Wheat + Water, Bradenton

The first thing that hits you when you walk into Wheat and Water is the aroma of something wonderful happening in the kitchen. The intensity of it put my taste buds on high alert and made my mouth water.

The restaurant has a nice ambiance, and they had a full house.

We settled in and ordered some classic Italian dishes like Spaghetti and Meatballs or Shrimp Scampi. My Chicken Parmesan was a too generous portion of three cutlets so two came home with me for the next day. The pasta was very good and home made (hence the name Wheat & Water - what you need to make pasta from scratch). I noticed great looking pizza at nearby tables and vow to try one next time. A couple of us had the Caprino Chicken - Grilled chicken breast, goat cheese, artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh basil with a white wine lemon butter sauce and it was declared delicious. The service was very good, and we enjoyed a lovely glass of Malbec and their crusty sour dough bread, both perfect accompaniments to the meals.

One person in our group follows a Gluten Free diet and while the menu boasts several GF options, on closer inspection I noted that at least three GF dishes were described as being lightly coated in Italian bread crumbs. Whoa, that's not Gluten Free - so make sure you read that section carefully. I'm guessing you can always ask them to 'hold the bread crumbs'.

The evening ended with coffee at Casa Martin and dessert was a Duff Camouflage Cake made by our cake expert Mike. It was quite unusual and of course quite tasty. Duff cake mixes are the brainchild of Celebrity Chef/Baker Duff Goldman who opened his cake decorating studio in West Hollywood in 2015, a place where you could have a cake decorating party and let your imagination run wild. Now my only hope is that after indulging in a slice of 'camouflage' cake the resulting calories will also be camouflaged and not end up on my hips!

7303 52nd Place East, Bradenton, Florida (941) 216-3562

http://wheatpluswater.com/demo-home/