In town for the sales and looking for someplace new and different to eat, shop or visit? Let the TDN help! Following up on our popular Best Bets on the Jersey Shore series during Breeders' Cup week, TDN subscribers now regularly recommend dining and shopping options to our out-of-town readers.

MARK’S US PRIME (Ocala, FL - Dining)

201 SE 2nd Ave, Gainesville, FL
Phone: (352) 336-0077
Web: www.marksprimesteakhouse.com
Type: A wonderful family-style steakhouse with generous portions
Open Monday through Saturday, 5-11. Available for private parties Sundays.

Living up in North Marion County on Ardmore Farm, we have access to the great restaurants in Ocala and Gainesville, and one of my favorites in Gainesville is Mark’s. I like that it’s family style, and that it is like the big steakhouses–Morton’s, Ruth’s Chris, with big portions and generous vegetable helpings. My favorite dish is the ahi tuna. It’s seared with a terrific mixed pepper-corn crust and complemented with a ginger, mustard and sake sauce. I like the chopped salad and I love the filet. It’s one of the leanest filets I’ve had, though it’s served on a hot plate sizzling in butter. You can get it with extra butter or none. I like the pistachio tuna–ahi tuna encrusted in pistachios with a chipotle sauce.They’ve got a terrific, extensive wine list. Mark’s is probably 45 minutes from the sales grounds, so it’s kind of like driving from Paris to Versailles, but they are opening up an Ocala location in the coming months.

-- ALAN BRIGGS

To see the original PDF with all the writeups from 1/15/08 (Ocala Winter Mixed Sale), click here.

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