Last year, when the Manor opened on Wilton Drive, its restaurant was slammed by customers excited by the popular new venue, which has now, nearly a year later, become a staple of Wilton Drive.
Says Brett Tannenbaum, co-owner with Paul Hugo: “As we settle in, we continue to try to improve and respond to our clientele’s needs and desires. I think you will see our new menu has struck a positive chord with the community.”
The Manor’s bar and dance club, with its huge central auditorium, has already hosted film festivals, comedy events, political forums, house shows, and guest entertainers. It has also featured an upscale dinner menu, which was recently refined and‘re-invented.’ If you remember the old Martinson Coffee TV commercial, where someone seeks out a great cup of coffee, the character comes on saying: ‘Greetings, pilgrim, your search has ended.’
Of the new and updated menu at the Manor, we can now say, ‘Greetings, pilgrim, your search has ended.’ After enjoying a cocktail or glass of wine at the full service bar, find a table and enjoy any of a wealth of dinner appetizers spanning a variety of cuisines, from the Cuban Flatbread, layered with tender slices of ham, roast pork, mustard, and Swiss cheese, to the rosemary pan-seared scallops, served on a sea of mixed greens, with juicy chopped tomatoes. And all kinds of sliders, from chicken to angus to a bbq melt-in-your-mouth meatloaf creation.
The cross-section of appetizers also includes spicy chili-rubbed salmon strips served with a creamy BBQ dressing, or marinated Korean style short ribs, with distinct and unique cusabi coleslaw. Maybe a little too chewy, but that can be remedied. The scallops, tamed with a touch of teriyaki, on the other hand, were both sweet and succulent. There is something for everyone on the pre-dinner menu, including sugarcane skewered beef tenderloins served with grilled pineapple, to my own favorite, the baked golden brown blue crab mac-n-cheese.
If you are looking for a main course that features salads, there are a potpourri of tasteful choices, from the healthy Spinach Boca salad, with almonds, goat cheese, strawberries and mandarin oranges to the hefty BBQ Chicken Chop salad, served in a blissful delight of cilantro, black beans, jicama, tomatoes and tortilla strips.
At a table of five, we sampled a plethora of delightful main courses, and each of us found a favorite, with one clear winner. The Chilean Sea Bass on top of couscous was as fine and tempered as the best seafood restaurant in town. Pounded thin and coated with Italian bread crumbs, the chicken Milanese was served under a light fruity salad, a portion so generous, there is a guaranteed lunch-for-tomorrow in tonight’s dinner. If you are a pasta lover, the choice is clearly the Cajun Chicken pasta, served with roasted garlic in a light, creamy sauce tossed with fettuccini, so you don’t walk away feeling guilty. A homemade cooking kind of guest? Then Mama’s meat loaf is for you, served, of course, with mashed potatoes and brown gravy. So your new dining experience features a rainbow of choices.
The fun part of dining at the Manor is the bar is readily available to you, so the meal can be enhanced with one of the establishment’s signature martinis, such as the Raspberry Lemon Drop, made with Grey Goose le Citroen, lemons and raspberries. I preferred the Grape Crush, splashed with 42 Vodka and Grape Pucker. For real hedonists, do we need to tell you what an Oreo Martini is other than to say even the glass is chocolate lined?
To dessert then, where the coffee bar as you enter from Wilton Drive entices you with at least a dozen pies and cakes coming in and out every day. But there is one totally decadent and self indulgent splurge you must lustfully plunge into- the Manor Smore, a crushed graham cracker topped with a soft and mouth watering chocolate brownie, roasted marshmallows- and demand some vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup on top of it. This is epicurean ecstasy, and a commanding way to end your dining experience at the re-invented Manor, 2345 Wilton Drive in Wilton Manors.
Next week, the venue will also be hosting, on November 9, a benefit for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation Please join co-sponsor SFGN there for a wonderful evening, so bring your appetite, and an extra napkin for your smores.
