Our Best of 2024: $57 Rice 🍚 & Billy Joel, Port Royal Drama & Breastaurant was on Purpose

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Friends and Neighbors,

I thought that there was no better way to ring in the New Year than with some of your favorite articles (and some you may have missed) from The Naples Florida Review! 

It has been a busy six months for our fledgling publication. We’ve gone from an audience of five (my husband, best friend, and co-workers) to 100,000 subscribers. I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to comment and share an idea or suggestion. 

Visit our complete archive here. 

Over the last six months the two most common pieces of feedback I’ve gotten are: 1) it’s nice to read something that isn’t written by a computer and 2) it’s nice to read something that wasn’t paid for/planted by a restaurant. I’m proud that our readers can tell the difference and appreciate all the encouragement. 

The most negative feedback we had was surrounding our poll and corresponding article about “The Most Overrated Restaurant on 5^th Avenue.” We appreciate how difficult the restaurant business is, but from time to time we will continue to turn a more critical eye towards Naples Dining and solicit honest feedback from readers. Do you appreciate a critical article here and there? Hit reply or comment at the bottom and let me know. 

What do you want to read about in 2025? We’ve been doing a Top Events this Week during December and are inclined to continue if it is a good fit for readers. What do you think? Take the poll at the end of this issue and make your voice heard. 

Thank you and Happy New Year!

P.S. Have a great idea for a 2025 issue? Email me at [email protected] or reply to this email. 

P.P.S. Who am I to be telling you anything?!? If you missed the second issue, I’ll introduce myself in today’s newsletter below. 

Table of Contents

• Best of 2024: Restaurant Reviews

• Best of 2024: Top 5 Lists

• Best of 2024: About Town

• Best of 2024: Foodie Feedback – You Vote, I Report

• This Week’s Poll: What You Want to Read in 2025

• Who am I?

Best of 2024: Restaurant Reviews

Fifty Seven Dollar Rice, Elite Enclaves and Billy Joel: The Launch of LoLa 41 - 6/25/24

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” I yelled across the house to my husband, who was attempting to work from home last Thursday, “this place has $57 dollar rice!” He yelled back toward me, not even questioning whether I was telling the truth, “are you surprised? It’s Naples!” 

The results of our recent Naples Florida Review poll are in, and LoLa 41 beat out Le Colonial by a slim margin to be this week’s restaurant review.  I’ve been anxious to go, but when I looked at the menu – with prices – for the first time last week, I, for one, was surprised. $57 dollar rice? A $42 sushi roll? I scanned the descriptions searching for “gold flakes,” “king crab” or “caviar,” but, nada. The Happy Hour Menu caught my eye next - $10 small plates, cocktails and limited sushi. I called up a friend, suggested that we arrive at 4 and transition to dinner. We were headed to land of luxury rice. 

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here.

 Shockingly Great Food At the Mall Food Court – 9/17/24

The last time I went to the Coastland Mall, I was 8 months pregnant and wanted a warm buttered pretzel. As a child of the 80s and 90s, I am well aware that the Golden Age of the local mall is long gone.  I remember, waddling up the center aisle at Coastland Mall in January of 2020 while pushing a stroller with my 16 month old – full term – and thinking, “I’ve got to cut down on the pretzels after #2 is born,” and, “I wonder when I’ll come back around here again?”

Last Thursday I got a tip. An amazing new Latin restaurant called Latinos 239 had opened at Coastland Mall. After checking to see that I had heard correctly, I jumped in my car and called up my favorite, reliable Latina lunch date. She met me at a low table in the Food Court between the Chick-Fil-A and Latinos 239. My husband Manny, who was born and raised in Puerto Rico, had also handed me a to-go order. I still didn’t have an answer for either one of them on what type of “Latin Food” this was actually intended to be (turns out it is a mix of Cuban and Colombian). The grey plastic table seemed relatively clean, so that was a good start.

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here. 

Naples Top Breastaurant – 11/19/24

Two notable events happened in April of 1983: I was born, and six buddies in Clearwater, FL incorporated Hooters, looking to establish a restaurant that “they couldn’t get kicked out of.” That’s right, Hooters and I happen to be the same age. 

Societal and cultural norms have changed a lot since 1983, but really, how much? You have to wonder how much stigma there really is about walking into a “breastaurant,” when the demand is clearly there: Twin Peaks, a Hooters remix, opened a giant new location smack in the center of Naples in 2024. So, while plenty of ink has been spilled in the last 41 years about the propriety of restaurants with scantily clad waitresses, this isn’t going to be one of those articles. The two intrepid Naples moms in this review ventured into the land of high-cut shorts and low-cut shirts to see which establishment had the best wings and coldest beer in town. 

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here. 

Best of 2024: Top 5 Lists

Best 5 Italian Restaurants in Naples – 8/20/24

We are wading into dangerous waters this week and publishing our Top 5 Italian restaurants in Naples, Florida. Ask a group of Naples locals about which Italian restaurant is best and you’d better hope you have a nice bottle of red nearby to relax with while they fight it out. Maybe it’s the wide variety of Italian restaurants? Maybe the fact that some lean more Italian-American, while others try to keep more traditional? Whatever the reason, when it comes to Italian food in Naples, people seem peculiarly passionate about their top choice. 

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here. 

5 Best Sushi Restaurants in Naples 🍣 – 10/1/24

Sushi restaurants abound in Naples, but it isn’t a cuisine that this town is particularly known for. Ask around town and you’ll be greeted with plenty of responses like:

“There is no good sushi in Naples”

“Honestly I just go to [insert Publix, Whole Foods or Seed to Table here].”

Here’s how I think about sushi restaurants, to give you a little insight into my mindset. I appreciate an artful sushi roll that proportionately combines the ingredients without swamping down the entire thing in too much sauce. I don’t like the feeling of having to ask myself the question – as I politely look around me – of whether I can fit this alleged one section of roll into my mouth. 

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here. 

The Five Most Romantic Restaurants in Naples Florida – A Countdown – 10/8/24

Let’s face it – many of the best restaurants we have in Naples are situated in locations that no one has ever described as romantic. U.S.S. Nemo – one of the best, if not the best, seafood restaurants in town – is located in a strip mall with parking designed for the compact cars of yesteryear. The outdoor dining at many places abuts busy roads where the rush of traffic can drown out quiet conversation. It can be challenging to find a location where the entire experience feels like a world apart from beginning to end. 

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here. 

Best of 2024: About Town

The $295 Million Naples Tear Down 💸– 6/9/24

Perched on the mouth of the Gordon Pass in Port Royal sits the most expensive tear down in U.S. history. The Donahue family compound – the only word to really describe it - hit the market on February 8^th 2024 for a cool $295 million, sparking a frenzy of headlines when it was heralded the most expensive listing in America, ever. 

The property, located on a peninsula known locally as Gordon Pointe, actually consists of not one, but three, tear downs – a massive main house and two giant guest homes. The lucky purchaser will also have access to a 111 foot dock, 231 foot yacht basin, 728 feet of beach frontage and 927 feet of bay frontage.  

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here.

Stone Crab: Buy from this Local Naples Crabber – 10/15/24

I’ve always lived in places that heavily feature the local cuisine (Maine, New Orleans, New York City, etc), so when I started coming to Naples as a kid I was interested in what locals ate, well….locally…..before the advent of grocery stores and refrigerated transportation. In my search, I have to say that stone crab is certainly at the top of my list (close to smoked mullet dip and honeybell oranges). 

Jimmy Lee Perry is a born-in-Naples stone crab fisherman who took time out of his day last week to talk to me about the upcoming season – in the midst of a hurricane. Stone crab is an interesting (and probably difficult) catch to sell because the legs must be sold cooked. If you’ve read this far, you’re probably familiar with Naples and know that stone crab prices are expensive at most markets downtown. That’s why I found a local crab guy. 

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here. 

Great Wolf Lodge Naples: The Review – 10/22/24

On October 4^th we checked into the newly-opened Naples Great Wolf Lodge with two kids for a trip we’d planned back in March when they were running pre-opening deals. We checked in with a couple other local families and plenty of expectations. The kids had been out of school because of Hurricane Helene and cooped up inside because of another rainy weather system we were contending with. Five kids between the age of 1 and 6. The energy was tangible. Could the expanse of Great Wolf Deliver? 

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here. 

A Hardware Store with Heart – 11/5/24

If this is the first review of a hardware store that you’ve ever read, you’re not alone. This is the first one that I’ve read or written. There’s something special, however, about the Sunshine Ace Hardware that is attached to Wynn’s Market near downtown Naples.

Reading the history of Sunshine Ace Hardware and the Wynn Family provides a window into the history and development of Naples itself. From founder Peter Parley Wynn’s arrival in Naples in 1938, to the founding of the first Sunshine Hardware in 1953, to the establishment of the current location we’re reviewing on U.S. 41 in 1964, it’s an incredible legacy. 

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here. 

Best of 2024: Foodie Feedback – You Vote, I Report

The Most Overrated Restaurant on 5^th – 10/1/24

“Outrageously expensive and VERY pretentious.” KM

The resounding “winner” of last week’s “Most Overrated Restaurants on 5^th “ poll was Sails. They had more than twice as many votes as the second-most-overrated – Del Mar. 

Sails is well known for the excellent quality of its food, so why did so many readers feel like they weren’t getting their money’s worth? That the quality didn’t justify the prices? 

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here.

 Best Steak in Naples – 12/3/24

“Andre’s smells like the inside of my grandmother’s closet, but it is the best old-school steakhouse in town.” C.B.

The race for favorite steak in Naples was a close one, but Andre’s Steakhouse secured the win by one vote over Jimmy P’s Charred. Rounding out the top five were The Continental, The Capital Grille and The French / Rouge Steakhouse. I was surprised and pleased that there was a nice range of restaurants in the top five, and that just two of them are truly part of the downtown 5^th Avenue/3^rd Street scene (The French/Rouge and The Continental, respectively). 

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here. 

Best New Restaurant of 2024

“You won’t believe you’re in the old Starbucks!” TM

Your votes have been tallied, and the winner of The Naples Florida Review’s Best New Restaurant of 2024 is Unidos! The race for the win was tight, and Le Colonial and Syren clinched the second and third spots, respectively. 

To read the rest of the article, visit the original issue here. 

This Week’s Poll: What You Want to Read in 2025

Who am I?

I’d like to introduce myself. I live in Naples, Florida year around with my husband and two young boys. In addition to writing The Naples Florida Review, I am an attorney that runs a hedge fund strategy and works for a local family office. 

While I have been visiting Naples for more than 30 years, I lived in Western Massachusetts, Maine, New York City and New Orleans before moving permanently to Naples in 2015. Before starting my job in a family office, I was a contributor and blogger at TheStreet.com, wrote a book on Exchange Traded Funds, worked for a money management firm and was a Designated Market Maker on the New York Stock Exchange and Specialist on the American Stock Exchange. I earned my J.D. from Tulane University Law School and my B.A. from Bowdoin College. 

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Why It Matters

What makes these stories worth sharing? Because they reveal the soul of our community. From lavish dining to local legends, these moments connect us to something bigger—our shared love of food, culture, and discovery.

Whether you’re reminiscing about a year of amazing meals or gearing up for your next big adventure, these highlights remind us why exploring the world around us is so rewarding.

Here’s to making 2025 even more extraordinary!

Carolyn Cervoni
Editor-in-Chief
Naples, Florida
The Naples Florida Review

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