Key West

Beautiful Birthday Memories ~ Dinner at Cafe Marquesa

August 4, 2014 by Candi Licence 2 Comments

Lucious, lovely jewelry that has found a good home - Mine! — Lucious, lovely jewelry that has found a good home – Mine!

This may the year for extreme spoiling. If you have been following this blog, you know Michael bought me some magnificent jewelry a few weeks ago for an early birthday present and then we had the loveliest birthday dinner celebration at Cafe Marquesa. We’ve both worked really hard and long hours for most of our lives and it is such a treat to slow down and have so much fun together.

It was a beautiful Key West summer evening and we walked a few blocks to the restaurant just enjoying looking at the pretty houses and beautiful foliage. We discovered a small, intimate park that is part of the Key West library. It was lush and had a number of benches under the trees. It looked like a perfect place to pull out a favorite book and read ~ another time ~ we were on our way to a highly anticipated dinner experience.

Cafe Marquesa is a small restaurant with maybe 13 tables. I had called early for reservations and they saved the best table in the restaurant for us. It was tucked diagonally into a corner with a great window view as well as a view of the rest of the restaurant.

Our table was beautifully decorated for my birthday

The table was prettily decorated with tasteful streamers in the wine glasses and glitter on the table. It was so romantic and fun ~ and it set the stage for a lovely evening.

Cafe Marquesa is one of a few Fodors Choice restaurants in the Keys, is Zagat’s highest rated restaurant in Key West and has won numerous other awards and accolades for its fabulous food. We came with very high expectations and were not disappointed. We started off with cocktails while we waited for our appetizers; a Bombay Sapphire Gin and Tonic for Michael (his favorite) and a homemade Margarita for me. My drink was excellent with a tasty and silky smooth flavor and you never can go wrong with a Sapphire G&T. I only had one because I knew we would have wine with dinner but it would have been easy to drink more, it was soooo good. For appetizers, Michael ordered a Caprese salad that was excellent and I ordered a Tomato and Dill Bisque soup topped with grilled Shrimp.

Michael’s Filet Mignon with Blue Cheese Crust and Boursin potatoes

For a main course, I had Porcini dusted Diver Sea Scallops with Truffle butter, Saffron Risotto and Swiss Chard. (I’m getting hungry again just writing this.) Do I need to say it was divine? Michael ordered the Grilled Black Angus Filet Mignon with a Blue Cheese crust, Asparagus, Brandy Peppercorn sauce and Boursin mashed potatoes. He graciously let me sample some of his dinner and it was rich and luscious.

There were a number of lovely items on the dessert menu but nothing jumped out at us so we decided to have dessert elsewhere. I called Better than Sex, Key West’s famous dessert restaurant but at 10 PM they had a minimum 90 minute wait for a table! We headed over to see John at The New York Pasta Garden and sampled his handmade Cannolis.

Sitting under the stars was a delightful ending to an unforgettable birthday.

A perfect birthday with my most special man

“A Key West Locals Secret” ~ New York Pasta Garden

July 29, 2014 by Candi Licence 6 Comments

_MS42023 — Welcome to the New York Pasta Garden

Why would I want to go to a restaurant named The New York Pasta Garden when I’m in Key West? HINT: Maybe because their food is fabulous? Michael and I grew up in New York and have always had access to wonderful food and really enjoy a great meal. Somehow, throughout our research and speaking with lots of people, we never heard about this restaurant. And to be honest, I’m not sure I would have put it on the top of our list. However, when we met Philip and Conchita at the dog park, “locals” who split their time between Key West and Saint Augustine and they raved about the New York Pasta Garden, we knew we had to try it. They even asked us to call them after we went there to give a rating. We had tickets to see a play that night and planned to stop in for a late dinner.

Welcome to the New York Pasta Garden — A lovely setting for luscious food

New York Pasta Garden is located in Duval Square and is tucked between Duval and Simonton Avenue. We parked in a large lot off Simonton ad walked towards a ton of fairy lights, right in the middle of a very commercial space,

John Gadonniex, the owner of the New York Pasta Garden

John, the owner, has created an intimate garden ~ trees, lots of lush plants, fountains and fairy lights. It’s a beautiful outdoor space. (They actually have about 20 tables inside as well, but everyone was eating out in the garden). They welcomed me by name (not a lot of reservations for 10:30 PM, I’m guessing). We asked the greeter to point out John (the owner) because we wanted to introduce ourselves at some point but before we got to the table, John came over to shake our hands. Philip had called to say we were coming so we got a very warm welcome.

Our server, Jeannette, also welcomed us and told us she would take great care of us. I love when restaurant staff go out of their way to make you feel like family and that was the impression I got even though the restaurant was very busy and John apologized that he wouldn’t be able to spend more time with us because he was short two people.

It was lovely sitting outside and I thought I heard birds talking. (This was before we started drinking, thank you). I started looking around and saw a beautiful Macaw parrot in a nearby tree. John has four tame parrots (2 African Greys and 2 Macaws) that sit in the trees, yammer away and provide entertainment. They are beautifully colored and quite showy. At the end of the night, they climb down out of the trees into cages and are wheeled into the restaurant to sleep. What fun.

John and one of his parrots, "hanging out" at the bar — John and friend, “hanging out” at the bar

OK, the atmosphere is lovely, the staff is great, I love the parrots ~ now how about the food? The Key West Pasta Garden’s menu is pretty extensive and there were a lot of dishes that looked appealing. We split a Caprese salad because Philip said it was so wonderful and it lived up to his hype.

John made us a complimentary Artichoke Franchaise appetizer made of breaded artichokes with a luscious lemon, tarragon, white wine and garlic butter sauce.

John's complimentary Artichoke appetizer - he made it himself! — John’s complimentary Artichoke appetizer – he made it himself, and I felt honored.

It was scrumptious. We also had garlic rolls that were very tasty. Michael had a cup of homemade Clam Chowder and it might be the best we’ve ever eaten.

For entrees, Michael ordered Shrimp Olivia, which is the chef’s signature dish prepared with roasted red peppers, Kalamata olives and artichokes in a basil and garlic sauce.

Michael's Shrimp Olivia — Michael’s Shrimp Olivia

My Shrimp and Scallop ala Carino — My Shrimp and Scallop Franchaise

I had Shrimp and Scallops ala Carino which was prepared with shallots, garlic and spinach with a delicious sherry crème sauce. No calories in this dinner! The portions were very generous and we took home part of each entrée and some of the salad which made a surprisingly good leftover meal the next night.

The meal was so good that I really wanted to try their Tiramisu for dessert but this will have to wait for another visit. Michael and I used to have the best Tiramisu at one of our favorite restaurants in Provincetown, Massachusetts and it was so good, I almost never order it anywhere else because it is such a disappointment. I think if anyone can give them competition it will be The New York Pasta Garden.

Michael did call Conchita the next day to rave about the food and thank them for recommending the restaurant. This is someplace I would frequent often if I lived here full-time. We plan to go back before we leave and I think we’ll give Philip and Conchita a call to see if they would like to join us for another wonderful meal ~ with dessert!

The Square Grouper ~ And Other Fish Tails

July 26, 2014 by Candi Licence Leave a Comment

Square Grouper 2014 07 09 - 0021 — The Square Grouper Logo, tagline ” my favorite joint”

The Square Grouper – highly desirable in some circles, very profitable and oops, illegal. A Square Grouper is a tongue-in-check name for the bales of marijuana that sometimes wash up on shore in the Keys after they have been dumped off drug running boats when authorities get too close. It is also the name of a lower keys restaurant and long time institution.

We were ready for a road trip and had heard about a great restaurant on Cudjoe Key, Mile 22.5 Oceanside, so one fine day we jumped in the car for a ride. Most Keys locations don’t have a regular address, they give their mile marker number as their address. Mile 100 is in Key Largo, the first key from the mainland and Mile 0 is in Key West. Since most keys are so skinny, getting the mile marker number and then “Oceanside” or “Bay/Gulf” side is enough description to find almost any place. It’s also a very convenient way to know how far away places are.

We pulled into a pretty non descript building and I was surprised when we got inside. People had touted The Square Grouper Bar and Grill as having an old keys feeling so I was expecting a somewhat run down or ramshackle type setting. Instead, the interior was sleek and modern. Maybe they were talking about the menu? Nope, delicious looking but trendy. Prices could be old keys – very reasonable for great food.

The industrial exterior conceals a surprisingly upscale and attractive interior

We were there for lunch and it was hard to decide what to order ~ so many dishes looked great, so we decided to only purchase appetizers so we could sample more options. We started off with Yellowfin Tuna and Avocado Eggrolls with a great dipping sauce. These were crispy and wonderful. We also scarfed down some yummy flash fried conch with a Ponzu sauce drizzled with wasabi. These were followed by Island Shrimp Cakes with a Banana Pepper Aioli sauce which were also fabulous.

Square Grouper 2014 07 09 - 0004 — Island Shrimp Cakes, Yellowfin Tuna and Avocado Eggrolls and flash fried Conch on right

White chocolate, toasted coconut, almond cheesecake, Oh My!

But the best part was dessert. They were serving a white chocolate, toasted coconut, almond cheese cake. I generally would never get dessert for lunch, I don’t even usually get dessert with dinner and I’ll almost never order cheesecake after growing up in New York where, in my opinion, they make the best cheesecake in the world. This looked to wonderful too pass up and boy am I glad I didn’t. Michael and I split a piece and it was dense and creamy like New York cheesecake plus it had all the wonderful additional flavors that blended really well. I’m still thinking about it days later …..

Just down the road, we stopped at Low Keys Fisheries, a seafood retail store, that was recommended to us. One of the surprises about Key West is how hard it is to buy fresh fish. All the restaurants have it, of course, but the grocery stores’ fish look pretty poor and so do the seafood markets. All I can figure is that so many people have boats and they catch fish for themselves so there isn’t a big market to purchase fresh fish. We asked around the charter boats but they don’t sell the fish they catch. Mr. Chapman’s brother, Eugene, catches a lot of fish and will sell his extra which is wonderful, but he mostly catches snapper so not much variety.

Low Key Fisheries is an exception (as long as you want to travel 20 miles to buy fish). The store had a nice variety of fish and everything looked great. We bought some Key West Pinks (shrimp) and some lovely looking Salmon. Chef Michael did his fish magic the next two nights and prepared feasts. I love having a personal chef!

The Locals Hideaway ~ Boca Chica Beach

July 24, 2014 by Candi Licence Leave a Comment

Boca Chica beach is a place you would never find on your own. I’m guessing even a lot of locals don’t know about it (or if they do, they have never been there). Boca Chica key is a few islands up from Key West and you have to drive past it to Big Coppitt Key (mile marker 10.5) to turn onto Boca Chica Road which will lead you back, back, back to this secluded beach. You will finally get to the end of the road and the beach will be directly on your left and the Naval Air Station will be on your right. There are some good shade trees here, a few picnic tables and directly ahead the road is blocked off and then crumbles away. From here you can begin walking the shoreline.

"Beach Patrol" on the rocky shore — “Beach Patrol” on the rocky shore

Looking at a map, the road appears to go all along the shoreline, right up to US1 but it’s all washed away (by Hurricane Wilma, I’ve read). This is good news and “bad” news. The good news is not many people come to this beach. The “bad” news is if you want to explore this part of the island you do a lot of walking – sometimes even in the water on a pretty rocky shoreline, in some places, depending on the tide. It’s remote enough that dogs can be off leash and they can freely romp in the water and nose around the back woods. We’ve come here many times to give Mick the freedom he likes, Michael some good photo ops and all of us a chance to explore.

At low tide, there are a lot of tidal pools which can be fun to examine. There are also numerous trails that go into the woods and open onto marshes and small bodies of water. We’ve seen some great birds here and I’m sure this is a favorite migration stopover.

The Flip Flop Memorial. I love this, makes me smile every time I see it

Some of the really fun things you can discover are: the flip flop memorial – a portion of chain link fence with lots of discarded shoes attached; a beautiful structure of driftwood, rocks and found objects that look like a castle – with multiple rooms that have tables and beach chairs; and the shoreline path which goes right past the end of the Naval Station runway. We spent one morning watching someone learn how to maneuver a large helicopter. It was fascinating watching the person try to master hovering which has to be a lot harder that it looks from all the gyrations the ‘copter was going through. I’ve got a much deeper appreciation for the skills our pilots have to master.

For most of the time we’ve been here, there has been heavy reddish seaweed coating the shoreline but this is a seasonal thing and should be gone shortly, hopefully before we leave. You need to be watchful at all times because there are a lot of rocks, coral, trees, etc. to maneuver around. Usually we walk until we come to the first small channel that opens onto a salt marsh but this time we brought extra shoes so we could wade across and continue along the coastline.

I was surprised that the shallow water actually felt hot, very hot. Last Sunday, the beach was the busiest I’ve ever seen it – maybe 10 cars (!) and most of the way we were by ourselves. We saw a few people photographing birds and a couple of gentlemen fishing, but mostly it was a solitary, lovely walk along the beach.

Boca Chica beach is a slice of natural heaven.

Tantalizing Tapas ~ Santiago’s Bodega

July 21, 2014 by Candi Licence 2 Comments

Until this dinner, we haven’t been overly impressed with the food in Key West. I think Michael and I both came down with the expectation of finding lots of restaurants with fabulous food. We have eaten good food here but we have spent a fair amount of money in some places and didn’t think the quality of the food justified the high price. Santiago’s Bodega, a tapas style restaurant, exceeded all our expectations and can be rated a solid 10.

The beautiful full moon outside Santiago's Bodega — The beautiful full moon outside Santiago’s Bodega

Santiago’s Bodega is off the main drag, on Petronia Street, just past Mr. Chapman’s house. We had reservations for 9:30 PM because we were dining after our full moon sunset cruise. The restaurant was still hopping. As we were shown to our table, I could see great meals being delivered left and right. We had a lovely table in the corner so it was quite intimate and we could still see the bustle of the rest of the restaurant. Michael ordered a lovely bottle of wine and it was fairly priced for a change. Wine in Key West restaurants generally is very expensive. I know you will always pay more but often it’s 4 times what you could buy on your own which means you are paying $80 for a $20 bottle of wine!

The lovely interior of Santiago's Beodega — The lovely interior of Santiago’s Beodega

Alan, our server, was personable and guided us through the extensive menu. We decide on 6 dishes to share – Beef Tenderloin, mini rack of Lamb (encrusted with mustard, thyme and pecans), Shrimp and Chorizo, Spanakopita (Spinach, Feta and onion in Phyllo), a Scallop special and beef short ribs with a cherry hoisin glaze. EVERYTHING was wonderful and we had a hard time deciding what we liked best. Michael voted for the short ribs, I honestly couldn’t decide, I could just narrow it down to 4 items. I love that problem. Lighting in the restaurant was fairly dark so Michael was not able to snap any pictures of the food but, believe me, the plates looked as good as they tasted.

I’d love to go back to this restaurant again before we leave and the big question will be – should we try the other mouth watering items on the menu or enjoy the great dished we have already tasted? We’ll have to see …… I’m sure the short ribs at least, as we both loved them.