On the Menu: On a mission to give back

The other day I explored the restaurant life at Marco Walk. There are seven restaurants in this plaza, eight including the Marco Movie Theater, which gives you lots of choices.

Tiki Tim / Special to the Islander

A popular choice is the rib-eye steak platter with house salad, vegetable medley and fries.

Ristorante Da Vinci is in the process of moving next to Captain Brien's, and soon Nacho Mamas will be relocated to the other side of Captain Brien's to make way for a larger courtyard. So we will soon have a food court with all the restaurants to choose from.

And now that Collier Boulevard is open on that end of the island, it's much more convenient to drive there.

The past several months I tended to shy away from the south side of the island because it was a pain to drive through it with all the detours set up. I'm sure they will be getting more local people in all of the restaurants now that the access is back. I'm just wondering how many times the road will be closed for repair in front of the Marriott when all the bricks start popping out because of the heavy truck traffic. We will just have to wait and see on that one.

Rookie's Bar and Grill has been at Marco Walk since 1992 and is still a thriving eatery. The annual golf tournament it hosts for a local charity is always full. I like a restaurant that gives something back to the community, which Bruce and Laura Bell and copartner Sean Shea certainly do.

Tiki Tim / Special to the Islander

Rookies has a sports bar theme. The Buffalo shrimp basket is always a good choice

Rookies has a sports bar theme to it with several televisions scattered around and sports memorabilia on the walls. It also has one of the largest gator skins I have ever seen. It's about the size of the pesky gator that used to hang out at the old Boyne South golf course and that's big!

It doesn't matter if you go for lunch or dinner because Rookies serves the same menu all day, every day. It's all very good and really reasonably priced. The prices range from $2.50 for a cup of homemade soup to a nice rib-eye steak for only $12.95. The Bells are in the kitchen daily and Laura makes some interesting soups. She told me the cheeseburger soup is very popular and I have personally seen her take some after work to a good customer just to surprise them. She didn't have to do it, but that's just the way they are — caring.

I combined two entrées to make a kind of surf and turf. I chose the grilled rib-eye steak and paired it with the buffalo shrimp ($8.50). I just plopped the eight spicy shrimp on top of my steak and it was delicious.

• I love buffalo shrimp, and they are so easy to make.

Tiki Tim / Special to the Islander

Rookies Bar has been at Marco Walk since 1992 and is still a thriving eatery. A large gator skin decorates one wall.

A basic buffalo sauce is made up of Frank's hot sauce and melted butter. You can buy it already made with various degrees of hotness, but I like to make my own. Then I peel and devein some nice-size shrimp and dip them in a dry fish batter. I like to use Drakes, but you can use anything you like. Take the shrimp and dip them in the dry mix, then dip them in an egg wash and back into the dry mix again and shake off the excess mix.

Then just plop them in some hot oil for about 1 minute and drain them on paper towels. Put a little sauce in a bowl and toss the shrimp in it. Serve with either a nice blue cheese or ranch dressing.

Rookies just underwent some menu changes and offers a wide variety of inexpensive appetizers, baskets, salads and lots of sandwiches and serves a great cheeseburger. The fish and steak platters are large and served with a house salad, fries and mixed vegetables, all in the $10 to $12 range.

They have a full-service bar and some good new wines on the menu. Happy hour is from 4 to 6 p.m. every day and they get quite busy with the hotel crowd along with many locals.

Rookies is open seven days a week and is located across from the Hilton.

Call 394 6400 to find out the soup of the day.