Restaurant Review – El Basque – Bonita Springs

Every now and then I like to go to a restaurant where I can’t pronounce any of the food items on the menu! I know the Basque region is in Spain, but this is not Spanish. I can usually figure out Spanish wording and know what the text is talking about, but again, this is different. For example, Pintxos, pronounced pin-chos, means appetizers. How about Ganbak Tocino, or Sagar Txerria, Pulpo Epela, Pato Piquak, Beganoa and Cochinillo? Luckily, the descriptions on the menu are in English! Click here to check out the menu.

Its a small space located in the Prado Shopping Center in Bonita Springs. From Riverhall I went down 80 to 75, took that to Corkscrew, west to Tamiami and south to the Prado Shopping Center. Sounds like a long drive, but traffic was flying! Got there in 35 minutes! And that was leaving the Amenity Center parking lot at 5:30pm on a Wednesday night. You’d figure rush hour traffic, but no. Maybe “in season” it’ll be a different story with a million more cars driving around!

Its an interesting looking place. Reminds me of the Bistro my wife and I opened in Chicago 30 years ago. Nice and cozy. Smiling waitstaff. Our waitress’s name was Hildegarde! That was the first Hildegarde I ever met. She had a Basque accent, but still easy to understand. It adds to the overall charm of the place.

We went with another couple. All four of us ordered a glass of wine. They have a nice selection. Everyone liked the wines. I think its just a wine and beer place. I don’t know why, but a mixed drink never crossed my mind. It looks like the king of place where you should just drink wine, eat bread dipped in olive oil and balsamic vinegar and eat appetizers of anchovies, octopus, shrimp, olives and charcuterie plates, which they have and more. We were their for “dine out week” and all of us ordered the special 3 course dinner for $49. They do offer 3 course dinner’s at lunch for happy hour for just $29, but you will get smaller portions. I did notice price differences online compared to the in house menus, so don’t let that bother you. What’s in the restaurant is the price.

I should have taken a picture of the special 3 course dinner menu so I could give a proper description, but here we go from memory! I ordered an appetizer of sauteed mushrooms and onion, with drunken goats cheese and spinach. It was delicious. My wife and Julie got the drunken goats cheese with wine infused figs which came presented on long skinny skewers. I thought it was tasty, but I did enjoy my appetizer better. Tony had the Kroketas, croquettes made with ham. Tony really enjoyed those! Sorry! Didn’t get a pic of those. Tony was too fast!

Next up was our entrees. I had the Duck Breast done medium. It came with mashed potatoes, wine infused figs, a piece of grilled fennel and lots of baby arugula. Again, I thought it was delicious and ate every last molecule! My wife and Julie got the Lamb Stew as it was named on the menu. When I saw it was made with lamb chops! I thought that was a little interesting. That’s kind of an expensive cut of meat to use for a stew. I would have called it braised lamb chops. Anyway, it was good. My wife couldn’t eat all of hers, but she took the rest home. Tony got the Chicken with Chorizo Sausage and he liked it. As a matter of fact, he inhaled it. And he did while it was still piping hot! I’ve never seen a dish that remained so steaming, piping hot! The plate must have been heated! You can see the steam in the picture!

Next up, desserts! We got a bread pudding, 2 flans and a Basque cheesecake. The cheesecake is made in a hotter oven than normal so the top gets a little more brown than usual, some say burnt. But it doesn’t taste burnt, it was good. All the food was good. The flan was a little more sturdy than I’m used to, but still had a nice flavor especially with the caramel! The bread pudding seemed like it had a little orangey citrusey flavor to it. I made tons of bread pudding over the 25 years of being in the biz. I put rum soaked raisins and apples in the pudding, topped it with caramel sauce and whipped cream. A lot of customers ordered it a la mode and that was the ultimate! This bread pudding was more refined. So a different style, but still good!

So all in all, I think we got 3.5 to 4 thumbs up on this one. Adele and I will definitely be going back. Maybe try that $29 happy hour deal! Here’s a link to their website. Check it out for the exact address and more detailed descriptions of their food.