A dozen or so picnic tables on the dock outside the fresh seafood market afford guests the best catches and views. Some of the tables are one-sided at deck's edge for the optimal overlook of the river and its working waterfront. There's also upstairs air-conditioned seating (no handicap access) with table service for breakfast. In season (November through mid-May), it's open for dinner, too. The rest of the year the restaurant and cafe close at 6 p.m. For other meals, you must place your order in the fish market. Order up generous servings of soft-shelled crab, cracked conch sandwich, soft shell crab sandwich , oyster po' boy, pulled pork sandwich (for landlubbers) or basket of cracked conch, clam strips, frog legs or fried 'gator.
Recommended for Take Out because: Part seafood market, it packages raw and prepared fish and shellfish for take out.
Chelle's expert tip: Stone crab comes in directly from fishermen's traps to City Seafood Oct. 15 through May 15.
As the name suggests, barbecue ribs — the baby back variety, specifically — are king here. You can order them in dinners from one to two full racks or half racks in combination with boneless chicken breast, sliced beef, sliced or pulled pork, a quarter chicken or fried catfish. You can also order any of those proteins on its own as dinner. Michelbob's also devotes a chunk of its menu to chicken wings with barbecue or hot sauce, both rated on a heat meter from 0 to 5. Sandwiches include the usual barbecued meats, plus burgers and hot dogs. Dine outside on picnic tables on inside among Michelbob's nostalgic memorabilia.
Recommended for Take Out because: This restaurant and its Marco Island take-out counterpart package everything from individual meals to family and party packs.
Chelle's expert tip: Visit Michelbob's web site to sign up for coupons by email.
Japanese, Thai and Peruvian. It sounds like the beginning of a joke about three guys going into a bar. The only bar here, however, is a sushi bar featuring more than 60 varieties of sushi rolls. And this is no joke: Komoon Sushi Thai & Ceviche is dead serious about its well-traveled menu. From Japan, besides sushi, there's teriyaki, katsu, tempura and noodle dishes. Thai-lovers can choose from stir-fries, curries, fried rice, pad Thai and more noodle dishes. Komoon's nod to Peruvian includes ceviche, saltado stir fries, grilled meats and chicken and fried seafood. Desserts too run the gamut from Thai donuts and green tea mochi ice cream to Peruvian flan. Enjoy Komoon's world travels at its Bonita Springs or Naples location.
Recommended for Take Out because: You can order your take out online to pick up at either location.
Chelle's expert tip: Komoon is not timid with its spicy heat. When you ask for "hot," you sweat.
Rodes began as a rickety roadside stand and has grown into a fish, produce and gourmet market and restaurant complex now in business for more than 25 years. Purists go for the steamed clams and shrimp, mussels, stone crab and other raw bar items. And they know full well to leave room for the key lime pie. If you're more interested in the "fancy" part of the equation, order shrimp stuffed tilapia or chargrilled Chilean sea bass basted with key lime butter. The "fresh" part weighs heavier on the menu, which specializes in Old Florida style fried seafood and fresh fish with your choice of preparation.
Recommended for Take Out because: Rodes has an extensive seafood menu for take out plus a gourmet market with meal makings.
Chelle's expert tip: Start your meal with something from the raw bar and end with some of the best key lime pie around.
Craving some hearty, down home, German comfort food? In addition to deli and bakery goods, fine meats and sausages, and German groceries, this place serves up made to order sandwiches, homemade salads, sinful desserts and a daily hot lunch buffet. The latter features schnitzel (breaded pork cutlets) and bratwurst with sauerkraut every day plus a daily entree special such as sauerbraten, homemade mashed potatoes, vegetables and green split pea and chicken noodle soup. Sandwiches ranges from traditional deli varieties to German specialties such as Bavarian meatloaf or liverwurst. Save room for one of its many homemade cakes, such as black forest chocolate cake or appel strudel.
Recommended for Take Out because: Both cold and hot lunch items are available for take out.
Chelle's expert tip: Homemade bratwurst and sauerkraut is a house specialty.
It's thoughtful that a restaurant would strive to serve the best possible food for our good health. But it's even better that Food & Thought's dishes reflect the kind of creative thinking that raises them above typical health food juice-bar fare. Like most of its kind, Food & Thought's service is order-at-the-counter. It serves all the typical veggie juices, including wheatgrass, and fruit smoothies, plus your standard hummus wrap and tabouli salad. It breaks the mold, however, with its daily hot entrees, soup and side dish menu. These are served cafeteria-style, but somehow manage to taste made-to-order. On the regular menu, you will find breakfast items such as quiche and sprouted pancakes, plus chick pea salad and chicken salad wrap or sandwich. Everything is certified organic and homemade, and the indoor-outdoor setting as fresh as the food.
Recommended for Take Out because: You can buy produce or pre-made salads, hot dishes and dessert to take home.
Chelle's expert tip: Come for lunch and buy your ingredients for a healthy dinner in Food & Thought's marketplace.
If you are not hungry when you walk into Rosedale Brick Oven, the scent of baking dough and toppings will send you to salivating in two seconds. Pizza connoisseurs declare this the most authentic Italian pizza in Naples. Specialty pies include white, arugula, sea shell (clams with spinach), tropical (tomatoes, prosciutto, pineapple and fresh mozzarella) and chicken rustica. Plus you can create your own from a number of available Italian ingredients. Although the dining space is small, with the display kitchen taking up most of it, the menu is extensive with oven-baked sandwiches, pasta, seafood, salads and anitpasti. Its traditional and vegetarian lasagnas are signature.
Recommended for Take Out because: Order any pizza, sandwich or pasta entree for take out.
Chelle's expert tip: Try the meatball sub - available on homemade white or whole wheat buns.
This is it - the real thing in smoked barbecue served in a small, unpretentious shop off Pine Ridge Road. The servers are sassy and the pork saucy. They take pride in their pulled pork, but throw out a bunch of different options. You will find the usual suspects - rubbed ribs, brisket, smoked sausage and smoked turkey - but it claims to be the only in Naples that serves smoked fried wings. There are also burgers and sandwiches. Two homemade sauces cinch the deal, both spicy. The baked beans taste smoky with a hint of cloves. Other sides include collard greens, jalapeno corn muffins, coleslaw and black eyed peas.
Recommended for Take Out because: You can order meals or bulk orders for take out - some of the best barbecue Naples offers.
Chelle's expert tip: To take care of you pork cravings once and for all order the Rodeo Hoagie - pulled pork atop smoked Italian sausage on a Hoagie roll.
This mammoth "seed to table" foodie mart serves prepared food to eat on site or to take home. Head to the deli, where you can order a sandwich made with Boar's Head cold cuts, or choose from a wide selection of hot sandwiches, homemade soup, salads, pizza, fish and chips, the hot entrees and sides du jour or a customized burger. Burger options include Oakes Farms' own or "The Grass Fed Gourmet" with add-ons such as avocado, fried egg, caramelized onions and sautéed mushrooms. Daily hot entrees may include BBQ pork, lemon dill salmon, pot roast, rotisserie chicken or Danish baby back ribs.
Recommended for Take Out because: The market boasts an extensive take-out menu with pizza, burgers and changing daily specials.
Chelle's expert tip: Oakes makes all of its bakery goods from scratch - cookies, pies, cakes and pastries.
In an out-of-the-way, half-empty strip mall at the corner of Bonita Beach Road and Tamiami Trail, the seating area is small because it's more seafood market than restaurant. Here you will find the best deals on Maine lobster around. Owner Doug Anderson has spent more than 20 years captaining lobster boats in Maine and has been in the restaurant business on and off there since the 1980s. Doug's prepared food menu consists of seafood sandwiches and various chowders. You also have the option of calling ahead to order steamed lobster, clams, mussels or shrimp for your lunch or early dinner.
Recommended for Take Out because: Most people come here for fish market buys and to-go orders.
Chelle's expert tip: At the chowder bar, you can enjoy a small Styrofoam bowlful of perfect red clam chowder or white seafood chowder for $5.