feast on lee
Click below to read more about each of these best of the season culinary debuts.
Coldwater Oyster Market
Sex on the Bay, Moondancer and Summer Love may sound like names on a playlist or cocktail menu, but they are a few of the more than two dozen varieties of oysters at chef Adam Nardis’ new labor of love in Fort Myers. Opened in November, the restaurant is a tribute to seafood from deep, cold-water regions—predominantly the Atlantic Northeast and Pacific Northwest—which Nardis felt were underrepresented locally.
Photography by Tina Sargeant
Coldwater Oyster Market
Chef Adam Nardis’ Coldwater Oyster Market celebrates the bounty of cold-water regions, with a focus on Atlantic Northeastern and Pacific Northwestern seafood. (Photo by Tina Sargeant)The Bohemian Restaurant
In a dinner that may start with Asian-inspired lobster buns and end with Southern-accented sweet potato beignets with sor ghum gelato, influences from Cuba, Peru, South Korea and Greece seep into other dishes. Like a true bohemian, the menu at this new Bonita Springs restaurant wanders and dares.
Photography by Anna Nguyen
The Bohemian restaurant bar area
The Bohemian’s baroque-meets-Palm Beach Regency interiors match the Florida-sourced, worldly menu.
The Bohemian’s baroque-meets-Palm Beach Regency interiors match the Florida-sourced, worldly menu. (Photo by Anna Nguyen)
El Basque Vin & Pintxo Bar
F or something untried in the area, this tapas bar brings the Spanish- and French-influenced flavors of its namesake European region to a tiny corner of Bonita Springs’ Prado shopping center. With 10 tables and four counter seats looking into the kitchen, El Basque feels like someone’s living room, with navy walls covered with heavily framed, Impressionist-inspired art done by co-owner John Colón’s mother-in-law. “I like to say it looks like a millionaire’s den,” Colón, who is also behind Bodega Olé in the Naples Design District, says.