Features - Gulfshore Life

Grow Your Own Food in SWFL

Laura Kostelny — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 20:00:31 +0000

Hardiness zones and soil composition are no longer matters of discussion relegated to farmers and die-hard gardeners. Listen closely, and you’ll hear hedge funders-turned-homesteaders in tony Southwest Florida neighborhoods wax poetic on fertilizers and sustainability. They’re not alone. All over suburbia, folks are trading thoughts on crops that flourish where they are, beehive boxes that add to curb appeal and the wonders that come with composting.

The timing is no accident, according to regenerative designer and owner of Bonita Springs-based Edulis Designs Alex Nikesch. “Like many things in society, the pandemic accelerated preexisting trends,” he says. “I saw a notable uptick in people wanting to put together a homestead once they observed how brittle the food supply chain is.” In the last few years, more clients have come to him seeking sanctuary and self-sufficiency. The idea dovetails with the push toward a slower, more holistic way of living. “Homesteading provides a lifestyle change that allows you to become more integrated with the land—it’s both very meaningful and practical,” Alex adds.

While purists define homesteading as subsisting entirely off what you grow, hunt, build or forage, there are different levels of self-sufficient living. For some, the drive toward healthy eating leads them to grow their food. Many others are guided by a mindset of conscious consumption and living in harmony with the land. Whatever the reason, incorporating some homesteading practices can result in boons for your well-being and the ecological landscape. Here, three locals share their personal approaches to self-sufficient living, the rewards of growing your own food and a peek at their bounty.

[caption id="attachment_71066" align="aligncenter" width="255"] Photo by Garren Rimondi[/caption]

The Crop Crusader

As summer approaches, Florida Edible Landscaping’s Erica Klopf and her partner, Greg, are preparing to mulch and cut everything on their property back between chores that include weeding, figuring out how to re-home wild honey bees from the hot tub to a new hive, and tending to a flock of quail. “We have three coops—they’re so much more efficient and easier to clean than chickens,” Erica notes.

The landscape designer loves to toil in her quarter-acre Naples yard—her “lab,” which is planted with around 300 species, including multiple varieties of mangoes, avocados, bananas, rice, vegetables and so much more. “At the moment, I’m trying to select a perennial kale that thrives in the tropics, and I’m growing out perennial okra that will live 15 years,” Erica says. She experiments for the sake of her clients—to offer them the best of what can grow locally—but also for her benefit. The native Neapolitan delights in the fruits of her labor, with tasty crops she won’t find anywhere else.

When she’s not turning on clients to exotic fruits and healing herbs, Erica’s in her kitchen perfecting recipes tailored to the various ingredients growing in her backyard. She often looks for cooking inspiration in foodways from subtropical parts of Africa and Southeast Asia—cultures that developed with a similar climate. “That’s part of making the transition to eating locally: You look at traditional cuisines from those cultures and figure out how they used the plants,” she says. “This is wisdom that took thousands of years to develop.” One curry paste she likes to make is stocked with medicinal and nourishing properties from the gingers, peppers and herbs. “And it’s all homegrown,” she adds.

Living and spreading the edible landscapes gospel wasn’t always Erica’s plan. She first studied art at Florida Gulf Coast University. “During that process, I learned about the global environmental problems,” she says. Erica decided to take a break from her brushes, enrolled in environmental classes and realized she had the power to help make big changes. “We can reverse the environmental collapse and modify climate regionally,” she says. “The work I do now lays a foundation for solutions that can be implemented after my lifetime.”

Erica married her passion for ecology and art with her landscape design firm. She and Greg also make healing tinctures and teas using herbs they grow. They invite a sense of community to their plot, offering friends and family access to fresh produce and a wall of mason jars in the kitchen filled with bounty from the garden, including dehydrated fruits and herbs, salsa and Mexican masa dough, made with corn she’s grown. “For me, this is all about working toward a solutions-based lifestyle,” Erica says. “I can’t expect the world to change until I do everything I can to embody the solutions that I know are necessary.”

“This is wisdom that took thousands of years to develop.” —Erica Klopf

[caption id="attachment_71055" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Photo by Anna Nguyen[/caption] [caption id="attachment_71056" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Photo by Anna Nguyen[/caption] [caption id="attachment_71058" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Photo by Anna Nguyen[/caption]

The Produce Promoter

Sustenance has been top of mind for Garren Rimondi for as long as he can remember. The Bonita Springs photographer and videographer spent a lifetime experimenting with a variety of foods and how they made him feel after being diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia when he was 4. Throughout his teenage years, Garren tried different diets as he immersed himself in the world of wrestling and bodybuilding. Later, as an adult, his focus turned to the art of food photography.

Now, at 37, Garren has fully settled into a high-fruit, raw, plant-based diet (with the occasional cooked or raw seafood dish thrown in). He finds that nutrient- and antioxidant-rich fruit provides the best fuel for his body. When Garren and his wife, Lauren, moved to Bonita Springs from Fort Myers seven years ago, he took the opportunity of the region’s nearly year-round growing season and stocked their yard with trees and plants to supply his lifestyle. Garren likes knowing exactly what he’s eating and how it was treated.

He harvests pounds of produce from the property, including nutrient-rich varieties not often found in grocery stores, like chocolatey black sapotes, ice cream-like blue java bananas, Concord grapes, and vitamin C-rich Barbados cherries, along with a ton of mangos, starfruit, coconut, oranges, and other fruits. Despite the home’s booming bounty, Garren still considers himself to be in the early stages of the homesteading lifestyle. He is thinking about taking on chickens (“mostly because they help with certain bugs”), but for now, he’s content to focus on the beneficial vegetation he can plant for future generations and reaping what they sow each and every day. He hopes more local folks follow his lead. “Because we’re all living in such a technologically advanced state, everything is so far from ‘natural,’” Garren says. “We should all grow our own food—at least some of it—to become reacquainted with nature.”

Garren works to keep his produce easily accessible. Now that his plot is set up, accessing healthy, fresh food can be as easy as sticking out his hand. “I trim a lot of the trees, so they grow outward rather than in height, so there’s no need for a ladder back here,” he says. Plus, he adds, there’s nothing like the peace he finds some 35 hours a week trimming foliage, transplanting plants from pot to pot, composting kitchen scraps to create good quality soil, and generally working to make sure everything is “on the up and up.” “Quality control is certainly important,” Garren says of his drive to ensure everything he puts in his body is as clean as possible. “But more than anything, I appreciate the simplistic, self-sufficient aspect of this journey.”

[caption id="attachment_71057" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Photo by Anna Nguyen[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_71065" align="aligncenter" width="240"] Bonita Springs-based Garren Rimondi follows a high-fruit, raw, plant-based diet and grows much of his food in his backyard. “We should all grow our own food—at least some of it—to become reacquainted with nature,” he says. Photo by Garren Rimondi[/caption]

The Food Forester

Joel Viloria has always been able to see the forest for the trees. After suffering from an injury, the Venezuelan native began experimenting with different herbs and plants and eventually began selling potted plants like boldo, turmeric, ginger, moringa and sorrel on weekends at farmers markets in Naples. He began studying permaculture and left his job as a chemical and sanitation field specialist. “I fell in love with the idea of creating small places that mimic nature,” he says.

Three years ago, the 57-year-old launched his landscape design firm, Jolly’Olly Farm, through which he uses the tools of permaculture (designs that follow natural ecosystems) and agroforestry (intentionally combining trees with agriculture) to create sustainable backyards. “Ninety percent of the people who come to me start with fruit trees and then want to add something more,” Joel says. More advanced designs may incorporate heat-tolerant vegetables, edible native plants, pollinator flowers and shade trees. “We’re building an ecosystem where everything starts working automatically,” he says. “By the second or third year, they’ll have a mini food forest.”

Joel also builds chicken coops and helps his clients stock them. “Chickens are great, and they produce the most complete food on the planet—the egg,” he says. “If you know how to utilize everything in the backyard, nature will give you foods like lettuce, kale and leaves for chickens, and chickens give you food in return.”

His own nearly 1.5-acre home, in Naples’ Golden Gates Estates, is packed with an assortment of exotic trees that he tracks down throughout Florida, as well as Asian plants like moringa, wax jambu fruit and lemongrass, and native plants that attract butterflies and migrating birds. And, he loves trying out different plants on his plot. “I’m always learning,” he says. At the moment, he’s particularly excited about the jujube, a Chinese tree that produces stone fruit that tastes similar to a granny smith. “Apples don’t do well here, but now I have an alternative,” he notes.

While the perks of Joel’s passion are hard to dispute (“I snack all day. There’s always free food while I’m working,” he says), he’s most excited about the ripple effects of his newer lifestyle. “My youngest son, Matthew, has become very involved and is excited to learn more about what I do,” he says. “He’s 26, and I would love for him to continue my work. That’s priceless to me.”

[caption id="attachment_71060" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Naples’ Joel Viloria, of landscape design firm Jolly’Olly Farm, follows permaculture and agroforestry principles to create bountiful, sustainable backyards that mimic nature. Photo by Anna Nguyen[/caption] [caption id="attachment_71061" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Photo by Anna Nguyen[/caption] [caption id="attachment_71063" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Joel says rearing chickens pays off in spades. “Chickens are great, and they produce the most complete food on the planet—the egg,” Joel says. Photo by Anna Nguyen[/caption] [caption id="attachment_71064" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Photo by Anna Nguyen[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_71062" align="aligncenter" width="300"] He gets to snack as he works, thanks to the bounty on his nearly 1.5 acre homestead in Golden Gates Estates. Photo by Anna Nguyen[/caption]

The post Grow Your Own Food in SWFL appeared first on Gulfshore Life.

Meet the Guys Behind SWFL’s Innovative Pickleball Paddle Brand

Samantha Garbarini — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 20:00:01 +0000

Chatting with Zach Higginson and Ryan Reader, founders of Estero-based G.O.A.T Paddle, is one of the most hilarious brand interviews I’ve ever done. “The Golden Rule of G.O.A.T. pickleball is you hit a winner, and you go ‘BAAAAAAAA,’” Ryan tells me. Later he adds: “We wanted to start the G.O.A.T. mafia. You’re in it, Sam. You’re a hit woman now.” From anyone else, these would sound like cheesy, rehearsed one-liners, but coming from Ryan and Zach, it feels 100% authentic—a perfect representation of pickleball’s next-gen players who treat the sport as seriously as tennis while maintaining its infectious, fun-loving sense of community.

Ryan, a former Minto US OPEN Pickleball Champion, has played for 15 years and is among the sport’s longstanding Southwest Florida ambassadors. Florida native Zach is competing on the pro circuit this year. They met while working as instructors at the region’s pickleball mecca, East Naples Community Park, where they clocked 30,000-plus hours on the courts. The duo started offering private lessons and clinics in 2018, and last year, they made their program official with the formation of their community-centric Paradise PB pickleball coaching business. Not long after, they launched their first G.O.A.T. paddles. “Ever since we’ve known each other, we’ve been talking about paddles and technology—finding the best paddle that’s going to help us hit better shots,” Zach says. “We were consulting at different paddle companies, and at some point, we were like, ‘Let’s just do this on our own.’”

[caption id="attachment_71006" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Photo By Brian Tietz[/caption]

It’s all about taking the game to the next level for Ryan and Zach. Their paddles are particularly well-suited to tennis players who’ve transitioned to pickleball—a group that comprises many of the young, elite players who’ve raised the sport’s profile in recent years. The pair based the design on their observations while teaching players of all levels. Like many other high-performance brands, G.O.A.T. starts with a lightweight, polypropylene honeycomb core encased in thermoformed carbon fiber for increased durability. The two spent more than a year experimenting with surface grit, settling on a long-lasting, three-layer, specialized carbon-fiber weave that grabs the ball, allowing players to easily create a crazy amount of spin.

They also innovated with the strongly pronounced octagonal bevel grip, more akin to tennis rackets than most pickleball paddles on the market. The defined bevels create reference points for adjusting the angle of your grip mid-play—a topic increasingly in vogue among pickleballers. “A lot of points end up in hands battles, where you’re volleying each other, trying to rip the ball as hard as you can,” Ryan says. “We built the grip for optimal timing of touch on the ball—for your muscle memory to work in the moment.”

[caption id="attachment_71004" align="alignright" width="300"] Ryan Reader (below) and Zach Higginson (pictured here) launched G.O.A.T. Paddle with a singular focus: to create the best paddles possible. Their designs feature lightweight cores and ultradurable materials, beveled grips that allow for easy adjustments mid-play, and a three-layer grit surface for a crazy spin. Photo By Brian Tietz[/caption]

It’s no coincidence the paddles are perfectly aligned with the influx of young tennis players shaping pickleball’s next phase. While the low-impact sport has long been associated with seniors, the pro circuit is flush with college tennis players who’ve found it’s easier to rise up the ranks (and make money) playing pickleball. Former pro tennis players are joining the fray, too. In 2023, top American player Sam Querrey, former world No. 5 Eugenie Bouchard and Grand Slam doubles champion Jack Sock signed on to the Professional Pickleball Association Tour. “It’s so cool to see the athleticism really rise up within even these last six months,” Ryan says, adding that he’s particularly drawn to the sport’s dynamics—what it takes to nail the patterns of ball control and triangulations. “When you get to championship-level pickleball, you have to put the work in and really understand it.”

[caption id="attachment_71005" align="alignleft" width="200"] Photo By Brian Tietz[/caption]

But let’s bring the conversation away from the million-dollar sponsorship crowd. At its core, pickleball remains a highly social, approachable, easy-to-get-into game. To that end, G.O.A.T. introduced an affordable line for casual players, who are less concerned about bevels and other performance bits. The sell-out paddles feature playful designs, like a fire-engulfed skull, a UFO-flying alien and a fierce Bigfoot who’s taken a bite out of his paddle.

In addition to developing more products (they recently launched a ball and are working on more paddles), Ryan and Zach are focused on training G.O.A.T.’s pro team, which signed 16-year-old rising star Alexa Schull out of Miami. They’re also ramping up Paradise PB’s slate of events, starting with the G.O.A.T. Bowl, an amateur tournament and party they launched in February in Las Vegas ahead of the Super Bowl. “We like to connect with people. We’re Florida bros playing pickleball, living this lifestyle to the fullest,” Ryan says. “We are blessed to be in Florida, where it happens to be a religion to play pickleball.”

[caption id="attachment_71003" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Ryan—a 15-year veteran pickleballer and former Minto US OPEN Pickleball Champion—and Zach, who is set to compete in the pro circuit this year, met as instructors at East Naples Community Park. “Ever since we’ve known each other, we’ve been talking about ... finding the best paddle that’s going to help us hit better shots,” Zach says. Photo By Brian Tietz[/caption]

The post Meet the Guys Behind SWFL’s Innovative Pickleball Paddle Brand appeared first on Gulfshore Life.

SWFL Craft Bars Reinvent Fruity Cocktails—And they’re Better Than Ever

Jennifer Olvera — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 13:00:49 +0000

Offering a vacation from the mundane, fruity cocktails transport us to leisurely poolside afternoons near turquoise waters fringed with swaying palms. These colorful drinks spell summer.

Myriad beach bars dole out umbrella- adorned drinks by the buckets, but most serious cocktail makers and imbibers scoff at the thought of piña coladas and strawberry daiquiris. It’s not that aficionados don’t like fruity libations—refined programs from Unidos—A Latin Restaurant + Bar in Naples to Jungle Bird Tiki in Cape Coral flaunt their affinity for fruit-centric drink cultures. They shun the diluted versions that came with the introduction of cheap spirits and artificial mixers. But here, bartenders rise up with properly balanced, just-sweet-enough sippers that remind us why life is better on the Gulf. Fruit in cocktails can be found across eras and styles—from 17th-century party- perfect punches to Spanish sangrias to modern classics, like the pineapple-y East 8 Hold Up—but tiki culture reigns supreme. At Jungle Bird Tiki, Jeremy Vincent and his spirited maestros reclaim the Polynesian-inspired genre, following the standards established by the 1930s forefathers: homemade syrups, layered ingredients, kitschy fun and tons of fresh juices. The menu touts classics, like the Zombie and Hurricane (upgraded with premium rum and homemade fassionola, a passionfruit-based syrup), along with plenty of modern variations. Try the Fighter Pilot, with four rums and housemade falernum, or the less-boozy, Champagne- based Death to Fresh with peach, raspberry and pineapple—all served up in whimsical tiki mugs, naturally.

Jeremy’s newer Front Porch Social, near the Cape Coral Parkway, takes the focus off tiki but keeps fruit at the center of drinks, such as The Pair of Pears with lychee, prickly pear and pineapple. On weekends, ask for a mimosa flight, a tower with four fruit-infused glasses of bubbly.

[caption id="attachment_70905" align="alignleft" width="284"] A pepper jelly infused Jam Bramble at Front Porch Social[/caption]

In Naples, The Cave Bistro & Wine Bar’s sultry setting and oenophile inclinations belie the bartenders’ appreciation for the tiki craft. The bar has a secret, discretionary menu with turn-of-the-century classics and modern spins. Derek Van Dusen, who developed most of the list, proves fruity doesn’t have to mean light and sweet. If you prefer a burlier quaff, go for the Smokin’ Buddies, with scotch and mezcal tamed with lime, or Derek’s Any Port in a Storm, which updates the bourbon-and-passionfruit Port Light classic with single-malt. Derek likes to play with lesser-known spirits, liqueurs and house-made creations to upend imbiber’s expectations. For his new Mumei (translates to ‘No Name’), he mixes rich Plantation Original Dark Rum with house falernum, coconut cream, an apricot cordial, bitters, lemon and a dash of saltwater solution. Don’t discount a drink as saccharine because you see ingredients like coconut cream or apricot, Derek warns. Studied bartenders know how to blend bitters, tinctures and other elements to enhance and balance flavors. “It’s like a spice rack in your kitchen,” he says.

[caption id="attachment_70908" align="alignright" width="300"] Quality ingredients are key for balanced fruity libations at The Cave Bistro & Wine Bar in Naples.[/caption]

It’s not all tiki in the fruity cocktail world, either. Latin America lays claim to many exemplars, and few riff on the tropics better than Naples Design District’s Unidos. “We have such good produce [in Southwest Florida],” bar manager Luke Dunlap says. “There are so many flavors you can work with that bring a new dynamic to a drink.”

The team makes the sauces for tipples like Gin & Jam—a playful mix of gin and blackberry jam—and the new Quiero Morada. “The name plays off the color ‘purple’ in Spanish, but it also sounds like ‘I want more’,” he says. Luke makes the jam for his artisanal spin on a blueberry daiquiri, boiling and macerating the berries with cloves, cinnamon, orange, sugar and lemon. The blended rum libation is milk-clarified into a smooth sipper.

Cape Coral’s Nice Guys Pizza—a gritty bar that low-key touts one of the best drink programs in town—reclaims another fruity icon: the piña colada. For Nice Guys’ Escape, co-owner Greg Gebhard developed a ‘double juice’ technique, where he takes freeze-dried pineapple and rehydrates it with orange juice for an intensely flavored mix that exalts both fruits (“It doubles the flavor without diluting the drink,” he says.). Greg clarifies the alchemy to refine the texture and hits it with nitrogen gas for a creamy, velvety finish.

[caption id="attachment_70906" align="alignleft" width="300"] Nice Guys Pizza in Cape Coral uses a 'double juice' method for its velvety Escape nitro pina coloda. Photo By Brian Tietz[/caption]

Fresh, high-quality ingredients define the modern fruity cocktail. “We like to spend more money and put a higher-quality rum in the drink,” Jungle Bird’s Jeremy says. “Instead of doing 4 ounces of pineapple juice and 4 ounces of coconut cream, we can do half an ounce of each and let the good ingredients shine.”

At Naples’ Seventh South Craft Food + Drink, Barry Larkin adds another layer of fruity sweetness to his twist on the citrusy Bee’s Knees, with a dose of the Caribbean’s sweetened lime-and-spice liqueur falernum. In Bonita Springs, The Bohemian uses British-made, Naples-based Rivi Gin for its fan-favorite Green Goddess cocktail. The citrusy, herbal, spiced creation uses sake blended with Asian yuzu, ginger, mint from Bonita’s Farmer Mike’s U Pick, and a spritz of absinthe. We also love the restaurant’s Tiki Vibez with caramelized pineapple puree and a banana cordial.

[caption id="attachment_70904" align="alignright" width="200"] Seventh South Craft Food + Drink's Barry Larkin plays with grapefruit bitters, stone fruit spirits, and fresh lime and lemon juices. Photo By Brian Tietz[/caption]

Revered Southwest Florida bartender Stanley Worrell—who’s at The Bohemian and nearby Chartreuse Craft Cocktail Lounge—says ice is key for a good fruity drink. Once your ingredients are properly proportioned, the right-sized cubes help with controlled dilution to further balance sweetness or acidity. Shaking isn’t just for show, either, he says. The movement integrates the fresh ingredients and aerates the drink, creating a velvety, foamy texture.

Unidos’ bar manager, Luke, reminds us the harvest is not just sweet berries or sour citrus. “Fruit is not one note,” he says. “So many people think of peppers and things like that as vegetables, but they’re fruit.” In other words, if you’re not playing with fruit, you’re missing out.

[caption id="attachment_70909" align="aligncenter" width="200"] The Bohemian's Tiki Vibez cocktail blends caramelized pineapple puree and a banana cordial with two rums. Courtesy The Bohemian. [/caption]

[caption id="attachment_70907" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The Bohemian[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_70903" align="aligncenter" width="200"] The Bohemian bar uses seasonal fruits for drinks. Photo by Scott McIntyre[/caption]

The post SWFL Craft Bars Reinvent Fruity Cocktails—And they’re Better Than Ever appeared first on Gulfshore Life.

An Insider’s Guide to Boca Grande

Dorothea Hunter Sonne — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 13:00:28 +0000

Beyond the turquoise waters and wide stretches of sugary sand, the charm of Boca Grande is sealed by the porched and columned facades that convey the bygone days of Old Florida—and its charming Southern drawl.

Sandy Stilwell Youngquist has been enchanted by the quaint town at the end of Gasparilla Island since she strolled under the boughs of Banyan Street, near the Downtown Boca Grande Historic District, in her early 20s (she says the tree-lined way is the perfect spot for photos—the street’s so scenic couples often choose it to exchange “I do’s”).

[caption id="attachment_70924" align="alignleft" width="200"] Boca Grande’s historic charm, seen in places like the circa-1911 The Gasparilla Inn & Club, has beckoned Captiva Island restaurateur Sandy Stilwell Youngquist since her early 20s.[/caption]

It’s no surprise the Captiva Island queen—who owns an inn, five restaurants and a shopping center on the nearby barrier island—chose Boca Grande to expand her epicurean empire in late 2022. A love for preservation and exalting Old Florida is at the heart of Sandy’s ventures.

On November 1, weeks after Hurricane Ian wreaked havoc, she opened her second Keylime Bistro in Boca Grande’s old train depot, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. (Look out for her third locale in the new terminal of Southwest Florida International Airport in 2025.)

“To this day, it’s a breath of fresh air when I go over the bridge in my car or pull up to the docks in our boat—it feels like stepping back in time to a place that is not overdeveloped or overcommercialized,” Sandy says, emphasizing how Boca Grande offers a perfect blend of nature, small businesses and beautiful homes.

She wants others to discover the town’s appeal and how it’s possible for an area with blocks upon blocks of multimillion-dollar estates to remain unpretentious. Much of it starts with the people who frequent the island, a quiet-luxury crowd that likes to drink their sweet tea rather than spill it and ride around on golf carts before a few rounds of backgammon with a Gulf-inspired Boca Punch in hand.

No visit to the town is complete without seeing one of Sandy’s favorite spots, The Gasparilla Inn & Club, notably a longtime winter retreat for the Bush family. The restaurateur urges venturing into the striking Colonial Revival main building on Palm Avenue and booking lunch or dinner at one of the inn’s iconic dining venues, such as The Pink Elephant—called “The Pink” by locals.

[caption id="attachment_70930" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Mom-and-pop shops like Boca Blooms florist give the island its character. The canopies of trees that envelop thoroughfares like Banyan Street make for ideal photo-ops.[/caption]

In a time and place where anything goes sartorially, the inn clings to tradition, with a formal dress code that requires whites on the croquet lawns and collars and/or jackets throughout most other spaces. Sandy recalls a few years back when she and her husband, Tim, invited friends to celebrate the Kentucky Derby at the inn. While Boca Grande’s ‘season’ was long over the first weekend in May, they dressed to the nines to take in all the pre-race coverage at main floor lounge BZ’s. The inn indulges Sandy’s penchant for history and Old Florida charm. “It’s beautiful and exudes elegance with its white rattan furniture, pinks, greens and turquoise,” she says. “It’s very reminiscent of Southern hospitality.”

As she ventures deeper into the island, Sandy loves how innately walkable—and bike- and golf-cart- friendly—the community is (rental spots abound, but there’s not a single gas station). “You can park your car and bike all over the island,” she says.

Her favorite trail, the Boca Grande Bike Path, transformed the old railroad tracks, dating from the Gilded Age, into a verdant rail-trail that flows into Gasparilla Island State Park, home to the Port Boca Grande Lighthouse and Museum (a unique, two-story, square-shaped, shingled structure with a light nestled in a widow’s walk).

You can ride the trail to and from the historic train station that’s now home to Sandy’s Keylime Bistro and Loose Caboose ice cream parlor. The depot, which ushered industrialists and winter residents until its closure in 1958, still marks the heart of Boca Grande. “You can shop, you can dine; you can even bring a picnic. But to me, the dining is half the fun,” Sandy says.

Aside from her place (known for crab cake benedicts, grouper sandwiches and cocktails), she cites a tiny spot called The Temptation Restaurant that has a great wine list and a sign urging “Please, no profanity.” The bar Miller’s Dockside at Boca Grande Marina also draws her and Tim when they dock their boat after a day of exploring. The couple often opts to spend the night aboard their vessel, and Miller’s provides a lively scene in the evenings.

[caption id="attachment_70927" align="aligncenter" width="300"] “To this day, it’s a breath of fresh air when I go over the bridge in my car or pull up to the docks in our boat—it feels like stepping back in time.” —Sandy Stilwell Youngquist[/caption]

When it comes to dressing for days out (or picking up a souvenir), Sandy mines hidden gems. Sunsets of Boca Grande is her stop for cute handbags and resort wear; or, she’ll head to The Palm on Park - A Lilly Pulitzer Signature Store to channel the preppy-pretty Florida look. She wouldn’t let you leave town before swinging by the 1916 emporium Fugate’s and the town’s oldest marina, Whidden’s, which covers all your bait-and-tackle needs, along with offering a solid dose of local color via old photographs and artifacts.

[caption id="attachment_70923" align="aligncenter" width="199"] From the recently renovated The Gasparilla Inn
& Club to The Palm on Park — A Lilly Pulitzer Signature Store, Boca Grande suits Sandy’s love of history and preppy-pretty Florida style.[/caption]

Sandy delights in Boca Grande’s history and many singularities. Though the entrepreneur’s well- traveled through Gulf waters, she says there’s something special about witnessing the leaping silver-back tarpon that make the deepwater Boca Grande Pass renowned for sportfishing. She recalls springtime tournaments so packed with boats that you could hop from one deck to another, and likely be welcomed aboard by each new host.

[caption id="attachment_70934" align="alignleft" width="199"] Weeks after Hurricane Ian tore through Southwest Florida in 2022, Sandy persevered, opening the second location for her long-loved Keylime Bistro in Boca Grande’s old train depot.[/caption]

In many ways, Boca Grande is ideal for mariners, and that speaks to the core of this ocean-loving gal. Only boaters can access the island’s best beach—a crystal-clear swatch surrounding a sandbar at the former rail bridge on the island’s north side. It’s only fitting the best beach evokes nostalgia in a town that celebrates its cherished past.

[caption id="attachment_70925" align="aligncenter" width="300"] The longtime Captiva Island businesswoman likes to visit Miller’s Dockside bar at Boca Grande Marina after a long day—or night—on the water with her husband, Tim.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_70935" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Sandy says there’s something special about witnessing the leaping silver-back tarpon that make the Boca Grande Pass renowned for sportfishing.[/caption]

Photography by Anna Nguyen

The post An Insider’s Guide to Boca Grande appeared first on Gulfshore Life.

Meet Naples Visionary Photographer Harry De Zitter

Lauren Amalia Redding — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 13:00:25 +0000

In April, photographer Harry De Zitter found himself standing in the middle of a road in his native South Africa. He was talking with a friend in the Karoo, an arid region covered with low scrub brushes. The open, umber-colored plains surrounding them reached into infinite stretches as another man approached. Harry’s focus drifted to the newcomer’s fraying boots and the dusty, shattered asphalt beneath. He couldn’t help but take a shot. The resulting black-and-white photograph is so sparse and candid that it becomes affectingly intimate.

Harry, who spends most of the year in Naples, has a decades-long career as an advertising photographer. He’s a titan in the industry, globetrotting to cover splashy campaigns for dozens of top-tier clients, ranging from Mercedes-Benz and Stella Artois to Wrangler and IBM. He’s photographed Paul McCartney and Bill Gates, run studios in New York City and London, and published work in Elle Italia and Conde Nast Traveler.

[caption id="attachment_70895" align="aligncenter" width="300"] For his personal work, the advertising photographer titan shoots in grayscale. “Black and white gets at the reality of the place,” he says.[/caption]

But, when it comes to his personal projects, Harry favors story-driven compositions in black and white. Images like the one he captured on that desert road this past spring, Worker with Well-Worn Boots, elevate the aloof or mundane into a haunting human treatise and distinguish the photographer as an artist. “My viewfinder is my window to the world,” he says.

[caption id="attachment_70894" align="alignleft" width="300"] Family Waiting at Bus Stop, Natal, South Africa (1988)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_70893" align="alignright" width="300"] Farm Landscape, Overberg, South Africa (2017)[/caption]

Harry estimates that 90 percent of his work as an advertising photographer has been in color; his black-and-white photographs are all his—a fascination that’s stayed with him since college. He recalls the campus’ dark room and watching his first black-and-white shot come into focus under dim red light. “I was smitten,” he says. “It was magic.”

As his career in advertising photography coalesced, Harry kept returning to his monochromatic passions. It has cojones (nerve), he says of the grayscale palette. “It has texture; it has soul,” he adds, leaning forward in a burst of animation. “It reminds me of hearing a record producer talk about digital recordings, that they’re sometimes too clean. You need grit and noise.”

The absence of color, combined with Harry’s uncanny observational acumen, has yielded hundreds of black-and-white photos documenting people, places and possessions across the planet. In monochrome, Harry’s work is less encumbered by visual distractions, making his images sharper, starker. “Black and white gets at the reality of the place,” he says.

[caption id="attachment_70892" align="alignleft" width="300"] Worker with Well-Worn Boots, Middelpos, Karoo, South Africa (2024)[/caption]

Look at his photographs like Chrysler Building and Empire State Building. The images capture New York City’s famed landmarks, not as chipper postcard scenes but almost ominously in their achromatic states—a reminder that there’s more grit than glamour in the city’s grind. The same pathos is palpable in his monochrome landscapes. In The Everglades, part of his Chasing Clouds series, the inky undersides of thunderheads swell forebodingly over the swamp’s horizon. “That image wouldn’t have the same power in color,” he says definitively.

Grayscale photography has a narrative quality, too, Harry says, particularly with human subjects. In the 2019 Grandmother Shopping with her Granddaughter at Thursday Market, Harry captures a tender moment amid the streets of Bassano del Grappa, a town in northern Italy. The double portrait narrows in on the pair’s interlocked arms and hands, cropping out their faces entirely. The generational gap is evident through their wardrobe—the granddaughter wears a baggy Adidas shirt; the grandmother, a tidy ensemble with a structured handbag—and the warmth is palpable with how they lean on each other. “I was moved by the granddaughter’s tenderness for her grandmother,” Harry says. “The act of her affectionately holding her grandmother’s arm, whereas most teenagers would be too embarrassed to be seen with their grandparent, [struck me].”

[caption id="attachment_70897" align="alignleft" width="300"] Grandmother Shopping with her Granddaughter at Thursday Market, Bassano del Grappa, Italy (2019)[/caption]

As they talked, the nonna told him that Lino Manfrotto, the founder of renowned photography and videography equipment company Manfrotto, had been her wedding photographer. She didn’t know Harry had been an ambassador and product tester for the brand for years, a partnership that continues to this day.

Born in Belgium, Harry and his family moved to South Africa’s Eastern Cape when he was 9 months old. At 18, he enrolled in the Port Elizabeth Art School (now part of Nelson Mandela University) and soon found work as an assistant in his professor’s son’s darkroom. “I’ve had to be very versatile,” Harry says. “In the United States and Europe, photographers specialize because there are so many people working in places like New York, London, Paris. But in South Africa, you had to do it all—cars, fashion, still life.”

Much of Harry’s South African photography serves as a documentation of his home as he knows it: interior shots of his brother’s workshop, portraits of longtime friends and prominent creatives, candid shots of locals in various parts of the country.

[caption id="attachment_70896" align="alignleft" width="300"] Chrysler Building, New York City, New York (1995)[/caption]

Amid these familial and fraternal frames are photographs like Family Waiting at Bus Stop. The arresting image, shot for Manfrotto, captures an African family of nine deep in the Zulu nation (one of South Africa’s native populations). The subjects seem to scrutinize the man behind the lens—the younger family members stare back, unabashed but slightly defensive, except for two: an infant and a young boy in a dark V-neck sweater. The boy looks vulnerable and forlorn, having resigned himself to this stranger taking his photo. The feeling of surrender in his eyes betrays his siblings’ stoicism. Harry felt the tension when he snapped the shot, but rather than shy from discomfort, he leaned into the honesty of the moment.

After all, his goal is to capture the raw beauty and truth of life. “There’s something about the strength of black and white,” Harry says. “I’ve always had a little thing on my shoulder—I don’t want to call it an angel, because I’m not religious—telling me to shoot in black and white.”

[caption id="attachment_70900" align="aligncenter" width="200"] Harry De Zitter’s Schoolgirls Buying Train Tickets, Zushi, Japan (1986)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_70901" align="aligncenter" width="300"] WWII Liberty Ship in Fog, Embarcadero, San Francisco (1996)[/caption]

The post Meet Naples Visionary Photographer Harry De Zitter appeared first on Gulfshore Life.

SWFL Fashion: Summer’s Most Colorful—and Unexpected—Styles

Gulfshore Life — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 13:00:18 +0000

Fort Myers-based architect Joyce Owens captures the modernist soul of Southwest Florida in her designs. For this Sanibel stunner, the architect exalts dimensional lines and light and shadow. Joyce’s signature sense of whimsy pops via a statement orange wall that perfectly backdrops summer’s technicolored, subtly sensuous looks. Oscar de la Renta gown; Amiri silk bowling shirt; AREA jewelry.

Photography by Omar Cruz

Styling by Veronica Porras

[caption id="attachment_70918" align="aligncenter" width="240"] Even the boldest styles go flawlessly when you consider architectural design principles of balance, rhythm, scale, and unity. Here, a pleated, plissé hoodie mimics the movement of the butterflies, and the ruffled gloves create cohesion with the headpiece. ISSEY MIYAKE hoodie; PR SOLO costume headpiece and gloves.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_70921" align="aligncenter" width="240"] Staying covered is essential in the sun; light, silky fabrics ensure you don’t overheat. Go full-length with your hemline and sleeves, but keep it playful as you channel midcentury Palm Springs vibes with abstract patterns and sinuous lines. PUCCI dress; Alexander McQueen umbrella.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_70912" align="aligncenter" width="240"] Another architectural principle to steal from the architect—work with contrast. Juxtapose materials, colors and styles to surprise and delight. Oscar de la Renta caftan; AREA earrings; PR SOLO vintage cuffs and hat. Left: Silvia Tcherassi yellow top and skirt; Eugenia Kim hat; Lada Legina 3D Printed bracelet; PR SOLO costume jacket.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_70913" align="aligncenter" width="240"] Just like a statement wall can be all a home needs to go from masterful to divine, so can statement jewelry elevate an elegant black dress. Balenciaga asymmetric cape-effect maxi dress; Lada Legina 3D Printed ring; the stylist’s African necklaces, cuffs and headpiece.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_70916" align="aligncenter" width="240"] Experiment with proportion and scale to maximize visual impact. ALPANA NEERAJ jumpsuit; Ariat hat; PR SOLO private collection costume stole.[/caption]

The post SWFL Fashion: Summer’s Most Colorful—and Unexpected—Styles appeared first on Gulfshore Life.

Revered SWFL Artist Mally Khorasantchi’s New Series Collages Life’s Cycles and Seasons

Emma Witmer — Wed, 01 May 2024 05:19:45 +0000

“But, this is good.”

Mally Khorasantchi punctuates many sentences this way, speaking in her lilting German accent. Noshing on a dulce de leche-stuffed croissant from Bonita Springs’ Wolfmoon bakery, the artist frets playfully about her figure. “But, this is good.” The reflexive phrase signals her contentment and matter-of-fact wisdom. Overlooking the creek behind the Bonita Springs dream home she and her husband built together—the one completed just months after he suddenly passed away—Mally says the house can feel too big for one person. “But, this is good.”

Mally Khorasantchi is not one to dwell on what could be or what might have been. Her life occurs moment-to-moment, her mind fixed on the present, even when her heart wanders into the past. The last two years have been a shifting tide for the painter, but this period of upheaval—stemming from the loss of her husband and the move from Naples to a verdant tract in Bonita Springs—has settled into a contemplative quietude. Mally’s painting jeans tumble in the laundry more often now as she focuses on a new series: The Sun Also Rises, an apparent opus on life, love and a connection to nature influenced by the flora and fauna surrounding her.

“If you overthink things, you never do this. You know?” she says of immigrating to the United States from Germany some 32 years ago. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision to move halfway around the world. The decision seemed rash to some, but at 43, she still felt young and adventurous. Her kids, by then grown, had moved to the United States. The house in Düsseldorf was too big and the weather too dreary. When Mally Khorasantchi and her husband visited their son for parents’ weekend at University of Pennsylvania, the pair allotted a week for a vacation to Southwest Florida. They quickly fell in love with the silky air and the smells and sounds of nature by the Gulf. “Why don’t we do this?” Mally remembers asking her husband. “Why do we live on the other side of the world with this ugly weather and the Germans, who are not so funny?” In a matter of three months, the two closed on a property in Naples’ Bay Colony community.

Mally paints botanicals—big ones—and abstract scenes interspersed with clippings from her favorite French fashion and architecture magazines. One day, while she flips through a publication, she’s inspired by the flourishing hemline of a pink, ruffled petticoat. Mally neatly slices the image from the page and places it into the woven basket she keeps at her side for just such moments—piecemeal parchment flutters in the container.

The pink fabric’s movement and hue hold meaning, but she hasn’t deciphered it yet—that will take time. First, the artist must remove herself from the work. She’ll read a book, listen to music or sit by the creek and watch the manatees swimming in concert with the easy current. Then, some innocuous word, melody or blooming flower strikes a cord, and the swooping skirt reappears in her mind as a cluster of petals. Soon, this image bleeds into the magenta hues of her 2024 painting The Sun Also Rises VI. There is a narrative behind each of Mally’s paintings. Beneath the billowing petticoat, a bowl of fruit blends into blue, tendril-like leaves; a simple, white bed hides amid the texture of tree bark. In this way, life’s little monotonous moments are framed as part of a natural process—order and chaos in tandem. Everything is as it should be; everything flows along life’s current.

[caption id="attachment_68908" align="aligncenter" width="850"] Mally Khorasantchi’s larger-than-life artwork, which blends painted botanical imagery with collage elements, is a favorite for Gulfshore Life advisory board chair and trustee for Naples Children & Education Foundation Denise Cobb. “I love the colors and themes and especially love the fact that every piece is so unique, but you immediately know it is Mally,” she says. (Photo by by Christina Bankson)[/caption]

Steal Like an Artist, a book by Austin Kleon, further influenced Mally’s collage works. The author frames art as an iterative process and encourages readers to pluck inspiration from the imagery surrounding them; there is greater meaning in the context of individual experience. The Hidden Life of Trees, by German author Peter Wohlleben, forged Mally’s belief in the interconnectedness of life and nature.

The artist is an avid reader and collects fragments of ideas from books. Last year, Mally Khorasantchi and her lifelong best friend took a cruise to Key West and stopped by The Hemingway Home and Museum. She’d visited the site before, but this time, the artist purchased the author’s first novel, The Sun Also Rises. She hoped the book, where characters search for meaning after tragedy, would help her process the grief of losing her husband, Ali.

Reading the novel, Mally noted the telegrams Hemingway’s characters sent between New York and Europe—it made her think of the many messages Ali sent during business travels. Originally from Iran, Ali ran his family’s oriental rug company and would jet to foreign locales to visit manufacturers. He’d send telegrams back to his wife in Germany: “zur muttertag gratuliere iche liebe dich beste schone mutter der wel: dein mann” (‘Happy Mother’s Day, I love you, the most beautiful mother in the world: your husband.’). His messages were short—each word cost five Deutschmark (roughly $2.50 at the time), but with his voice now gone, each word carries more weight. “Today, we have all the words in the world and nobody cares. It’s overflowing. But this was so short,” Mally says. “I took the telegrams and put all the lines into my paintings. This is recycling my love,” Mally Khorasantchi says. These slices of affection reflect on the importance of our words and find their way into each piece from her current series.

Inside her artsy, eclectic home—which mixes Mally’s modern maximalist, antique and coastal sensibilities—stacks of works-in-progress line the hallway leading to her studio. Before construction ended, the artist worked out of the property’s only existing structure, a backyard shanty surrounded by the tangle of native plants and animals that first drew her to the green oasis near Old 41 Road in Downtown Bonita Springs. She would peer out the window, observing the way Spanish moss dripped from the overhead canopy or how seed pods went from fuzzy to rigid as they dried, and pull these small glories into her work. Mally’s massive canvases barely fit into the cottage, leaving little space to step back and adjust her perspective. To get a good look, the 76-year-old painter would drag her work out into the yard over and over again (no small feat after a spinal fusion in 2021) to check the light and refine each detail.

Once a work is complete, Mally releases it to galleries, museums or private buyers without reluctance. This piece of her was meant to be shared, not hidden away. “A painter is like a storyteller or a dancer,” Mally says. “We have to be naked there and present ourselves. And then, we have to wait for somebody to love us. You’re not really in charge after you make something. That’s the end of your story, but then, it takes its own little trip.”

Over the past decade, Mally Khorasantchi has refined and locked into her aesthetic. The vibrant hues of her modern-day work starkly contrast her paintings before moving to America. Dark-toned works have evolved into her current expressive and emotional style, inspired by Southwest Florida’s natural environment.

[caption id="attachment_68909" align="aligncenter" width="850"] Mally’s home reflects her artsy, eclectic style. Modern maximalist, coastal and antique elements blend seamlessly in the comfortable, open-concept living space. Various paintings from throughout the artist’s career adorn the walls, and stacks of works-in-progress line the hallway to her studio. (Photo by Amber Frederiksen)[/caption]

While her early work was more subdued, Mally’s personality never was. She was born shortly after the end of World War II in a culture that she says emphasized self-doubt over her natural boldness. Mally was certain she would be an artist, even when life challenged her dreams. At 9, she won an art contest at Düsseldorf’s annual lantern festival. At 12, she lost her father. Two years went by, and Mally began looking at art schools. Then, her mother was diagnosed with cancer. The artist reluctantly attended business school—the more stable option, impressed by her family—and married a man who was only good on paper. By 28, Mally was divorced and had two children. “Then I met my neighbor, later husband, Ali. He was short and Muslim and everything that my mother prayed against,” she says laughing. “But, we made it nearly 46 years, and it was very good fun. We had a wonderful relationship.”

During her years with Ali, Mally Khorasantchi studied art and produced two popular exhibitions in Germany. The couple’s arrival in America, though a welcome change of scenery, once again impeded the artist’s work. She could not paint; she needed to work to get a green card, so for eight and a half years, Mally ran a nail salon, where she learned what it meant to be American. The women she worked with were fiercely independent, fearless and unapologetic—qualities that felt authentically ‘Mally’ in a way Germany never did. The couple became American. Then, they became citizens. Then, Mally returned to her canvas.

She opened a studio in the Naples Design District in 2001—the first studio on Shirley Street, now brimming with artists—and found representation locally with Harmon-Meek Gallery. Her work can be seen in the United States, Germany and Russia. The artist served as president of United Arts Collier between 2010 and 2011, planning events and raising money. She still attends events sometimes, but she’s learned to enjoy solitude and visits from friends. The backyard of her Bonita Springs home provides more than enough inspiration for her creative flow. Her little black cat, Mr. Tucker, stalks birds from behind a screened-in pool, and she drinks sparkling wine in the evenings. It is quiet and beautiful and lively and lonely. “But, this is good.”

The post Revered SWFL Artist Mally Khorasantchi’s New Series Collages Life’s Cycles and Seasons appeared first on Gulfshore Life.

How Angelina’s Ristorante in Bonita Springs became a Institution for Southwest Floridians

Chanda Jamieson — Wed, 01 May 2024 05:17:13 +0000

My nonna used to prepare this for me when I was just a boy,” Angelina’s Ristorante sous chef Daniel Bellinger tells patrons—most of whom are friends and family—at a wine dinner in March. During the monthly event, Angelina’s chefs thoughtfully pair dishes with select wines from a vintner. Tonight, the focus is on Napa Valley’s Groth Vineyards & Winery. Daniel is wistful as he details the labor of love before us: little slips of delicate pasta dough pinched at their ends, drenched in a deep pool of bronze-colored brodo, a long-simmered homemade bone broth. Each parcel of caramelle pasta, named for its shape like a wrapped caramel, encourages a sort of reverie. This is slow food rooted in a communal past.

Tonight, the small bundles are filled with slow-braised pork. Flecks of meat swirl in the brodo as spoon after spoon of broth is drained. It reminds me of Southern potlikker, or ‘what’s left behind,’ meat and bones boiled down to a hazel elixir. But at Angelina’s Ristorante, nothing feels forsaken—everything is golden.

Each step takes hours, which turn into days. “And this is just one course of many,” says Angela Smith, who owns the restaurant with her husband, Don. Generations of Italian culture and history trace the outer edges of Angelina’s Red Room, where the wine dinners are held. The space is adorned wall-to-wall in varying shades of red, reminiscent of blushing Burgundy and sun-ripened tomatoes. Reverent poems, generously stenciled on the walls, wrap the room, punctuating the connection between earth and table—and the people seated around it:

“My darling, you breathe in the fragrance of the vine. / Feel joy in the warmth of Tuscany and its food. / The pasta is rich, the wine is full, and the friendship is sincere.”

Dappled light filters through each layer of the large, hung Renaissance paintings that appear as if lit from within. The soft lighting makes any visit to Angelina’s feel warm and inviting, but it’s the people who make the restaurant a home away from home. Here, the servers quickly learn your name—or at least your favorite wine. Fruits and vegetables are pulled from the earth sometimes hours before arriving at your table, sourced from neighboring Farmer Mike’s U Pick, which delivers to the restaurant daily. Dishes are anchored in tradition with an ingredient-first philosophy—a collection of staples executed with passion, from the fresh mozzarella, stretched by hand each day, to the imported Italian balsamic and olive oil, made specially for Angelina’s. Food writers often wonder if one should eat to live or live to eat, but here, there is no difference. Good food is seen as a necessity, and so is the company with which it is enjoyed.

Angelina’s Ristorante is Mr. and Mrs. Smith’s love song, their family story. And for them, family is meant in the truest Italian sense of the word. Every server, runner, chef and customer-turned-regular marks the heartbeat of this place—a coordinated rhythm of familial excellence going on 16 years. This is the Smiths’ Italy, the food Angela has always loved to cook and Don has loved to eat.

Don was recently retired when the couple opened the restaurant in 2008. He had spent decades in the fast-food industry, rising through the ranks at McDonald’s, before joining Burger King as president and CEO. Later, at PepsiCo, Don helped breathe life into the Pizza Hut and Taco Bell franchises. Before he retired in 2005, he owned all of the Perkins and Friendly’s in the United States.

After three years, it was time to slow things down—not as retirement suggests by nature but as love requires. It takes time to develop dishes that honor centuries of tradition and specials so good they remain unchanged for years. The couple could risk an uprising if they removed the beloved, salty-sweet, slow-roasted veal agnolotti or the sea salt-encrusted yellowtail snapper, which has been on the menu since day one. Presented whole inside a dome of salt, the snapper remains warm inside its castle, ready to be cracked open tableside. The escaping steam floods the Rococo lights above several times a night when the dish is ordered.

Italian cooking is simple yet evocative. Individual flavors are pronounced rather than layered, often accented by just a drizzle of olive oil or a pinch of salt. Angela, an avid home cook and recipe-tester for America’s Test Kitchen, including their magazine Cook’s Illustrated, helped design the menu. Don worked on the building. Both made a commitment to their staff, treating them as family and asking only that they do the same for Angelina’s guests. Theirs is a hospitality rooted in care, a level of service unparalleled in fine dining. “So many of our regulars ask for a specific server. And some will even coordinate their reservations around a server’s schedule,” Nick Kattman, an assistant general manager and sommelier at Angelina’s for nearly 11 years, says. Nick began as a server and quickly dove into the restaurant’s wine program.

The young oenophile was drawn to Angelina’s legendary three-story wine tower. Within the 30-foot-tall structure, everything is precisely controlled—temperature, humidity, the UV from the sunlight streaming in from the restaurant’s garden. Little brown wine tags dangle like paper jewels in the filtered light. The older, more sensitive vintages are nestled side by side, accessible via a staircase that winds toward the heavens.

At Angelina’s Ristorante, it’s the food. It’s the service. But it’s also the wine. Nick takes me inside the wine tower, and I wonder at the possibilities within the nearly 4,000 bottles, all revealing their own pilgrimage, their own language. Italian wines take precedence, but there are also several first growth Bordeaux, which reach their peak after two decades. “They have to be on their side at the proper temperature and ideal conditions,” Nick says. Given Florida’s flat landscape, the Smiths dreamt up the towering glass column in the middle of the dining room to emulate the effect of an underground cellar. “I found it fascinating. It was like a moth to the flame,” he adds.

Nick volunteered to store the bottles, learning the tower top to bottom. He recently traveled to Italy, as many at Angelina’s Ristorante have, eager to visit the country and see the culture that shapes their daily life. He and wine director Dinah Leach live in a state of constant learning. Dinah teaches a wine class every week and encourages all staff to attend. After one year of employment, Don and Angela pay for their servers to take the level-one class of the Court of Master Sommeliers exam, the first step in becoming a certified sommelier.

[caption id="attachment_68906" align="aligncenter" width="850"] Executive sous chef Israel Martinez is considered the backbone of the kitchen. Here, he finishes a dish tableside—a common occurrence at Angelina’s. Like much of the staff, he’s been with the restaurant for years. (Photo by Anna Nguyen)[/caption]

Jamie Edmunds, another tenured server at Angelina’s Ristorante, sets down the final course of the wine dinner—lamb shoulder over parsnip puree with carrots, paired with a 2019 Groth Vineyards reserve cabernet sauvignon. The lamb shoulder was braised then pressed under a weight overnight. It’s dense, meltingly tender, rich and delightfully sticky.

As Jamie finishes her rounds, she shuffles through a series of tickets in her apron, each one reflecting the likes and dislikes of familiar customers. She notes their preferred wines and favorite pairings and often offers to send them home with what remains at the evening’s close.

One table over, an exuberant diner asks who’s responsible for the marinara and how it’s made. Jamie answers, “Mrs. Smith, of course, one of the owners.” The diner approaches our table apologetically; she must have the recipe. Angela smiles, a broad, welcoming gesture. “When we first opened, Don told me that the kitchen might need some help tweaking [the sauce]. It wasn’t quite right. I came in and shared my recipe. Garlic and olive oil toasted on the stove. San Marzano tomatoes—I squeeze each one by hand. And then let it be. It’s the simplest thing,” she says. The diner nearly hugs her in gratitude.

Moments like this are frequent at Angelina’s Ristorante, when a dish is made so simply, with such reverence for its parts, the diner feels inclined to slow down and savor each bite the way one hopes to savor life itself. The pappardelle ‘Capri,’ a restaurant staple, features only Sorrento lemon olive oil; juicy, Italian San Marzano tomatoes; and fresh basil to temper the richness of the oil. Wide, handmade pappardelle are cut with imported bronze dies, creating a porous texture that clings to the glossy sauce. “It feels and tastes like Italy,” Daniel says.

During our final course, Daniel is joined by executive sous chef Israel Martinez, who stands quietly by the Red Room’s French doors. A piano plays in the background, framing the moment. Israel began as a dishwasher at Angelina’s. He was captivated by the smells and sounds of an Italian kitchen—flour suspended in air, 80-pound wheels of aged Parmigiano Reggiano, San Marzano tomatoes, grown in the volcanic soil of Mount Vesuvius. He was eager to immerse himself, to learn more, to do more.

Over the years, Israel mastered the menu, working his way up to sous chef. When Angelina’s longtime head chef resigned, Don and Angela leaned on Israel. “No one knew we were without an executive chef from the moment the position was emptied over a year ago to now. All because of Israel,” Angela says.

The Smiths call him “the horse,” a reference to how he carried them all. Daniel came on several months ago after working his way through Napa Valley at Michelin-starred restaurants including The French Laundry. The environment in the California restaurant was markedly different from Angelina’s—more of a pressure cooker, less of a homecoming. Tonight, the chefs are busy but relaxed; a certain tenderness motivates them. “We are lucky to have you both,” Don and Angela tell the chefs. With their hands over their hearts, the men respond, “We are the lucky ones.”

The post How Angelina’s Ristorante in Bonita Springs became a Institution for Southwest Floridians appeared first on Gulfshore Life.

A Return to Glam in Naples

Gulfshore Life — Wed, 01 May 2024 05:09:43 +0000

[caption id="attachment_68884" align="aligncenter" width="819"] Tucked away in a back room at District Naples, you’ll find the bar’s hush-hush Staff Only speakeasy. Here, Art Deco decor evokes an era when meeting for cocktails was an event and high fashion was the sip du jour. Pictured: Robert Abi Nader gown, Patricia Robalino Palm Beach jewelry. Right: Lena Erziak Couture gown, Patricia Robalino jewelry, Christian Louboutin shoes. (Photo by Omar Cruz)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_68885" align="aligncenter" width="819"] Jewels aren’t the only statement-making accessories this spring. The setting calls for channeling 1930s avant-garde icons, like Elsa Schiaparelli, by capping your ensemble with a vintage turban. Robert Abi Nader hand-embroidered runway dress; Nayibe Warchausky Limoges porcelain and gold pins; Aquazzura shoes. (Photo by Omar Cruz)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_68886" align="aligncenter" width="819"] A hand-embroidered caftan is the epitome of effortless glamour. Think Princess Grace of Monaco dressing for a night at the Casino de Monte Carlo. Judith Cabrera silk and crystal poker dress; Patricia Robalino diamond necklace, gold and diamond ring and earrings; Paco Rabanne pendant. (Photo by Omar Cruz)[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_68882" align="aligncenter" width="819"] Texture beats color in this all-ivory ensemble, a modern nod to Yves Saint Laurent’s iconic Le Smoking. Wade Allyn White jacket, pants and top; Patricia Robalino diamond earrings and ring; Saint Laurent tray and gold papers; stylist’s vintage hat. (Photo by Omar Cruz)[/caption]

Styling by Veronica Porras

Location Staff Only at District bar in Naples

Hair and Makeup Duality Artistry

Model Eliza Finskaya, Wilhelmina Miami

The post A Return to Glam in Naples appeared first on Gulfshore Life.

One of the Most Influential Men in Saltwater Fly-Fishing Lives in Fort Myers

Jennifer Reed — Mon, 01 Apr 2024 22:10:51 +0000

OK, I’m gonna put the hook in the vise. We want the shank parallel to the floor … The next thing we’re gonna figure out is what size eyes we want. The eyes will affect the sink rate.”

I am sitting in the home workshop of Drew Chicone, saltwater fly-tying master, watching him create a salmon-colored imitation shrimp to attract fish. He wraps thread around the hook to form a body, secures little black bead chain eyes and adds silicone legs to mimic the crustacean’s anatomy, sparkling fibers for attention-grabbing shimmer and rabbit fur to regulate the fly’s movement. He snips the thread end and secures it with acrylic. “OK, your turn,” he says, exchanging places with me.

Fly fishing is the art of catching a fish using a fly—a handmade replica of a fish’s prey, like baitfish, crabs, shrimp or insects. It’s my first experience with the sport, and I’m learning from the guy. From his Fort Myers base, Drew shares his knowledge and innovations to advance saltwater fly fishing, a contemporary—and rapidly growing—offshoot of the centuries-old freshwater pastime. The fisherman’s fly designs have won major industry awards; he’s published numerous magazine articles, authors a free monthly e-newsletter and has written a three-volume, 900-page tome on fly fishing. The day after my lesson, the December issue of Fly Tyer magazine hit shelves. The publication named him Fly Tyer of the Year and featured his flies on the cover—an angler’s equivalent to landing in Rolling Stone (Drew’s analogy).

Drew’s been at this since he stumbled upon his parents’ fly-tying materials in the basement of their upstate New York home when he was about 6. The box was a treasure chest—scraps of fur, feathers, tinsel, thread, a few of his dad’s flies and his mom’s handwritten notes. He still has the notes, stuffed between the pages of Art Flick’s Master Fly-Tying Guide, a gift from his grandmother to his dad.

Something stuck. Drew, a restless kid, loved arts and crafts, especially origami. He was obsessed with fishing. “It was like the sky opened up,” he says of the day he figured out that he could marry his hobbies and make his own lures.

“I think I have my first fly I ever tied with my dad,” he continues, rummaging. “Here it is.” He hands me two, grinning: a delicate mosquito imitation (Dad’s) and a blood-sucker-on-steroids version (his). “I mean, everybody’s got to start somewhere, right?”

Despite his love for fishing, Drew—like most of us—did not think a childhood passion equated to a grown-up job. He pursued a pragmatic career in the mortgage, title and real estate industry. He founded his own company, working so hard that he landed in a cardiologist’s office in his mid-20s. Diagnosis: stress. He shuttered the firm in 2007. “What are you going to do now?” he recalls his wife, Susan, asking. “I’m not 100% sure,” he responded. “But somehow, I’m gonna work in the fly-fishing industry.”

For a time, he continued to work in various industries like banking and supply-chain consulting. But all the while, he studied and practiced fly tying, handcrafting as many as 5,000 flies a year to perfect the art, gain a following and amass inventory to sell. The sport tends to attract obsessives. In an extreme example, an American student studying abroad broke into the Natural History Museum at Tring near London in 2009 and stole feathers and bird pelts for fly tying. Drew crosses no such ethical boundaries, but he’ll scour rummage sales and internet boards for hard-to-find and discontinued products, like a square rubber leg that looks more realistic than today’s rounded silicone products, or Aunt Lydia’s Rug Yarn, coveted for its texture, natural-looking sparkle and ability to hold its shape when wet.

Drew’s workshop is the envy of any crafter. Storage bins line the walls. They’re crammed with fur, feathers, wool, shredded Mylar, foam board, beads, marabou feathers, thread and countless other materials. “You know it’s bad when you go into Michael’s or JOANN’s and the old ladies are like, ‘Hey, Drew!’”

Anything and everything is fair game in fly design. One of Drew’s award winners, Chicone’s Contraband Crab, uses a dish scouring pad, chosen for its natural color variations (fish are suspicious of things that look fake), texture, and availability, among other reasons. He makes the crab’s eyes by holding monofilament to a flame and melting the polymer into a pinhead-sized ball, which he dabs with black nail polish, and voila! Chicone’s Contraband Crab took Best in Show at the 2016 International Fly Tackle Dealer (IFTD) Show for its versatility and the niche it filled in the market.

If Drew can’t find a material that serves his needs, he may well invent it. He has conceived several products, including Chicone’s Fettuccine Foam. Drew had been wrestling with how to make a fly more buoyant. He’d tried incorporating deer hair, but it tends to sink when saturated—a problem when you’re targeting snook, which feed on prey above them. One day, over an Italian dinner with his wife, Drew glimpsed a chef feeding sheets of dough through a pasta cutter. “We gotta go!” he announced. The couple raced home. (Such epiphanies are not uncommon—he keeps a notebook on his bedside to capture middle-of-the-night inspirations). In his workshop, Drew began slicing water-resistant foam board into noodle-like strips to replace the hair and tested the flies in his backyard pool until he struck the exact number of strips needed for optimal buoyancy. Fettuccine Foam is a key component to his Tuscan Bunny fly, which won IFTD’s Best in Show in 2017.

Fly design is an art, but the practice is grounded in science. Before Drew sits down to create, he must know: what his target fish eats, where in the water column it feeds, and whether it goes after prey located above it or below it. He considers habitat types and seasonal shifts. He thinks about whether a fly should make a splash when it hits the water or land feather-like, so as not to spook the fish he’s after. He knows which species latch onto flies that merely resemble their prey and those that bite at only the most realistic imitations. Drew has even researched how fish see underwater, dedicating a section of his first book, Feather Brain, to explaining the Ultraviolet light spectrum. “I got really nerdy,” he confesses. “It’s extremely tactical, but this level of detail didn’t exist.”

If Drew did nothing more than design flies and products, he would hold a place among fly tying’s elites. He affirmed his mastery by selling to a major retailer, Umpqua Feather Merchants. But that’s not his only contribution. Drew is a gifted teacher—patient, encouraging and detailed. The New York native fell into the role of saltwater fly-fishing educator and apostle after moving to Fort Myers in 2003.

Florida is the epicenter of sport fishing in general and the place where saltwater fly fishing came into its own, thanks to a generation of fishermen who adapted casting techniques, equipment and fly design for saltwater environments. Drew, who likewise shifted from freshwater to saltwater fly fishing, recognized that the sport was ripe for development, innovation—and education.

[caption id="attachment_67927" align="aligncenter" width="850"] Since leaving the daily grind of “real jobs” and moving to Fort Myers, Drew Chicone has helped supercharge saltwater fly-fishing, an offshoot of the classic freshwater sport, with Florida as the epicenter. In the past decade, he’s written dozens of books and magazine articles, led workshops and shared tricks of the trade with his thousands of newsletter subscribers. (Photo by Michael Owens)[/caption]

About 15 years ago, he offered fly-tying lessons to kids at Bass Pro Shops in South Fort Myers. That’s where, one evening, he encountered the late Eric Leiser, from Cape Coral, who was regarded as one of saltwater fly tying’s pioneers. Drew still remembers their first meeting. “He had a pair of plaid pants from the ’70s and a cap like the paperboys used to wear,” Drew recalls.

Eric, in his 70s at the time, was looking for a student of his own. Something about seeing the younger man at work must have resonated. “I’ll teach you everything I know,” Drew remembers him saying, “You take it from here, and keep teaching it. But you need to make me a promise. No secrets.”

Fly tyers were a cagey bunch, protective of patterns and techniques. The sport smacked of elitism and clannishness, a throwback to the Victorians, who turned fly fishing into a nobleman’s pastime. Eric wanted to change that, using Drew as a conduit.

Along with fly-tying techniques, Eric taught Drew how to write. “Explain it to me as if you couldn’t do it with pictures,” said the older man, the author of several definitive fly-tying guides. Drew published his first free newsletter in 2012, sharing what he’d learned from Eric, along with designs, tips, and time-saving tricks he developed on his own. As his following and reputation grew, he reached out to the sport’s other greats—Flip Pallot, Chico Fernandez, Lefty Kreh—to learn from them and pass on their wisdom. He expanded his writing into magazine articles and books. His next, self-published work, Bluewater Flies, releases this year.

Drew writes the way he likes to learn: Step-by-step, like a recipe book. Even though Eric sharpened his explanatory skills, Drew insists on copious photographs to enhance understanding. He documents his process in a makeshift studio, a cardboard box painted sky blue. Today, Drew estimates he reaches at least 500,000 people a year through his newsletters, website, Instagram, YouTube videos, podcasts and other publications. “It’s passing the torch to the next generation,” he says. This includes his 12-year-old daughter, Lucy, who has a tackle box of flies that she tied with her dad.

Drew balances unpaid endeavors with an amalgamation of financial ventures, from collecting royalties on his fly designs to serving as the United States distributor for a New Zealand-based rod manufacturer. He is sponsored by numerous brands, including BOTE and Patagonia, and runs a tour company, Luxe Cadre, through which he leads private excursions, revolving around fishing and hunting, fine wine, and cultural experiences, to places like the Bahamas and Argentina. And, if that’s not enough, he’s part owner of Frigate Reserve Rum, a premium spirits label developed by a group of friends who brought Drew on for his aptitude with logistics. His entrepreneurial brain is as active as his fly-tying one.

Drew likes to say: You can make a fly that looks beautiful on the bench, you can make a fly that performs, or you can make a fly that does both.

On a perfect weekday morning, we make our way through Drew’s backyard to Whiskey Creek’s tree-shadowed water. We step onto his paddleboard—he in front, me observing from behind—and glide noiselessly from his dock. The board skims the water’s surface, creating so little disturbance that the fish and manatees barely notice us. I watch him cast, turning his torso right, left, and right again, his line gaining energy with each twist. He makes it look effortless.

Drew has chosen a fly that imitates a bait fish. He casts for me, hands me the rod and shows me how to manipulate the movements to make the fly move as if wounded. “Sing ‘Three Blind Mice,’” he suggests. Tug-tug-tug. Pause. Tug-tug-tug. Pause. A little snook latches on, and I reel in my first-ever fish caught on a fly. “People get addicted to it, you know,” he warns over his shoulder.

The morning is still. Mangroves, palms and shrubs obscure neighborhoods and roadways and create solitude. “It’s no longer a craft,” he says. “It’s like a calling.”

The post One of the Most Influential Men in Saltwater Fly-Fishing Lives in Fort Myers appeared first on Gulfshore Life.