703 Tarpon Bay Road, Sanibel Island, Florida, 33957 Directions
(239) 395- CRAB / OPEN 7 days from 5:00pm - Reservations accepted and appreciated
703 Tarpon Bay Road, Sanibel Island, Florida, 33957 Directions
(239) 395- CRAB / OPEN 7 days from 5:00pm - Reservations accepted and appreciated

In the News: Fort Myers News Press

Taste 1985: A Q&A with Matt Asen of The Timbers

Originally Published by: , [email protected]

8:08 p.m. EDT March 31, 2015

Matt Asen and partners opened The Timbers Restaurant & Fish Market on Oct. 24, 1978, onSanibel. Asen lives on the island with his two outdoor cats Moet and Chandon. He takes his Ford pickup (“I bought it in Fort Myers in 1980 for $1,000,” he said.) to the fishing docks to pick up the fresh catch. The restaurant is 7 years old, but Asen sees a long future for the place, which prides itself on local seafood and Choice steaks. The Timbers is at 703 Tarpon Bay Road, Sanibel; 395-2722 or if this Internet thing works out visit prawnbroker.com.

Musical inspiration: The Moody Blues, hands down

Favorite cuisine to eat: Asian

Biggest seller at The Timbers: Our crunchy grouper. I think that will always be No. 1.

Favorite dish from your childhood: Shrimp with snow peas and straw mushrooms

What was the first dish you mastered? Chicken Kiev

First major splurge: My silver Datsun 280ZX with a sun roof

Celebrity (living or dead) you’d love to have dinner with: Will Rogers

If I weren’t in this business, I’d be…: In advertising

Things you can’t get through the day without: A shower

Favorite quick meal: Pan-sauteed snapper (or whatever fresh fish I grab from the restaurant)

Cooking gods: Graham Kerr (I learned most of what I know from watching “TheGalloping Gourmet” as a child)

If you had your own cooking show, what would you call it? You Can’t Make This Fish Up!

Guilty food pleasure: Caviar (because of the expense), Haagen Dazs Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream (because of the calories.)

Food aversion you can’t get over: Liver

Favorite dish on your menu: Sauteed soft shell crabs. When we can get them they are fresh, fat and as good as it gets — simply sauteed with garlic butter!

Biggest cooking disaster: During a live cooking demonstration on TV 20 (WBBH) with Mary Johnson, there was a short in my cooktop and when I touched the pot handle I got a shock at the microphone transmitter that was in my pants and I jumped, screamed and tossed the pot of mussels in the air. At the restaurant while we were smoking a turkey in our Chinese pork roaster, someone turned the heat up and the turkey caught fire, a giant ball of fire, ruining the Thanksgiving special!

Favorite SWFL restaurant other than your own: The Nutmeg House on West Gulf Drive

What would be your last meal? Wild mushrooms. I would eat wild mushrooms that I picked (which may or may not be poisonous) and puffer-fish sushi (same reason).

Oddest/most interesting thing in your home fridge: Dragon fruit (from China town)

What are your plans for dinner tonight? Having friends over for a cookout of shrimp and steaks on the grill (and stone crab claws in season)

Dream vacation: Food and Champagne tour of France

Oddest thing you’ve eaten, and did you enjoy it? Grilled sheep intestine (at a Greek restaurant with my Greek uncle). It was interesting, but I wouldn’t order it again.

Age: 32

Birthplace: New York , N.Y.

Culinary training: No formal training. “School of Hard Knocks” and The Rusty Nail Restaurant, Cortland N.Y.

Former gigs: I have worked for and then with the same two brothers (Kipp and Jim Foster) since 1973

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