Ridgway Bar and Grill
Tried and true recipes in a beautiful atmosphere.
What if I told you that a local chef has been serving up some of his tried and true, favorite menu items for over 50 years? You can’t talk about the Naples restaurant world without mentioning Tony Ridgway. We recently had the pleasure of sharing a meal at Ridgway Bar and Grill in their airy courtyard with Caroline Ridgway, Tony’s daughter, and @hannah.rinaldi.
It was such a treat to hear stories about how some of their food had remained on their menu for 5 decades and their stories of watching Naples grow. Stories of how some of their regulars keep returning for the same delicious house-baked goods and made-from-scratch noms, a bratwurst and peppers on a house-baked ciabatta roll that was on Tony’s menu at “The Wurst Place” on 12th Avenue South back in 1971, a clam chowder that a guest from Cape Cod would continually ask Tony to make for him, and chicken and grape salad served with a banana nut bread. They’ve actually been sourcing the sausage from Ursinger’s in Wisconsin since day 1!
The desserts from their bakery next-door, Tony’s Off Third, left us with quite the impression, too. We can guarantee you their key lime pie would have gotten high praise as part of our Battle of the Key Lime Pies last year, and their carrot cake was sweet, savory, moist, and creamy. Fun fact: Caroline told us Tony got this recipe from a colleague in the Air Force while he was at Andrews Air Force Base.
What a memorable meal with great food, great company and great conversation!
