Now, retired flight attendant, Shari Sawran, is ready to take us to a modern American restaurant with an international flare.

It's located in Wilton Manors, and it's called Union Kitchen and Bar.

Hi, my name is Christie Tenaud, I'm the chef and owner here at Union Kitchen and Bar.

And I'm Roberto Colombi, co-owner and sommelier here at Union.

The concept of Union itself came yes, because it's our union, right?

We're married, and the union of our passion for food and wine, and obviously, service and all that, that was the base to the start of what we wanted to do.

We are very much a seasonal restaurant.

We do almost everything from scratch, from the pastas to the ice creams, to desserts, and all the, you know, proteins and stuff that we get.

When I make the menu, I combine his background, you know, our fresh pastas and stuff from Northern Italy, and then we'll sometimes take influences from other parts of Italy, and then I incorporate some of my background, which is obviously South American Peruvian.

So you'll see things on the menu that'll change seasonally.

[Roberto] My background is wine.

I was a sommelier at Gordon Ramsay in London, and that's how I started here in the United States as well.

We wanted to create something in the front of house that is unique.

That is the goal, to create an experience that people can match as a service, like great service, great food.

Union Kitchen and Bar, we'd like to say, is an extension of our home.

Why do you love it so much, Shari?

It's just a nice neighborhood gem, even though it's a larger restaurant, but it feels small and cozy.

They have indoor and outdoor dining, and it's very pleasant.

That's perfect, Farrell, were you impressed?

Yeah, it was a very nice restaurant inside, the decor's really, really nice.

It was very impressive.

Okay, Zudina?

Yeah, I really loved, like, the murals they have outside.

They're so beautiful with the cranes and the walls and everything, and bistro lights, it was super cute, yeah.

I liked it.

Okay, well, Shari, what did you have this last time you went?

We started with the pork belly tacos, which were delicious and unusual.

Different flavors, which I liked, and we also Was it a soft taco shell?

[Shari] Yes, it was a soft taco shell.

And then we also had the octopus, which was grilled perfect, nice and charred, and it had this delicious olive oil with light sauce on it.

Not too heavy.

Main course, I had the squid ink pasta with seafood, which was delicious, delicious sauce.

Farrell, how'd you do?

Well, I had the pork chop, and it was served with farro.

I just found it a little...

The farro was a little, I guess I'm not used to farro?

And my son had the squid ink bucatini.

[Michelle] Any appetizers?

[Farrell] Yeah, we had the crispy polenta with tomato jam, which was How was that?

It was very good.

Very small, but very good.

And 'cause we went with a party of nine Oh, you don't have to tell me about all of it.

Oh no, no, but we had the deviled eggs, which stood out They're homemade.

With the sweet potato.

It wasn't for me, the deviled eggs, 'cause it tastes like The deviled eggs Deviled eggs, but It had sweet potato?

[Farrell] Like, in the puree with the yolk.

Really?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It was quite interesting.

Well, that's interesting.

Did it make it sweet?

Yeah, so it threw me off a little.

Did you have that as well?

No, I had the crispy polenta.

It had a goat cheese cream sauce and a tomato jam, which was really nice.

And then my husband and I shared the chicken wings, and it came with an aji sauce, it was so good.

I think the aji sauce totally made the dish.

Were the wings fried, or grilled, or roasted?

Oh no, they were just grilled.

Okay.

I asked, you know, because sometimes they have, like, crumbs or whatnot, so yeah, he said they were safe for me to eat.

And then for the main, I had the braised short rib, which was very tender.

It was cooked beautifully, and it came with a pumpkin puree sauce.

And I had to ask for more, because it was so good with it, you know, so it just paired perfect with the short rib.

I really enjoyed that.

Desserts, anyone?

Of course, but, It's only custard and cream.

I had the flourless chocolate cake, which was very fudgy, which I expected it to be, and then the dessert of the evening was a brookie, and friends thought it more like a brownie than a cookie, but the brookie was interesting, yeah.

We had the donuts with the pumpkin ricotta dipping.

Oh my gosh, it was so good.

It was really light and flavorful, not too dense or heavy like donuts can be sometimes, Right.

So that was really nice.

Did you all have cocktails or anything to drink, by the way?

We had wine.

We had wine, but we started with a petnat, Which is?

Which is in between a cider and a sparkling wine, which is delicious.

Farrell, what'd you think of the service?

Service, Jonathan, I made a point to take his name, it was phenomenal.

He gave us a heads up on parties that were coming in that, you know, it was just, service was impeccable.

Zudina, what'd you think about the area, and how was the parking?

The parking was very easy.

You know, there's like, a little parking lot right there.

You can park your car and just come right in.

No issues, very nice.

Okay, and Shari, let's talk a little bit about prices and value.

The prices are average to above, because it is nice, and it's upscale, but you can still be casual, and be outside, and be on the patio.

There's a bar out there, you could eat at the bar.

You can, you know, it's nice, 'cause you have the option if you wanna sit down and be cozy, or be outside, Right.

Where it has a little more going on.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well, Shari, Union Kitchen was your pick, sum it up for us please.

Neighborhood gem in Wilton Manners, and very cozy and fun.

A lot of locals go there, and a lot of people can walk there, because it's right in the neighborhood, so it's really nice.

Farrell?

It's a good community spot for unique dishes.

Zudina?

I think it's a great place to go with friends for, like, drinks and tapas, or you can go on a date night for a proper dinner.

For inspired American cuisine, you can visit Union Kitchen and Bar located at 2309 Dixie Highway in Wilton Manors.

They're open for dinner Tuesday through Sunday.

Reservations are accepted, where their average price for dinner without drinks is about $65.