Best eats of 2023: What dishes made our critic's list in Cape Coral and Fort Myers?
I was greeted with blank stares when I announced my New Year’s resolution was to eat more pizza.
Regrouping, I changed it to something work-related.
It’s been a year since I became your friendly neighborhood food writer and every-other-week JLB. I spent the bulk of 2023 covering more than 100 restaurant openings, reopenings, closings and coming soons for online and print.
But I’ve been slacking on social media.
Former food writer extraordinaire and all-around wonder Annabelle Tometich magically transferred her Jean Le Boeuf Instagram powers to my phone a few months ago.
And since I’ve done all of nothing with it, here’s where the resolution kicks in.
I have soooo many food photos saved in my phone that haven’t seen the light of day as they wallow in the just-in-case-I-need-a-picture-of-(insert food item here) category. While I eventually/maybe will mention them somewhere, they’re sitting on the back burner of my phone, growing cold.
Here’s where Instagram comes in.
In addition to restaurant news, I’ll post these divine dishes, memorable meals and creative creations to the JLB account so they get the love they deserve.
In July, I did a roundup of my top 10 dishes from the first half of 2023.
Although I neglected to do a second-half follow-up, I have pictures of all that I ate (surprise!).
Let this serve as a taste of what’s coming to Instagram.
10 favorite dishes in Southwest Florida, part II
Gather, salad with ahi tuna
Distracted by my love of Next Door, I sometimes overlook its sister restaurant. But with family in town over the holiday, I thankfully remembered this waterfront gem. Everything chef John Hill touches is a mix of flavors, textures and happiness. The highly Instagramable Gather salad topped with sesame-crusted ahi tuna features curried pistachios, goat cheese, cucumbers, watermelon radish and heirloom cherry tomatoes on a bed of greens with roasted shallot vinaigrette is a prime example. Each bite is different. Each bite is freshly wonderful. Save room for chef Jessica Shoemaker’s desserts. 5971 Silver King Blvd., Suite 116, Cape Coral; (239) 673-9939; gathercape.com or follow on Instagram
Ice Sssscreamin’, banana split
This longtime Cape ice cream shop recently relocated to a bigger and better location closer to downtown. With 32 cool and colorful flavors — including alcohol-infused ice cream for the 21-and-up crowd — you can create the perfect banana split. Brownie caramel vanilla, espresso chip and triple peanut butter with strawberry sauce and pineapple sounds perfect to us. The possibilities are endlessly delicious and have us sssscreamin’ for more. 1017A Cape Coral E, Cape Coral; (239) 471-2680; icesssscreamintogo.com or on Facebook
La Ola Bell Tower, cranberry walnut salad
This signature salad topped with salmon is one of owner Tom Houghton’s favorite menu items. Crisp, fresh and colorful, it’s the perfect mix with spring greens, dried cranberries, fresh strawberries and goat cheese crumble, served with house-made raspberry vinaigrette. It’s one of our favorites too, Tom. 13499 S. Cleveland Ave., Fort Myers, Suite 137 in Bell Tower; (239) 245-8737; laolasurfside.com or on Instagram
McGregor’s Public House, Irish Twins
This pub’s kitchen — featuring traditional Irish dishes with a twist — is as crafty as the beer. A prime example comes in the form of these hand-held shepherd’s pies. Lamb, Guinness stock, spuds, peas and carrots are lovingly surrounded by a light and flakey puff pastry sturdy enough to keep it all together. They’re doubly delightful. 13499 S. Cleveland Ave., Fort Myers, Suite 111 in Bell Tower; (239) 990-3336; mcgregorspublichouse.com or on Facebook
Sage on 47th, seafood risotto
I know I write about this South Cape restaurant too much. But it’s just that good. The lamb burger landed on the first best of 2023 list. The seafood risotto — with shrimp, scallops, mussels and a delightful roasted red pepper coulis — gets the nod this time around. The lamb chops may get the next nod. It’s all so good. 1015 SE 47th Terrace, Cape Coral; (239) 542-0200; sageon47th.com or find on Instagram
Savour Coffee, banh mi
Chef Matt Geiger took his time opening this cafe/coffee shop in south Fort Myers. “Savour is run by chefs so we take extra care in our product,” he said. “... We create here and want to do things better.” Judging by this Vietnamese sandwich — with marinated grilled pork, pickled daikon and carrot, jalapeno, cilantro, cucumber and five-spice aioli — they've succeeded. I tried it two months ago and still think about it every few days. Well done Matt. 16520 S Tamiami Trail, Unit 138, south Fort Myers; (239) 351-5547; savourcoffee.com or follow on Instagram
Shawn & Tony’s Kitchen, white chocolate Snicker cheesecake
Needing a dessert for the holidays, I picked this one up from the south Fort Myers eatery that replaced Shawn Leiva and Tony Clark’s The Gathering Place. I’d had Tony’s desserts before, but this creamy, smooth, melt-in-your-mouth creation was above and beyond. One bite and my 10-year-old nephew declared it to be life-changing. I couldn’t agree more. 8359 Beacon Blvd., south Fort Myers; (239) 425-2626; shawnandtonyskitchen.com or follow on Facebook
Stones Throw, Wagyu burger
The list of our 12 favorite burgers came out before I tried this one at Franco Russo’s newest restaurant. It’s 8 ounces of tender, flavorful juiciness in a brioche bun. The steak fries pair perfectly too. I’ll have to change my best burgers list next time around. 1339 Cape Coral Parkway E., Cape Coral; (239) 291-3900; stonesthrowcc.com or on Instagram
Two Meatballs in the Kitchen, Mama’s pasta
This recently remodeled Fort Myers restaurant is also Franco Russo-owned. This dish features a huge portion of your choice of pasta (we chose angel hair) with diced sausage and meatballs sauteed with pancetta, ricotta and peas in a cream sauce. I easily got two meals out of it. The clams & mussels fra diavolo appetizer also deserves mentioning for its spicy tomato sauce base alone. I could add Coco the Dragon, a specialty drink with chocolate rum, dragon fruit and mint. We got all three and would gladly do it again. 8880 Salrose Lane, Fort Myers; (239) 489-1111; 2meatballs.com or on Instagram
Uncle Rico’s, chicken parmigiana hero
Yes, this wildly popular Fort Myers pizza joint has the third-best New York-style pies in Florida according to the Washington Post. But my typical order includes pepperoni rolls (included in part I of my best of 2023 list) in addition to this simple, yet fabulous sub. It’s all in the bread and Enrico Aguila is a wizard with his. The hero is packed with tender, crispy breaded chicken, just right marinara and bubbly, melty cheese. Try it and you’ll understand why it’s on this list. 2960 Cleveland Ave., Fort Myers; (239) 362-0083; unclericospizza239.com or on Instagram
More favorites: Best new restaurants in 2023: Who made our critic's top 5 from Captiva to Cape Coral?
By the time you’re reading this, I (hopefully) will have posted something under the Jean Le Boeuf Instagram account. Even if it’s just a photo of the first of many pizzas I’m eating this year.
Jean Le Boeuf is the brand under which our restaurant critics have written for more than 40 years. This article came from staff writer Robyn George. Connect: rhgeorge@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: From Gather to Uncle Rico's: Our top 10 dishes of 2023, part II
