It's as Good as It Gets

Once a year, the extraordinary Registry Resort in Naples, FL holds a tasting of the new menu created for the fastidious restaurant Lafite by its renowned chefs. The event is a spectacular presentation for select invitees from the culinary realm, as well a s celebrities, politicians, and the local glitterati. My invitation this year was a chance to savor the best, in terms of cuisine and locale. The Registry, possibly the foremost resort in the state (and at startling moderate prices considering the world-c lass facilities); Naples is the most upwardly mobile city in Florida.

People seek resorts for different reasons, but I can't think of any reason to pass up this most unusual vacation site. The Registry Resort is a luxury facility that is at once sophisticated and unpretentious. You can enjoy every amenity imaginable, yet e xplore nature in a setting filled with marine life, exotic birds, wildlife preserves, and pristine beaches. Space prohibits a full list of the entertainments and diversions to be found at the Registry, but suffice it to say that if you can't find it here, you can't find it anywhere. The main building is an 18-story tower featuring 395 luxuriously appointed guest rooms and 29 tower suites with VCRs, CD and tape players. All the rooms have private balconies overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. In addition, there are 49 garden suites surrounding the 15 Har-tru tennis courts.

While we're on the topic of sports, this is a paradise for myriad forms of activity--in addition to tennis, there is sailing, windsurfing, canoeing, kayaking, bike rentals, golf (access to three courses nearby), three swimming pools, and even shuffleboar d and horseshoes. A fully equipped health spa with sauna and steam baths will get you in playing shape, and iron out the kinks afterwards. Of course, you can opt to do nothing but eat lavishly, shop majestically, or veg out poolside or atop the snowy sand on the seven miles of beach here. And the program for kids is second to none, in my opinion. The Registry uses a kids advisory board of student council members from a nearby elementary school to test accommodations, activities, menus, and services.

But we were there to partake of the culinary expertise of the chefs at Registry, and there was ample opportunity with seven restaurants and lounges (eight, I guess, if you count Scoops, a gourmet patisserie).

Lafite is the diamond in the crown, a bastion of fine dining featuring regional American and classic Continental cuisine. The dining room is sheathed in dark, polished woods surrounding framed mirrors, and is divided into many little rooms that flow into each other. Large banquettes, fresh flowers, formal service, and a live harpist add to the ambiance of rich intimacy. The food is imaginative and memorable.

Incidentally, the yearly Lafite tasting is echoed by The Registry's monthly "Chef's Table," where the culinary team showcases their creative discoveries. The event takes place right in the resort's main kitchen the last Thursday of every month for a mere half-dozen lucky people. They partake of a five-course meal (in specially embroidered aprons) with carefully selected wines, actually witnessing the preparation of the food while the chef explains the procedures. This practice is copied from 13th-century Europe where chefs invited special guests into their kitchens to observe their cooking expertise. If you plan on staying at the Registry, you may request a place at The Chef's table from the resort's vice president and general director Jerry Thirion.

Cafe Chablis is open for indoor/outdoor breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The large dining room is so skillfully divided into separate levels that there is a certain feeling of intimacy in its oriental motif. Breakfast consists of a rather extensive buffet o r one of the most exciting breakfast menus (smoked salmon and spinach frittata, egg sardou with lump crab meat, as well as every old favorite you can think of). Either way you come out braced for the day feeling like a winner.

Casual dining around the pool is the territory staked out by Palm Terrace. Its all-American menu of sandwiches (if you can call Genoa salami, Black Forest Ham, and Provolone cheese on French bread all-American!), burgers, salads, and pizza is a perfect c omplement to the frosty tropical drinks served up by the Terrace bar.

For a taste of the new Florida in surroundings reminiscent of the Old Florida, there is no better representative than the Brass Pelican, the Registry's quaint seafood restaurant and grill serving a vast array of seasonal fish, shrimp, oysters, stone crab s, and lobster, as well as beef and poultry. The setting is outstanding, with three glass walls overlooking the pool, the landscaped grounds, and the Intracoastal waterway. The whole ambiance is one of open, airy comfort, warmed by the soothing gray-blue color scheme and the friendly waiter service. Winners here are the gumbo, the cold crab claws, and the bread pudding with mile-high ice cream.

The Registry is situated in Naples, on the west coast of Florida. The city is known for doing right everything the east coast of Florida did wrong. It has developed its abundant natural assets without destroying the beauty and charm of the old Florida. Y ou won't find urban sprawl and congestion here, but you will delight in the beautiful white sand beaches, tropical breezes, swaying palms, and ocean views (the sunsets here are spectacular). And all the while, there is more than enough culture, sports, sh opping, and dining to satisfy the most cosmopolitan.

One can say of Naples, and its award-winning resort, The Registry, it's as good as it gets.