8 restaurants from Fort Myers to Naples that bring me back to New York City — JLB Picks

Everyone has a New York City love story. 

Or so the story goes. 

Mine involves Junior's cheesecakes, coal-fired pizzas and thick-cut pastrami with half-sour pickles from Katz's on Houston. 

My love for food wasn't born in NYC. It simply flourished there. The city introduced me to ramen and push-cart dim sum, to $3 cupcakes and fiery Indian curries that pulsed in my veins, pushing joyous beads of sweat from every pore. 

It's been a few years since I've been to New York. Sometimes it feels like eons ago, sometimes it feels like yesterday. At these Fort Myers, Naples and Cape Coral restaurants, it feels like right now, like I'm there once more, writing another chapter of my love story. 

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Bruno's of Brooklyn

When you cross Bruno's threshold, you're no longer in downtown Fort Myers. You are not walking into a restaurant, you're walking into a wormhole. The space is narrow and warm; half open-kitchen lined in bar stools, half cozy seating area. Display cases highlight antipasto salads and flaky sfogliatelle. The server calls you sweetie and says cawfee instead of coffee. The food is as old-school Italian as she is: hearty plates of lasagna, house-made mozz, thick links of sausage with garlic-riddled broccoli rabe. You leave disoriented, wondering which way to the F train, hoping you don't fall asleep after such a meal and wind up in Coney Island. 

(2112 Second St., Fort Myers; 239-278-0211; brunosofbrooklyn.com)

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Ciao Wood Fired Pizza

My favorite New York pizza place is at the corner of Thompson and Houston streets in the Village. It's a place that hasn't changed in decades. It's a place I love as much for the pizza as the memories. It's a place I'm reminded of every time I walk into Ciao in Cape Coral. Ciao is unapologetically dark, with balmy air that smells like garlic and wisps of wood smoke. Its pies are simple and whisper thin, charred crisp by the blazing heat of this oven. One bite, all crunch and chew, and I'm back in the Village and so deeply in love. 

(seating by reservation only; 823 SE 47th Terrace, Cape Coral; 239-471-0033; ciaowoodfired.com)

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Ginger Bistro

I wish this place had push carts. I wish it had big round tables set in glass-topped linens with lazy Susans at the center. Ginger Bistro has none of that. But man the dim sum: char siu bao stuffed with sweet shreds of pork, sticky lo mai gai wrapped in traditional banana leaves, dumplings (and dumplings) and dumplings. This isn't to say Ginger Bistro is perfect. Purists will tell you it doesn't hold a candle to the great dim-sum house of San Francisco or NYC. I say, it tastes a whole lot better than flying cross-country. 

(locations in Fort Myers and Cape Coral; gingerbistrousa.com)

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Grace & Shelly's

Was there a more classic 2000s food than the cupcake? And was there a more iconic cupcake maker than NYC's Magnolia Bakery? I say no — on both accounts. Grace & Shelly's is a Magnolia of our own, a place cloaked in sweetness and light. These cheery cupcakes can be baked and frosted however you choose, if you order ahead. Or throw caution to the wind and pop into a Grace & Shelly's to sample whatever deliciousness happens to be on hand. Either way, it's going to be a sugary good time. 

(locations at Mercato and Fifth Avenue South in Naples; graceandshellyscupcakes.com)

Larry's Lunchbox Delicatessen

New Yorkers will tell you Larry's slices its corned beef too thin. They'll tell you the rye's not right, that there's too much cheese, that the pickles are too crunchy one day and too limp another. They will tell you this as they invite you back to the 33-year-old Larry's for another lunch. They'll tell you this as you swoon over a bowl of matzo ball soup, reveling in its schmaltzy richness, certain you won't be sharing it, not even a bite. If there's anything "wrong" with this soup, you don't want to hear it. Though you're sure they'll tell you. Next time. 

(2650 Airport-Pulling Road, Naples; 239-775-2500; larryslunchbox.com)

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Masala Mantra Indian Bistro

I had my first vindaloo in a brick-trimmed restaurant in Manhattan's so-called Curry Hill. I sweat the whole subway ride home, heart and mind racing that something so intensely fiery could be so damn good. I had that feeling again at Masala Mantra, two bites into a plate of gobi Manchurian, as pin-pricks of sweat dappled my eyebrows. Like that Curry Hill restaurant all those years ago, Masala Mantra isn't much fancy. It's just soul-stirringly good. 

(4518 Del Prado Blvd. S., Cape Coral; 239-540-6300; masalaamantra.com)

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Namba Ramen & Sushi

Supremely slurp-able. If I had two words to describe Namba and its stunning ramen, those would be them. From the springy chew of the noodles to the lush complexity of these broths, it's hard to stop. This isn't the ramen of your college microwave. This is a master's class in ramen, slow simmered over hours and days, then layered with roast pork, nori and soft eggs with jammy yolks. I first had ramen at Rai Rai Ken in the East Village. I don't remember it all that well. It was a long time ago. But Namba I do remember. Namba I can never forget — because it's ours. 

(8847 Tamiami Trail N., Naples; 239-592-4992; nambanaples.com)

Fresh Bagels & More

We are fortunate to have some really good bagel shops in this area. Stuff-A-Bagel in Cape Coral feels like a NYC corner store, right down to the rack of New York Posts on the counter. The lines at Straight From New York Bagels in Bonita Springs and Naples, and at the two Bagel Factory locations in south Fort Myers and north Cape Coral mean they're doing plenty right, too. But there's something about Fresh Bagels & More. The bagels at this south Fort Myers shop are smaller and glossier than some others. They take a bit of work to eat; a few jaw-tingling tugs with each happy bite. They taste like the bagels I remember from New York.And sometimes nostalgia is the most delicious thing of all. 

(8911 Daniels Parkway No. 2, south Fort Myers; 239-561-3777; facebook.com/freshbagelsandmore)

Jean Le Boeuf is the pseudonym used by a local food lover who dines at restaurants anonymously and without warning, with meals paid for by The News-Press. Email JLB at jleboeuf@news-press.com; follow the critic at facebook.com/jeanleboeufswfl or @JeanLeBoeuf on Twitter and Instagram.