Putting the Red, White and Blue on a Plate

Bobby Flay is all about the blue at Mesa Grill. His dishes include blue corn pancake with barbecued duck and habanero chile-star anise sauce. Flay explains the appeal in his Mesa Grill cookbook: "This Mesa classic has been on the menu since the beginning. The sweet and spicy duck is the perfect filling for the nutty, crepelike blue corn pancakes. It's one of my favorite combinations, especially when drizzled with smoked red pepper sauce, as we do at Mesa Grill." Additionally, the goat cheese "Queso Fundido" with blue corn tortilla chips and blue and yellow corn muffins "is probably the most consumed item in Mesa's long history, as these muffins grace every breadbasket that leaves the kitchen. They have a surprising spiciness to them," Flay says.

On the West Coast, at Delicias in Rancho Santa Fe, chef Paul McCabe created a classic strawberry shortcake with Crows Pass strawberries, sour cream ice cream and pecan shortbread. At the Grant Grill, inside San Diego's US Grant Hotel, chef Chris Kurth is putting his own spin on strawberry shortcake with strawberry basil ice cream, shortcake cookies, vanilla curd and powdered almonds. Pastry chef Margaret Nolan at the Rancho Bernardo Inn serves a mixed berry pie with raspberries, blueberries and strawberries with a crumble crust.

At Miami's waterfront dining destination the Rusty Pelican, guests can enjoy exceptional views of the fireworks while indulging in innovative entrees including potato salad, all-beef hot dogs, Jack Daniels barbecue chicken, guava barbecue ribs, mac and cheese, corn on the cob, Georgia peach cobbler and much more. They are even including a red, white and blue side dish of cauliflower escabeche!

The fireworks will have to compete for attention.