Embrace the island vibe of Tommy Bahama

Maybe it’s just me — or maybe I was just feeling cantankerous that evening, and am again today — but I’ll be so glad when kale goes out of fashion again.

Yeah, I know, it’s healthy, and you love it, all two of you out there, and I will admit there are situations where kale can be quite appealing. I also make it a practice to not let personal preferences influence my reviews, which is why you’ll never see me discuss the nonexistent pros and multitudinous cons of squab. But I digress. I honestly don’t think the amount of kale in the grilled shrimp Cobb salad ($18) at Tommy Bahama would find favor with any but the most ardent of kale heads.

The beauty of a Cobb salad is how the crunchy, tender lettuces blend with all of the stuff served on top. Chefs across the country are using their creativity to expand the offerings in that regard and grilled shrimp sounded like a winner, and was. But consumption of this otherwise very appealing salad was interrupted, at intervals, by strongly flavored and more-tough-than-crunchy pieces of kale. And so it was a shrimp, egg, kale. Charred corn salsa, avocado, kale. Bacon, kale. A nicely balanced blue-cheese vinaigrette, but too much kale for this to be an appealing salad. And I was blindsided by no mention of it on the menu.

Sheesh.

A starter of macadamia-encrusted goat cheese ($12.50) was much better, the earthy, almost gamy flavor of the warmed cheese set off nicely by the richness of the nuts and contrasted by a perfectly apportioned mango salsa.

We also indulged in a Bungalow Favorite, Parmesan-crusted Sanibel Chicken ($27.50). I know Sanibel, and this isn’t Sanibel. (Ha! I just wanted to say that.) Actually, I don’t know why that serene island off the coast of southwest Florida inspired this dish, but it’s been on the Tommy Bahama menu for years, and no wonder, because it’s a good one. The white-meat chicken was indeed crusted with a Parmesan mixture that was both redolent of the flavor of the cheese and slightly crispy, with a boursinlike herbed cheese and a brightly flavored (and colored) red-pepper sauce that set it all off, plus mashed potatoes and broccolini on the side.

We also were served an individual, sort of quadrilinear loaf of hot bread, and butter sweetened with cinnamon and honey, both of which added much to the experience.

Service throughout was very good, our server down to earth and practical and possessed of an admirable sense of humor.

But one of the best things about Tommy Bahama, of course, is the atmosphere, which really lends the feeling that you’re relaxing in the Caribbean, or at least in southern Florida. It was nice on the evening we were there, and wide doors were opened to the outside to let the light breezes waft through and provide a view of the kids playing in the Town Square park. It all made for a very pleasant evening.

Except for the kale.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are done anonymously at Review-Journal expense. E-mail Heidi Knapp Rinella at Hrinella@reviewjournal.com. Find more of her stories at www.reviewjournal.com and bestoflasvegas.com, and follow @HKRinella on Twitter.