El Gaucho Inca – Restaurant Review (Fort Myers, FL)

We stumbled upon this restaurant as we drove by coming off of I-75.  The name caught our attention and lucky for us, we stopped in.  As soon as you step into El Gaucho Inca, you feel transported to another place, not Fort Myers.  You first see a wall full of wines, beautifully organized into a custom built wine holder.  There are two barrels of wines with counter tops, which serve as a seating area if they have a wait.  The attention they’ve put towards decorating makes this place unique.  There is a cute cozy white couch in the back area to have drinks it seems.  Very chic.  There is a cozy indented wall with a lovely seating arrangement for two.  The rest of the place has booths and tables but lovely nonetheless.  Everywhere you look there is an item relevant to the theme of the restaurant, Peruvian (Inca), Argentinian (Gaucho) and Italian.  It is owned by Chef Mariano Maldonado and his wife, business woman Rocio Navarrete.  They’ve already been awarded Best Restaurant, Best Business and Best of the Gulfshore.  The ceviche is delicious, the steaks AMAzing!  They offer everything from salads to steaks, see their menu here, http://elgauchoinca.com/menu.htm

If you are looking for quick service, this may not be it, but that’s not always a bad thing.  You want to enjoy this cuisine and savor the foods.  While we took pictures of our steak, ceviche and wine, my pics do them no justice.  Check out their fabulous website with picture, menus and the story about how El Gaucho Inca came to be, and boy are we glad they did.  http://elgauchoinca.com/index.html

Definition:

gau•cho [pronounced gou-choh;]  a native cowboy of the South American pampas, usually of mixed Spanish and Indian ancestry.

In•ca  [Pronounced ing-kuh]  a member of any of the dominant groups of South American Indian peoples who established an empire in Peru prior to the Spanish conquest.