Dinner at Blanc

Blanc

is a restaurant in Fort Myers, FL located in Cypress Square.

The exterior of the restaurant is somewhat dissonant with the interior atmosphere and the fare served here.

They occupy the space where the Oyster Shell restaurant resided for 37 years. There is not much Affichage outside at present so it was a bit hard to find at first. The principles are seasoned local restaurant Veterans, and the restaurant, at the time of this writing, has only been open about 9 weeks.

The interior space of the restaurant is small, seating about 32 diners at any one time.

The small interior space and ambient noise level from the diners feed into the proprietors concept of Blanc. This is a highly social and interactive dining experience with mostly plates meant for sharing.

An open air kitchen only accentuates this.

I really believe this type of kitchen arrangement helps diners connect with their food as they can see it being prepared. As I have said before, the Japanese have successfully used this concept for many years with their Teppanyaki dining.

I had heard many good things about Blanc, so my dining companion and I decided to sample a number of items from their Menu.

The first thing sampled was the French onion soup.

This was absolute heaven and some of the best French onion soup I have had.

The tuna cones were next.

These were tortilla cones filled with tuna ceviche, garnished with nori and served with Remoulade or soy/ginger sauce. Very good and an interesting presentation

The octopus was also ordered.

Cooked on a Robata grill, it was served with what appeared to be the restaurant’s signature garnish of grilled yellow squash and zucchini, snow peas and potato. Remoulade and sweet habenero sauce finished the dish. Not bad.

Two more menu items were sampled,

I love pork belly, so we ordered the five spice Pork Belly.

Pork belly was marinated in 5 Spice Powder and cooked Sous Vide. The flavors here were very good. I just wished there could have been more of it.

The Brussels sprouts were amazing, fried and served with a miso glaze.

The food at Blanc ranged from very good to excellent. It was made even better by the service and conviviality very much apparent in the restaurant itself. Just be sure to make reservations!

It’s a wrap for another post on Forks.

Blanc

13451 McGregor Blvd.

Fort Myers, FL 33919

(239)887-3139