Day 22 Captiva

We both slept until 8:00 today later than usual. We are cat and bird sitting for Marguerite while the family is in Canada for the weekend so we went over to feed and water the pets. We walked over the bridge to the store at Castaways Marina and found a canvas straddle bag to use on a beach chair to hold Al's radio, phone,and other items.

Scene at Castaways Marina

Scene at Castaways Marina

Miville House from the Bridge

 We spent the afternoon at the beach resting and enjoying the beautiful day.


Willets are walkin'



 We had planned to go to dinner at Ellington's Jazz Club but the answering machine had a recorded message that they are temporarily closed due to repairs to the fire suppression system...hoping this not lead to a permanent closing. We have not been able to find out more
details. Instead we went to the The Mad Hatter, which is very close just over the bridge. This was our most favorite restaurants for many years but lost our favor a few years ago when it was sold. It was sold again in 2009 and has almost been returned to its original state of great food and service. It does not have the creativity and unusual ingredients of that chef who was quite an innovator of food. New owners are Kurt (the chef) and Michelle Jarvis We were very pleased with our visit. We arrived early for our 6:45 reservations so we could watch the sunset at 6:25 from the back parking lot of the restaurant.


Sunset from Mad Hatter Parking Lot



The greeting at the entrance was welcoming and our waiter was excellent and very attentive....this dining experience was the exact opposite from the Sunshine Seafood Cafe. Our wines served by the glass were very generous servings. The bread was a delicious ciabatta served with butter as well as an olive tapenade. The chef also sent out a complimentary tasting of a pate with mustard sauce. We ordered Truffled Oysters appetizer to share....this was roasted oysters, truffles, garlic, lemon,
thyme beurre blanc served on very hot shells. Excellent start! We shared a Spiced Watermelon Salad made with roasted pine nuts, cayenne pepper, fresh mint, feta cheese, and organic baby arugula. Very good! Al ordered Grilled Filet Mignon served with Bearnaise sauce and yucca fries. This was perfect and the yucca fries were crisp and delicious. I ordered Black Grouper which was pan seared topped with lemon and caper butter. Served with delicious asparagus risotto and asparagus. Both dinners were outstanding! We finished with French pressed coffee and were tempted with dessert but passed. This is an excellent restaurant and is pricey but well worth the expense of great dining.



The Mad Hatter