Thursday, July 22, 2004

Freshly Sliced

So I am due for a salad review.

Florida’s is a seafood joint with a pretty thick theme. “Oh, so it feels like you are in Florida, then?” Not necessarily. I felt like I was in Panama more than in Florida. Which is odd, cuz I have never been to Panama. But I have been to Florida. I never saw places in Florida that looked like this restaurant. Sure, some of the wicker shtuff seems reminiscent of Florida, but overall, I felt like I was on some beach resort in the lower carribean (Roatan came to mind). Maybe that is a part of Florida I haven’t seen yet. Maybe not. Not really the point.

So onto that salad. Real nice. This one had it all. All the good stuff, that is. Cheese, bacon bits, onions, hardy leaves, croutons, etc. The leaves were crisp and cool. The cheese was firm with a mild flavor which is best for salads. I find sharp cheddars to be too much for salads. The bacon bits were plentiful, but not overdone. I believe they were also real bacon, just finely chopped. It was of a good size overall. I wasn’t full afterward, but I wasn’t wondering if I had a salad. We had also started with an appetizer of coconut popcorn shrimp. The app came out first and we polished it off a bit before the salads came out. Timing couldn’t have been better. A little time for the tummy to realize it had only taken in an appetizer, then a fine “Howdy-do!” from the salad placed in front of you. The rest of the meal came out in a timely fashion (as was inevitably dictated by the salad service) and was very tasty. I ordered the Seafood Linguine — a combo of Shrimp, crawfish (of course) and calamari mixed in a bed of pasta with marinara. Lots of meaty pieces in that pasta. I was more than satisfied. My mother ordered the Pecan Trout. Fantastic! You could taste the pecans baked in and it was just wonderful. I recommend trying that dish, should you go. The prices were average with a couple of their pricier dishes hitting the $30 mark. Of course, those dishes include a large hunk of crustacean and a bit of the cow on the side. As a side note: the waitress was all over my glass of water. I love that.

With all that said, Florida’s is a great place to go for a family/group dinner. The layout is very open, so if you are looking for an intimate meal, you may not get it. But, it isn’t noisy inside and while we were in a uninhabited area of the restaurant, we didn’t feel secluded or, in another sense, at a private function.

Trust the salads.

Sweet Jesus! Samurai swords own all!

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