Satisfy those midnight munchies at new spots catering to night owls (among others)

During my college years, I managed to survive countless all-night study sessions and the occasional evening of excess through midnight visits to Dino the Hoagie Man.

The Greek entrepreneur could be relied upon to appear nightly in front of a centrally located dormitory just as severe munchies would seize the stomachs and minds of Franklin & Marshall College students. We'd line up to buy a hoagie (that's a sub to those of you who grew up outside the northeastern corridor) that he'd extract from his portable cooler.

This was, of course, in the Dark Ages, when 7-Elevens were open from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and pizza delivery service had yet to be invented.

I'd secure my tuna hoagie and trudge back to my dorm room with my well-chilled, premade prize.

Today's college students - and those of us well past our college years - now have fresher, healthier options for sating such hunger pangs.

Florida Gulf Coast University students can call for delivery or sashay over to the Gulf Coast Town Center as late as midnight on weekdays and 3 a.m. Friday or Saturday for a made-to-order sandwich from the Pita Pit.

PHOTO KAREN FELDMAN A seven-course wine dinner created by Gasparilla's Grill chef/owner Randy Post brought out food lovers from as far away as Naples last Saturday night to sample the Sanibel restaurant's food and libations from Wine Knows. I paid the Pit a visit for lunch last week and found it doing a brisk daytime business. It's set up the same way at Subway and Moe's (sans the excruciating "Welcome to Moe's!" shtick). You order at the counter then work with one of the youthful employees to concoct the ideal sandwich. Besides the usual - lunch meats, bacon, tuna, lettuce, tomato, cheese, pickles and jalapeno - you can choose from babaganoush, hummus, feta, tzatziki sauce and avocado, to name but a few options. Pita sandwiches run $3.95 to $6.25, with an upcharge for some toppings. Add chips or cookies and a fountain drink for $1.89. The Pit also sells smoothies and salads.

I predict only one possible pitfall: The place is painted a screaming green with larger than-life anthropomorphized veggies staring out upon the room, which may shock the late-night sensibilities of ravenous clientele.

The Pita Pit is open from 10 a.m. to midnight Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 3 a.m. Friday and Saturday and 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday. For details, check out the Web site at www.pitapitfortmyers.com. For another late-night option, see Rivals Sports Kitchen below. Rash of newcomers

The strip of real estate near FGCU is experiencing a rush of new restaurants these days. Hurricane Grill and Wings and Shane's Rib Shack have opened at Gulf Coast Town Center recently and Rivals Sports Kitchen is just down the road at Miromar Outlets.

Hurricane Grill and Wings specializes, not surprisingly, in wings, some 40 varieties ranked by hurricane strength. They range from Category 1 flavors, such as teriyaki and raspberry sauce, ratcheting up in heat through mojo glaze, hot and sweet mesquite, Jamaican jerk and, at the Category 5 level, ridiculously hot hurricane sauce and habanero lime toss.

Wings come with or without bones and in varying quantities.

Other options include burgers, salads, onion rings and such. It's open every day for lunch and dinner. Check it out at www.hurricanewings. com.

Another just-right-for-the-college-set spot is Shane's with its classic offerings of wings, ribs, chicken tenders and pork sandwiches.

It began in McDonough, Ga., a few years back when Shane Thompson took his grandfather's barbecue sauce recipe, slathered the sauce on ribs and started selling them from a tin-roofed, un-air conditioned shack. Today it's a franchise operated by Rave Brands, which also owns Moe's Southwest Grill and Planet Smoothie.

Shane's is also planned for Coconut Point in Bonita Springs.

Another new arrival is Rivals, on the Ben Hill Griffin side of Miromar outlets. It's a sports bar, complete with dozens of flatscreen TVs and sports memorabilia covering the walls. What sets it apart from the fried-brown sea of such establishments is its imaginative menu, the brainchild of founder Robert Parks Jr., whom some of you may know from his previous restaurant, Twilight Café on Sanibel.

Sure, you can get Buffalo-style chicken wings or a burger loaded with bacon, cheese and other calorie-laden toppings. But there are also intriguing items such as bayou-style chicken and sausage gumbo, vegetarian threebean chili, lettuce wraps and bowls filled with unique combinations of ingredients. Also on the menu are pork chops with a bourbon and green apple reduction, flat-bread crisps with hummus, olives, feta, green onions and roasted red peppers or barbecue sauce, shaved beef, red onions and pepper-jack cheese. For dessert choose from deep-fried Oreos, chocolate cobbler, an orange-and cream cheesecake and apple pie.

I tried the Asian Bowl with grilled chicken, which contained broccoli, zucchini, onions, rice and crisp noodles in an orangeginger glaze. It was all fresh with lively flavors.

College students get $2 well drinks and $1, 12-ounce domestic drafts by showing their college IDs. There's a Homer Card that entitles holders to discounts, frequent buyer points and other goodies on birthdays and when their home team is playing on television.

Rivals is open 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. every day.

Summer soiree on Sanibel

Randy Post, chef/owner of Gasparilla's Grill on Sanibel Island, hosted a bountiful seven-course wine dinner Saturday night, in the restaurant's cozy private room, Pearl.

Post teamed up with the folks from Wine Knows in Naples to create courses that included chilled sunshine tangerine tomato soup with avocado-roasted corn salsa and blackened shrimp, served with Woop Woop verdelho; lime jicama slaw cradled by seared beef tenderloin in Grand Marnier margarita, paired with Abiso Reserve malbec; and macadamia dusted sea bass in a Thai basil-sambal broth with coconut-scallion pesto, complemented by Graziano Red Label zinfandel.

Guests received some added goodies through a drawing for several bottles of wine and three $100 certificates good at the Diamond District.

The restaurant is at 2499 Periwinkle Way, at the corner of Periwinkle and Tarpon Bay Road. It's open for breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Call 472-2323 or check out the Web site at www.GasparillasGrill.com .

Cook for the cure Two of Southwest Florida's most talented culinarians are teaming up to host Cook for the Cure, a benefit for Susan G. Komen Cure Southwest Florida Affiliate, which supports the Komen Foundation's fight against breast cancer.

On Saturday, Oct. 6, the KitchenAid Culinary Center at Robb & Stucky Casual Living Outdoor and Norman Love Confections join forces for what can only be a delicious and fun-filled fundraiser.

KitchenAid Chef Martin Murphy and chocolatier Norman Love and their teams are the talent behind the event. Murphy will prepare and serve a variety of savory, organic and cancer-fighting dishes while Love will offer various stations featuring his soul-satisfying chocolates and plated desserts.

The event takes place at the Robb & Stucky Casual Living outdoor store on U.S. 41 in Bonita Springs. Tickets are $100 per person, with 75 percent of that price donated to the charity.

Tickets are limited and may be ordered by calling Robb & Stucky at (866) 206-3840.

National exposure

In flipping through Bon Appetit's September edition, its 14th annual restaurant issue, I was happily surprised to see Bha! Bha! Persian Bistro, one of my favorite Naples restaurants, among the select few establishments listed. The magazine also includes one of chef/ owner Michael Mir's flavorful recipes, gingerapricot shrimp.

It was the only Southwest Florida spot on the list. I was also disappointed to see a mere nod given to such classic restaurant towns as Chicago and Washington, D.C. Missing altogether was Philadelphia while New York City got more than a dozen entries, including two operated by the fractious, albeit talented, Gordon Ramsay.

Wolfgang Puck's Cut was lauded as one of the nation's best. While I haven't dined there, I have been to three other of his restaurants, only one of which was worth the wait and the money. There's nothing wrong with opening restaurant after restaurant. There is something wrong, however, with drawing customers in with your celebrated name then serving them overpriced, less-than-stellar fare.

But I digress. Way to go, Chef Michael. You deserve the recognition. ¦