And so it continues ... a brand new set of tastes for 2017 ...
here's the TENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA
(coming to you on sequential Thursdays. All. Year. Long.)!
Establishment: Farmers' Market Restaurant
Location: Florida City
Meal: Lunch
Drink: (Pitcher!) of Coca-Cola Classic
Appetizer: Fried Zucchini
Main: Fried Fish Fingers
(Fresh catch ... which that day was dolphin fish)
Side(s): Steak Fries and Cole Slaw
Dessert: n/a
Server: Karlene
Website: n/a
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/floridacityfarmersmarketrestaurant/
This year, we are well on our way to beating last year's record number of diners in this series, and I'm happy to say that tonight I get to feature the highest scoring diner of the four so far this year, and the second highest of the ten diners since we started the very first taste so many months ago. It might have been because family was in town ... or maybe it was excitement over the experience of the excursion at the national park from which we had just taken a break for lunch ... or maybe it was all because of Karlene ... but see how the Troy-score of only the second A so far this year came together below:
AMBIANCE: 9/10 (I mean this in the best way possible ... but it didn't take me long to think of this place as the location in a Stephen King movie where all the surviving townfolk would gather to unite to fight whatever "big bad" was threatening them -- and they'd be damn sure fed well while they were there ... it was a big open room with lots of individual tables with various colored checkerboard tablecloths and it had a high ceiling with a natural light that came in through a row of windows, lighting up the wall mural of the cow driving the tractor ... the only point being taken off is for the public bathrooms that are right next to the restaurant with nonstop traffic and a bit of a public restroom smell that you had to navigate before you could have lunch)
FOOD: 9/10 (when you learned that the fish was swimming that morning and that the vegetables came from the farmers' market next door, it was no surprise that the taste of something as basic as dolphin fingers and fried zucchini was bumped up a notch ... and, from previous reviews in this series, know I wasn't going to pass up that fried zucchini, particularly when served as medallions ... and you can see from the photo that those steak fries were giant pillows of goodness, crunchy on the outside and practically mashed potatoes on the inside ... just a half a point off because the fries were missing salt and another half a point off for the homemade coleslaw, which was missing the tang that I prefer in that type of slaw)
SERVICE: 10/10 (I'm pretty sure that there may have been other employees working that day, but we were lucky enough to get Karlene -- and yes, she did make me think that she might have been related to the Jan Hooks character Carlene from 'Designing Women' and yes, we wish her service on every customer that comes through the door ... she had many talents, but I think the one that won me over was her ability to engage in an actual conversation without it feeling forced in any way -- she made it seem like she should have been in the other seat at the table as part of our party ... and the story was priceless about her having to explain to not-so-savvy customers that dolphin is a fish and not the actual dolphin and so an order of dolphin fingers did not mean that there were fingerless Flippers out there)
BACON: 7/10 (although none of my choices included bacon, it was indeed all over the menu in the breakfast and lunch sections ... it disappear from the dinner options, though, so we'll award 2/3 of the points in this category)
BONUS: 10/10 (+3 for all the delicious crunchies at the bottom of that basket of friend zucchini, +3 for Karlene [enough said], +3 for her not being afraid to bring over a whole pitcher of pop at the outset instead of just a glass 'cause she correctly guessed that I'd be drinking a refill or two and +1 for being a place to which we will return the next time we end up on the edge of Everglades National Park -- maybe even on all you can eat Wednesdays -- although then we'd probably skip the park and just hang out in the restaurant all day)
TroyScore: 45 out of 50 -- aka 90, an A
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