Bamboo Café
Located on 12th Avenue South, near the City Dock, the Bamboo Café is open for dinner seven nights a week. This bistro-style restaurant serves French home cooking. It specializes in tagine, a slow-cooked, North African style stew. The extensive appetizer list includes fois gras, frog legs, and several soups and salads. In addition to various main courses of meat and seafood, they serve a vegetarian paella that comes with saffron rice, fresh steamed vegetables and tofu sausage. Reservations are recommended during busy times of the year.
Bamboo Café
755 12th Avenue South
Naples, FL 34103
(239) 643-6177
www.bamboocafenaples.com
Bleu Provence
Tucked half a block from a main Naples street, only a block from the City Dock with parking directly in front, Bleu Provence is easily accessible. Both the exterior and the interior are decorated in shades of blue. The restaurant has year-round specials, a 20,000-bottle wine cellar and an outdoor patio. Their menu included braised lamb shank on a bed of couscous served with a figs and honey sauce, and for dessert, tarte tatin with honey lavender ice cream. Jacques and Lysielle Cariot, retirees from Provence, France, opened the restaurant in 1991. Reservations are a necessity between November and May.
Bleu Provence
1234 8th St. South
Naples, FL 34102
(239) 261-8239
www.bleuprovencenaples.com
Cote d'Azur
Tamiami Trail in North Naples is the location of the French restaurant, Cote d'Azure. Chef Claudio Scaduto opened the award-winning restaurant in 2001. Appetizers include seven different salads, escargots, calamari and country pate. The entrees include seafood, wild birds, lamb, beef and pork. An extensive wine list is available. Wooden tables and chairs, flowers in window boxes and bright colors create the southern French atmosphere of Cote d'Azure. During the winter months, reservations are needed.
Cote d'Azur
11224 Tamiami Trail North
Naples, FL 34110
(239) 597-8867
www.cotedazurrestaurant.com
Escargot 41
The blog, aninsatiableappetite.blogspot.com, describes Escargot 41 as "Naples-Fort Myers' premier French restaurant." Its inauspicious location in a strip mall in North Naples provides a surprise setting for this acclaimed restaurant. The menu includes several escargot dishes. Their dessert special, Moelleux au Chocolat, is baked to order. Rich bittersweet chocolate is filled with homemade chocolate truffle raspberry sauce. Chef Patrick says Escargot 41 does not Americanize its menu and that all foods are prepared to order using all French techniques. Reservations are not required, but they are strongly recommended during the busy winter-spring season.
Escargot 41
4339 Tamiami Trail North
Naples, FL 34103
(239) 793-5000
www.escargot41.com
