Most tourist destinations have at least one tourist trap featuring some gimmicky theme (Dollywood, anyone?) loads of souvenir shops, restaurants featuring food supposedly representative of the area, and ridiculous prices for both. Tin City checks off a few of these items, but it's worth strolling around to have a look-see, and if you're really up for it, you can sample some tomato wine. And get the shrimp. No matter where you decide to eat, get the shrimp.
The Tasting Room for the Naples Winery
I've worked the wine business in Wisconsin for several years now, and I've certainly made my fair share of visits to our local wineries. Like Wisconsin, Florida is not much reputed for its locally-grown or locally-made wine. The varieties of grapes that will grow in such a hot, humid climate are natives (such as Muscadine) that tend to produce very grapey flavors. But the majority of wines produced in Florida, as in Wisconsin, utilize local fruits other than grapes. They're made by fermenting the fruit, as with grape wine, and often back-sweetened to make the flavor fruitier and more like juice from that fruit, rather than a dry wine (although Naples Winery does produce some nearly dry wines. And they are not as palatable as the sweet and semi-sweet ones).
Being the adventurous person that I am, I set out to try some of the more unique offerings in my tasting. To get a baseline feel for their style, I started with the Florida Banana Wine. Tasted like liquid banana chips. Apparently 10-12 pounds of bananas go into every bottle. On to 40 Karat, a wine made not with fruit but-you guessed it-carrots. Carrots don't make good wine. Unless good wine to you is oddly vegetal and not-quite-carrot peel tasting. I tried the one wine made with grapes (the aforementioned local Muscadine), and the semi-sweetness really made it taste a lot like Concord grape juice. Getting a little weirder, Midnight Sun wine is made by tossing roasted coffee beans in with the oranges. Yep, for those who like to take their coffee in the morning with an OJ chaser. Starts out tasting like their semi-sweet orange wine (which is vaguely orange-tasting), and finishes like coffee. Yep. But if you do make it into this winery, you really have to try Hot Sun, the tomato wine with a touch of jalepeño. I mulled over this one for a while. "Reminds me of a Bloody Mary, kind of," I said to the host. "Yeah, I had one customer say it tasted like a weak Bloody Mary!" We laughed. And then he proceeded to give me his opinion: Better with food, and good for cooking, like in a boullabaise. I could see it. But with this (and the other wines) going for $20 and up... I'll just use tomatoes and white wine. If I ever make boullabaise. Which I probably won't.
So I thought my Tin City adventure had concluded with my wine tasting, but the very next night we went back to dine at Pinchers. Being right next to water and all, they specialize in fresh, local seafood. I am still sad about missing Dungeness crab season on the west coast this year, so I seriously considered ordering the stone claw crab claws because they, too, are in season right here in Florida. But when pressed, I really find it difficult to pass up shrimp.
I knew about oysters, but who knew about these others?
Shrimp. While i don't recall a specific occasion, I am 99% positive that my first shrimp consumed was in Florida, possibly breaded and fried, and likely on the Fort Meyers beach. And I'm pretty sure that for years, the only shrimp I ever ate was in Florida because in northern Illinois, shrimp weren't available very often and/or they were expensive. At a very young age, I know I was ordering shrimp scampi because it made use of my favorite three ingredients: shrimp, garlic, and pasta (okay, and butter, of course). And I'm also sure that at one point after I'd grown up, I purchased shrimp from a reputable fish monger up north and was just a little disappointed because they weren't as good as Florida shrimp. Now, you could argue that seafood shipped to the middle of the country, even fresh-never-frozen, will never taste as good as right off the boats. I'd buy that argument. But what many people who have not visited the Gulf of Mexico do not know is that Gulf shrimp are distinctly different than farm-raised shrimp, and even wild shrimp from other waters.
Raw Gulf shrimp in the seafood case at Pinchers
Gulf shrimp are pink, and they're naturally sweet. They're more flavorful than other shrimp, even than some langostines (in my opinion), and they're best prepared with little fuss. For me, I like them steamed and chilled, perhaps sprinkled with a little Old Bay Seasoning. Serve them up in their shells (peel 'n' eat is half the fun), and pair with a zesty house-made cocktail sauce. A half pound is plenty for one if you've shared an appetizer or started with a cup of soup. But I always have second thoughts about foregoing the full pound portion when my plate is clean. And the price at Pinchers? Reasonable (for Naples, that is). This trip, I'm eating so. much. shrimp. And actually, I would pair these shrimp with Hot Sun tomato wine.
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