FOOD

‘Watts for Dinner’: Z’s Music Kitchen – Gulf Grouper and Philly fantastic!

Will Watts
Special to the Eagle

Our next doing destination is Z’s Music Kitchen at Freedom Square in South Naples.

Things got off to an appetizing start with the seared pork ($12.95). It’s roasted and seared pork on top of a bed of lettuce and topped with a Thai barbecue sauce and surrounded with toasted pieces of bread. The bread was amazing, the sauce tangy and delicious, but the pork was very fatty. 

For my main dish, I selected the “Venice Grouper Pasta” ($25.95). It’s seared Gulf grouper with a lemon-garlic white wine sauce tossed in angel hair with pimentos and spinach. This was the most beautiful dish presented. The pasta and sauce were incredible and the grouper is very lightly seared. 

My dining companion selected the Philly cheesesteak sandwich ($15.95). It comes with hand-cut fries or slaw. He picked the latter. The sandwich is piled high with thinly sliced top-round roast beef. It has green peppers and onions and is covered with melted provolone and served in a hoagie roll. Huge! 

This dish earned the highest praise of the night. I highly recommend it! 

This was only our second time visiting Z’s. Our first visit was April 2022, almost two years ago.

My favorite thing that visit was the cheese curds; alas, they are no longer available.

For my main dish, I tried my very first “Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich.” It’s fried chicken on a brioche bun, topped with hot sauce. You get your choice of fries or coleslaw. I picked fries. And these were heavenly. The sandwich came with a slice of tomato, lettuce, a handful of pickles and a whole slice of onion. Knowing the sauce was spicy, I added ALL the toppings. While I have never tried a Nashville hot before, therefore I have nothing to compare it too, I can say it was good.

My dining companion had the BBQ pork sandwich featuring, you guessed it, shredded BBQ pork. But here’s the kicker, it sits atop a blue cheese coleslaw on a Cusano roll. What’s a Cusano roll you ask? It seems to be a catchall term for any artisan bread. But I’ll tell you this much, it looked just like the brioche bun my Nashville hot came on.

We had an amazing served. Happy eating!

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If you go

Z’s Music Kitchen