If you haven’t been over to The Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón in a while, it looks quite different. The resort has finished a multi-million-dollar renovation, trading much of the dark wood for a lighter look and adding three new places to eat. The main restaurant is Palmera, a new bar and dining room that’s now open.
Executive Chef Jared Young is using ingredients from Naples farms, regional seafood, Florida citrus and Datil peppers from St. Augustine. The kitchen is also trying to find multiple uses for ingredients rather than ordering something for one dish and discarding the rest.
The menu is where Palmera gets more eclectic than your usual hotel faire. Florida Blue Crab Toast comes with tart grapefruit aioli. Roasted Chicken is grilled yakitori-style and served with a spicy Datil pepper Basquaise ragout. Regional seafood changes daily.
I’m particularly curious about the Espresso Lobster Cocktail, which arrives over ice with aromatic smoke added tableside. The name is intriguing, although the Ritz hasn’t released enough detail yet to explain exactly how this cocktail is made. Dessert includes a Strawberry Pavlova torched at the table.
The room itself has an orange quartzite bar and antique brass palm-leaf lamps, and turned-wood screens separate it from the newly redone lobby. If you remember the older Tiburón, this is a substantial visual change.
One useful distinction: Ría hasn’t gone anywhere. The Latin American restaurant overlooking the golf course remains open; Palmera is an addition. Palmera joins two other new ventures in the redone space: Fenrose, a French-inspired breakfast restaurant, and Café Fenrose, an all-day market and espresso bar.
The Ritz-Carlton Naples, Tiburón | 2600 Tiburon Dr. | (239) 593-2000 | ritzcarlton.com
Originally published in
The Naples Florida Review.
Read the full edition here.