Go Derek!

I am so proud of my brother! He is a chef and own his own restaurant in Florida. The following is the lastest critic review:

Wednesday night we ventured over to see Chef Derek at his namesake restaurant. Dining at Derek’s is about as creative and outstanding as one can ever hope for. In fact, buddy Chris Sherman of the St. Pete Times along with the Zagat rating, deemed Derek’s as one of THE Best restaurants in Southwest Florida —I concur.

Clearly a slow-food chef, Derek maximizes the most local and fresh products in season. Of note is Derek’s American Table Series during the summer, featuring different regions of the country. Imagine steelhead trout, with fennel and potato gratinée, oyster mushroom, apple beurre blanc…. served with King’s Ridge 2006, pinot noir, Oregon. Save the plane fare to the West Coast; Derek’s original cuisine will send you to the freshest locations with every bite.

We focused on Derek’s classic specialties such as sweetbreads—pan-seared with tomato jam, crispy prosciutto, baby beet greens and brown butter mustard emulsion (if you are a sweetbread fan, this dish is a MUST, the best I have ever had anywhere in this country or France) and braised veal, with housemade ricotta cheese, gnocchi and veal sweet breads ragout. (Hey if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right?).

Better than France--sweetbreads, anyone?

Another reason to dine at Derek’s is the dessert menu. In fact, Margaret Wise along with fellow blogger, Kim Hacket, and I have specifically selected Derek’s for a lunch outing for an order of banana custard cream with ricotta doughnuts and vanilla-bean braised bananas, and, the ULTIMATE (notice the capital letters) POACHED PEAR with lavender and honey and goat cheese ice cream. (It will make you cry for its creamy sensation and black pepper caramel sauce. Quite frankly, I would arm-wrestle for the last spoonful.)


Derek knows how to wow us with goat-cheese ice cream atop poached pear.