The Blue Hen Cafe, St. Augustine, Florida, October 22, 2017

One last entry from our Flagler Family Weekend weekend in St. Augustine.

Family Weekend Sundays usually aren’t fun days. We tend to be pretty wiped out from trying to cram way too much into a couple of days, there are goodbyes to be said, and then there is the long drive home.  But, more often than not, there are bright spots during the day like having brunch with Jenna and her roomie, Hannah, and Hannah’s mom Jodi before having to leave and then being greeted by Ashley and our dogs and cats when we arrived home.

We ran into Hannah and her family Saturday morning as we were on the way to lunch in the college dining hall (No, I’m not going to do a review of the dining hall) and they were on their way to a lunch meeting.  We only had a few minutes to talk but it was enough to decide that we were going to get together for breakfast/brunch Sunday morning and that ConnieLou and Jodi would work out the details later.  By evening the details were worked out and it was decided that we’d meet up at the Blue Hen Café in St. Augustine’s Lincolnville neighborhood.

Sunday morning rolled around and we met up with Hannah and Jodi and got our names on the wait list.  The Blue Hen Café is a small place with a dozen or so tables and, by the number of people waiting at any given time, a fairly large following.  Good things come in small packages, right?  We waited about thirty minutes before being seated but it gave us time to talk…yes, talk.  Remember that?  That thing we did before texting and instant messaging?  You know, verbal communication.

Once seated we placed our orders.  I picked the Corned Beef Hash, Jenna chose the Breakfast Burrito, and ConnieLou went with the King’s French Toast, French toast made with a brioche roll stuffed with banana and peanut butter.  Hannah ordered the Pumpkin Pancakes and Jodi selected the Zada Jane’s Stack, a sausage frittata with sweet potato home fries.

I’m not going to go into detail about everyone’s impressions of their meals but it’s safe to say we all walked out stuffed and satisfied.  How did the Blue Hen Café fare on the Thumbs Scale?  Yeah, 10 out of a possible 10 thumbs and I think I saw a few fingers and toes thrown in.  FWIW, I happened to notice their Chicken Biscuit on a plate at a nearby table and it looked mighty good.  Think I know what I’ll be trying the next time we visit.

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MoJo BBQ – Old City, St. Augustine, Florida, October 21, 2017

It’s a small world.

A little over thirty years ago ConnieLou and I attended Young Harris College in northeast Georgia along with a guy named Chris who was a year ahead of us and Chris and I were pretty good friends at the time.  After Chris graduated and moved on we lost touch for a while until we bumped into each other again a few years ago on Facebook.  Unbeknownst to me, Chris’ youngest daughter Sarah was considering attending Flagler College where Jenna is now.

One day last April I got a message from Chris saying that they were at an Accepted Students event on campus and that they would like to meet Jenna if possible.  A small flurry of emails ensued and Jenna was able to meet up with Sarah, Chris and Chris’ wife Heidi.  ConnieLou and I had hoped to get a chance to see Chris, Heidi and Sarah during move-in weekend back in August but our move-in schedules didn’t allow.  Fast forward to Family Weekend and we were finally able to get together.

We traded text messages with Chris, playing an abbreviated version of the “Where Do You Want to Eat?” game.  Thankfully Chris cut the game short when he suggested MoJo BBQ in the Old City section of St. Augustine, just a short walk from the Flagler campus.  Chris told us that they’ve eaten there several times and were always pleased.  We did a quick check to make sure there was a fish or veggie option that Jenna would like but to be honest, I was hooked when he said ‘BBQ’.

I learned later that MoJo is a local chain with six other locations in northeast Florida and one more in the works.  We’ve never been to the MoJo location in St. Augustine and I’m not sure how we’ve missed it.  I know we’ve passed by at least a couple of times while we were in town.  Regardless, we arrived at MoJo and got a table and Chris & Co. strolled in few minutes later.  We placed our orders and spent the next hour and a half eating and catching up on the past 30-plus years and learning about each other’s families.

Without going into a lot of detail about who ordered what, I’ll say our entrees included pulled pork barbeque, North Carolina barbeque (chopped pork instead of pulled and already sauced with a NC style vinegar sauce), burgers and barbeque shrimp, all of which were served with mac and cheese or fries…yeah, fresh cut fries…the best kind…and they were good!

So…how did MoJo BBQ fare on the Thumbs Scale?  Call it an easy 6 out of a possible 6.  It was quite good and we hope to be back sometime…although now I’m getting a concerned that our ‘St. Augustine Restaurants to Revisit’ list is going to exceed the number of opportunities we have left to eat in St. Augustine before Jenna finishes school.  Ehh, not a bad problem to have, right?  And besides, we can always make trips to St. Augustine after she graduates just because.  Seriously, it’s a fun town to visit.

Prohibition Kitchen, St. Augustine, Florida, October 20, 2017

Yep, we were back in St. Augustine. Once again it was time for Flagler College’s annual Family Weekend festivities. We’d made the drive down from Newnan, arriving a little later than planned but in time to check into our motel then meet Jenna and go out for dinner.

Jenna has been telling us about a relatively new place on St. George Street called Prohibition Kitchen. We’ve tried to go a couple of times but when we encountered waits of a couple of hours or more we decided to explore other options. This time around we were told that the wait was only around 45 minutes, which isn’t bad for a Friday night, so we decided to stick it out.

Prohibition Kitchen’s website’s About Us page states:

“Deep in the heart of America’s oldest city, a vintage gastrobup and lounge is being born. Invoking the spirit of Bartolo, who on this very spot created “Genovar Theater”, the social epicenter of Flagler’s prohibition era…we offer you an escape into the clandestine, mysterious, and yes, illegal world of flapper dresses, speakeasies, moonshine and swing. Sashay in and let your senses be seduced. Let chef Bradford’s seasonally inspired techniques using local ingredients put the exclamation point on your rendezvous back in time… experience the PROHIBITION KITCHEN.”

Fortunately, our 45 minute wait seemed to go by fairly quickly, not exactly surprising on St. George street where you can spend time either people watching or checking out the nearby shops. Once seated, we were able to take a good look around. Now we’re 90-plus years removed from the Roaring 20s and prohibition but it appeared that the restaurant owners went to a good bit of effort making the place reminiscent of a hidden-away speakeasy in a building’s basement or maybe in a warehouse somewhere. Jenna said that it had an ‘industrial’ look to it.

OK, just broke my ‘no pictures’ rule again. Maybe it’s time to modify that rule to ‘no pictures unless one is really deserved’.

That works for you?

Good.

We sat down, placed our orders, and then sat back to listen to the band that was playing near the front of the joint. Every now and then we’d notice a couple of folks from the wait staff remove one of the nearby tables and carry it to the back. Our server told us that as the evenings progressed the bar area got more and more crowded to the point that they simply moved the dining tables out of the way as they were emptied and the space was needed…and by time we’d finished, we understood what they meant.

OK, let’s get down to the nitty gritty. Jenna ordered the Mac and Cheese which was described as creste de gallo pasta with a smoked cheddar blend and toasted bread crumbs. ConnieLou and I both ordered the Fried Chicken Sandwich which came with tomato confit, pickled green tomato and homemade ranch dressing and fries on the side (yes, fresh cut fries). Of course, I left the tomato and tomato confit off mine.

How was it? Let’s just say it was definitely worth the wait. Jenna’s mac and cheese was quite tasty, they definitely know how to fry a piece of chicken and the fries were crispy and golden brown. Did I mention that the fries were fresh cut? I did? Good.

So how did Prohibition Kitchen fare on the Thumbs Scale? They received an easy six out of a possible six. The only thing that I could find to complain about was that I was stuffed when I walked out. We’ll be back.

Georgie’s Diner, St. Augustine, Florida, August 20, 2017

We were back in StA to move Jenna in for her second year at Flagler College. The cars were finally unloaded and her room was organized and mostly decorated, and it was supper time. We’d somehow managed to skip lunch and we were hungry. ConnieLou asked what we wanted to do for supper and my response was ‘any place that we don’t have to drive to’. It’s a shame that I was thinking it was Saturday instead of Sunday. Downtown St. Augustine wouldn’t be nearly as crowded as it usually is on Friday or Saturday night and it probably wouldn’t be too hard to find a place to park. Driving a little way would have opened up a lot of good dining options.

Nonetheless, there were still a few good options within easy walking distance of Jenna’s dorm. In fact, two of those options, Carmello’s and Georgie’s Diner, were directly across the street. Since we’ve been to Carmello’s a couple of times we decided to give Georgie’s a try. Georgie’s is a 1950s/1960s-style diner with all the chrome and neon that comes with the style but with a Greek twist.

Yeah, I know, I broke my no pictures rule again.

On the menu one can find typical American diner fare along with a good selection of Greek favorites. Once seated our server took our drink orders and gave us a few minutes to look over the menu. Jenna selected the Greek pizza, ConnieLou went with the BLT with fries and I ordered the gyro with fries. With our orders placed, we settled in to enjoy a few minutes with no task to complete.

When our orders arrived the first thing I noticed was the fries (imagine that)…fresh cut, not frozen. My gyro was piled high with sliced meat, onions and lettuce (but not too much lettuce) and Georgie’s ‘special sauce’. ConnieLou’s BLT had no shortage of B and T and was served on toasted bread. Jenna’s pizza came loaded with spinach, melted mozzarella and feta cheeses and tomato sauce.

And the table got quiet…

As we were finishing our entrées our server tempted us with dessert…and we caved. Jenna ordered a vanilla shake and ConnieLou and I both ordered rice pudding.  Looking back I really wish I had chosen the baklava.

So how did Georgie’s fare on the Thumbs Scale? We gave them a healthy 5 ¾ thumbs out of a possible 6. Here’s the low down… ConnieLou said the BLT was one of the best she’s ever had and the fries were quite good. Jenna initially said the Greek pizza was really good to begin with but ended up not being too thrilled with the sauce. It was a bit sweet for her taste. Me? I thought the gyro was fantastic and the fries were just icing on the cake. As for dessert, Jenna’s milkshake was quite good and it was huge. ConnieLou and I were a bit disappointed with the rice pudding. There was something there that just didn’t suit either of us. Neither of us deducted for the rice pudding. I had strongly considered it but then decided the fries made up for it. We’ll definitely be back and since Jenna lives just across the street, I suspect she might be back a little more often than me and ConnieLou.

Harry’s Seafood, Bar & Grille, St. Augustine, Florida, February 4, 2017

Yet more birthday celebrating in St. Augustine. A day or two before we headed down to St. Augustine, ConnieLou found out that our friends, Robbie and Dottie, were going to be in town too so we took advantage of the opportunity to get together for supper. ConnieLou and Dottie were close friends in middle school and high school. Robbie and Dottie live about thirty minutes away from us. We try to get together every now and then but we haven’t been very good about it lately so we all thought it was sort of funny when we made plans to get together somewhere six hours from home.

A couple of weeks ago Jenna told us about a new restaurant that had opened on St. George Street called Prohibition Kitchen. She’s been there once and said she enjoyed it. We looked over the menu and decided that it would be worth checking out so we planned to meet Robbie and Dottie there around 7:00 for supper…on Saturday night. OK, you probably know where this is going…new restaurant, prime time, Saturday night…yep, we were gonna have a wait. What we didn’t expect was that it was going to be a three hour wait. Needless to say we decided to shift and adjust.

Jenna told us that some of her friends at Flagler had mentioned that nearby seafood restaurant called ‘Harry’s’ was pretty good. ConnieLou gave Harry’s a call, got us on the seating list and found out that the wait there was a much more tolerable 45 minutes. About that time Robbie and Dottie walked up, Connielou explained the situation and we started walking over to Harrys which was only a couple of blocks away. Harry’s Seafood, Bar & Grille, as it’s properly named, is part of a local chain with five locations including the St. Augustine location and is described as “A New Orleans Style Restaurant”.

Once we were seated we ordered our drinks and looked over the menu. Yeah, we could have been looking the menu over while we were we were waiting but hey, we were having a good time catching up. As usual, there were way too many dishes that sounded really good but as often happens, one stuck out to me…Shrimp and Grits. I’m a sucker for shrimp and grits. ConnieLou decided on Chicken and Grits and Jenna chose Shrimp and Crawfish Pot Pie. Robbie and Dottie ordered the Blackened Chicken with a side of Grits and the Fresh Market Pasta.

With our orders placed we resumed catching up. Yep, more catching up…I said it’s been a while since we got together, right? Once our plates arrived our table got strangely quiet…like our selections were really good and eating was more important than talking quiet. OK, maybe we weren’t all that quiet but the food was quite good. We all decided that we had room for desert so slices of key lime pie and pecan pie were ordered along with an order of bananas foster bread pudding…none of which lasted very long. After dessert and some more catching up we paid our check and waddled out to go our separate ways.

So how did Harry’s rate on the Thumbs Scale? They got an easy ten out of a possible ten. Harry’s definitely made our St. Augustine repeat list but there are so many places to try in town that it’s hard to say when we’ll make it back…but I’m pretty sure we will. Someday.