A Meal Of A Lifetime- One Of The Great Ones

In the movie A Bronx Tale, Sonny ( Chazz Palminteri ) tells young Calegaro ( Francis Capra) " that you only come across three great woman in a lifetime. They usually come along about every ten years, like great prizefighters." I believe that about a truly memorable meal. I already have the Great Woman so I search for the meal of a lifetime. Last night we found it. Johnnie's Hideaway in Orlando. This may have one of the top three meals in my lifetime. Last night was our anniversary. We stayed at the Hilton and the concierge at the front desk recommended this place. We started at the outside bar and Vicky had a frozen Strawberry Margarita, I had an Absolute Martini - straight up - dirty. While we had our drinks we checked the menu. The atmosphere was perfect, the weather was great, we were married for 17 years and feeling quite blessed.





We ordered a bottle of Santa Margarita Pinot Grigio, well worth the price I thought. We started with a sampler platter of oysters on the half. It was a selection of Apalachicola, Bluepoint and some North West varieties.

The oysters were fine. We may have been spoiled by some really great oysters in the past few months, so the expectation was high. The oysters were nothing spectacular, but good oysters. Phil was our waiter, I was personally very happy to have an adult waitperson who seemed quite knowledgeable about the menu. Phil was great; he had a knack for a detailed description of the menu items. He was pushing some steaks but we explained it was Good Friday. Vicky decided on the fisherman’s platter, complete with frog’s legs. We picked two sides – Cajun fried mushrooms and Asparagus in Hollandaise. I selected the Madagascar Giant Shrimp. They had them on display in the showcase at the front on the restaurant. These huge prawns were eight inches long, head on and as thick as a banana. They were the highlight of the meal. They were butterflied, cleaned and grilled, three to an order with a simple cabbage salad for garnish. Doused with a little butter, these monstrous crustaceans were a real treat. The asparagus was peeled and served with hollandaise and finished with a little red pepper and topped with some gruyere. This meal was one of the Great Ones. The dessert cart was filled with ridiculously large portions of cake and pie. We declined.


I thoroughly enjoyed the company of my wife of seventeen years. We reminisced about how fortunate we have been, and the blessings of our children and a grandchild on the way. The ambiance and overall feel of the night was truly magical and allowed us to reflect on our lives.

I leave you with this thought.

“ Each day should be unwrapped as if it were a precious gift”

(Compliments of one of our Florida hosts the incomparable UD .)

From Sunny Florida – TFN