Cru team redefines vision at four-year mark
RESTAURANT NEWS
Those who attend Cru's fourth anniversary fest on Saturday, March 29, will get a taste of what its two operating partners are cooking up for the restaurant's future.

Chef Brian Roland

Executive Chef Brian Roland and General Manager Michael Knox took over last fall when Shannon Yates left the restaurant he opened with investors John and Liz Kagan. Last week, they gave members of the news media a preview of what's in store, serving the four-course anniversary dinner and talking about their vision.

Over pan-seared diver scallops (with house made fettuccine and a stellar smoked tomato-zinfandel pomodoro), grilled ivory salmon with orange-hazelnut marmalade, cast iron-seared filet mignon and a dessert plate featuring artisanal cheese and chocolates, Roland and Knox introduced Cru's new menu and their plans for the coming months.

"Cru has always been a restaurant of change and we continue to reinvent ourselves," Roland says.

When people have asked him what kind of restaurant Cru is, Roland says he's had a hard time explaining it beyond its motto of "lush wines and pure foods."

"The focus has always been on the freshest, best-quality ingredients," he says, "but good ingredients are not a cuisine."

Using his classical French training, obtained at the Culinary Institute of Ame America, to approach fresh local ingredients, he's developing what h he calls "Florida fusion" cuisine. He plans to use as much locally produced food as possible along with the organic vegetables from the Ohio-based C Chef's Garden that are staples on the Cru menu. He says the concept "is a work in progress," but the anniversary dinner and the new menu, which features sushi, an expanded selection of small plates plus traditionally sized entrees, provide clues.

 

They plan to continue emphasizing personalized customer service and hope to draw more people in with new programs, including "Crusine," a series of monthly cooking classes that will run June through December, featuring instruction on sautéing, searing, grilling, stocks and sauces, sushi rolling, Oktoberfest, Thanksgiving meals and holiday feasts. Seating will be bleacher-style in the lounge with overhead televisions providing up-close views of what the chefs are doing. Participants will sample what's cooked.

More immediately, the anniversary event will feature the aforementioned four-course tasting menu accompanied by wines from Meeker Vineyards, music by jazz pianist Chris Workman followed by DJ 007, and hand-rolled cigars from Reserve Cigar and Wine Bar, among other things. It's $100 per person, runs from 5:30 p.m. until the wee hours, and reservations are required.

Throughout the month, the Crushi Lounge is offering selected tapas and Crushi rolls for $4 as well as $4 Bacardi, Van Gogh, Three Olives and Peroni's cocktails.

For reservations or further details, call 466-3663 or visit www.crufoodandwine. com.

Redfish Blufish gets new name

Redfish Blufish, the artsy little Sanibel restaurant known for its less-is-more approach to food, is about to become Sweet Melissa's Café, named after executive chef Melissa Talmage, who came on board last May, the very day that then-owner Gaye Levine died. Talmage has done a great job of carrying on Levine's vision of small portions with big flavors.

Although the name will change in the next month or so, the concept remains relatively unchanged, although Talmage has fine-tuned the offerings.

"It's a tasting menu instead of tapas," she says. "It's still small plates, but more composed. If you order one dish from sections one, two and three (on the menu), it would be the equivalent of a full meal."

The restaurant, at 751 Tarpon Bay Road, Sanibel, is open from 5 to 9 p.m. daily through Memorial Day. For reservations, call 472-1956.

Davidson brothers team up

 

Mark Davidson, the former chef of Casa Ybel's Thistle Lodge (and a Culinary Institute of America grad), and brother Mike Davidson, former chef at Kelly Greens Country Club, have opened Davidson's, An American Bistro on McGregor Boulevard in the building that formerly housed Citron's.

The casual restaurant offers lunches priced at $8 to $12, including Cuban or grouper sandwiches, a surf and turf quesadilla and marinated grilled steak wrap. Dinner appetizers run $8 to $12, and include crispy fried calamari, a charcuterie platter and Maryland jumbo lump crab cakes. Entrée choices, priced at $15 to $25, include seared duck breast, N.Y. strip steak, veal Oscar, ahi tuna and espresso and cinnamon charred lamb rack.

The restaurant is at 15291 McGregor Blvd., Fort Myers. It's open from 11a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Call 489-3350.