Dining Gem; Sparkling Diamond

After a wonderful vacation to celebrate Bob’s and my wedding anniversary AND my birthday (which I tend to celebrate for at least three weeks), I am delighted to be back at my post for naplesillustrated.com.

Last Wednesday evening, I had the pleasure of dining with friends at a terrific little (and I do mean little) restaurant in the Pavilion Shopping Center in North Naples. KC American Bistro is owned and run by a gentleman named Keith Casey (thus the KC in the restaurant’s name). Casey also happens to be the chef and, I must say, I was pleasantly surprised to find the food he serves is absolutely delicious. My friends ordered calamari as an appetizer and they raved how fabulous it was. (I never let calamari, octopus, snails, or raw oysters pass my lips, just so you know.) Because I am a vegan about 98 percent of the time—unless wild Alaskan salmon happens to be on the menu—I ordered a vegetable plate for my entrée. One of my friends ordered lobster sliders and the other ordered the special grouper entrée. I was impressed when my plate arrived—spaghetti squash, mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli and tomatoes graced my plate. I have no idea how Casey prepared them—maybe with just some olive oil—but my dinner was just awesome. My friends felt the same way about theirs. So much so that they insisted on ordering dessert—the biggest, baddest chocolate sundae I had ever seen. Did I taste it? No. My two friends managed to eat nearly all of it and loved every bite. KC American Bistro is definitely worth a visit. The address is 885 Vanderbilt Beach Road, phone 239-566-2371. The restaurant serves wine (from a really good wine list) and beer only.

The new JetBlue Park at Fenway South in Fort Myers, spring home of the Boston Red Sox. (Photo courtesy of the Boston Red Sox; photo by Brita Meng Outzen)

Last Sunday, Bob and I were thrilled to have the opportunity to watch our Boston Red Sox play the Minnesota Twins on opening weekend of the brand-spanking-new JetBlue Park. The new stadium is so easy to get to—just three miles east of I-75 on Daniels Parkway … and the facility is absolutely gorgeous. Our tickets were right behind home plate, so we were able to see everything happening everywhere. The stadium was very clean. Bob had to have some in-the-shell peanuts—yum—and I felt we needed a wastebasket there to throw our shells in; I hated to toss anything on or in this beautiful stadium. JetBlue Park is truly state-of-the-art, a much-needed and welcome addition to Southwest Florida. We cannot wait to go again; the experience made us wish Major League Baseball was played here all year long.

Red Sox pitchers warm up in the bullpen area at JetBlue Park. (Photo courtesy of the Boston Red Sox; photo by Brita Meng Outzen)

The Green Monster wall at JetBlue Park, home of Boston Red Sox spring training. (Photo courtesy of the Boston Red Sox; photo by Brita Meng Outzen)