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Category: Florida (Page 2 of 2)

Do You Want to Prepare Your Own Food at a Restaurant?

Presumably, one of the reasons you go out to a restaurant for a meal is to get out of the kitchen. So it seems a little strange to cook your own food once you get there, yet that seems to be a growing trend. The Old Spanish Sugar Mill and Griddle House in De Leon Springs, Florida has been putting their customers to work for some time, pouring, garnishing, and flipping their pancakes on a grill in the center of the table. You’ll also find eateries where you’ll grill your own steak and even fix your own cocktail. At least someone else does the dishes and grocery shopping! Read more about the trend here.

Original Marathon Seafood Festival, Marathon FL, March 14th through 15th 2015

Coral and black stone crab claws with mustard sauce… fresh lobster tails… fried fillets of mahi mahi… steamed and spiced Key West pink shrimp… ceviche and fritters of conch… all these prized sea creatures, and many more, are caught locally in the waters around Marathon in the Florida Keys, and they’ll all be available (along with lots of ice-cold beer) at the 39th annual Original Marathon Seafood Festival on March 14th and 15th. If you love fresh, local seafood this is one festival you want to get to eventually. Continue reading

Whitey’s Fish Camp, Orange Park FL

REVIEW

Do you really love catfish? Do you enjoy working for your dinner? If so, Whitey’s Fish Camp is the place to try fried catfish that have not been farm-raised. These beauties are caught wild, then fried up whole (but headless and skinless), and brought to you until you tell your waitress to stop. Continue reading

Fort Myers Beach Shrimp Festival, Fort Myers Beach FL, March 14th Through 15th 2015

“World Famous Lions Shrimp Dinners”: that’s the big draw to the 57th annual Fort Myers Beach Shrimp Festival in Florida, scheduled for March 14th and 15th. Lions shrimp is not some variety of shrimp, cousin to tiger shrimp, that you’ve never heard of; rather, the festival, and shrimp dinners, are sponsored by the Fort Myers Beach Lions Club. Continue reading

Florida Strawberry Festival, Plant City FL, February 26th Through March 8th 2015

Strawberry shortcake, strawberry shakes, strawberry sundaes, strawberry cobbler, strawberry ice cream, chocolate-covered strawberries, strawberry cookies, fresh strawberry lemonade, fresh local strawberries by the flat… if strawberries were their own state, the Florida Strawberry Festival, which opened this past Thursday and continues through March 8th, would be its state fair. First held in 1930, the festival celebrates the more than 5000 acres of strawberries grown in the Plant City region. Continue reading

Grant Seafood Festival, Grant FL, February 28th Through March 1st, 2015

What started as a fish fry for a couple hundred people in 1966 has turned into a two-day event for 50,000. It’s the 49th annual Grant Seafood Festival in Grant, FL. There’s music and arts and crafts, but what you’re really here for is seafood, and lots of it! Continue reading

O’Steen’s Restaurant, St. Augustine FL

REVIEW

The northeast coast of Florida is one of the country’s great shrimping regions, and it’s said to be the birthplace of the commercial shrimping industry. The specific variety of shrimp pulled from the sea varies with the time of year, and we won’t pretend to understand all the differences between them. What we found during a March trip through the region were shrimp that were uniformly soft and dry, with fugitive flavor. Not among our favorites, though they are much loved by others. The best we found were served at O’Steen’s in St. Augustine. Continue reading

LAF in the A.M. December 14th, 2014

A Morning Menu of LAF-Style Food News and Stories to Begin Your Day

Top 10 Charleston Restaurants

Make a Yinzer Expat Happy for the Holidays

Detroit Coneys in Florida

How to Win Friends in Your New Hometown

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Bob Roth’s New River Groves, Davie FL

REVIEW

If you haven’t spent much time in non-Disney Florida since the 1960s, you wouldn’t recognize it. Old, kitschy Florida has almost completely disappeared. Even now, the last vestiges are rapidly being replaced by the brand new. It’s no longer the state of glass bottom boats, the Weeki Wachee mermaids, and Jackie Gleason (although, except for Jackie Gleason, those still exist, if barely). For a sense of what’s been happening, see John Sayles’ film Sunshine State. Continue reading

LAF in the A.M. November 14th, 2014

A Morning Menu of Stories We Think You’ll Find Interesting

Viva La Local in Tucson This Sunday

Viva La Local is returning this Sunday to Rillito Raceway Park in Tucson, Arizona. The food festival debuted in spring 2014 and was such a big hit that organizers hope to make it a twice-yearly event. There will be over 80 farmers market vendors in attendance, 25 local restaurants, and several area wineries and breweries, along with music by Tucson bands. They are offering bike valet service and will store your farmers market purchases in a refrigerated truck (be sure to tell them not to refrigerate your tomatoes)  while you enjoy the festival! Proceeds go to help support the Heirloom Farmers Market. Continue reading

LAF in the A.M. October 21st, 2014

A Morning Menu of Stories We Think You’ll Find Interesting

Good Eats in Revere MA

CNN Ranks the 12 Best Meat-Eating Cities in the U.S.

Comedian Jim Gaffigan Loves Eating, Especially in Chicago

A Visit with the Owner of Geno’s Steaks

Difficult Times for the Owners of Mr. Mac’s Canteen

Shake Shack Watch

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The Florida Stone Crab Harvest Has Begun

With an absence of red tides and tropical storm activity in the area, Florida Keys stone crab fisherman are optimistic for a productive harvest. Unfortunately, prices are expected to be higher than ever. Stone crabs are (if you’re squeamish, cover your eyes) twisted off live crabs, which are then thrown back in the water, where the claws will regrow. Those claws are an expensive Florida delicacy, prized by many seafood aficionados. Currently, at Keys Fisheries‘ restaurant, a pound of jumbos (2-3 per pound) will run you about $37. Continue reading

Barbara Jean’s, Ponte Vedra Beach FL

REVIEW

As you stroll from the parking lot to Barbara Jean’s front door, eyeing the Mercedes and Jaguars and BMWs you pass along the way, you might be skeptical of your chances of finding good, and inexpensive, home cooking inside. Nonetheless, here it is, in the golfing mecca of Ponte Vedra Beach. Continue reading

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