‘Watts for Dinner’: Were friends, family share good food

Our next dining destination is La Tavola on Marco Island. From their website: “La Tavola literally means the table. The place where family and friends gather to share laughter, love and life! We use only fresh, carefully sourced and seasonal ingredients to make sure that your meal is exceptional every time.”

Things got off to an appetizing start with the soup of the day, French onion ($9). We also shared the burrata salad ($14) and the warm brie ($15). The salad comes with sliced beefsteak tomatoes, roasted garlic oil and a balsamic reduction. There are also crispy shallots atop the burrata cheese. The warm brie cheese comes with toasted pine nuts, arugula, a honey drizzle, and ciabatta crostini.

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The salad was pure perfection. The fresh cheese is well complimented by the shallots. A delicious dish.

The ciabatta with the warm brie is a bit on the chewy side, in a challenging way. But the taste was worth the effort.

For my main entrée, I had the fish and chips ($26). It’s lightly dusted, and flash-fried Florida flounder served with truffle fries, coleslaw and a tartar sauce and ketchup. The fillet is huge and tasty, but the truffle fries are the star of this show.

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My partner in dine had the mushroom pappardelle ($24) featuring cremini and portabella mushrooms, fresh pappardelle pasta, sweet peas, heirloom baby tomatoes, herbs and a garlic cream sauce. You can add shrimp ($10), scallops ($15) or chicken ($8). A beautiful and tasty dish.

For dessert I selected the bourbon pecan pie ($9) served with a vanilla bean crème. This pie had the biggest pecans I’ve ever seen in a pie. Different, but very good!

My dining companion had the toasted pound cake ($12) featuring pound cake, vanilla Haagen-Dazs, a honey drizzle, berries and vanilla bean whipped crème. Perhaps the best looking dish of the night.

When La Tavola says they’re “the place where family and friends gather to share laughter,” believe them. We witnessed that the entire time we were there at every table. And the bar section of front was one of the liveliest places I’ve seen recently and featuring live music. Happy eating!   

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This newspaper pays for all meals related to dining reviews. We do not solicit or accept free food. Not all dishes are featured in print, but you can find a gallery of all reviewed dishes online at marconews.com.

If you go

La Tavola Restaurant and Bar

• 961 Winterberry Drive, Marco Island
• 239- 393-4960
• latavolarestaurantandbar.com