The Bay House Restaurant

The Bay House is undoubtedly one of the most picturesque, romantic restaurants in Naples.  It's a little difficult to find unless you happen to know where The Vision Nightclub is.  (A little A-frame building on the west side of 41, just north of Immokalee.  I really hope you don't know where it is because it is mentioned frequently in the police reports.)  But it is a good landmark since Walkerbilt Road is just north of it, which is where you turn to go to Bay House.  You can sit by the large expanse of windows overlooking the Cocohatchee River and not even know you are so near 41.   Another unusual thing about the Bay House is that it is quiet - a place I can take my dad and he can actually hear the conversation!  But - that's in the dining room, and unless you are with your dad and he is 89, the place you really want to be is in the bar!

I'll admit we avoided the Bay House for awhile after they decided to replace Stu and Patricia, some of the best jazz musicians in Southwest Florida.  I'll be talking more about them in a future blog.  But we eventually had to come back because of the interesting music Bay House is featuring.  A favorite of ours, Meagan Rose, who we have heard many times on Monday nights at the popular sports bar, South Street Grill, is now at Bay House on Friday nights solo and also on Saturday Nights with her dad, "Smokin" Bill Zink.  Meagan is obviously a classically trained pianist with a beautiful sultry voice that lends itself to a variety of music.  When we walked in Saturday night, she was just starting to sing the Leonard Cohen song Hallelujah.  Wow!  That song gives me shivers whenever i hear it.  The entire room applauded when it was over.  Here's a Youtube video of her for those under 40 singing the Radiohead song "Creep":  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVhuVJTDpxw&feature=related   For those over 40, here she is singing the Etta James' song "At Last": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ7oMv63orM&feature=related  Sorry about the quality of those recordings.  Here's "Smokin Bill" playing  "Pipeline-Bumble Bee"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVg1gH9_b20&feature=related    When was the last time you saw someone using the "whammy bar"?  At least I think that's what it's called.  See why he's called Smokin Bill?  Yes, you can actually see this duo in Naples, Florida. 

Here's the bad part - good luck getting a seat in the bar.  But it's worth fighting for.  Hover around someone who is taking their last drink and squeeze into their seat before someone else does!  And guess what?  The food is not bad.  We split a Miss Roberta's Pimento Cheese Burger and a Roasted Beet Salad (with arugula, yum!).  And they even divided it in the kitchen.

I kind of hesitated telling you about this because i don't want to have to fight you for a seat next Saturday night, but i just couldn't keep it to myself!

Olde Naples Pub

A few weeks ago, we happened to be on Fifth Avenue in the middle of the afternoon on a Wednesday and to celebrate Bill's good test results at the oncologist, decided to stop for a celebratory drink at Bice.  Andy Wahlberg was sitting on a stool in the bar playing his harp guitar, an instrument you definitely do not see every day.  I believe the "harp" strings are tuned lower allowing a guitar player to play the bass parts at the same time.  He is obviously classically trained and the lovely instrumental renditions of some Beatles songs, definitely fit the classy ambiance of this restaurant.  He was just finishing this happy hour set but mentioned he was going to his next gig in an hour - at The Olde Naples Pub.  We filed this information away and stopped by this week to check out his show.

Andy Wahlberg

And what a show it was!! Imagine our surprise upon seeing him surrounded by a crowd clapping their hands and singing along to "Sweet Caroline - so good - so good!"   Ugh!  We aren't usually  into a cheesy party with drunken vacationers out for a night on the town!  And it was packed!  But being open minded, we decided to check it out.

There was only one table available, in the back by the kitchen but we took it and ordered a glass of wine.  From that point on, it got better and better.  The menu is actually a little more imaginative than you would expect for a pub, and the food was delicious.  Although we didn't order anything fancy, the taco salad I had was very tasty with a chunky spicy chili over tortilla chips and fresh salad, (not in a tortilla bowl, which i hate).  Bill's bratwurst was also nicely done with sauteed peppers and onions.


We didn't have much of a view but soon began to get into the mood.  After we ate, better seats at the bar were open, so we moved up there and enjoyed the rest of the show.  Far from just a sing a long, Andy played some very inventive and hilarious original music and rewrote some lyrics to other songs to poke fun at the Naples lifestyle.  It wasn't all comedy, he did a terrific job on the jazzy Cab Calloway song "Minnie the Moocher".  And at one point, a very talented woman in the audience stood up and yodeled  a very GOOD song.  It was definitely a night full of surprises.  I am sure we will be back at the Olde Naples Pub on another Wednesday night very soon. Here's a link to their website:    The Olde Naples Pub

The following is a great review of Andy Wahlberg and his music that i found on his website written by Tiffany Yates for naplesnews.com:

The Island Hopper: 'Bent sense of humor' serves musician Wahlberg well

Musician Andy Wahlberg cuts a bit of an intimidating picture. Standing 6 feet and 7 inches tall, he looks imposing even seated on a stool in the corner of a bar. He's got a deep, commanding voice that's hard to ignore. And planted in his lap is the most startling instrument: a double-necked, curving harp guitar that looks like something Renaissance courtiers might have used to entertain royalty.
But at the moment Wahlberg is clowning around with a pair of dark sunglasses obscuring his eyes, his lips puckered out exaggeratedly, claiming he's the famed (and fabricated) "Blind Naples Sludge" to his avid, captivated audience at the Village Pub in North Naples.
This is what Southwest Florida fixture Wahlberg does — mix comedy with his music to create an evening in which he is the central activity, not background sound.
With his stature, you could never say Walhberg blends in, anyway. Even aside from his size, you wouldn't overlook his gifted playing on the complicated instrument, his intriguing singing voice and his enthusiastic blowing on the harmonica strapped around his neck.
But if somehow you managed to remain oblivious to all of that, you'd snap to attention when you hear him sing a litany of derriere puns in I Wanna Kiss Her Butt but She Won't Let Me (She was the kind of girl who stole men's hearts and wrecked 'em), or makes an array of animal sounds in the Irish song The Rooster, or launches with Johnny Cash seriousness into that "old favorite, Cows with Guns ... "
He does a credible George Bush impression; he bock-bocks Ride of the Valkyries as a chicken; he has Jason the waiter lead the audience in clapping along to The Drunken Scotsman.
It is not your typical bar show.
"I have a naturally kind of bent sense of humor," Wahlberg says with considerable understatement. When he starts an evening, the handsome, ponytailed musician usually begins with some of his instrumentals — lovely, complex pieces — and then salts in typical easy listening cover tunes — Elton John, James Taylor — "so as not to scare away a lot of people," he explains.
But then he puts out feelers. "I'll start kind of prodding and probing to see how far I can go," Wahlberg says, changing a few lyrics, bringing in some of his more unusual novelty songs, and seeing if his audience comes along for the ride.
And far more often than not, they do. Wahlberg has such a loyal local following that when I mentioned to three separate friends I was going to review him, each excitedly related some experience of his show.
"I try to be the reason that people come out," explains Wahlberg, who is not content to simply serve as ambience in the background. His shows have more of a theatrical feel than those of most other bar entertainers, with the audience circling chairs around to face him and watch whatever bizarre musical creation he will whip out next.
Like his series of various television show theme songs set to the tune of classic rock hits. It takes a moment to sink in that the familiar strains of Secret Agent Man that you're hearing are accompanying these lyrics: "Here's a story of a lovely lady ... who was bringing up three very lovely girls ... "
Or, Mr. Ed sung to "House of the Rising Sun". Or Gilligan's Island to Stairway to Heaven. I could go on — and Wahlberg does, in an impressive virtuoso stretch that tells you he might have far too much free time on his hands.
Yet it would be a mistake to dismiss him as simply a novelty act. Wahlberg is first and foremost a musician — and a strikingly talented one. The harp guitar he plays is a replica of the antique one he originally discovered in a pawn shop thirty years ago. After painstakingly teaching himself to play it — he couldn't find any other players or even recordings to learn from — it became his main instrument.
While the lower half of it is basically an acoustic guitar, the top curves off into six fretless strings that provide bass, and Wahlberg plays the whole thing with his huge, dexterous hands, giving unusual depth to his sound.
You don't really appreciate the complexity of what he's doing until he plays one of his original instrumentals, like Emmett's Rising, a Celtic-influenced, poignant, but vivacious tune inspired by the leader of a historical Irish uprising.
But the beautiful number is very likely to be followed by one in which Wahlberg apologizes for its various off-color lyrics, promising to merely hum the offensive lines. (This yields phrases like, "Rubber shirts ... mmm-hmm-hmm ... leather skirts ... mmm-hmmm ... and jars of Vaseline ... ")

Also on his website is this video which offers a little taste of what one of his shows is like:
http://www.harpguitarguy.com/video2.html

No, I haven't been cooking . . .

You might wonder why no posts since January 2nd.  The last few days have left little to write about.  We went to Carrabbas (which has no live music) on Monday.  The food was fine, especially the tasty Lentil with Sausage soup.  We were at the bar eating our soup when a woman sat down next to us and ordered a bowl, saying she had been craving it for days.  It's that good.  So if you haven't had it, you should.  That place is always packed so service is a little spotty. It can be a long wait for a table but you can usually get a couple of stools at the bar within a few minutes.

Tuesday night, we ventured down to the Snook Inn on Marco Island.  Although they do have live music outside in the open-air chickee hut-style bar area, it was a just okay singer/guitar player with taped music.  In my mind, little better than karaoke.  And the food is just adequate.  But that is not what draws the crowds.  It has that Florida feel with a fabulous view of the water and you can sit and watch the boats go by and maybe some girls in bikinis coming from the beach.  A party is always going on any time of day with raucous groups of people drowning out the music.

Actually the highlight of the evening was when we decided last minute to stop at Erin's Isle.  We sat at the bar and ordered a drink while listening to Bobby Gideons on keyboard and Bob Leary on guitar/mandolin/banjo - not really sure (maybe all) since we were not sitting where we could see very well.  If you have lived around Naples/Marco Island for long, you will recognize their names.  Bobby Gideons has quite a loyal following and there is a reason for that - he has charisma!  He is famous for his jazz jams previously at the Olde Marco Inn and now here.  He plays a great dixieland piano and also country and every other kind of music anyone could ask for.  A few songs even brought a several couples onto the dance floor.  I am not personally a fan of dixieland or ragtime, but this night he and a few members of the audience played a couple of bluegrass tunes that blew me away!  This is close to home and we'll be coming back again so I'll report more then.  Bobby performs from 6 -10pm Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Erin’s Isle Restaurant and Irish Pub, 6190 Collier Blvd.

Bayside Seafood Grill - Upper Deck Bar

Saturday night should be a great time in Naples to find live music, but on New Year's Day many venues were closed or did not have music scheduled.  Finally we remembered Bayside at Venetian Bay!  Why do we always forget about this great place?  On Wednesdays and Saturdays, Merrill is playing acoustic guitar and singing on the upper deck.  Merrill appears to be an aging hippie only better dressed and groomed, with long white (or blonde) hair.  He is personable and professional, an excellent guitarist, has a very nice voice and sings a lot of songs from our era (60's, 70's).  We were happy to see that people clapped at the end of each song, indicating they were actually listening!

We had a spinach salad that they split in the kitchen for us along with a basket of dense, chewy rolls.  Then I had a small bowl of the tasty Southwestern Black Bean Soup and Bill had the Crunchy Fried Grouper.  It was a big piece of fish, tasted very fresh and was crunchy!

We like to sit at the bar when possible as we did last night.  The view from the bar is spectacular, overlooking Venetian Bay.  You can see some beautiful sunsets here but the sun sets too early this time of year. The plastic windows were down on the south side of the bar obstructing the view somewhat, but with several heaters around, it was nice and toasty.  As is true almost every time we are there, we were wondering "why aren't more people here?" 

Link: Bayside Seafood Grill and Bar


 

The Search Begins

"What?" you say, "can it really be difficult to find a venue offering both good food and live music in the self-proclaimed Most Sophisticated City in South Florida"?

Also dubbed The Golf Capital of the World, the Crown Jewel of Southwest Florida and The Mediterranean of Florida, it's beach has won the title of America's Best All-Around Beach and is commonly called The Paradise Coast.  And lets not overlook the title of Most Millionaires per Capita in the United States.  Can such a place as Naples, Florida be lacking in anything??

After extensive ongoing research, we are here to report our findings.  Not meant to advertise, promote or denigrate the efforts of local restaurateurs, chefs or musicians, this is purely our opinion.

Subcategories sporadically addressed include, but are not limited to:  Ambiance, Service, Nutritional  Value , Acoustics, Pricing, and Offensive or Interesting Fellow Diners.  We will not be commenting on best value per pound of food.  We are also not dancers, so the danceability of music is of no concern to us.  So here we go, appropriately starting on the first day of 2011!