Little Yabo delivers big flavors with a side of nostalgia

Not all restaurant recommendations are created equal.

I get a lot of input from people who know I'm in this line of work and, let's face it; some tidbits are better than others. There exist some discriminating diners whose praise of a restaurant will send me straight there. You could say their taste buds have the culinary equivalent of street cred.

Top among these are food-and-beverage pros. Not surprisingly, restaurateurs are understandably a tough crowd to wow.

So when no less than four chefs sang the praises of Yabo, I felt compelled to see for myself.

With its understated location and storefront - in the former Starz Pizza space adorned with a sign that says nothing more than Yabo - along with a disinclination to advertise, it's one of those places you either hear about or into which you stumble serendipitously.

Chef/owner Ryan Kida has conjured up a bit of 1970s New York City (or Philadelphia or Chicago), serving well-executed Italian food amidst the trappings of a basement coffee house where baby boomers long ago flocked to listen to acoustic music and get in the groove.

Courtesy Photo Michael David plays guitar at Yabo on McGregor Boulevard in Fort Myers. Furnishings are minimalist: seven basic tables covered in butcher paper, black floor and ceiling, a thick blue curtain that blankets the only window and gunmetalgrey walls covered in music memorabilia. There's a framed Rolling Stone Magazine cover of Kurt Cobain, an Abbey Road sign, concert posters and other such snippets of history framed and mounted around the diminutive dining room.

There's just enough room left to create a small performance space in the midst of the room where on this evening acoustic guitarist Michael David played a cornucopia of hits, including "Norwegian Wood," "All Blues" and "You Can't Always Get What You Want."

But I digress. Let's get to the reason for the trip: the food.

Customers get a glimpse of what's in store the minute they walk in the door, which faces the busy open kitchen where the chef and his staff work their magic.

The wine list is smallish, which you'd expect in a place this size, but selections appear to have been carefully picked with several available by the glass.

We tried a Bouchaine 2005 Carneros pinot noir, ripe with notes of cherries, berries and oak. It proved quite versatile, blending well with both seafood and meat entrees.

It was also darned good with a light-textured bread and a plate of pureed roasted garlic and olive oil. Almost superhuman strength was required to keep us from mopping up every last bit of that garlic with bread. It proved a wise strategy as portions turned out to be classically Italian in size.

We could have shared either of the two splendid salads with which we started. The Caesar was fresh and vibrant, studded with crunchy croutons made of the same bread served with the pureed garlic. A gorgonzola salad was an inspired mix of romaine lettuce, cucumbers, red onion, cheese, tomatoes and a perfectly balanced balsamic vinaigrette.

Reluctantly leaving half the salads on our plates, we turned to even more substantial entrees. The filet medallions came atop a bed of spinach with portobellos, a gorgonzola demi-glace and a mound of perfectly mashed potatoes. The meat was almost tender enough to cut with a fork and had a rich flavor that paired well with the salty-sweet sauce and fresh vegetables.

Another special of the evening was an entrée of seared scallops over spinach in a scampi sauce. The scallops were huge, sweet and perfectly cooked, nicely complemented by the garlicky butter sauce and another mound of mashed potatoes.

Selecting a dessert was easy: the lone choice was tiramisu. As with the previous courses, the slab of this feathery light classic was more than ample to satisfy two (or possibly three).

The food alone was memorable, which is an accomplishment in itself considering how many Italian restaurants there are, all serving some version of eggplant Parmesan and linguini with clams. But factor in the melodious live music, a server who attended to our needs but never hovered or fussed and the soothing coolness of the dark dining room, and it adds up to a transcendent evening.

Yabo's one of those little treasures that devotees of fine food and noteworthy wine ought not miss. n