Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Lagoona Grille Restaurant and Bar - Naples, Florida

I was driving between Fort Myers and Shark Valley in Everglades National Park. I was driving along SR 90, known as Tamiami (i.e. Tampa to Miami) Trail  or Alligator Alley, well past the Naples exit and I was concerned that I was going to run out of food options and I hadn't eaten all day. I had a reservation for the Shark Valley Tram and figured I had about 30 minutes to eat and still catch the Tram. I spotted Lagoona Grille Restaurant and Bar, with a Naples address, but well outside Naples. I walked in and nearly walked out. The one guy running the place was unfriendly, kind of surly, but I was hungry. So I stayed. I ordered the Gator Basket with beer breaded alligator. After all, this is Alligator Alley and I figured maybe they could cook alligator. I also ordered Key lime pie, as it is relatively close to the Florida Keys where that was made famous. 
Beer breaded alligator and french fries.

And I was pleasantly surprised. It was some of the best alligator I've ever eaten and I've eaten alligator quite a few times. The light coating of batter added a nice salty taste and the alligator nuggets were very juicy, not over-cooked. I think this may be the best way to cook alligator.  The Key lime pie was not bad, I've had much worse. So what looked like it was going to be a culinary disaster turned out to be more than okay.
Nice salty, crispy outer layer and moist and juicy inner alligator meat.
The Key lime pie was pretty heavy and had a nice lime kick. 
Would I go there again for a full meal, probably not unless I was in the same circumstance, but I wouldn't hesitate to stop and get some more breaded alligator nuggets. I'm going to have to experiment with that way of cooking alligator on my own. 

2 comments:

  1. What is that blue stuff on the key lime pie? It doesn't look too appetizing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I ended up scraping some of that stuff off. But the Key lime pie itself was kind of thick and a little cold, similar to what we had at Joe's Stone Crab in Miami Beach (although it was not as good as that).

    ReplyDelete