FloridaFoodHound

Cochon De Lait, Bunny Bread, Mojo Bar-B-Que and S.O.B.'s

Last weekend we took our annual summer trip to New Orleans to visit my family.  This year, we also caught the last weekend of JazzFest, which is not just great music, but also great food.  I tried the much talked about cochon de lait po-boy and instantly fell in love with it.  Who woulda thunk that shredded pork, cold cabbage and horseradish sauce on french bread could taste so good?

While we're on the topic of food, we visited the Whole Foods in New Orleans and were reminded how much we'd love to live near one of these "food amusement parks".  We do have Fresh Market and it's fine, but it's not the same.  On a visit to Rouses, a local grocery chain, we posed in front of loaves of Bunny Bread.  Growing up in New Orleans, Bunny Bread was synonymous with white bread like Xerox is to copies or Kleenex is to tissues.

Switching back to the local restaurant scene here, we did check out two restaurants in recent weeks with one hit and one miss.  First, the hit.  This past weekend, we decided to spend a day exploring Jacksonville.  Some reading beforehand on Chowhound suggested that Mojo Bar-B-Que was worth trying.  The self-styled "southern blues kitchen" didn't disappoint.  I ordered a plate of pulled pork and smoked turkey with coleslaw, corn and cheese grits (can't pass up cheese grits).  The pork was tender and the turkey slices were tasty.  Traci ordered smoked turkey with fries and corn.   The corn was knockout and you could see that it had just been cut from the cobb.  Mojo's does a variety of sauces.  Our favorites was the mojo, chipotle and mustard-style sauces.  Prices were reasonable for the amount of food we got.  The server was good and the atmosphere (casual, clean with a laidback, bluesy motif) fit nicely with the food.  If Mojo's wasn't  all the way in Jacksonville, we'd become fast regulars.

The miss was unfortunately closer to home.  Again, thanks to a positive comment on Chowhound, we decided to try S.O.B.'s of Newberry for dinner one night this past week.  Browsing S.O.B.'s website, the place sounded perfect.  S.O.B.'s cutely stands for Shrimp, Oysters, Beer.  Plus,  it is apparently owned by the same restaurateur that was behind Mark's Prime downtown and M.T.'s Chophouse.  Unfortunately, our dinner was a disappointment.  First off,   the place felt like the A/C was broken.  Second, our server was sweet, but announced it was her first day and didn't know the menu.  I ordered the all-you-can-eat fried shrimp special and Traci went with chicken fingers.  While it's hard to go wrong with fried shrimp and I thought the shrimp tasted fine, both of us agreed that the fries and coleslaw were pretty blah.   The prices are good and we wanted to like the place, but the food certainly didn't match with expectations.

As always, drop me a line with your favorite independent restaurants in Gainesville and beyond.

Blue Desert Cafe, New Deal Cafe, Sweet Dreams, Five Guys and Original Pizza Palace

While it's been far too long since I last posted some restaurant reviews, we haven't stopped trying new places (and revisiting old ones) over the past two months.  Below is a quick run-down on our latest hits-and-misses in and around Gainesville.  As always, drop me a line with suggestions.

So here's goes with the latest and greatest:

• Blue Desert Cafe: Last night we were in the mood for something different.  One restaurant that has intrigued us each time we've passed it on the way to Cedar Key is a funky-looking, little place called Blue Desert Cafe.  So yesterday evening we called ahead to make sure they were open and then took the 45 minute drive out to Cedar Key.  Little did we know the long drive would be the quickest part of our dinner.  While the server was pleasant (and she warned us of the wait), we literally sat and waited for over an hour from the time we placed our order until we were served.  Traci ordered a personal sausage pizza and I had a shrimp and scallop burrito.  The menu is an eclectic mix and our meal was good, but this still couldn't make up for such a long wait on top of our drive.  For a kicker, we were pulled over leaving for supposedly "speeding".  Cedar Key's finest graciously gave us a warning (We were doing "41" in a "30"; the sign said "35", anyways).

• New Deal Cafe and Sweet Dreams:  This evening we stayed much closer to home and went back to New Deal Cafe for dinner.  New Deal is the  casual accompaniment to the adjoining upscale Mildred's Big City Food.  After having eaten at both, we prefer to save our money and enjoy New Deal's very reasonably priced menu.  We tried New Deal for the first time last month.  On this second visit, I ordered a Maytag blue cheese burger and Traci had a regular hamburger.  Both burgers were winners.  For an appetizer, we shared a Mediterranean plate (a sampling of vegetable spreads with fresh bread).  After dinner, we walked down to Sweet Dreams where I was able to twist Traci's arm into ordering some ice cream.  She selected a cup of Mojito italian ice and I had a cup of  chocolate hazelnut and toffee flavors.  I've heard multiple people rave about Sweet Dreams having the best ice cream in town, and it's easy to see why (Sweet Dreams is also available at Buddha Belly and goes down great after a hot, spicy plate of curry).

• Five Guys Burgers and Fries:  I guess we've been on a bit of a burger kick lately.  A few weekends ago we hopped in the car one Saturday and drove down to Ocala.  Why there isn't a Five Guys Burgers yet in Gainesville I have no clue.  I think a Five Guys would be a slam dunk in a college town.  It's likely only a matter of time as new locations are popping up all over Central Florida.  Originally started in Virginia, Five Guys is all about serving up big giant, sloppy hamburgers and bags full of fries.  Nothing is frozen and the fries are cut daily.  The Ocala location, which was swarming with retirees (maybe a steady diet of burgers and fries are the real secret to a long life?), didn't disappoint.  On an unrelated note, there is a surprising amount of new construction on the southwest side of Ocala.  There's several Five Guys now open in Jacksonville and a growing number sprouting up in and around Orlando and Tampa.

• The Original Pizza Palace:  Dan Rua of the Florida Venture Blog turned me on recently to the re-opening of the Original Pizza Palace on NW 13th Street a few blocks from campus.  Apparently, before it closed in 1999, Original Pizza Palace was something of the Satchel's of its day.  The Sun recently did an interesting piece about the back story of the restaurant's re-opening.  On our first visit, we had a spunky server and a pretty good meal.  I had a tasty lasagna and Traci had a plate of "mama's meat sauce."  On our second visit with two friends, the level of service went down the tubes and our food was mediocre at best.  Plus, unless we're imagining things, it seemed like the place had already raised prices since our first visit.  The pizza was fairly plain tasting.  I like the laid-back vibe of Original Pizza Palace and I hope it makes it, but the food isn't Satchel's or Blue Highway caliber.  If you've been since Original Pizza Palace re-opened, I'd love to hear about it.

That's all for now.  With a little luck, I'll have the chance to post more frequently this summer...

Blue Water Bay, 43rd Street, Campbell's and Sushi Matsuri

As even occasional readers of this blog have probably noticed by now, I rarely write about restaurant ideas for breakfast or brunch.  For the most part, we do our eating out either for dinner or lunch on the weekends.  Over the past month, though, we've tried two breakfast/brunch-oriented spots and plan to try more in the future.  We've also been on the hunt lately for a good local seafood restaurant (This weekend we're hitting the Cajun/Zydeco Crawfish Festival in St. Pete).  So far, we've been out of luck.

So on with some quick recaps of recent dining experiences in and around Gainesville.

• Blue Water Bay: What a pleasant surprise!  We went here for brunch a few weekends ago and came away impressed.  Located in tiny Melrose, we were treated to what I would consider a gourmet brunch (delicious food and great presentation).  I had the Earlton Hash (crawfish tails, rock shrimp, andouille sausage, hashbrowns, cheese and fried eggs topped with creole hollandaise) and Traci went with the Bananas Foster French Toast.  The menu is very seafood oriented and creative.  While it's definitely a drive for us, we plan to give the place a try for dinner sometime.

• 43rd Street Deli & Breakfast:  We tried the Williston Rd. location of 43rd Street Deli a few weekends ago for breakfast.  This isn't exactly Blue Water Bay, but the food and service were both solid.  I haven't been inside the other locations around town, but the Williston location is nicely done inside.  Traci had a bagel and I tried a traditional eggs benedict.  Certainly a cut above in food and menu selection than a breakfast chain joint (Denny's, Village Inn, etc).  On the way out, we noticed UF Athletics Director Jeremy Foley off in a side room with a group.

• Campbell's Seafood:  Trying to satisfy my recent seafood craving, last weekend we decided to check out Campbell's in Bronson (on the way to Cedar Key).  Traci had heard good things about Campbell's from someone at work and it had the run-down look to it on the outside that suggested it might serve up good food.  Unfortunately, the service was friendly and it was actually pleasant inside (apparently they renovated the place recently), but the food was just mediocre.  Our appetizer of gator bites was lightly fried and tasty.  As for my meal, a small piece of fried catfish on a plain bun, well, it was just plain. Traci's cheese steak hoagie sandwich wasn't much better.

• Sushi Matsuri:  Traci doesn't eat sushi and I have to really be in the mood for it.  I point out this caveat to put this review in perspective.  In any case, we tried Sushi Matsuri, a little sushi bar and restaurant located in a strip center on Archer (in the Butler Plaza megaplex) for dinner a few weekends ago.  Our beef negimaki appetizer didn't have much taste to it.  Unfortunately, neither did Traci's entree, chicken teriyaki.  So maybe the sushi is where Matsuri shines?  Maybe, but not with the several rolls I ordered.  They were small and nothing out of the ordinary taste-wise.

• Blue Highway Pizza:  We revisited this old Micanopy stand-by for dinner last weekend.  This was the first time we've been to Blue Highway for dinner (we usually hit it for lunch on the weekends) and it was very busy.  We sat up at the bar and shared an Abruzzese pizza (great mix of meatballs, garlic and mozzarella).  I also sampled a slice of mushroom pizza from the couple next to us (if you're into mushrooms, you'll love it, if not, well you'll look the other way) Satchel's may be the top dog for best local pizza, but Blue Highway certainly runs a close second.  It's also closer to our side of town, and even when it gets busy, it's nothing like the wait of Satchel's.

Speaking of local breakfast/brunch and seafood restaurants, if you have any favorites that we haven't tried, please send them my way.  I always hear good things about brunch at Ivey's Grill, but I hate long lines/waits and the two times we almost tried it, we saw the long line and left.  Paramount Grill looks like they do an upscale Sunday brunch that  we might try for a special occasion sometime. Any others?

p.s. FloridaFoodHound was quoted in an article last month in the St. Pete Times about Boss Hog Ribs in Pinellas Park, Fla.  You can check out the article here and learn more about Boss Hog Ribs here.