The Mexiburger from the Nosh Truck

Food trucks have been a wonderful magnet for picky eaters in major cities. Each truck offers unique carefully honed delicious culinary creations from appetizers to exotic foods and ice cream. Curious diners and foodies alike have driven to sample food trucks at the Seminole Immokalee Casino over the past few months. Now ten trucks are coming to Bonita Springs for you to sample on Saturday at the Ft. Myers Greyhound Track from noon. to 5 p.m.  Come sample Cucina Al Mare (Italian Cuisine), Dog Eat Dog (gourmet hotdogs), The Germans Real German Food, Miami Spice Grill, Mobile Culinary Kitchen, NaNina’s, Ft. Myers own The Nosh Truck,  Palate Party, and for dessert, it’s Zombie Ice and Dolce Gourmet Cupcakes. Beer and soft drinks are sold, and parking is free and plentiful at this family and wallet-friendly event. I’ve sampled food from some of the above trucks, and will happily go back for more.  10601 Bonita Beach Road SE, Bonita Springs.

Barbatella Spirited Italian Trattoria recently opened at the corner of  Naples’ Third Street  South and 13^th  Avenue South, offering a bounty of foods in a trio of welcome settings.

Enjoy lunch or dinner in the sunlit open courtyard—perfect for people watching; have a pizza, salad, grilled steak or fish  in the cozy brick-lined  trattoria, or get comfy in the spacious new bar that also overlooks Third Street. Where else can you choose from three wonderful and quite different dining settings?

 The food is light, healthy and full of flavor— like its nearby big sister, Chef Fabrizio and Ingrid Aielli and Lily Montes’ highly regarded Sea Salt. I enjoyed orecchiette with sausage, roasted Berkshire pork, half Long Island duck, lamb chops, fried calamari and several thin crust pizzas baked in the authentic wood-fired oven. There are 100 wines by the glass, and over a dozen freshly made creamy desserts from the gelato counter.  Come to Barbatella for a rewarding taste treat in a casual setting.

290 3rd Street South  Naples, 263-1955, barbatellanaples.com/

 

Naples’ Trader Joe’s opened last month, and thousands of local patrons couldn’t be happier. After giving it a few days to weed out the monster crowds, we decided to take a peek and see what the fuss is about.

Trader Joe’s (“TJ’s” to the faithful) enjoys a well-deserved, cult-like following for interesting, relatively inexpensive, good food. There’s a casual Caribbean look now at the former Borders bookstore with waterskiing cows, beaches and boats on the walls. The food is generally organic or wild-caught, with funky “shrimp corn dogs” tossed in for good measure. Most patrons I talked to flock to TJ’s for “healthy,” “unique” and “tasty” foods. I've had fun buying and tasting my way across the store.

 

Their $2.99 “Two-Buck Chuck” Charles Shaw wines (originally $1.99) are good for the money. Quite a few people bought cases of it. I prefer their Epicuro Italian wine line. I also recommend the mandarin orange chicken for a snack, grilled chili-lime chicken, roasted seaweed strips with hot wasabi, and the deliciously decadent truffle mousse pate with chicken. Stock up from the very good cheese selection.

Mango passion granola cereal is perfect for a crunchy breakfast or snack. Most of the house brands are said to be made by well-known manufacturers, so the price/quality ratio is happily skewed in your favor. Employees, aka “crew, are hired in large part for upbeat, friendly, helpful personalities—they anticipate customers’ needs for baskets or directions and jump in with assistance. On line, customers eyed each other’s baskets and happily shared their favorites. You don’t see that happen often in other grocery stores. Really the only downside I see is the difficulty finding a parking space.

10600 Tamiami Trail North, 596-5631, www.traderjoes.com, open  8 a.m. to 9 p.m daily