Fab Finds; Bread Pudding, Butterflies and Bennett's

If you are visiting or have friends visiting the Southwest Florida area for the holidays, I have a few new Fab Finds to help you both entertain and feed the family.

Reuben's Catering is now open to the public, only it's called Reuben's Smokehouse! Look for it on US41 in Fort Myers in the former Miami Connection location. Reuben serves up amazing comfort food like cheesy mac-n-cheese, green beans, coleslaw, homemade rolls and LOTS of flavorful meat, smoked everyday! SO good!

Chef Reuben has even bottled his own hot sauce. The beer and wine license just came in so the stash is in the process of getting stocked!

One thing you DONT want to skip is dessert and  the carmel, chocolate chip bread pudding. It's good enough to make you wanna fight over so, get your own!

The Shell Factory Nature Park in North Fort Myers opened it's new Butterfly Garden this week. It was fun tasting Lobetia wines, that appropriately enough have a butterfly on the label,  while watching awkward kids try not to squish or step on the beautiful creatures during the butterfly release.

The Nature Park is a family friendly, local find with, some amazing animals like alligators, owls, big cats, birds and lots more. Oh, and you don't have to go the middle east to ride a camel, they have one of those too!


I also checked out progress on the new Bennett's Fresh Roast on Sanibel Island. The downtown Fort Myers coffee shop has gained international attention for outstanding, made from scratch donuts and fresh roasted coffee. It's also the place to see and be seen.

Bennett's much anticipated opening on Sanibel will happen within weeks. I've seen the space and it looks great! Lots of light and lots of seating including outdoors. There is even a parking spot where you can plug in your Prius!



Lobster Lady Seafood in Cape Coral has a new chef and work is currently underway on some new menu items. I sampled this tasty tuna appetizer this week and it was fantastic. The garlic sesame peanut noodles were a delight.

I can't wait to see what new creations come out of the kitchen.

Lovin' The Lobster Lady

It was a Monday night at a strip mall in Cape Coral, FL and the sidewalks were full, outside of The Lobster Lady.

The Lobster Lady is part market, part restaurant and all parts were packed. Servers negotiated through the crowd with both persistence and patience and as a team.

One wall was lined with cases of fresh seafood, fish dips and other fresh treats. The wall across the room was lined with tanks full of lobsters; the biggest one currently weighing in at about 15 pounds and a $200 Market price. I was trying to get a better look at the big guy when one of the servers said, "Let me help.'

For a brief moment, he held that crustacean over his shoulder like it was his pet. After that, it seemed almost inhumane to eat the old guy; we chose a young, one-pounder for our lobster pot. It's a pick your pound kind of place. Each pot also comes with an assortment of clams, mussels, shrimp, spicy sausage, potatoes and corn.

We also tried a delicious, bacon wrapped salmon. The bacon was generously wound around and over the dijon glazed fish and served with a mixed berry compote. The side of squash was perfectly grilled and dusted with Parmesan. The sweet potato fries were crisp and served with a fabulous with brown sugar aioli dipping sauce.




We also tried the smoked fish dip and juicy, raw Gulf oysters. The bill for three of us with food, drinks and full bellies was $118.

My biggest disappointment; they ran out of lobster bisque before we got our order in. Next time. The market has lobster dinners to go and an off-premise license so you can buy a wide selection of beer and wine (everything from Flip Flop to Silver Oak). They even sell sauces and marinades, everything you need for a great date night at home or picnic on the beach