Our Review of Canta Rana restaurant in The Town Taster

Open publication - Free publishing - More bradenton

Mr. Pearson's Peppers

Being raised on Indian curries, Jamie is no stranger to hot and spicy food so it wasn't a surprise when he decided to try his hand at making hot pepper sauce.  We picked up an assortment of peppers at O'Brien Family Farms and the vegetable stalls at the flea market then Mr. P spent the rest of Sunday in the kitchen, happy as a lark with his fiery companions and a few bottles of Jai Alai India Pale Ale from Cigar City Brewery in Tampa. On the advice of the peppermaster at Heat Addicts, the sauces were allowed to age for 24 hours before a true taste test could be done.

To see total heat lovers in action, watch this great video from our friends at HeatAddicts.com   Love Hurts Some Times

Bradentown Scoop

In the South, it's always warm enough to have ice cream. One would think ice cream shops would abound but here in the Sunshine State it can be darn tricky to find one.  Luckily for us, Bradentown Scoop, and old- fashioned soda fountain & ice cream parlor, is just a few blocks up the road serving icy treats and a whole lot of fun if you stop in on a day Jamie is working.

The ice cream parlor is literally a story of reclaiming the past.  Located in the historic area of Bradenton that was once Manatee village, the building that houses the ice cream shop was rescued from disrepair and renovated some years ago. Various small business occupy portions of the building.  The building's owner, who also owns the ice cream parlor, was contacted through the local historical society when a beautiful onyx bar that lights up was acquired from an arcade that had gone out of business.  The soda fountain portion of the bar came from Chicago and an old soda fountain in need of refurbishing is in the small kitchen area awaiting return to its former glory.  There are period antiques decorating the shop, many of which are for sale. With its high, airy ceilings and big checkerboard square floors, the shop is a pleasure to visit.  But the biggest pleasures wait inside the coolers and in the creative minds of the soda jerks behind the counter.

It's fair to say that Jamie has a lot to do with the fabulous creations that are happily consumed: one, because he is the manager; two, because he enjoys making food look as good as it tastes.  What's ironic is that ice cream parlors and soda fountains are not something most Brits grow up knowing about, let alone visit.  People are always surprised to find an Englishman greeting them when they walk in the shop.  They are even more surprised to see him on the sidewalk throwing yo-yo between curbside customers in the early morning hours when the shop sells hot coffee and fresh donuts to commuters.  He's becoming a bit of a celebrity and thanks to a newspaper article, and a spot on a local news program, it's more than just the locals who are coming in and asking for sundaes and a couple of yo-yo tricks.

But when the scoop meets the cone, the star of the parlor is the
wonderful ice cream from Working Cow Ice Cream in St. Petersburg. It is beautiful on its own or topped up heartily with sauces and sprinklings. Our favorites right now are Espresso Chocolate Chip and Salted Caramel, but there may be a tub of Chocolate Chipotle in the offering soon and that's going to mean I ride my bike down for a test scoop in a home made waffle cone.  Some things just must be done. 

And of course there is the soda fountain and the chance to have your drink made in front of you.  Some ice, a few shots of your favorite flavor or flavors, a skillful addition of the bubbly water, a little stir and voila, cold and refreshing sips await.                

The soda fountain portion of the business has induced the most nostalgia for folks stopping in.  Jamie has met several former soda jerks, now well into their 80s, who have shared recipes and techniques.  As there are only three working soda fountains in the entire state of Florida, it's a bit poignant to realize this little portion of Americana barely survives.  Perhaps that explains the looks of pure delight on the faces of the retired folks when they sip a chocolate ice cream soda that tastes as good as the ones they drank back in the fifties.  It doesn't get much sweeter than that.

Bradenton on Dwellable

Yorkshire Puddings

Last weekend we decided to have a proper Sunday dinner, the best of UK traditions.  While our meat was corned beef and not a joint of lamb or a roast beef, we did the rest up proper--roasties (roasted potatoes and sweet potatoes) steamed carrots and fresh green beans, onion gravy, Black Sheep Ale from Masham in North Yorkshire and the piece de resistance, yorkshire puddings.  They are so easy to make, I don't know why we don't make them more often but it's probably good that we don't as we managed to eat the whole pan between tea (dinner to us Yanks) and pudding (dessert to us Yanks as well). 

Yorkshire puds are similar to popovers, though this British recipe seems to have more eggs and less flour than the popover recipes I peeked at for comparison. You can make them in regular muffin tins or make an enourmous pudding in a big baking pan then cut it up for serving. Use non-stick pans if you have them. It's very common in Britain to find sausages and mashed potatoes with gravy served inside a plate-size yorkshire pudding.  Now that's comfort food of the highest standard.

Here's our tried and true recipe for about 18 puds or 12 small puds and an 8x8 pud:

-Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees

-Put a small amount of vegetable oil in each muffin cup  (1/4 to 1/2 tsp) or enough in a big pan to coat the bottom   (The oil crisps up the bottom of the puddings and helps release them)

-Whisk together the following:  10 ounces of milk
                                                1 cup of flour
                                                pinch of salt
                                               3 eggs

-When oven is hot, place muffin tin in for 5 minutes to heat up the oil

-After 5 minutes, pull out pan and fill each cup with 2 1/2 Tablespoons or a scant 1/4 cup of batter

-Place tin in oven and patiently wait for 30 minutes

Try not to open the oven door for a peek until the end.  You will end up with yorkshires that are brown and crunchy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside.

The puddings are good hot out of the oven or cooled off.  After our tea, when we could move again and think greedily about dessert, I peeled and sliced two Granny Smith apples which I sauteed in a few tablespoons of maple syrup until the slices were soft. We spooned the apples over cooled yorkshires, added a little more syrup and voila! delicious dessert.  You can certainly reheat the puddings but they will be a little lacking in texture. We say be brave and just eat the lot the day you cook them OR only cook what you need.  The batter will hold over night and you can have hot puds again the next day!

Try them yourself and let us know what you think!

Yoder's

A wise person will grab happiness where they can find it.  A really wise person will hop in the car and drive to Yoder’s Restaurant in the Amish community of Pinecraft nestled on Bahia Vista in Sarasota.  Yoder’s is stuffed to the rafters with happiness.  We made what can only be called a pilgrimage to this city block of hallowed ground for a belated birthday dinner after having been thwarted by a line of salivating would-be diners that wound its way out the door and far into the parking lot on our first visit.  You expect lines like this for Rolling Stones concert tickets or a stall in the ladies room anywhere, not for a little Amish restaurant in Florida.  We were soon to find out why.

First of all, if you’re heading to Yoder’s, go hungry and go in the middle of the afternoon.  Any time of the day is fair game for eating in Florida but the normal feeding times 8am, Noon and 5pm will find Yoder’s overflowing.  We went on a Thursday afternoon around 2:30 and still the place was more than half full, a combination of tourists, locals and Pinecraft families.  The restaurant is very homey with lots of pine and lace and Amish art on the walls.  Despite all the people there was an almost reverential hush that presided over us all.  Perhaps it was the effect of tall ladies in dresses and white kapps circulating among the tables like school teachers of old.  Perhaps it was the massive plates of food.

We sat down quite intent on having the fried chicken and pie but our determination was tested when we saw the menu. (Click on the menu link to have a look at the full menu--amazing! It's a pdf file so it may take a minute to load)  Scalloped potatos and ham.  Anna’s Salad  Fresh spring mix, smoked turkey, dried cranberries, mandarin oranges, strawberries,

crumbled gorgonzola cheese and sugared pecans with raspberry vinaigrette dressing.

Served with fruit bread.  Mom’s meatloaf.  Alaskan cod. Manhattan sandwiches.  

And then there were the sides! 

Mashed Potatoes with Gravy

Amish Potato Cakes

Chicken Stuffing

French Fries

Baked Potato (after 4 p.m.)

Baked Sweet Potato (after 4 p.m.)

Corn Cakes

Amish Noodles

5-Bean Salad

Sliced Tomatoes

Tossed Salad

Cole Slaw

Applesauce

Buttered Corn

Green Beans

Vegetable of the Day

Fried Okra

Baked Hot Apples

Corn Muffins

Onion Rings (add $1.00)

Jamie stuck to his guns and ordered the fried half a chicken with Amish potato cakes and cole slaw.  I broke ranks and ordered the crab cakes with onion rings and tossed salad with bleu cheese dressing.  We both had the delicious Amish mint tea to drink.

Lordy, lordy, lordy.  When the waitress returned with our meals we could barely fit it all on the table, let alone see each other over the mountain of fried chicken.  From then on it was pure bliss. As fun as it is to try new cuisines and have dinner plates arrive with food presented as sculpture, there is something innately right about simple food exquisitely prepared.  You really can taste the difference when food comes from a kitchen that is concerned with the entire process of the meal.  Fresh ingredients. Sticklers for quality. Knowledge that good food will bring people back.

Every morsel was fabulous.  The crab cakes rivaled my favorites at Venezia on Long Boat Key, FL and Marie Dixon’s kitchen in South Freeport, ME. The onion rings were the size of bracelets with a batter so light it was akin to tempura. The coleslaw was perfection and the Amish potato cakes left us staring at each other in disbelief:  they arrived with maple syrup.  Fans of potato bread and potato donuts will know immediately how light, tasty and filling a potato pancake could be.  I supposed we were expecting something akin to a latke so when something resembling a pancake arrived with syrup we were on them in an instant. And then there was the chicken.  Truly, words can’t describe it.  Watch this segment from Man vs. Food for an idea of what it’s like to experience Yoder’s chicken.

We purposely ate only half our meals so we could have leftovers and more importantly, so we could have pie.  

Peanut Butter Cream       

Chocolate Peanut Butter    

Coconut Cream

Banana CreamChocolate Cream

Fresh Strawberry

Red Raspberry Cream

Homemade Butterscotch

Pineapple Cream

Florida Key Lime

Traditional in graham crust.

Yoder’s Key Lime

Dutch Apple Crumb

Southern Pecan

Blueberry Crumb

Black Raspberry

Red Raspberry

Shoofly

Chocolate Pecan

Raisin

Strawberry Rhubarb

Rhubarb

Mom’s Egg Custard

Baked Peach

Blackberry

Cherry

Pumpkin

Sugar Free Apple

Sugar Free Blueberry

On our previous visit to Yoder’s marketplace, we had brought home a small chocolate cream pie.  It was glorious and I chose another piece for this visit.  Jamie, a true peanut butter aficionado, went for Yoder’s peanut butter pie, which, if you watched the Man vs. Food footage, you have lovingly described to you in detail.  That pie is simply magical.  Neither too sweet nor too heavy, it’s like eating a fluffy peanut butter cloud.  We could only manage half our slices of pie with our beautiful coffee; thus they were lovingly boxed up and added to the two bags full of leftovers we departed with clutched in our happy little hands.

Some restaurants you go to just to eat something.  Others you go to just to relax. A trip to Yoder’s is a reminder that someone out there loves you.

For more information on the Pinecraft Amish community and the wonder that is Yoder's, read my blog post at Sodding Typical Amish Surprise .

(All photos are from Google images.  We were going to take photos but couldn't hold the cameras and chicken at the same time....)

Sarasota on Dwellable

IL Panificio

To be honest, I was having withdrawal.  After four years of living within walking distance of Mandola’s Italian Market and Bakery in Austin, it was a shock to discover there was no Italian market nor Italian bakery in Bradenton.  We even asked at an Italian restaurant if there was a place to get  just a fresh loaf of  Italian bread and the owner admitted he bought his daily supply from Publix.  So you can imagine my delight when we were in the Gulfgate area of Sarasota and there in its gleaming glory was Il Panificio just waiting to be explored.

Il Panificio literally means "bakery" but this treasure of a destination in Gulfgate is so much more.  If the day is pleasantly warm, portions of the exterior walls open to provide al fresco dining.  What could be more inviting than not even having to open a door to partake of beautiful food! It’s hard to know what to order first here.

Had we not been full of beer and fries from Sarasota Brewing Company across the street we certainly would have tried several different slices of pizza that looked and smelled fabulous. There are long deli cases of meats and cheeses, olives and salads.  You can order sandwiches and entrees, beer, wine or coffee. And then there are the desserts…oh my.

 We settled on cappuccino and espresso and a couple of chocolate-dipped butter cookies.  Excellent choice.  You can get a cappuccino just about anywhere these days but there is nothing that matches real espresso from an Italian market while sitting in the January sun. 

We watched as people browsed and left with boxes of cakes, tortes, cookies and exquisite, hand-tossed thin crust pizzas.  You know you’re some place fabulous when you can’t decide whether to have the pizza or the cookies first.

 
 Our barista and cookie wrangler was Roberto “Bob” Alvarez, who seems to wear many hats at Il Panificio, including offering Italian language classes, some of which meet right there at the restaurant for breakfast.  Brilliant! We chatted briefly as I took photographs and Jamie noticed from our table that Bob turned on the million dollar smile for the photograph that would go in the blog.  I bet those language classes fill up fast!

http://www.learnitalian.us/li/

Il Panficio has another location in downtown Sarasota that will surely be a destination the next time we hit the Farmers Market or need something exotic from Whole Foods.  For now, you can bet our next trip to Gulfgate will surely begin or end with a visit to Il  Panificio.

Gulf Gate on Dwellable