Table of Contents
I uncovered something this 7 days: It is distressing to observe by yourself consume on countrywide tv.
Who chews like that? Why does my jaw unhinge like a python? How several bites did they seize me taking?!
These thoughts flooded my brain as I watched this week’s episode of “Big Restaurant Bet” on Food stuff Network. I initial wrote about the display and my sweet li’l guest-judge roll on it earlier this month when it debuted about how psyched I was to be on the channel I worshiped as a 20-some-year-old line cook way back again when. And how wonderful it was to have an whole Tv set series shot in Fort Myers, putting our funky minor metropolis — my birthplace and hometown — in the highlight.
I wrote about the exhibit in advance of I might experienced a likelihood to look at the exhibit. Now, four episodes and so many awkward bites of food later, most of what I wrote nonetheless retains true. I received a thrill every time I observed the Edison Bridge arched in the track record, each individual time I glimpsed downtown Fort Myers and the streets I’ve walked considering that forever splashed across the screen.
And then the digicam cut away and there was a flash of Tampa. Or was it St. Pete? Or was it Miami? And then it cut back to us, and then to generic shots of boats on drinking water, and then to sand that’s maybe Floridian, probably not.
The amusing issue about “Large Restaurant Wager” is that it hardly ever tells the viewer in which specifically it’s established. In the initial episode, movie star chef and host Geoffrey Zakarian stated he is in his “Florida property.” As if this is Delaware or Rhode Island and not a state that usually takes a total day to traverse by auto.
This selection to not acknowledge Fort Myers, whether intentional or not, has manufactured me speculate: When your town is named for a Accomplice colonel, and your county is named for a Confederate common, does that make it considerably less marketable?
Regardless one’s views on the Robert E. Lee bust that was taken off from downtown just more than a 12 months back, or the Robert E. Lee portrait that nevertheless hangs in the Aged Lee County Courthouse, events like this force us to contemplate these Accomplice ties from a publicity angle. At the quite least.
I asked Seth Hyman, general public relations manager for Foodstuff Network, if these ties may have affected the show’s generically “Florida” environment.
Hyman did not reply in time for publication.
Although it truly is amusing to see the petitions that want to change Robert E. Lee County to, say, Stan Lee County (after the comic-book legend who has no ties to this place), at some stage it’s truly worth questioning if the petitioners are on to anything. If keeping onto this previous is hurting a lot more than assisting.
The factor is: I adore my metropolis. I care deeply about the folks with whom I share it. I want to see all of us in the highlight.
Preferably, for the appropriate reasons.
You can find so a great deal additional news really worth consuming. Let’s dig in.
Matchmaker, matchmaker — make me a reservation
Irrespective of whether it’s a blind date, a first day, or you might be just wanting to spark romance in a longtime romantic relationship, nearby matchmaker Mimi Lee shared her favourite Southwest Florida dining places for (hopefully) falling in love. Diana Biederman tells us much more in Naples Daily News and The News-Press.
Connections, preserved
It really is significantly too quick to lose our connections to foodstuff. We aren’t a culture of hunters and gatherers. Most of us aren’t growers, permit alone farmers. We are consumers and diners. We outsource. We import. We consume. It is the 21st century American way. For Earth Day, Diana and I wrote about local restaurants that are preserving these connections the truly locavore areas that care about resource as well as flavor. Obtain our suggestions in The Information-Press and Naples Day by day Information.
Cinco de yummo
“All I remember from seventh-grade Spanish course is: que comida es mas rica,” Diana writes. “Translation: the food is extremely rich/tasty. This praising phrase hardly ever acquired me significantly through repeat visits to Mexico and Madrid, nevertheless it truly is nonetheless befitting for anyone who would grow to be a meals author years later on.” If you are hunting for some thing mas rica for Cinco de Mayo, she’s got you lined in The NP and NDN.
What is actually new?
• A new drinking water taxi is shipping and delivery diners to restaurants along the Caloosahatchee in Fort Myers. Charles Runnels lifts anchor on this tale in The NP and NDN.
• From a buffet chain which is shuttered in Cape Coral to two growing Thai-sushi dining establishments around Naples, capture up on what is actually new, scorching and not in NDN and The NP.
• In other places in Naples, a new lobster-roll joint has opened, though Florida’s legislature has chosen a instead controversial condition dessert. Information in NDN and The NP.
• And catch up on inspections, with the newest on the Collier McDonald’s shuttered because of to rodent activity (NDN The NP) a different buffet chain that was only temporarily shut (The NP NDN) and a trio of Collier dining establishments fined a full of $720 (NDN The NP).
—
Full? It takes place to the best of us. Bookmark news-push.com/taste and naplesnews.com/leisure/places to eat for the latest from the SWFL eating scene.
Did a friend ship you this? Get the SWFL Eats newsletter in your inbox. News-Press readers can indication up in this article. Naples Each day Information enthusiasts, we’ve got you included right here, just look for “SWFL Eats.”
Bon appetit!
Annabelle Tometich
(a single of your helpful, regional JLBs)
Why cannot we be friends? Follow our JLBs as @JeanLeBoeuf on Twitter and Instagram.
Jean Le Boeuf is the manufacturer less than which our restaurant critics have created for extra than 40 yrs. This article came from staff author Annabelle Tometich. Link with this reporter: [email protected] @atometich (Twitter) @abellewrites (Instagram)