Tanksgiving is Familytime.: 11/26/08

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! It is time for Family!
After Halloween we all knew it: The year was over.
It got cold, we switched from chilled chardonnay to room temperatured merlot (if you get the room warm enough) and finally we could fire up that chimney. Comes Thanksgiving we sit back, review the year and make plans for the next one. One thing we always should have in the next years book is family. The years fly by in an blink of an eye and even I catch myself skipping the one or the other family reunion. And I always regret that. There is nothing more important then your own blood. Your roots. Your loved ones. I enjoy it so much having my feet under my parent table, surrounded by a dozen or two family members (yes, we are busy we Edelsbachers:) and gaining 5 pounds in a week just by trying new recipes from mom.
If you don't have time to get to your people try to invite some of them. You will be surprised how many will show up for the holidays if they hear that you live in Sarasota Florida! And we will help them to find out what's going on in this city.

That's Life!: 11/13/08

You can hear it as soon as you turn on a TV or radio - the horror stories about how we screwed up our economy and our living, and all you can think is: Well, that's life!
We don't go to eat everyday anymore, we only have two cars per family and one of them is - oh my good - 4 years old!
And yes, we all know that the next year or two will be a wild ride into a jungle of ups and downs like a roller coaster. Again, that's life!
But if you have a minute, drive to the beach, take off your shoes (and socks, sure) and step into the water. Take a big breath and say to your self: as soon as the sun comes out, you are still in paradise! That's why you are in Florida. And actually - that's life!

The Snowbirds are coming!: 11/6/08

It's official - Snowbirds are on the way to Sarasota!
Every winter we welcome thousands of our cool friends from the north and let them experience southern hospitality. With challenging economy this year we are especially creative when it comes to pamper our guests. I believe that times like these give us actually opportunities to develop new ideas and to proof our professionalism. Suddenly we all work a little bit more and longer (I know - that's not why we came to Florida!) and beaches are for tourists only. Nothing wrong with that - as long as it is not permanent:)

5 weeks, 5,000 miles, 10 states: 8/21/08

It all started out with the idea of checking out san antonio. but instead of getting on a plane and stretch our feet at the pool of a nice hotel, my beautiful wife told me that I got a great idea. Let's go by rv! not a normal rv for a normal family. no, for our crazy gang it had to be a 36 foot rv, like a bus, with a car behind and bikes on a rack and filled with stuff you never use surrounded by kids and dog. we went all the way to texas, and while there we found out that the state is actually pretty large and we should explore it instead of going home. a quick stop at the capitol and an other at the cowboy capitol bandera (what a great sleepy town) down to lajitas at the mexican boarder (great tequila:) up to el paso and that's it. planning to head back. but wait a moment, that's not all. if you order now, guenther drives you up to albuquerque and santa fe, which was one of the trips highlights - we even met some good friends from sarasota there, the wilson family.
soooo, should we go to san diego? you all know the magic words that drive me: let's do it! but elke somehow figured out that we would not make it back in time for school, so we decided to hit oklahoma, arkansas and tennessee. I really underestimated that stretch between santa fe and chatta-chatta-chattanooga, it took us forever! and I now know why they don't have any hairdressers in oklahoma - there is constantly wind in this state, I looked like einstein for a few days. anyway, we made it back, kids go to school, we go to work and all what's left is memories of a great road trip through a great country.

What is summer for you?: 6/8/08

Summer is here and it's getting hot and humid in Sarasota. For me summer means going on road trips; I always was a vagabond and I spend most of the summer with my family looking for places with a nice shade and cool beers. I create an office on wheels, connect my computer directly with our advertising agency Edelsbacher Design Group, take some projects and disappear for a few weeks.
Wouldn't it be great to don't grow up and still have this big summer vacations? No responsibilities, sleeping in, fishing and hiking, and having summer adventures like there is no tomorrow. I tell you what, try it out. Take at least a few days off and just go for it. They will be the best days you will remember next year!

Tell us what summer means to you. We collect the best stories & pictures in a summer album right here on this website.
Just click here to email us your stories and pictures.

Great to be read by you:)
Guenther

Downtown blooms!: 5/11/08

I was out on Saturday night with my friend Mike Ditaranto, one of the best anesthesiologists in Sarasota (no, I did not fall asleep). We both live way South Sarasota and had to decide where to invest the best hours of the week. There is Siesta Key with two great bar scenes, Gulf Gate (in my walking distance), Hillview, which actually is going through a huge change right now, St. Armands Circle where you can sit and watch people circling, or Downtown Sarasota, which did not have the best reputation. We decided to hit Downtown. Ceviche was our first target. It was only 7 when we arrived and the restaurant was already full. Really full. As we were not hungry anyway, we went to the 4th floor, the rooftop bar. Nice breeze, great service, and a sunset scenery you don't find very often. From all the people hanging out at the bar I did not know more than a handful. There were very interesting characters on the catwalk but it was not the usual SRQ meatmarket. The audience seemed to be more interested in their own company then on the table next to them. This was actually refreshing and relaxing, finally you could concentrate on a real conversation, and if it's only the beertalk of two buddies:)
After Ceviche we hit Sangria on Main, newly renovated and ready for the summer. On the way there we saw Mattisons completely full like always (hey, I said Mattisons, not Mattison:) and Baccos closed for renovation - what a pitty, it was a great hangout place.
After cruising around from bar to bar I have to say that Downtown Sarasota is blooming like never before! It is good to see that finally it is moving into the right direction and restaurants like Ceviche, Arosa (next to the Opera with a super garden area), Mattisons and Sangria are working together to keep that momentum.

Fleming's Winefest Winemaker Dinner: 4/24/08

It was the time of the year again. Event season is over, snowbirds heading north, streets are getting emptey (really, really?), and we think we rest and recharge. But wait a moment. There is still the Florida Winefest & Auction. I always attend 2 events: The Winemaker Dinner at Fleming's and The Tasting at the Ritz from 11 till 2 (am-pm).
This year I was able to bring some family friends - Brigitte and Peter Haas, the parents of Tommy Haas, our cute (I just state that for our girls readers:) and famous Tennis Star in Sarasota.
Dan Schefer from Fleming's was a really great host! "We had All you can Dream Menu" (isn't that sooo much better than all you can eat?) with wines from Freemaker Abbey and Black Coyote. My favorites were roasted tenderloin and the Viognier Rutherford 2006. We had so much fun, thank you Dan, hope I can have you for dinner in our house one day (and that is not a threat!).

Bye Bye Miami!: 2/3/08

Living in Sarasota is nice. A great place to live with your family, beautiful beaches, good hospitality. But if you were looking for that party which puts a big smile on your face all night long, it was a given to drive to Miami. Nothing could beat a Sunday evening at the South Beach Ritz with samba music and exotic people holding exotic drinks. Nothing could beat that until one man pulled it off last night on Palm Avenue. Rainer Scheer, owner of Chilloungenight.com, a gallery owner who never did an event before made the impossible possible. He put an event together that has not been seen in Sarasota before and will be a landmark for cool happenings in our cities future. I will be honest, I did not think that it would be a turn out like this. And there were multiple times we were not happy being his advertising agency (and neither was he:), specially on days when he called in 10 times. But seeing the event and talking to other sponsoring companies, I saw it in a different light. He just wanted everything to be perfect! Lounges set up like islands all over Palm Avenue, multiple stations where you could get your drinks (so no waiting in lines) and a whole side street filled with some of Sarasota's best restaurants offering samples and a VIP Lounge set up by Roy's. Big companies (like our Edelsbacher Advertising Agency:) had their own lounges: Audi, Szambelan Vodka, Premier Beverages and Maduro Cigar Club just to name a few. I really hope Rainer made some serious money with that evening and if not I hope some City authority is reading this blog and jumps in as an annual sponsor, because we should get an annual Chilloungenight to keep people from going to Miami. Bravo Rainer, and thank you for the event!

A Culinary Oscar: 1/12/08

On Saturday we got invited to a very unusual event: Cordon D'or Gold Ribbon International Culinary Academy Awards Cookbooks and Culinary Arts Dinner Gala! There were culinary experts and fantastic creative culinary professionals from all over the world. The showdown was Hotel & Resort Vinoy in St. Petersburg, organized by Noreen Kinney benefiting the Abilities Foundation. It started at 6:30 PM, so it was time enough to try out the wide selection of cocktails at the lobby bar watching Green Bay packing it. It was refreshing meeting people from other parts of the world (not that we do not have no foreigners here in Florida - but these were really just imported, you could say on demand:). For the warm up we had local restaurants sampling their hearts of their menus. If you ask me, this would have been enough calories for me already, but who asks me. We had a 5 course menu waiting in the ballroom; do you know how that works? You start with bread and butter, a glass of wine and a zip of water. Here comes the first course, accompanied by an other bread and half a glass of wine. While you wait for the next course you wished you did not have that two breads, so you drink an other half glass of wine, just to forget that you have stepped into this bread trap again (after 1597 events you had so far). The second course is often a soup or salad - goes great with bread, but not with me, no no. Maybe only a little bite, or two, but that's it. The third course brings something with a wonderful sauce. It would be kind of criminal to have no bread dunking in that sauce. No matter what your pants say or how your wife gives you this control-yourself look. That look can easily be because you just finished your third glass of wine, and I don't know what cause I really should prefer. Anyway, fourth course is always a steak. You can count on it like on half a basket of bread before that steak. Now you will say, well, I can't imagine him eating bread to that steak. Right. But I am telling you, it is also impossible to enjoy even the best fourth course after that bread orgy. So you see all that part finished steaks on the tables and a devastated chef asking himself why that always happens with big parties. Should I tell you? If you go for dinner I can not see you ordering 5 warm up starters, duck breast samplers, soup, lamb on reduced port sauce and a 12 ounce steak with all bows and whistles next to 4 breads and a bottle of wine - one time for you and one time for your wife. But what the snack, it was for a good cause and it tasted fantastic. And we had desert.

long time no read.: 12/30/07

Hi everybody. I didn't write for a long time here and there are many excuses for that. Too busy, too many projects, flying around in the world, ...
Sure, all true. The most important reason was, I did not feel like writing. See, you need time to enjoy writing and to be honest, it was a wild year. Not personally, thank good I have a great family and a life like a young puppy. But finding the right direction for your business is so important in rough waters of this years economy that it took all my energy to find our niches. Almost a year ago we expended callandeat.com to a local all covering search engine with 16 wheels and a cherry on top. Big mistake if you don't have 35 employees. I admit it - I overdid it a bit:) Now we are about to scale it down to what it was: A website for restaurants, bars, hospitality and events. Period. And after many months practicing the mortal art of feng shui I am having a goal for 2008: Providing useful information from great local hospitality companies and offering a networking tool for people who want to reach out and want to be reached.
Sooooo, now that I have straightened that out I can come up with a new crazy idea:) Happy new year!

sweets at the charterhouse after a rainy parade: 6/29/07

the offshore grand prix parade was rainy from the minute it started till the minute it ended. no rain before and no rain after the parade. people on the street had fun, we in the parade got soaked but, hey, it was a boats parade anyway, so what. while the wild block party downtown attracted people from all over the city my little family and me got attracted by an extra round in boss ones limo and a stop at the charterhouse. just when we set down on a table with water view a rainbow came out and it was one of the prettiest scenics I have seen in Sarasota. we ordered deserts first (my kids rule this part of the order) and had a whole list of appetizers to share. This is a way to eat where you can have a plate in front of you still have your fork in your neighbors plate (isn't it always better what the others order:)
it was our first time at the charthouse and I must say: I'll be back!

crab fest feast: 6/22/07

it was friday afternoon when chef rolf from saltwater cafe called me and said: do you wanna come and taste some fresh crab, just arrived. Ja sicher mein freund, I answered. I took my kids and the cutest wife in the world and headed down venice. there was beer and music and oldies 108 (that's one of the most famous radio channels here on the coast, not a gang of retirees:) and of course rolf and about half a ton of crab. it was funny seeing tables of people with their hands in front of them in the air, all buttery and crabby. when rolf suggested to take a little taste of everything I had no idea he meant everything in the restaurant. there were 3 different sorts of crab, crabcake, prime rib, corn, and much much more. enough to feet my family, I mean my hole family back in austria. but I underestimated my 3 girls gang, kimberly cracked crablegs like she learns that in school and nina even ordered extra salad on the side (very embarrassing:) It was our first crabfest at saltwater cafe but for sure not the last one. there is lobster lovers days coming up in july and august, looking forward to that already. thanks rolf, always a feast!

Birthday at Bellagio: 6/18/07

007 had a birthday to celebrate and believe it or not, mr. bond decided to have chianti instead of martinis. It was a setup, but of course he knew that already. The crime scene was Ristaurante Bellagio and this time it was not the gardener but the chef. He studied the menu for a while but suddenly Toni, the waiter (codename Antonino) collected the menus and said: no items from the menu today. Was this the trap? He put a bottle of wine on the table - A birthday present from Dante, chef and owner of Bellagio. "Mille grazie!" as American would say if they could speak Italian. We could hear Dante working in the kitchen and sometimes we were able to catch a peek when Toni sneaked in and out bringing more and more food to the table. In the beginning we filled up like there was no tomorrow but after the fourth course even Mr. Bond, Mr. Steve Bond kind of had the dinner terror in his eyes. With the fifth course (Pollo Parmigiano) we tried to chicken out but our kids the little traitors asked for deserts. Of course the Tiramisu was awesome and sometimes goes great with grappa:)
I had to fight 007 for the bill but surprisingly nobody got that trophy. Dante covered the whole dinner! including wine and beer and rock'n roll. It was at least $500 and I know that this a small family owned restaurant. I really was touched by so much hospitality. When you are looking for that little Italian restaurant atmosphere you found 2 years ago in that small city on your Europe trip go to Bellagio in Sarasota. You will probably not get a dinner on the house but wonderful fresh food by old, secret Italian recipes. "Grazie Dante e Toni. Mille Grazie." as Guenther would say if he would speak Italian.

International Trends: 5/31/07

Last week I was in NY and Boston to meet with designers from all over the world discussing new and upcoming trends. It was really interesting to see that we are on the right track with callandeat.com. Having a website and business cards doesn't do it anymore. Communicating with your clients and with people who don't even know that they will be clients in a minute is the priority. Next to learning about cool marketing tools and trendy set ups we had a lot of fun on this road trip. Alone on the second day there was this party with all austrians in south manhattan. can you picture all, and I really mean all, people outside the club, smoking and drinking imported austrian beer on the walkway? I wondered why nobody slept in jail that night:). we had a week of great food and I ate super cool new food like NY pizza and cherrystones in Boston. I also found out that there is still young life on this planet (I almost gave up after seven years sarasota) specially Boston with all these college students who need to learn how to party without parents was awesome. life is good in sarasota but it is great to get away once in a while and see that we are not that important as we think. makes life way easier to see the glass half full.

our new website and magazine: 5/3/07

wow, our new magazine is out, together with our new website. we are getting better and better, compare to last year we doubled our readership and added tampa, st pete and naples. in our magazine we show you everything about lifestyle in these cities, guide you through dining and nightlife, and drive you to our website (and if you read these lines you can see that our concept works:)
we will add city by city until we are done in florida, and after that we will, no, not really. we will actually take a long vacation and we will let you, my readership, work. cause our website is so interactive that you can add events, coupons and pictures and once you submitted them, they will go online. of course we check them before they go life, it is a family site after all.
soooo, don't hold back, submit your events, share your pictures and let us know about coupons. it doesn't cost you anything and brings people togehter. ciao, guenther

The Reel Experience: 4/14/07

It was already beautiful arriving at the Lake Club in Lakewood Ranch. There was a long line of cars waiting for valet parking but nobody seemed to care. It was just so pretty to see that picture perfect scenery, a set of model homes (these are not really homes anymore, these are already castles), a park in front of the homes was decorated with tables and couches, and huge ballons lighted up like moons 25 foot in the air mirrowed themself in the lake in front of this setup.
Trolleys driving between valet parking and the party so you defenitelly wouldn't use any calories. I was really tired from a week of parties and did not look forward to an other long night, but it was so entertaining, food was great, beer got better and better and suddenly it was midnight again. And there was a big surpise in the end, the car keys were not organizes, just sitting on a table and everybody standing around with their cell phone backlight on searching for their own set. It was almost like these key parties where you pick a set of keys and this was your partner for the night:) It was a reel experience.

going to miami: 3/15/07

coming from sarasota to miami is like waking up from a good afternoon nap and going to a party. there is spring and break on every corner and on ocean drive you either sit in a bar watching the people drive by or you sit in your car watching people watching you. it is a city with an international face and ONE international language: spaengsuaheli. what I really like most on miami is that you can stroll for an hour and still did not make it up and down lincoln. does not really matter that the feet hurt in the evening and after the third mojito your tummy is kind of sugar frozen, you are in, right? the next day starts with a breakfast on the beach. sure, it costs $45 per person and the valley parking is $30, but hey, what did you expect? it is MIAMI. and don't start nagging that your credit card number got stolen and somebody went to gucci to buy some pants you would never buy, it is NOT because you are a very white, 42 year old sleepy tourist with an accent like arnold. it is just the accent:) - turns out that miami is cool to go to a party (no question about that), and it's great to see and be seen, and of course everything moves faster (the speeding tickets, too). it's just so much nicer waking up in sarasota.

Happy Valentines Day: 2/14/07

There are many stories out there about Valentines day. My favorite one is that Valentine was an erotic festival in Rome in February. Women dressed up as wolves and waited to be whipped by men. If you happen to be in Italy or Greece at Valentines day you can still see young men chasing young women while brandishing whips. Of course that ritual is not for every culture, so in the USA we try to chase our goddesses with flowers and chocolate hearts, expecting the same effect South Europeans create with their whip chase. Maybe the reason why we changed the way of celebrating Valentines is the fact that with centuries of eating these chocolate hearts we are now too heavy weighed to attend a physically challenging chase. However, chocolate is sweet and whips are spicy, there is something in every culture for us:) Happy Valentines Day. Guenther

Monkseln: 2/8/07

Whenever people ask me about my favorite restaurant in sarasota I try to be diplomatically. There are many great restaurants here. But it all depends on the theme of the evening. Is it a business dinner, am I craving for a bloody steak, do I long for some vegetarian experience (just kidding), or is food the side dish and martinis the dinner. But there is one thing I can always fall for - I call that Monkseln. Some simple and bold seafood with no bows and sparkles. Something like you find on the short and simple menu of monks steam-bar. The menu is short enough to make it up and down in an evening but once you tasted this seafood you are hooked. It comes steamed with garlic and butter, and looks great next to a beer on the bar. The only thing missing is some french bread. So if you think about trying out Monkseln, don't forget to have some bread in your pocket. But don't let the bar crew see that, or they might show you what they understand under Monkseln:)

Dinner at Bijou Cafe: 1/5/07

It was a busy evening at Bijou Cafe when I asked JP for a table for eight. Four adults and four kids. You could see the panic in the face of a nearby waiter - 4 kids on 1 table? Quickly I added: They are really well behaved and extremely quiet when they go out for a fine dinner with us. JP's "looking forward to see you" was real, he knows that he can trust me. When our friends, the Cavanaughs, arrived with their 2 kids we sat down, ordered four martinis and 4 waters (and I still don't know if it would have been better to switch drinks with the little ones). I already knew what I would eat and that does not happen very often. Normally I pick two items I really like and compare the side dishes. Most likely a third item jumps into the competition and makes my life to hell for the next 7 minutes. When time is up to order everybody is relaxed. Everybody but me. I then through all 3 items over board and pick a completely stranger from the menu (is it my mistake that they put so many items on?). But back to Bijou Cafe. I knew I would take the steak and when the waiter came I ordered the duck. The kids started out really well behaved as I promised. But after 30 minutes they were looking for something to do on the table. Playing with silverware and mixing water with salt and sugar kept them busy until food was served. Trying their dinner took the 3 minutes, trying them to eat it took us 6 minutes until we gave up. They are only kids, they never eat. We took terms eating our dinners and entertaining the kids. I had the great idea to make silly faces so not only the children screamed from having fun but I also looked like a stupid adult trying to communicate on a kids level. Well, all in all meeting our friend was great, kids had a blast, and dinner was fantastic like always (and JP and every guest was happy when we left:). Sorry JP, but I'll be back:)

comedy club wednesday at yoakum's bar & grill: 12/20/06

I went there with mixed feelings. on the one side sarasota comedy on the other side some xmas martinis:) the new location of Jeff's restaurant (formally owner of greers on gulf gate) under his family name YOUKUM (I first thought it must be an other sushi bar) has a niche location - it is next door south of minxx. so everybody getting hungry and danced out will find them self sooner or later hanging out for a midnight snack at jeff's. but get back to wednesday night: there is a crowed of people waiting for a comedy show - coming and going in an hour. instead you have 4 or 5 guys taking turns on a never ending parade of finest and deepest fun you can imagine. sit back, order your beer - don't forget a plate of ribs for the table and have the best time of your week. I am easy to entertain but this really topped it. I'll be back.

Yoakum's Bar & Grill has just opened at 7119 S. Tamiami Trail. Hrs are 4:30PM-2AM. Comedy every Wednesday

Peace: 12/2/06

It official started - the peaceful time, the time between thanksgiving and christmas. Everybody claims to love it - kids because of cookies and presents, and the mamas and the papas because everybody is peaceful and smiles. The only problem is that we don't live in this perfect world. Kids eat cookies all year long (and so do I:) and adults don't smile because it is everything else then peaceful out there. So where does this fairy-tale come from? It comes from a time, when we had time to talk to each other. I mean really talking. No sms, no text-messaging, no instant messaging, no mass emails, no xmas cards without even a signature. We had time to walk to a store and buy presents, talk to friends and neighbors, take the time to sit down with somebody you like for a cup of hot tea (even during the day), have a dinner with all family members and read our kids a story from a real book. Wow, get a grip man. These are REALLY old times. Sure. But try to do one of these things and you will find peace in it.

In the Pink: 11/16/06

In the Pink is an annual fundraiser for New Gate School, a private Montessori School in Sarasota. This year one of our friends, Beth Knopik was in charge of organizing it and she and her commitee did an amazing job! It was really pretty - the schoolyard was decorated with sparkling lights, an ice sculpture was surounded by desserts, candles flickering in the late summer night breeze and tables of restaurants and wine/beer distributers showcasing their secrets surounded by a beautiful crowd of parents. You think, great, an other fundraiser, food, wine, and people smiling around and you are right. Exept if you are really involved in a small community like New Gate and you have a fundraiser with them it is like a family reunion. Some of them are friends of ours for 7+ years and getting together is always something special. Food and wine and for a good cause is all great, but getting together with so many people you like (and some maybe not - hey, it's like in a real family:) is priceless. Until next year my friends.

Martini is not Martini: 11/2/06

One of my best friends in the world just stopped by in Sarasota. Dirk is a consultant for Hotels & Resorts and we work together for ever. Of course I had to get him out to show him our nightlife (which starts right after 5:). I recommended to After the first sip he asked what that was. A martini, with this and that and something special in it. NO no, a martini is a Vermouth, dry or sweet, with a twist of lime and an ice cube. Well, that is true. In Europe. In the USA it is a mix drink with all kind of liquor and a little splash of something. A VERY different story. Took me a big hangover to convert to the American style of martini when I moved here from Europe. But since then there is almost nothing else more enjoyable than sitting barefoot on a patio watching the sunset and sipping a martini. A real American Martini. Of course.

Crab is King at Greers: 11/1/06

I heard the news at Paddy Wagon having a Guiness with John, the owner. Greer's gets a new delivery of King Crab! I called my friends Andy and Mike and we were the first ones who showed up next day. We started out with two and a half pounds of Stone Crab just to warm up. Some garlic bread and Stella beers and we almost were in heaven. So, how should we have our King Crab? There is different ways you can eat them. For me it has to be plain and simple. No butchering with weird spices or blackening until you don't know what you eat anymore. Kip, the chef and partner at Greers, put the King on the grill for us which gave them an interesting twist of taste. We ate like pigs and talked like men (better then the other way around:)

Out of the box at St. Armands Circle: 10/7/06

I took my cute little wife and cute little kids and cute little dog and our build in babysitters - my inlaws, out for a stroll to St. Armand Circle. It takes me exact 12 minutes for a circle (only because I am a window shopper) and it takes the rest of my gang about 45 minutes if the make 2 stops at shops. Whise as I am:) I planned to park my car in front of Le Colonne, a restaurant I picked as the target to sit for 33 minutes and have a glass of Chianti when I was done with my round of shopping. Smiling inside and proud of my plan I found my parking spot (I ALWAYS find a parking spot, don't know why but it is so), got the family out and explained my wife that I see her when I see her. Already on my turn around and "good bye", I heard - "can you take the kids and the dog"? Try to say no and still have a great weekend - would not happen. So I took the kids, Nina on her hand and Kimmy and Sammy in front of me. Don't get me wrong, it did not bother me at all. My girls are beautiful and well behaved and it was not our dogs fault that she missed on the middle of the walkway and I had nothing to pick it up and I had to go to a store to ask for a paper towel. It also almost did not slow us down that Nina turned into each entrance that smelled like ice cream. And we only lost 17 minutes shopping for important beads for my girls. When we came back to the car my wife was just 100 yards behind me. "Why don't we sit down at Le Colonne to have dinner all together" she said. Yes, why shouldn't we. Life is too short to hurry.

So much sushi!: 10/6/06

Wouldn't it be a dream if you sit in a sushi restaurant, I mean in a real good one, and be able to order endless rounds of sushi without paying more? This dream comes true if you go to Ichiban on clark road/stickney point road. Elke and I just wanted a snack before our tennis evening and stopped at ichiban. The restaurant was FULL and we wondered how so many people find a hidden place like this. We asked Tony, the owner of Ichiban, and he told us about the all you can eat sushi for 18.95. Needless to say that we spent the next two hours trying get out of this deal and into our tummies as much as we could. Tennis can wait, sushi should be eaten right away!

Octoberfest in Sarasota: 10/5/06

When you think about Oktoberfest you think of weisswurscht, mass bier and dirndlkleid. It is nothing typical for Florida. So when I got the invitation this year I thought, oh lord, it will be like christmas without snow and gluehwein. My expectations were really low so it was a positive surprise that I was not the only lederhosen-johnny around and I was able to find a real bierkrug to drink my beer from. Music was original german, bratwurst and sauerkraut made by heinz reminded me of home and after only a little while of pessimism I ran around with a big smile on my face. I was really happy that they pulled a sarasota october fest together - it was just good for my soul. now we only need to work on christmas:)

great technology: 9/21/06

I always new that we at callandeat.com have a great website but this blew my mind! I sit here on my patio bed with Sheryl Crow (in my ears), 0:15AM, and text-messaging with friends in Europe. Suddenly I think, wouldn't it be great to write a blog from my blackberry. I browse to my login, and voila, here I am. I can not tell you how pleasant surprised I was when I found out that I can update our complete website from a cell phone! Thanks Adam and Fred for building this great feature, I had no idea. So Sarasota, get ready for some funny blogs, because I get my best ideas when I am out and party with friends. Of course my accent gets heavier with every martini - even in my written english:). Good night everybody! That was fun;)

Party at the linger lodge: 8/26/06

Hi my sweet little blog. Long time no seen:) Please don't be mad at me, I got this other passion on the side - designing advertisments for clients. But after this party I HAD to write a little blog! It was at the Linger Lodge, a place you will never find and if you find it you will be really surprised. The Sarasota Bachelor Club called for a party and callandeat sponsored them with a trolley ride between the table and the lodge. A bunch of punch on the trolley shortened the ride and got us into the right mood. When we arrived we thought we stepped out of a time machine: Old Floridean style lodge with exactly the people you see in one of these retro movies. After the first impression we saw what makes this place so popular: People are real, food is awesome, beer is cheap, no actually CHEAP. 2 drafts for $1! And after you sit down and lose your fear you start seeing original decoration - rattle snakes, alligators and creatures you don't even know they exist are placed on walls and shelf all over the lodge. "All of them caught just around the property" explains the bartender, and you better believe him, or. The Bachelor Club had arranged some specials: tequilla tasting and a free cigar bar, so after an hour or two we felt like some cuban mexicans in deep old Florida. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time, it was very unusual and I really want locals and tourists to find that place. A must for everybody, no matter if you look for an adventure or not:)

chardonnay trolley ride: 8/10/06

An other night, an other trolley ride. This was one of the trolley rides we will not forget. After we started out at Speakeasy we knew it would be a special trip because the group a wild mix of fun people. When we arrived at Esca we already lost our first passengers. Everybody had friends here and there and wanted to tell them about our tour. I felt like a farmer with a herd of sheep, trying to keep them together somehow. A retired firefighter told us dirty jokes while we were tasting the house chardonnay on the roof patio of Esca. After a while he said that he had to leave because he heard that a bus full of girls would show up at Silver Cricket around 9:30. You should have seen his eyes when we showed up with our trolley. Silver Cricket had live music and good food and great wine, like always! Our stop before the keys was the Tasting Room and man, they really put something together for us! There were 6 tables set up just for callandeat.com and after I got most of my sheep together again (it took a while), we got a whole tour through some of their finest wines. Back on Siesta Key we sat down for our traditional good night drink and knew that we would see each other again very soon.

What A Year!: 7/26/06

I can't believe that it is only a year ago since we launched CallandEat.com. A year full of hard work, new boots to walk in and new streets to walk on. We made many new friends on these streets and met people we will never forget. But most importantly we had lots of fun and I think that shows in our magazine as well as on our website.

We already developed so many ideas like our music section - a great overview of who is playing what, when and where. Or our “Introduce yourself over dinner” where companies can break the ice by telling Sarasota about their culinary habits. Or the CallandEat.com Trolley Ride (if you haven't been on one you really need to sign up for this fun ride through Sarasota's night life). And there is so much more to come this year. We will have coupons online, happy hour life cameras and some great surprises (sorry, I can't tell you yet because our competitors are reading these lines as well:)

We don't see ourselves as a magazine collecting ads issue per issue and calling it a day. We offer hospitality marketing to restaurants and bars like you have never seen before. And we offer any company a great magazine to carry their message to thousands of people - locals and tourists, privates and businesses.

And of course we are one of the best resources for our readers to find out what to eat and where you can dance on a bar without getting in trouble. Find out right now right here in this Summer edition of CallandEat.com
Enjoy!




Guenther Edelsbacher
Publisher

dinner at pino: 7/21/06

friday evening is the time when I pick up elke at home, buy movie tickets and have a martini or two. this friday our baby sitter had other plans so as soon as I came home 3 pair of girls eyes looked at me. what do we do, what do we do? that's when callandeat jumped in for a panicking dad. "girls", I said, "pick your restaurant". pino was the winner of the night. the girls went to dress up (and if you ever waited for girls dressing up you know I was able to read the paper in the meantime:) but it really was worth waiting: all 3 looked so cute, it was a pleasure going out with them! I had ordered an outside table, but everybody who knows me understands that we ended up inside (it is so hard to know what you want in life, isn't it?). of course I jumped to the kitchen to say hello to the chef mauro - it is polite to greet people you know well and it is smart to let the chef know you are here:). this evening we ate and drank the menu up and down. nina knew, where is a restaurant there is desert. so she kept room for sweets. we ended up with tiramisu for elke and kimmy, and mauro's ice cream for nina (and pino's martini for me). I sat back and enjoyed watching them eliminating desert in under 2 minutes! are you ready for another desert? and before I could say "just kidding" my girls had ordered another round. there is no kidding with desert, dad. And after we filled up with all the good stuff we took a walk on the beach. it was a beautiful evening with a wonderful family, happy the babysitter did not show up!

Dinner with Two Senoritas: 7/19/06

I was invited by the owner of Two Señoritas Cheryl Woodruff and her personal assistant Pam Clark to a private dinner party at her house. Chef of the evening was Mark Woodruff who flew in from New York just to cook for us. One of the interesting guests of the evening was Kurt Lucas who actually designed this house/castle for him and his friend Ronny. It is amazing how many details you can find in this beautiful home, it is almost like disney world (sorry for that, kurt:). We now can confirm that Cheryl is one of the few people in Florida who can say “My home is my castle.” Great house, great food, great company - thank you Cheryl, we will do that again!

a picture sunday: 7/16/06

why is it always a sunday when I got my blogs lined up? either I had a wild saturday night behind me or a special sunday afternoon. this was a sunday afternoon, filled with joy. I finally had time to be in my office and design all by myself and I really enjoy designing. the first time I looked up it was 5 p.m. and i was ready to call it a day. a sunday. a weekend. but elke, my most beautiful wife did not want to call it a day so she called me. picnic - beach - friends - mojitos, was all I understood - guess what twisted my arm:) I sat in my car even before the computers shut down and picked up the girly gang - my two daughters and my better half. the target was on siesta key. you will never find it if you don't know it. it is a piece of property owned by a small neighborhood. our friends, the marlowes, bought into it a few months ago. it's an iron gate, a dirt road and about 100 feet of private beach on the end of it. "now that's great, he is writing about the sand, he must have lost his mind". well, maybe I have lost something and maybe most of us have lost that: to remember the reason why we are in sarasota. we came here and fell in love with this city that ever sleeps (or naps - nothing wrong with that) and most of us fell in love with it because of the beach, the gulf, the breeze and the lifestyle. but after some months of peeling toes in white sand we got sucked into serious business and suddenly we were really working (oh my god, can't believe I even wrote that). too much working if you ask me. sometimes you should just turn around and leave everything behind because i can tell you, it will be still there tomorrow when you come back and it makes a big difference if you return with a big smile on your face. this was just a perfect evening. good friends, great food on a wooden table, wonderful mojitos (thanks nancy:), a perfect sunset, and I suddenly remembered why I am here. you should think about it, too. feels good when you find out.

The Sushi and Sake Trolley Tour: 6/23/06

Another friday, same time, same station. we did not think that sake and sushi would attract people like birthday cake attract kids. but after announcing the tour we almost sold out in only one day! we did not make it easy for our restaurant and bar stops: it had to be sushi and/or sake. speakeasy made it look easy, sushi from jo-to's and sake vodka blackberry long drink. of course our tours are sampling tours and every sushi lover knows that once you tasted blood you want more. our next stop was itchiban but tony, the owner could not fit us in his restaurant (what are you thinking, guenther, sushi place and friday night?). so we attacked atlantis pizza, the next door bar where frank welcomed us with open arms and even a free drink. very unexpected - great hospitality! itchibans sushi did not survive 5 minutes so we were on the trolley WAY too early for our minxx stop. thanks to silver cricket we could switch the stops and our passengers did not really care after all the liquid treats - we could tell that we were on the evenings point of no return:) we expected a plate of sushi and a shot of sake, but man, silver cricket hit the home run again: 5 large plates of wonderful asian surprises followed by sake coconut cocktails. it was truly a surprise! after so much sushi we just cared about getting some music in the feet and high percentage to digest. once on the trolley we all danced and laughed and just had a good time. nobody had to think about drinking and driving and this makes it easier to enjoy an evening like that. minxx opened the VIP doors for us again, drinks were on the house and after an hour of dancing and watching and being watched and being danced we went back to speakeasy to get our good night budweiser kiss. and believe it or not, an hour later, when I sneaked back to minxx I found out that at least half of our riders had the same idea, so we started all over again. we had so much fun this night that I still had a smile on my lips when I woke up next morning. or was it because elke kissed me good night and let me sleep in on saturday:)

trolley ride with the bachelorettes: 6/16/06

our friday night trolley ride is becoming one of these popular things everybody wants to be part of. last friday we had the bachelorettes on board, 25 beautiful girls with no intentions of making it a quiet night. as always we started at speakeasy - rob served us some apple martini samplers and chicken wings to fly into the right mood. the tasting room bubbled us champagne and although the night was still young we had a blast! you have to know that the girls were promoting their fundraiser, a kickoff party, august 5 and the main event, september 23, both at the longboat key club. with promotional material and toothpaste commercial smiles they were working the bars of fred's and the tasting room. the champagne lasted for an hour and after we made sure that everybody knows callandet.com and the bachelorettes we got picked up by the trolley in front of the cheering crowd (can you tell that I like to be out there with my bars and restaurant owners?:) for the next stop I had a special surprise: marcello from ferraris cooked for all of us - mussels and antipasto misto. it was sooo good. roberto from siema wine imports sampled some of his best wines and when marcello, his mum, sister and grandmother came to join us we all felt really special. things like these are rare to find (maybe in some small european towns where everybody knows everybody). I believe that restaurants and bars start realizing that we do not only take their money for an ad and disappear but offer them a complete marketing program. no matter if it is our free newsletter to almost 10.000 people per week or the trolley tour - we go the extra mile for them. and like everything in live - what goes around comes around. next stop was octave. georgio had 2 for 1 specials for us on the menu all night long and we danced off our ferraris calories to some hip hop grunch grove moves. I still had one card to play this night: minxx, the new club on the south trail opened the doors for us and that means something. NOBODY gets in for free but rezz, their marketing manager made it happen that we did not only passed the line of people but also got a complementary drink. we even tried to park our trolley at the valet parking:) the club is great - live music in one room, dance club in an other one and a champagne bar in the third one. needless to say that we did not make it back at eleven but stayed until two. but whatever, I slept most saturday and sunday is father's day so elke, my beautiful wife will forgive me (note: forgiving and forgetting are two pair of shoes, I know that:)

Opening of Lee Roy Selmon's: 6/13/06

When I get an invitation to an opening of a new restaurant I make sure of two things: that I don't forget my camera equipment and that I don't eat all day long to save my appetite for the opening buffet (I know, cheap trick, but I learned this from one of the big guys:). Lee Roy Selmon. When you hear this name you think of sports, football and tampa bay buccaneers. But since 2000 you should also think about good homemade food and great sports bar restaurant atmosphere when you hear this name. When I arrived I really was surprised. I have never been at a Lee Roy Selmon's before nore have I met him in person. I was impressed, by the atmosphere as well as by Lee Roy himself. He has great humor and takes his time for everybody he meets. His staff is 100% behind him and you have the feeling they are playing this job as a team. The menu is pretty smart, it has item names like LEE ROY'S TRAINING PLATTER. It is actually ribs and chicken and pork with sides but it sounds like you are working out while you eat:) You can easily say: "honey, I am going over to Lee Roy for a training platter. I will be back after stretching". All in all a great restaurant and sports bar by a great sports man. Thanks Lee Roy. I enjoyed this evening.

a king in the kitchen: 6/4/06

I am sure most of you will expect a little story about a cooking class with a certificate in the end and 25 pounds of food for the next 14 days, yeah, sorry, it's not. this is about a typical guenther sunday and why cooking is for kings. this sunday started with some real quiet time very early in the morning. I had enough time to make a perfect set up with everything you need for a vienna breakfast: dark bread, butter, marillen jam (from my mom), ham, cheese, milk bread, 3 minutes eggs, sunday paper (yes herald tribune, I do read you:), coffee and milk. what should I do now? since everybody is still sleeping I could cook a little bit, why not! there is chicken soup and pork roast on my lunch menu and - ruck zuck - I have the chicken in the water and the pig in the oven. starts smelling from garlic in my kitchen. well, I like that but I am not sure if my girls like to wake up like that (I suddenly have to think that they are like vampires - they love to sleep in, avoid garlic and suck the life out of my wallet, lol). it's too late anyway - the pyjama gang hits the kitchen and slowly wakes up at the breakfast table. after an hour of eating and talking and laughing and sunday plans they disappear as fast as they showed up and I am alone again. just me and my buddy the kitchen. after salad, potatoes, sauces and noodles it is only 11:30 am and I was surprised to get everybody back to the table for such an early lunch, well, it smelled WONDERFUL at this point and the pool made them hungry. elke told me the secret of the day: we were invited to an italien party in the evening and we admitted to bring something to eat. soooo, instead of baking myself in the sun I started to create some austrian specials: pork sausage from my pork left over and liver pate from the chicken soup liver (I was happy I used a whole pound of liver this time). it just took me two hours to create two dishes from leftover and it was not even 3 pm - enough time for vanilla ice cream with cold coffee and cookies. and believe it or not, I still had an hour in the sun.
breakfast was a hit, lunch was super and the party a winner.
so why am I telling you a story like that? because I want to show you that for some people it is not stress at all to stand in the kitchen and serve thee loved ones all day long. and if you are one of these people you should remember it once in while. it relaxes your family and makes you feel like a king. a king in the kitchen:)

callandeat.com martini trolley ride: 5/26/06

it was friday again and man, did we look forward to this friday! all week long we set up our trolley martini ride. those of you who were not able to go this time: you will get your chance as martinis are really popular in sarasota and we will duplicate this tour for sure. we started at speakeasy (we always start at speakeasy as we use their trolley and they are a great event partner). finger food and cosmos got us a jump start even before we entered the trolley. next stop was fred's tasting room and you already know what they served us, yeah right, the famous espresso martini! this is really one of my favorites since I tasted it the first time years ago. the next part of the ride was already full of laughter, dancing and singing - the right fine-tuning for octave. we cheated a little bit by slowing down with a nice cold beer and some food at greer's, we really needed something to eat at this point and jeff handled us unexpected hungry and a little bit too much smiling people very well. just one street down georgio at octave had already opened his club for us and even the night was still young we filled up the bar with our trolley gang. that is the nice thing if you show up with a bunch of fun people - the bar is ours everywhere. with every bar the trolley got fuller and when we arrived at maximo's on siesta key the drinks were gone before we could settle down in this great african lounge. max, the owner, was not there this night cause he had his vip opening at silver cricket (sorry maxe, I really was so sure I would stop by but I really couldn't make it anymore after your safari martinis). the last (official) stop was speakeasy were rob and josh had a great party running - and we were invited. of course. but not one of us could finish our good night drinks (or at least I know I couldn't). what a great night. and it was not over yet, but that was not official anymore (and what happens outside the trolley ride stays outside the trolley ride:)
what a fun night with fun people. thank you all together. hope to see you on one or the other ride again!

The Spirit of Sarasota: 5/16/06

THE SARASOTA CONVENTION & VISITOR'S BUREAU took lead in showcasing what Sarasota has to offer on her tables. I was at the SPIRIT OF SARASOTA lunch at the serendipity tennis club and I listened to the theories that food and beds will walk the same advertising road to have a unique selling proposition on this very hot market. I really liked this speech because that is exactly what we try to do with callandeat.com and I wanted to jump up on a table (and those of you who know me will have a smile in their eyes now) and show everybody that we already have such a great marketing tool with our magazine and website. but it was way too early in the day for a table jump and everybody had one of our magazines in their hands anyway (come on, did you think I would go to an event like this without dropping two boxes at the entrance:)
so what actually is the spirit of sarasota? if you ask me (and if you don't ask me I will still write it here:) I would say it is all these big and small restaurants, bars and hotels/resorts working so hard to welcome visitors and giving locals one more reason to stay in Sarasota. and of course all the people working for these businesses: chefs, waiters, bartenders, musicians, and so on. most of us don't even know what it takes to run a hospitality business but next time you are out and dining or having a drink with ur friends take a moment and look around. there is so much energy and heart and soul invested by your hosts to make you feel comfortable and you can be sure that a day in a hospitality business does not end after 8 hours.
the off season is just around the corner and many of the restaurants will have great specials for locals. take a look at our website once in a while (or twice a day), you will find great deals and news about what is going on in this city full of spirit. and don't forget to go out during the summer and let them wait on you - it feels good and we support a wonderful city. and to my european friends - don't forget to tip:)

food review at zoria: 5/10/06

judi gallagher and an other 4 fun people met for one of the best things callandeat.com has to offer - a food review! of course I was there as well because this is the best time to have a chat with the restaurant owners and I get my after work martini for free:)
when we all met in the lobby we sat down in this u-shaped red sofas, started to small talk and it became so relaxing that we almost forgot why we were here. a decent belly roaaaar reminded to hit the table and check out what's on the menu. while my food reviewers started to order I disappeared to the place I like most in a restaurant - the kitchen. you can tell a lot by checking out the kitchen. is it really sparkling clean you can be sure they are not busy (or the chef took off), is it really dirty they are too busy (and the chef took off), is it nice warm with a combination of great food scents in the air you can stay and eat (until the chef takes off). this kitchen was definitely the third kind of kitchen and while I was there shooting my pictures I was really tempted to take some silverware and taste the one or the other dish before it made it to the table. read more about this great evening in our june issue of callandeat.com. until next time! g

dinner at greer's: 4/29/06

after another day in paradise city (where the grass is green
and the girls are pretty) my cutest family in the world and their best friends came up with the idea to skip cooking and dine out. where should we go? what a great joke asking callandeat.com guenther something like this, never heard that before (yawn:). greer's, I said right away, because a) it is close to our home and 2nd we can bring the kids. as always jeff was standing behind the bar tapping my Stella even before I could say hello. he is a funny guy, I never see him without a smile, his handshake is honest and when you order something, he is cooking it with passion. this evening we had clams and butter spaghetti (not on the menu but what do you do if nina needs butter spaghetti) we killed some major steaks and fish and calamari and duck quesadillas and and and... after we were REALLY full, we asked for the check and jeff said: everything is taken care of, thanks for marketing us. these are the moments when you know that you are doing the right thing being out there and making pictures of events, sending out newsletters with restaurant news and just don't stop being there for your clients until you fall asleep. these are the moments I am proud to be guenther edelsbacher and having my callandeat.com team. thanks jeff, great treat!

See greer's menu

cocktails at the cad a'zan: 4/27/06

Every third Thursday of the month I am watching the best sunset in town, at least it feels like the best one because a) I am surrounded by the old stones of the Cà d'Zan Mansion and b) it is cocktail time:)

There is live entertainment, dancing, and food from the area's favorite caterers for all. Well, normally for all. This time we sent out a newsletter from callandeat.com to over 8000 people and when we showed up at the gate there was a huge line of people waiting to get in. Once we were in (and that was the easy part with a big press-pass-smile) we grooved with the dancing crowd, enjoyed the evening sun in our face and a cool breeze destroyed all perfectly styled hair so everybody looked a little goofy this evening and we had to trash a lot of our pictures.

putting on the ritz: 4/16/06

it was easter sunday and just after I found out that the easter bunny did not leave me anything (or my 2 daughters collected my sweets as well) I jumped in my Dolce & Gabbana shorts, oiled my shoulders and packed my little family in the car to go and hang out with friends. and it was not only a normal sunday hangout - it was the ritz carlton beach club. our friends, the ditaranto's, are members there (lucky gang:) and invited us to spend this special sunday at this even more special place.
you already feel selected when you arrive: your name is on the list, they valet park your car and a 7 foot easter bunny wants to hug me (it must have had already one of those mojitos everybody is talking about)! it's a different world at the ritz and we always like it no matter which city. the service is friendly, the people are those 10% you normally don't see on the street and the quality is measured by the little details here and there. the heart of the beach club is a huge pool with an almost private sandbox - the beach. touring the facility we found this little bar on the beach which looks like the hideaway for the ritz party crowd. actually it is a public bar and anybody can go there. what a great thing if you don't want to spend all your milkmoney for membership fees. after testing some looongdrinks, pretty decent food and baking in the sun for 6 hours we went home and I took care of my burned shoulders. it seems that even the sun is stronger at the ritz.

15th annual "the srq club" carpe diem event: 4/8/06

black ties. hot dresses. great music. awesome location.
the annual black tie event held by the one and only srq club was one of sarasotas private highlights in my event calendar again. it's almost the same thing every year - same selby gardens, same bar, and because it is by invitation only it is the same crowd, too. don't get me wrong, that is actually something wonderful. it is like you are going to a reunion with a bunch of friends once a year. and man, we know how to party:)
you should have seen the beautiful girls lined up, the night life in sarasota must have been dead this night. and of course I left with one of the hottest chicks this night - my gorgeous wife elke:) great party, thanks carsten for inviting us!

film festival street party: 4/6/06

wow! that's exactly what sarasota needs more often! great gathering of fun people.
smart enough to park my car at whole foods garage saves us this long walk from a far away parking spot to the event and back. yepp, that's guenther. can't beat his sharp thinking. getting there and finding out that valet parking is DIRECTLY at the entrance (and is free) costs only a few moments and a dirty grin from my smartest wife in the world, elke.
whatever, after entering the party I knew why it was $60 per person: all drinks were free (and those who know me can be asured that I got my money back this night:), some of the best restaurants in town were sampling their specials of the house and the dancefloor was a never ending entertainment. it was great to see so many friends at one place. we all have something in common, we honor good hospitality and this night was the perfect example of how we like to be treated. and when I was standing in a corner and watching the people go by I thought to myself: "sarasota, what a beautiful crowd"

a date with gg: 3/23/06

the first time I heard about gg was when I went on her website, ggkiss.com, and emailed her right away to ask her out for a late night dinner. instead of gg her creator, amy knapp, answered and we met at newly opened pino's downtown. I was very impressed by amy's and gg's story and next to perfect food and wine we had a great evening filled with laughter and conversations about god and the world like we european say. be sure to hear more about amy and gg on callandeat.com and make sure to visit gg online and read her stories! thanks amy, until next time;)

Ferrari's - like a big italian family!: 3/20/06

It was St. Patricks day and I was actually ready for barhopping at the gulf gate area. one more photo shooting at Ferrari's and I would call it a day. marcello, the young genius chef and son of Vincenza Aquino was already in the kitchen, cooking with Nonna - what a team! the food got on the table one by one and already the antipasto gave my tummy the idea to taste what the camera saw. my event and sales coordinator brian showed up, he must have known that I needed help on the set. right after the shooting we got some tables together (note that the restaurant was closed at this time!), put all the food on the table and added some chianti classico. we sat down and ate like god in france just with Italian food. Nonna told us stories about marcello, Vincenza filled up plates and glasses and when uncle angelo joined us the big Italian family was complete! what an unexpected lunch in great company, thank you marcello, you made my day and your fantastic food gave me strength for a long st. patricks night:)