Sand Bar

 

The ole Wino is taking a little R&R on Anna Maria Island one of me and my wife’s happy places.  So we will be doing a little reviewing while we are over here. 

 

Our first stop is always the Sand Bar for lunch.  Located right on Holmes beach the views are spectacular and the food is just as good.  We are here with friends and we enjoy getting a lot of appetizers and sharing everything together.  So on this trip here is what we had.

First up. The Amazing Clam Chowder.  The first thing you taste is clams, in a rich not to thick broth.  The clams are not tough but so tasty.  We order house made Ciabatta bread to dip into the soup.

Octopus Escabeche The Octopus is brined in a sweet brine and then they add house-pickled Gamble Creek Farms vegetables, herb oil, fried green plantains.  The presentation is simply elegant and the flavors are just as classy.

Calamari.  This is an item we order everywhere we go.  We are looking for the perfect Calamari.  This is a good rendition for sure.  Nice and crisp but not brown crisp more white which at first was something that concerned me.  But once tasted it proves to be nice and crispy.  What made this dish was the Thai Chile dipping sauce wonderfully spicy and peppery a perfect accompaniment for the crispy Calamari.  Very satisfying

Fried Shrimp Platter.  Got this to round out the lunch.  A very generous 8 large shrimp fried to perfection. The basket was rounded out with great fries and two really good hushpuppies.  The shrimp were cooked spot on not rubbery at all.  Fries were hot and crunchy.  A welcome addition to our lunch.

There is a reason we always start here the Sand Bar never seems to disappoint.

Highly recommended

 

The Sand Bar

100 Spring Avenue

Anna Maria, FL 34216

(941) 778-0444

Evodia

 

What a bargain here!!  This wine hails from the appellation of Calatayud.  Where in the world is Calatayud?  Near the city of Aragon in northeastern Spain.  Evodia is sourced from Garnacha from the villages of  Atea, Acered, and Alarba. Located in the Sierra Santa Cruz, these steep sites (up to 25%) have various exposures but share similar soils – slate and quartzite over clay. At an average elevation of 900 meters above sea level, these vineyards are also among the highest sites within the province of Aragon. This unique terroir and the old vines of Garnacha rooted in it are the origins of Evodia.

Hand harvested, partially destemmed but not crushed 20 day fermentation in concrete vats, 7 day gentle post-fermentation maceration.  6 months in concrete tanks (80%) and neutral French and American oak barrels, and concrete eggs (20%).

This wine get constant scored of 90 plus points which for a bottle of wine that cost me $12.00 at Two Old Hags is a steal in my book.

Here is what the esteemed Wine Advocate had to say about the current vintage

“The nose opens up nicely in the glass and is quite aromatic and floral, exuberant, with a heady touch of ripe fruit. It’s young and tasty, tender and pleasant to drink, with a forward personality. A real bargain. Rated 90+

For me the nose is full of fruit and spices.  Color is dark and deep.  The mouth is full of delicious fruit, blueberries, blackberries, smooth tannins that leave you looking for the next sip.  What a great bottle to take to your holiday events this one will be a true crowd pleaser for sure.

Cheers, 

The Village Wino

All wines are purchased at Two Old Hags unless other wise noted.

 

Chateau de Pizay Beaujolais Blanc

A thousand years of history. Gosmard, the first Seigneur or Lord of Pizay, had two towers built in 1030 A.D. His descendants lived in the Château until 1916.  Today, the estate’s 80 ha (197 acres) of vineyards produce grapes for six different appellations: white Beaujolais, rosé Beaujolais, red Beaujolais, Régnié, Morgon (three cuvées) and Brouilly Château de Saint-Lager, which has been owned by the estate since 1998. 

As an appellation, Beaujolais Blanc makes up less than 5% of total Beaujolais production. Estates often tended a reserve vineyard planted with Chardonnay, the product of which adorned the high table.

 

A rare treasure in the Beaujolais region, of singular grace and charm; Beaujolais Blanc could be seen as the hidden face of the Pizay vineyard, the Château’s pearl.

Partly aged in wood, this softly textured, creamy wine has attractive peach and melon flavors. The floral character of the wine and light acidity make it very ready to drink now. So unexpected are its shimmering robe and scents, that any encounter with this wine means love at first sip. This is a buy it by the case wine. $29.99 with a 10% discount for case purchases.

Cheers,

The Villages Wino

 

All wines reviewed here were purchased at Two Old Hags wine shop unless otherwise stated.

 

 

Lopez Legacy Restaurant

 

I have to start out this review by saying this could be my favorite place to eat in the Villages.  Now I will recount our visit last night. 

Arrived right at our reservation time and were seated without delay.  Our server Maritza is always our favorite always smiling and laughing and happy to see our group. Drinks arrived and she went over the specials.  Appetizers ordered.  They arrived hot and perfect.  We even added one as the others arrived and it came so fast the others had not even made it all the way around the table!

The dinner orders were taken.  Maritza always puts the food in so the ladies get their food first then the guys.  All of the food arrived and was hot and great.  We are a bit difficult because members of our group kind of change things like no mashed potatoes double veggies no starch but spinach instead, some of the ladies are dressing on the side all of these little changes are executed without hitch.

Last night I got the Chateaubriand.  The steak arrived perfectly cooked to medium rare.  With a tasty demi glaze that was a great match for the hot bread for cleaning the plate up!

My table mates got the pork rib eye, cooked medium rare, cooked perfectly and served hot and ready with his special order mushrooms as well.  The other side of me got the Veal Meatloaf a crowd favorite for sure s dependable dish every night.  We love he fried onions that top the dish. All at the table of 11 were very satisfied.

I highly recommend Lopez Legacy. 

Cheers,

 

The Villages Wino

Lopez Legacy Restaurant

Location: 17135 Buena Vista Blvd, 

The Villages, FL 32162

Telephone: (352) 753-1475

Email: Suleimanlegacyinc@gmail.com

Blue Fin

 

The wife and I found ourselves in the Brownwood area this afternoon and decided to give Blue Fin a try for lunch.  We were sitting outside right away by a smiling personable young lady.  Once seated our server was right on the spot asking for drinks.  We order a bottle of wine, more on that later.  Looking over the menu there were a lot of great choices for someone who doesn’t eat meat, the wife.  We made of choices and ordered.  The food came in a very timely manner and was beautifully presented.  Props to the kitchen because it was very busy in the restaurant.  The wife’s crispy Fish Tacos with fries, Me Pesto Cobb salad.  The fish tacos were fantastic huge pieces of perfectly fired Cod atop a well stacked crispy Taco shell. The fries were top notch piping hot and seasoned with just the right amount seasoning salt, add some mayo for dipping and all was great.  The Pesto Cobb Salad arrived as ordered, sans cucumbers. I normally do not like a dressed salad because it is either overdressed or undressed.  This time they got it right.  The salad was full of great crunch, smoked corn kernels, bacon.  As well as cherry tomatoes, Village Grown greens, carrots, and avocado, one of my favorite salad ingredients.  It was delicious and very filling. We both couldn’t find anything that wasn’t spot on with either dish.

 

We ordered a bottle of 83 Rose. The “83” refers to the department number of the Var, the winery's home county in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. We found the wine to be onion skin in color.  On the nose we got, hints of strawberry, peaches with a slight herbal note.  On the palate it was delightful, beautifully balanced between fruit and acidity lovely finish of strawberries and raspberries. Highly recommend this one if you see it.

Enjoy,

The Village Wino

 

Blue Fin

2738 Brownwood Blvd

The Villages, FL 32163

352-571-5344

Lopez Legacy

 

My goodness if you haven't been here GO!!

The restaurant is one of the best, if not the best restaurant in the villages.  The service and food are second to none. 

On our most recent visit we had Calamari. Perfectly fried crisp and hot upon arrival with a dipping sauce you could drink!

The wife got the tuna appetizer for dinner and I got the Pork Shank.  The tuna was perfectly rare.  Served over an asian slaw that was dressed just right.  Wasabi surrounded the plate with an odd addition a blueberry on top of each dot.  However, it proved to be genius as the blueberry matched great with the sinus clearing action of the wasabi.

The pork shank arrived it was  huge, (a villagers dream lunch tomorrow easily)  however, I choose to eat it all it was fall off the bone tender.  The vegetable sides were green beans and carrots all done well.  Not mushy but crip and hot as well.

I highly recommend going to Legacy.  But know it isn't a secret how good this place is they are almost always on a 15-20 wait.  Make your reservations they honor them within 5 minutes always.

Happy dining

The Village Wino

  

Hemingway's @ Havana Country Club

I have been hearing that the new owners of Hemingway’s have really raised the dining bar here in The Villages.  Well we had a chance to eat there last night after our Saturday couples golf outing and I am here to tell you the rumors are absolutely true!  What a meal!!!

We were sat right away and our Server Victor was right there.  He explained all of the specials and took Drink orders as we browsed the menu. One of the appetizers’s caught my eye.  I love escargot.  But this was so different I had to give it a try it was flash fried, served with flash fried spinach, and dressed with a Myer lemon sriracha sauce.  It arrives and I am blown away the bowl is filled with fried spinach and the snails are under that the dish is slightly warm a perfect temperature.  It was beyond delicious the snails were perfectly cooked nice and crispy.  The greens wonderfully crunchy and the dressing was simply out of bounds.  A prefect escargot dish in my mind.  My wife gets a beet salad that has this spicy dressing and wonderfully loaded with sweet beets and lots of goodies.  The entrees come. 

The Wife gets the Hawaii Tuna Poke.  A nice size portion for her and perfectly done.  The Tuna was rare, spicy, and delicious.  I get the bone in pork chop.  I was impressed they asked for a temperature on my chop.  I asked for medium, the server confirmed that meant a warm pink center, I agreed and that is exactly how it arrived. The chop came with greens beans Al Dente almost too much, but ok.  Also came with this wonderful mango cherry cobbler than was a perfect accompaniment to the sweet chop.  An entrée that needs to be mentioned is the one our golfing partners got. Shrimp and Grits, my goodness what a dish.; Cheese grits fired under the broiler then large shrimp ringing the plate with a chorizo sausage ragout in the middle of it all.  WOW is all I can say. 

A nice wine list is offered. We had friends eating with us that brought a bottle and were charged a $15 corkage fee.

Now this meal was not inexpensive.  For the two of us it was over $100 which is very expensive for The Villages.  But if you are looking for that white table cloth experience without the drive to Ocala or Orlando this is it.

The Village Wino gives Hemingway’s ★★★★☆

Hemingway’s

2484 Odell Circle, The Villages, FL 32162

 352-430-3200