I got stuck in Fort Lauderdale an extra day after Hurricane Harvey disrupted travel through Houston for a couple of weeks. I never travel through Houston to get to the East Coast, but somehow booked that flight for an event I needed to attend in South Florida.
But in the spirit of making lemonade out of lemons, it just meant I had a full day to myself on at the beach, at the pool and at some of the local places along beach boulevard (not its real name). It was a Saturday and I prided myself for making it all the way to 3 pm before my first cocktail of the day – a couple of Mojitos with an okay serving of coconut shrimp at Café Ibiza. I went into Café Ibiza because of fond memories of staying nearby on Mallorca years ago. The days and nights in Banalbufar remain one of my favorite holidays. Besides, back in Fort Lauderdale, the other choice was a Hooter’s.
The night before my friends Ken and Melissa took me to B&B Oyster Bar where the oysters we excellent. We knocked back a sampler dozen before finding our favorite, then ordered a dozen of those. I wasn’t taking notes and can’t remember the oyster names but they were good, East Coast bivalves.
Back home, I went to Cucina in town on one of those nights that neither of us felt like cooking. Look at this salad. It’s mouth-watering, with awesome ingredients: Arugula, ripe peach, burrata cheese, dry-aged Spanish ham, with “lemon-zest dressing.” OMG it was uneatable! My mouth puckered with each bite, it was so lemony. I don’t think you could have had a more lemony experience even if you bit straight into a lemon. I at the fruit and ham and left the salad.
A week later I was on another plane, this time to Southern Cal to take my father, sisters, brother-in-law and niece out to dinner to celebrate Dad’s 95th day on this earth. We went to an Italian place in a strip mall that is popular with the locals. The bruschetta and steak tartare were good starters. My niece had the best dish I think – Chilean sea bass with artichoke hearts and black olives. I went with gnocchi because the book on this place is that it’s real Italian food. Meh!
Ordering gnocchi is always risky. The worst part of the restaurant was the portions. They were huge. Everyone leaving the restaurant had to go packages. I left that program for the small-plate revolution years ago!
Two days later, however, I met a foodie friend from the media for lunch in downtown Carlsbad. Plan A didn’t work out – closed for lunch on Mondays, but Plan B – Compass, was no slouch! The Hamachi crudo topped with a smidge of avocado, pinch of orange and fresno chile slice was sublime. So was the bacon-wrapped dates served with a creamy goat cheese and arugula. The white truffle oil fries with aioli called for a cold beer, but I was working that afternoon and stuck with a single glass of pinot noir.
Back home a few days later I had lunch with a new professional colleague at Farmshop in Larkspur. I had been there before and recalled the quality – for its modern food and freshness. I was not disappointed on this visit.
The avocado hummus was richly creamy and flavorful, great with the house-made whole wheat pita bread and a glass of Rose. I dreamt of the South of France and a hammock after lunch after drinking an entire bottle of the pink wine. Is there anything better than Rose with lunch on a warm day?
My new colleague is on a “paleo” diet with protein, fat and vegetables with little fruit and no gluten. She order the steamed chicken breast salad with boiled egg and lettuce. It looked yummy. I absolutely had to have the crispy artichokes with burrata cheese, castelvetrano olives, stonefruit and harissa spiced walnuts. Easily, this was one of the best dishes of the year.
The short rib at Nobu in New York City is also a top 10 for 2017. We were there in August to kick off the college tours. We go to Nobu every time we’re in New York. Why not?
