The rough exterior of the Bare Bones Fish & Steak House hides a swank, yet comfortable gourmet restaurant with a few prices to match.
By BARBARA L. FREDRICKSEN
Published August 15, 2003
You wouldn't expect to find a fine dining place in a laid-back coastal community like Hernando Beach, where burgers, wings and fried seafood would seem to be the likely finds.
But there it is, the Bare Bones Fish & Steak House, looking from the outside more like the barbecue place it was than the linen tablecloth and gourmet dining establishment it has become in the last couple of years.
The walls may be rough cedar and the bar patrons as loud as any in the shadow of Raymond James Stadium, but the kitchen produces food that, for the most part, could stand with pride next to anything from Tampa's tony "restaurant row."
For two years, Bare Bones owner/chef Tom McEachern has built a clientele that appreciates his pepper-crusted rack of lamb ($22.95), Honduran lobster ($39), Fisherman's Platter ($18.95) and escargot in creamy garlic and white wine sauce appetizer ($7.95) and doesn't flinch when the food and bar bill for two tops $100.
Of course, there are several modestly priced items that also show off McEachern's cooking prowess - grilled, fried or baked flounder filet, grilled chicken breast or boneless pork loin steak for $8.95; fresh mahi, sea scallops, or a nicely marbled sirloin steak for $10.95; or, for the really thrifty, a bowl of chowder ($3.95) that, with some crispy fried green tomatoes, is generous enough for a whole meal.
And you can always come early - from 3 to 5:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays or noon to 5:30 p.m. on Sundays - for the $6.95 "sunset specials" that are smaller versions of the evening offerings, right down to the fresh-baked pumpernickel and sourdough bread with flavored butter.
All entrees come with a choice of two sides: sweet cole slaw, al dente vegetables of the day, perfectly baked white Russet potato or sweet potato, or a truly wonderful cup of New England clam chowder filled with tender clams in a hearty, bacon-flavored milk base.
You can also choose an adequate, but undistinguished house salad or a cup of thin, pepper-hot vegetable soup, which is called "gumbo" on the menu, but doesn't have the requisite roux base and okra, nor the optional file' that make a genuine gumbo sing.
Be choosy with the dessert tray, too. One choice, a parfait-like mousse and cake stack, was wonderful one evening. But, on a later occasion, a "blueberry crisp" was limp and dry, and a chocolate mousse was heavy and hard.
Except for those disappointments, my three visits to Bare Bones were satisfying, though in the future, I will remember to ask for a table in the room without the loud talkers at the bar and the cooking fumes from the open kitchen.
This is not a hurry-up place, so make reservations and plan to be there at least two hours. That will give you time to peruse the huge preview trays brought to each table to show off the day's appetizers, entrees and desserts and enjoy an after-dinner coffee or drink from the well-stocked bar.
