Last night we enjoyed a fabulous, casual dinner at First Round Draught on Del Prado.  Pop was in the mood for meatloaf and mashed potatoes and his meal did not disappoint. We shared the Ahi Tuna rare,  one order of hot wings and their bruschetta. Very noisy there, but glad to see them doing well in the off-season. Too many restaurants have gone out of business since we first came here in 2005.  www.frdcape.com

Tomorrow night, we hope to visit another favorite, Ariani’s and see the effervescent Chef Dario. www.ariani.com  Besides loving the murals painted by Chef Dario, along the walls, depicting his home country of Croatia, we love his linguini with white clam sauce, chopped spinach, escargot, and staff. One of our favorite servers, Alex (below with dark hair, with Jim) has been studying toward becoming a doctor and will be an excellent one with his people skills and intelligence.

We have been fans of Red’s on Pine Island also and took our son Rob for dinner, his last night before leaving for Afghanistan with the Army (2 years ago).  Thankfully, he returned safely home after completing his Army time.  The 25 cent oyster special between 4 and 6 at the bar was discontinued one year ago and arriving in time to compete for a seat, to have the special was part of the fun. We have found a new oyster restaurant, where they are not a quarter but it is closer and they make smoked mullet spread.

Sakura Japanese restaurant has been one of our favorites for sushi over the past few years. We had a terrific evening there in March, with Rob’s fiance’ Brittany and her family who were visiting from Prince Edward Island.  We wondered why it was so empty and the family was gathered in the back as we were leaving a little before 9, and we were told by our server they were closing early for a family crisis.  On our way out the door, we noticed everything in the bar was covered with plastic (preparation for extermination) and Rob noted a couple “critters” running around the register area, unconcerned by our presence. It was extremely funny to us all as we now knew why we had the place to ourselves, but my uneaten and packaged sushi went directly to the dumpster.  Our chef for the evening was hysterical and we will return again – though we will tell the owners they should have said “don’t come” that night when we telephoned for a reservation.  Below is an example of what can happen if you try sake for the first time or insult the chef, or both.