Over the past four years, Johnny D’s Market and Bistro – in the white and blue building on South A1A – has become a favorite of many island residents as a good place for a reasonably priced dinner.
Night after night, a goodly crowd can be found dining in this tastefully decorated Tuscan bistro, enjoying a dependable variety of well-prepared veal, chicken and pasta entrées. Their pizzas also are some of the best around.
We’re among those who drop by fairly regularly, and we often choose from Johnny D’s $16 prix fixe menu, which offers a wide variety of Mediterranean entrées that are available all evening.
But last Tuesday evening, we were thinking fresh fish when we arrived shortly after 7:30, and were quickly hooked by two of the evening’s specials.
I opted for the redfish – a delicious fish that you don’t see often enough on local menus – and my husband went for one of his favorite local gamefish, cobia. Our companion decided to stick with a pasta dish, the gnocchi carbonara.
On this visit, we decided to forego an appetizer – two of our favorites are the calamari vesuvio and the clams casino deconstructed – anticipating correctly that the entrées would be quite large.
Instead, we started simply with the salads that come with meals. Our companion and I had house salads with the sundried tomato balsamic vinaigrette dressing; my husband chose the cracked peppercorn creamy onion dressing. Both were very nice, and were accompanied by a basket of warm garlic knots.
Then came the main dishes. Our companion’s gnocchi carbonara was a wonderfully flavorful rendition of this dish, with crispy prosciutto, caramelized Vidalia onions, sweet peas and Portobello mushrooms in a parmigiana reggiano cream sauce. Top marks.
Our two seafood dishes, while tasty, were a bit overly complex.
My redfish, a beautiful piece of fish, was encrusted with crab meat, pan-seared and then baked golden brown, garnished with a couple of shrimp, and finally drizzled with an Old Bay remoulade. The mild, sweet redfish was overwhelmed by the Old Bay.
My husband’s cobia, another gorgeous piece of fish, was grilled in a sauce that included shrimp, scallops and lump crabmeat, and was served over angel hair pasta topped by a fresh tarragon sherry wine cream. Another case of too many competing tastes. Simpler would have been better.
When it comes to entrées, we’ve have had the most success with Johnny D’s regular menu items.
My husband on recent visits has enjoyed the veal piccata, a perfectly prepared rendering of this classic dish in a lemon butter-and-caper white wine sauce. He also gave high marks to the Johnny D’s vongole, little-neck clams sautéed in a garlic white wine over linguini.
Another entrée that is one of my favorites is the zuppa di pesce, little-neck clams, PEI mussels, calamari and shrimp sautéed in a spicy fra diaviolo sauce served over linguini.
For dessert, we all would recommend the limoncello cake – a definite don’t-miss.
This is a bistro that offers consistently good and well-priced entrées. But I think on our next visit, we may pass up the specials and choose from Johnny D’s wide variety of regular dishes.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at [email protected].
The reviewer dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.
