Uncategorized

<p>Southwest Florida (SWFL) arguably consists of many different counties, but I prefer the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council (SWFRPC) definition. What is the SWFRPC? It is a 36 member council of county commissioners, elected officials and gubernatorial appointees. They are an informational resource, and conduct &#8220;r and d&#8221; into the feasibility of implementing  local, state [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Meet and Eat SWFL is a group that evolved from the Facebook foodie group, Paradise Coast Foodies. Meet and Eat SWFL will be starting up a number of interesting activities, mostly centered on helping locally owned restaurants succeed and allowing easier access to them by the public. I am all for mutually beneficial relationships, and [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Cavo Lounge is a restaurant in the Mercato, a mixed used commercial/residential development in Naples, FL. My dining companion (DC) that day and I decided to check out their happy hour Menu which I had heard good things about. There is plenty of outdoor seating at Cavo Lounge, which is great for taking advantage of [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Salsa Brava is a restaurant in Naples, FL serving Mexican Cuisine. When I arrived, even though it was a Sunday evening and the weather was dreadful, the place was packed! A very good sign. This almost never happens, but my dining companion (DC) and I were treated to a number of items both off and [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Bravo is a restaurant in the Mercato, in Naples, FL. Mercato is a mixed used residential/commercial development. Brio Bravo Restaurant Group is a chain of almost 120 Italian-themed restaurants in the U.S. In Naples, Bravo has a happy hour from 3:30-6:30 Monday-Friday and 9-10 P.M. Monday-Thursday. They have great specials on their Bar Menu during [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Another installment from local master sommelier (retired) Barrie Larvin&#8217;s blog, Windows On Wine. This is a bit from a recent trip to the La Mancha region in Spain. Dreaming the Impossible Dream (Blog Post)</p>

<p>KC American Bistro (KC) is a restaurant in Naples, FL serving interpretations of American Regional Cuisines.  KC are the initials of the chef and owner Keith Casey. He is a really, really good cook. They are located in the Pavillion Shopping Plaza which at present is undergoing a serious makeover so I do not have any [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Porker BBQ is for the moment, primarily a catering business in Naples, FL. Some Fridays, and every Saturday from noon to sellout, they serve at Naples Beach Brewery for some great food/beer pairings. The proprietor, Chris Jones, is an accomplished chef and has been known in town for more sophisticated cooking methods such as Molecular Gastronomy. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Naples Beach Brewery is a microbrewery in Naples, FL. They have been in the Naples area for about 3 years. The owner has always been interested in brewing beer and attended formal brewing classes in Michigan. After getting some on the job training, he moved to Naples to start his own microbrewery. The business is [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Fish Crazy is a restaurant in Naples, FL serving, as the astute reader may gather, seafood. As one approaches the restaurant there is outside seating which is nice this time of year. Entering Fish Crazy there is a seafood/misc. market that had some very nice looking product. Going into the restaurant there is a bar [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Fuse Global Cuisine is a restaurant in Naples, FL. A chef of note from our local local American Culinary Federation Chapter  highly recommended this restaurant. As it was my dining companion&#8217;s (DC&#8217;s) birthday we decided to check it out. As you enter the restaurant space there is ample outdoor dining should you desire, and as [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The Dali Museum (Dali) is an art center in St. Petersburg, FL housing the works of the artist, Salvador Dali (SD). Apart from the Dali Theatre-Museum in Catalonia, Spain, Dali has the largest collection of the artist&#8217;s work.  As you enter the museum there is a gift shop with a good selection of SD related [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The World&#8217;s Largest Food Truck Festival Ever 4 was an event held in downtown St. Petersburg, FL in Albert Whitted Park  on October 31, 2015. Almost 120 food trucks came together for the event. Sixty of them were from Florida, but the other half came from as far away as Texas and New Jersey. The [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The Saturday Morning Market is a farmers market eponymously held Saturdays in downtown  St. Petersburg, FL. It is held in about a one square block area near Beach Dr. and 1st. Ave. SE, in the Al Lang Stadium parking lot. They are open from 9-2 Saturdays from October-May and have been open for 14 years. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>The American Culinary Federation (ACF) is a professional organization of chefs and cooks. They offer a number of resources to foster the professional growth of it&#8217;s members. Nationally, there are about 200 chapters and close to 20,000 members. The, in every practical sense, Collier County, FL chapter of the ACF is the ACF Naples Chefs. [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Origami is a restaurant in Fort Myers, FL that serves Korean and Japanese cuisine. I did a blog Post on Origami last year. When I heard SWFL Foodies was organizing a sushi class here I jumped at a spot in the class. It sounded like a lot of fun. Origami has a very nice cocktail and sushi bar as you [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Harold&#8217;s  is a restaurant in the Regal Plaza in Fort Myers, FL. They just opened up for business 2 weeks ago and at the urging of  friend, went to check it out. The buzz was Chef Harold was a really, really good cook and had quite a local following. Hearing that, I wanted to go dine [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Florida SouthWestern State College (FSW) was founded in 1962 as Edison Junior College and renamed FSW in 2014. This was apparently to avoid confusion with another college with a similar name also offering nationwide online courses. FSW has approximately 16,000 full and part time students. Recently, FSW began having a farmers market on their campus, The [&hellip;]</p>

<p>Fresh Catch Bistro is a restaurant in Fort Myers Beach, FL. Their happy hour runs from 4-6 P.M. daily in the bar area and features a number of food and beverage specials for $5.00 each. They also have a very nice inside  and outside dining area with great views of the beach for lunch or [&hellip;]</p>

<p>is a professional organization of chefs, cooks, food industry professionals, food enthusiasts and a food blogger or two.  They have about 200 chapters and almost 20,000 members. They offer training, accreditation, scholarship and certification to foster professional growth in the culinary arts. &#8211; See more at: <a href="http://southwestfloridaforks.blogspot.com/2015/09/the-september-meeting-of-southwest.html#sthash.dM7BjtT9.dpuf" rel="nofollow">http://southwestfloridaf