Classic American fare, eco-friendly approach make Ted's comforting choice

Although he's best known as the media mogul who created CNN, the first 24-houra day news network, Ted Turner is much more than that.

He's a billionaire who is said to own more land than any other American.

He's a philanthropist who has contributed millions to the United Nations and its causes.

And he's an environmentalist who has built a successful chain of environmentally friendly restaurants called Ted's Montana Grill. Two of these are situated in Southwest Florida - one at Coastland Center in Naples and another at Coconut Point in Estero.

Much like an hour spent watching CNN, a recent meal at the Estero branch proved interesting and, for the most part, satisfying.

The bar and dining room are handsomely outfitted in the Arts & Crafts style so popular in the early 1900s. Although I've never visited Montana, the place looks the way I'd imagine the state might have looked like a century ago - rich mahogany paneling, tiled floors, pressed tin ceilings, and adornments in brass and marble.

Our friendly server delivered a bowl of pickles - a welcome change from baskets of bread - explained that Ted's menu of classic American fare features all madefrom scratch items, and that the restaurant employs environmentally conscious practices such as using menus and table covers made with recycled paper, paper straws and low-voltage lighting, among other features.

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Comfort appears to be a primary consideration as well. Our booth had wellupholstered seats and tall dividers that afforded us a great deal of privacy. Each table has a full line of condiments on it: regular and mild Tabasco sauce, Worcestershire sauce, A-1, ketchup, mustard and La Gold pepper sauce, along with turbinado sugar and three varieties of diet sweetener. That's nice, negating the need to flag down a server after your food has arrived and you've discovered the condiment you want isn't there.

The menu, by the way, includes about two dozen types of burgers, available in both beef and bison versions, and almost as many grilled chicken sandwiches, many of which would be ideal candidates for the aforementioned sauces.

Comfort foods, such as meatloaf, are specialties of the house. Instead of beef, Ted's version is made of bison.

Other comforting features of the menu include daily blue plate classics - slowroasted pork, roast turkey and dressing and beef or bison chopped steak among them - plus a host of homey side dishes, such as Aunt Fannie's squash casserole, garlic mashed potatoes, cole slaw and onion rings. The six-item kids' menu does include the ubiquitous chicken tenders, but other options include pot roast, meatloaf, mac and cheese, salmon and Bar None sliders. On the wine menu, entries are arranged by variety, sweetest to boldest, yet another feature designed to help customers select something they're likely to enjoy.

We started off with two house specialties, the St. Phillip's Island crab cake and "salt-'n-pepper" onion rings. The crab cake was large and virtually all lump crab meat, lightly seasoned with cumin and pepper. Despite the fact that this is a Midwestern themed restaurant, the crab cake was quite good. It came with a dollop of mild cole slaw and equally tame guacamole, both of which would have benefitted from bolder seasoning.

The onion rings were massive - thick rings of sweet onion within a crisp coating. Flavorful on their own, they were even better with the creamy horseradish sauce that accompanied them.

We weren't finished with our appetizers when our entrees arrived, something that happens far too often these days to suit me. It wasn't crowded so there wasn't a need to hustle people out as quickly, although even that isn't an acceptable reason to pile up multiple courses on a table.

Nonetheless, we set aside our appetizers and moved on to entrees of cedar plank salmon and bison meatloaf. The salmon had a delicious smoky aroma as well as flavor, the result of being cooked on cedar. The fish was moist and tasty, although it was missing the side of creamed horseradish sauce that was supposed to come with it, according to the menu. Since we still had our appetizers, I happened to have a saucer of said sauce from my onion rings and we put it to good use. The slight tang of the sauce paired well with the smoky fish. Garlic mashed potatoes that accompanied the salmon were satisfyingly lumpy but I could discern no garlic at all. Another side of string beans was fine while a roll was dry and unappetizing.

 

On my plate sat two good-sized slabs of bison meatloaf along with mashed potatoes and gravy and Aunt Fannie's squash casserole. Bison is touted as a healthier than beef or pork because it contains far less fat and fewer calories. There wasn't a lot of difference in the flavor or consistency of the meatloaf from the standard beef version, although it was a little sweet for my taste. I had the same potatoes, which were improved by gravy, and the same overheated roll. The squash casserole, with its mix of squash, cheese and bread, was good.

For dessert, we shared the evening's featured dessert: strawberry shortcake. Instead of shortcake, though, it was made with scones, which were a little harder to cut but held up nicely to the ice cream and syrupy strawberries with which they were slathered.

In general, the service was hospitable, if somewhat slipshod. Besides the lack of sauce with the salmon, we had to ask three times for lemons for our water, and for refills of water.

While I liked the eco-friendly features and the look of the place, not everything on the menu is created equal. Some items are well executed, while others suffer from under seasoning. But considering that Ted's stands amidst a profusion of restaurants that feature more exotic fare and considerably higher prices, this relative newcomer is a comforting addition to the Southwest Florida restaurant scene.