Tucked along the scenic Cocohatchee River in North Naples, The Bay House boasts an aesthetic that has evolved from a late-1980s casual Old Florida look to an elegant design with extended indoor and outdoor dining spaces. My friend and I never miss an opportunity to return. We go for the craft cocktails, nostalgia, views, seafood, and South-in-your-mouth desserts. She invariably starts with the Millionaire’s Martini, a white cranberry cosmo flecked with gold flakes, which sets a lavish tone. My Summertime Lavender cocktail, which balanced lavender syrup with rhubarb bitters, looked so fetching with its indigo gin infused with butterfly pea blossom.
Known for its raw-bar freshness, The Bay House got us started with a Gulf shrimp cocktail, executed with a simple elegance the dish deserves. Its opener menu builds on it, much as the establishment itself has built on its classic foundation. Oysters, ceviche, poke, and seafood towers satisfy the seafood urge, while pimento cheese and fried green tomatoes nod to its Southern heritage.
The roasted black cod is a stunner on the entrée menu, prepared with a sticky rice cake, roasted asparagus, citrus soy and ginger butter sauce, and shiitake mushrooms. If you can’t decide among the seafood, try the Seafood Pan Roast. Around a goat cheese potato cake, shrimp, scallop, and white fish wallow in a sun-dried tomato garlic sauce with sautéed spinach. For dessert, we chose two Southern classics prepared in-house. The bourbon-caramel dip complementing both the beignets and warm bread pudding settled it. Bananas, white chocolate, and vanilla ice cream escalated the latter with memories of The Bay House past and sheer exhilaration of discovering again what has kept it relevant and timeless. Â
Facebook Comments