we wanted anything else, Corey and I both thought of a "sick bag" (what Ramsey asks for and then promptly pukes in, right in front of the chef!). So that was a bit of a disappointing way to end an otherwise memorable road trip. I chose the pic at left cause it seems to say "No more shots!". So I'll leave it at that, salut!