Fresco’s Bakery and Bistro: Just Plain Good Dining

Location

132 S Kentucky Ave

Lakeland, FL, 33801

When I find a restaurant I like I want everyone to like it too. Fresco's Bakery and Bistro serves a great breakfast in Lakeland Florida (the 863). You are made to feel at home in this restaurant that serves a genuine home-style spirit.
The menu has a lot of great selections that are unique to Fresco's. I had the Denver Omelet served with potatoes and wheat toast. The wheat toast was according to Tim Calhoon (the husband of Tina the owner) from the local Saturday Market. I also think they used Boar's Head Virginia Ham.  The green peppers, mushrooms and onions were perfectly sautéed before they were added to the omelet. The crescendo was the perfect blend of cheeses melted just right on top.  The Denver Omelet was mouth watering, yummy.

My wife had the Key West Benedict (poached eggs with crab cakes topped with Hollandaise Sauce). The Hollandaise sauce is made from scratch, the flavors were very delicate. The dish was perfectly rich.

They serve good coffee, and they serve it in unique cups for every patron.

And it's not just me and my wife Jessica raving about Fresco's, people's comments on Facebook include:

I just had a piece of the red velvet cake you did for our office today and it was sooooooo good!

I wish I was there...I love that soup and the meatloaf!

I'm sooooo there today!!!!!

Families are welcome in this place. And the restaurant holds parties for kids. The restaurant is handicapped accessible; a man in a motorized wheel chair had no problem getting to the back of the restaurant.

I am glad that they are embracing the community in their display of Lakeland Artists.

The prices are affordable. Breakfast prices range from $4.50 to $9.95.

Lunch prices range from $3.95 to $7.95

Fresco's Serves Up Home 

Check it out this week and let me know if I am correct to make it one of my favorite new restaurants in the 863. Rating: Clucking Real Loud

5 Things to Cluck About the Music Addition:

1. EXFM Download... its really good at presenting music to all ya bag-piping music junkies.  
2. Funky 16 Corners   : Good Source of the Funk.
3. We Never Learn: The Gunk Punk Years :  Great book about the OHIO DIY spirit. 
4. Punk Rock Radio: Great Punk Rock Music all day long.
5. Spork: Twist and Shout Records one of the best record stores on the planet.  

Saturday Note from Gregorio

I went today to Fresco's Bakery and Bistro.   I loved the meal and will be describing it in an upcoming review... as soon as I have the time to write it.  Right now I get to go to work and meet all my great customers.   I hope your day is a blessing and that you find peace and time to try that Peach and Mozzarella Dessert.   Love Gregorio Roth

Boars Head Mozzarella and Peach Dessert (Improvised from a KCRW Los Angeles idea)

Peach and Mozerella Salad

3 large peaches

1 pound Boars Head Mozerella Cheese (can get at Publix, and other grocery stores that carry Boars Head Products(Eg Kroger) 

Several sprigs of Italian basil

A good salad salt, such as Maldon Sea Salt (To Taste)  

Freshly ground black pepper

Roasted salted Emerald Almonds, optional

_____Directions______

Start Grill and set to medium heat.   Allow Grill to heat up for at least 10 minutes.

Cut peaches into 1/8 inch slices.   (The Cut should be thick to stand up to the heat on the grill).  

Place peaches on heated grill. In cast Iron Pan.  Place cheese slice on grill.  

Sprinkle Brown sugar, and Sea Salt  on top of Peaches and Mozzarella.  

Allow cheese to caramelize (Cheese should coming to beautiful auburn brown color.) 

Place carefully onto a plate.   Tear basil and scatter over Mozzarella.  

Top with nuts, if desired. 

Can be served with Ben and Jerry's Creme Brulee Ice cream.  

Makes 6 servings.

Publix would love to slice you a sample of  Boar's Head Mozzarella, 

and Ben and Jerry's Ice cream is BOGO,  be sure to stop buy and get some.... its ohhhhh so good.


Link to Poem: Friend

Although I work for Publix and Boars Head Indirectly this is not a sponsored endorsement of any products mentioned in the review.  I also was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. Neither Boars' Head nor Publix have asked me to write this recipe. Nor am I being compensated for my remarks, now or in the future. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 [...] : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."

Oakland: Colorado County

12.21 spent at Sonoco station in Lakeland Florida, filling up a fraction of my Honda Odyssey's gas tank. 

Gas stations ornately sprinkle the land in bright red, neon, luminescence.

Kerouac on nickels and dimes transcended the arteries that made America.

The highways, byways, and scenic routes of this country; when he ran out of funds he slept where he could. Working at KFC, I knew all was right because Kerouac had come and slept at a gas station nearby. The legend of his sleeping at the corner of State Road 66 was a calling to my need to free myself from the bonds of Longmont Colorado. Not that there was anything wrong with Longmont, I just knew I had to drive away from there.

The yearning was strongest when I turned 16 and I got my driving license. It was like a ghostly song that never quit faded away, and never changed its tune. On and on it went like the picking up of speed as the tires turned against the black pavement.

So I went.

I knew it was all right for my life could be intertwined in the drama started by Kerouac and ending in a back road in Longmont Colorado.

I knew it was all right!

And it was all right!

And it was all right!

Lead Like Ike by Geoff Loftus

"Okay let's go."  And we started another close at Publix Grocery Stores.

 I am usually scheduled to close the Deli at Publix. I look forward to the challenge almost every night, because closing is a difficult task. You need to be able to give 100% of your attention to the customers while being flexible enough to get the cleaning done.

The book Lead like Ike is a great game plan for getting to the much needed success of our store.

Eisenhower began the Longest Day (D-Day) with the words:

"Okay Let's Go"

And he took full responsibility for implementation of the plan.

"Eisenhower's career as D-Day's CEO provides an encyclopedic case study for designing and implementing organizational strategies" ." P xvii  

Lead like Ike was a hard book to read straight through, I had every intention to finish the book quickly, but the book took me a long time to read. The book's narrative did not have enough spice to capture my interest. Lead Like Ike did not create a flow that could not be denied. I am also not sure that this book would be one I could share with my work team, as I think it may bore them silly. But the book is a good resource. I plan to refer to it when I come across a sticky wicket in the Publix Deli.

78 out of a 100 A Hesitant Cluck


I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their [...] book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 [...] : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 

Randy Singer Unveils Islam in America

Randy Singer Unveils Islam in America

When the earth is shaken to her (utmost) convulsion, Surah 99:1-7

But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. ⁷When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, "If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her."⁸Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.

⁹At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. ¹⁰Jesus straightened up and asked her, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"
John 7:53-8:11

Good books are good books. This is a good mystery story in the style of Tom Clancy, Elmore Leonard, Dennis Lehane and G.K. Chesterton.

Singer utilizes good writing, like G.K. Chesterton did before him in the life and times of priests (Father Brown series) who work to uncover crime and the shadows of Christianity's current condition.

Alexander Madison is part lawyer, part pastor, and part time chivalrous swindler. Alex takes a case where a Muslim Imam is accused of instigating honor killings. "Fatal Convictions is a story of lawyer willing to risk it all and the women who must choose between faith and love." Amazon.com

Randy Singer also critiques our Protestant condition in worship. He points out that Christian worship seems to be a circus event where God has left the building. He shows that Islam does not take Christianity seriously because we disgrace God in our worship lived out in our lives. He shows that Islam is willing to worship with their hearts and living out their faith for Allah; while few American Christians are willing to sacrifice anything, and put themselves before God.

Randy Singer's portrayal of Islam is fair and is not a characterization of evil. Americans often see Islam as a group of fanatics who treat their women like dirt. However, Islam is complex. America's flat characterization of Islam is a beast that needs to be slaughtered. We need to learn as much as we can about Islam so that we can intelligently defend our position. Otherwise we appear to be  blabbering dogs barking at shadows passing a wire fence.

This book deserves a definite cluck, cluck, and cluck! I enjoyed reading every page.

I received this book free from Tyndale House Publishers as part of their [...] book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255 [...] : "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising." 


 

Do you paperback?

In the Temple there Were a Lot of Books

So you have you heard the one about the bar and the termite?


A termite walks into a bar and asks, "Is the bartender here?"

Or the story about my bird Theo and her love for books.


She loves books so much that she will eat right through them…. She ate ten pages of James in one bite.


This weekend I went to the mall of the millennium and one of my buddies carried around his I Pad the whole time. Apple has conspired with Amazon.com and Barnes and Noble to get rid of paper based books and replace them with books by download? Are readers and their paperbacks as good as dinosaurs, ready for extinction and possibly fossil fuel in the next ice age. I think not here is why:


Books are simple, they do what you want them to do every time. If they don't then you are probably reading the wrong book.

Books are durable: If you drop books in water they are still useable I am not so sure about my friends I Pad. If I was to drop the IPAD in water it probably would fry the circuit board. The IPAD may also download a virus which will make it impossible to use. It is nearly impossible for a book to catch a virus. Also my friend has to worry about charging it every night; a book can just be left on the bedside table and picked up in the morning for hours of enjoyment.

Books don't make annoying sounds.

Books don't need passwords to be opened up.

Books don't need to be updated by expensive software, or have to buy a case for $45.00 to keep it safe…
In fact books are an incredibly good price, a used book can cost as low as $1.00. Tell me what you can buy for a dollar in this inflated fiscal world.

Books don't run on batteries that only last three hours.

Have I convinced you yet? If not then hey, why don't you test read a book yourself, it's free at the local library; then let me know how it was for you… I would love to hear your tale! Thanks for your time and I hope to see y'all really soon with a book under your arm that you want to tell me about!!

This was written for a Publix/Boars Head Training Assignment I had to give today around 5pm. The assignment was Dynamically Sell something make me want to have some of it... Greg is currently reading Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte the paperback version...

 

Oakland: Colorado County

Technology is out of control! A giant Crab from the bottom of Lake Okeechobee ate up my Honda Odyssey.....

50 States of Reading: Periodic Table

DE 1777 De Los Santos Belong to Me

NJ 1787 Walter Dean Myers Me Mop and the Sundance Kid

PA 1787 John Updike The Early Stories

CT 1788 Joseph Plumb Martin Memoir of a Revolutionary Soldier

GA 1788 Olive Ann Burns Cold Sassy Tree

MD 1788 Edgar Allen Poe Complete Stories

MA 1788 Lehane Drink Before the War

NH 1788 John W. Blos A Gathering of Days

NY 1797 Henry Miller Sexus

SC 1788 Peter Matthieson Shadow Country

VA 1788 Randy Singer Fatal Attraction

NC 1789 Marisha Pessi Special Topics in Calamity Physics

RI 1790 H.P. Lovecraft Collections

VT 1791 John Irving Hotel New Hampshire

KY 1792 Sharon Creech Chasing Red Bird

TN 1796 Cormac Mc Carthy Suttree

OH 1803 Sherwood Anderson Wineburg Ohio

LA 1812 Anne Rice Interview with a Vampire

IN 1816 Kurt Vonnegut Breakfast of Champions

MS 1817 Wm Faulkner   The Hamlet

IL 1818 Philip K. Dick   The Man In the High Tower

AL 1819 Harper Lee   To Kill a Mocking Bird

ME 1820   Heidi Julavits Uses of Entertainment

MO 1821   Mark Twain Huckleberry Finn

AR 1836 Maya Angelou   I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

MI 1837 Christopher Curtis   Bud Not Budy

FL 1845 Zora Neal Hurston Their Eyes Were watching God

TX 1845 Larry McMutry Texasville

IA 1846 Denis Johnson Jesus's Son

WI 1848 Carl Sandburg Poetry

CA 1850 Frank Portman King Dork

MN 1858 Sinclair Lewis Elmer Gentry

OR 1859 Ken Kessey   Sometimes A Great Nation

KS 1861 Wm S. Burroughs   The Ticket that Exploded

WV 1863 Glenn Taylor Marrowbone Marble Company

NV 1867 Sally Denton The Money and The Power The Making of Las Vegas and Its hold On America

NE 1867 Willa Cather One of Ours

CO 1876 John Fante A John Fante Reader

MT 1889 A.B. Guthrie The Big Sky

ND 1889 Leif Enger So Brave Young and Handsome

SD 1889 Wilder, Laura Ingles First Four Years

WA 1889 Shermon Alexie Ten Little Indians

ID 1890 Marilyn Robinson House Keeping

WY 1890 Proulx Wyoming Stories

UT 1896 Edward Abbey Fools Progress

OK 1907 Jay Hjoro In Mad Love and War

AZ 1912 Barbara Kingslover, Animal Dreams

NM 1912 Jon Nichols Magic Journey

AK 1959 Nancy Lord The Man Who Swam with Beavers

HI 1959 Kiana Davenport Song of the Exiles

DC 1800 Edward Albee   Zoo Story and other Plays

GU 1898 ?

FM 1947 ?

PW 1994 ?

VI 1917 ?

PR 1898 Dr. Rosario Ferre The Youngest Doll

MH 1899 ?

MP 1978 ?

Watauga 1778 ?

Frkln 1784 ?

Msk 1803 ?

WstFl 1803 E.O. Wilson Anthill

RVt 1791 ?

IsStm 1835 ?

RioG 1840 ?

RTx 1845 ?

CaR 1846 ?

CSA 1865 ?

Conch 1982 Hemingway Old Man and the Sea

?=Books Not Found Yet for Country or Republic so Suggestions Helpful!!!

Stand Alone Republics/Federations Untill Incorporated into the United States Date is the death of the Republics.