Grocery shopping in Little Havana
July 28, 2007 at 1:52 pm Filed in:food&drink 1 Comment
Have you ever seen someone try to negotiate the price of every single item in their cart while in the checkout line?
How about all three people in front of you trying to negotiate the price of every single item in their carts while in the checkout line?
Only at the Publix at 27th Avenue and Coral Way in Miami, where it takes a minimum of 45 minutes to get through the checkout line.
Two stars for sometimes having the food I want. Sometimes.
Screw that. I’m going to Milam’s instead.
Flanigan’s Shenanigans
July 27, 2007 at 1:54 pm Filed in:food&drink No Comments
Flanigan’s has terrific nightly specials. And they’re all designed to get you to buy beer.
Monday: buy a pitcher, get a huge plate of nachos. Free.
Wednesday: buy a pitcher, get an order of wings. Free.
Every night after 10: buy a pitcher, get an order of wings. Free.
You can see why a bunch of broke-as-shit grad students ISO beer would come here. Buy beer, get free stuff. It just makes economic sense.
Aside from that, Flanigan’s is a South Florida chain, with South Floridian items like dolphin fingers/sandwiches, black beans and rice, dulce de leche (albeit as cheesecake) and key lime pie on the menu.
Even though they’re a chain, the food is at least two or three notches above that found at Chili’s or TGI Friday’s: they use fresh fish, and it seems that the food is actually made in-house, not made at some central distribution center and then shipped to restaurants. There’s also a very diverse menu, capable of satisfying herbivores and omnivores alike.
The desserts aren’t bad, particularly the Shenanigan… just make sure to have a few broke-ass friends to share it with. And the waiters aren’t too shy of management to make the birthday girl a special whipped cream birthday “treat” tableside.
If you’re looking for great, fresh, authentic South Florida cuisine, you might want to spend a little more elsewhere. But if you’re looking to eat, don’t want to spend too much, and don’t want standard chain fare, or just want free stuff with your beer, give Flanigan’s a shot.
The best eatin’ in town…
July 2, 2007 at 1:21 pm Filed in:food&drink No Comments
When I was young, my grandmother owned a condo in a retirement hamlet in north central Florida. What is there to do in Winter Haven, FL? Now that Cypress Gardens has closed… absolutely nothing. But when she passed away, the condo stayed in the family. Why? Sure, there was sentimental value… but the real reason: Winter Haven is only a 25 minute drive from the best damn barbecue I’ve ever had at Jimbo’s.
Speaking of ribs: fall off the bone, juicy ribs, cooked overnight in a real smokehouse shack out back. Damn tasty chopped (not pulled) pork sandwiches. Incredible, golden brown hush puppies. Sauces with the perfect blend of spices and tang that tastes good on everything except the desserts. Creamy, delicious cole slaw.
But the real reason I was eager to go to Jimbo’s on family vacations, even during the 13 years I was a vegetarian? The best pickles in the whole world. Smack in the middle of each table is a stainless steel mixing bowl filled with freshly made chunky dill pickle slices that are crunchy as all hell, but still taste like the cucumbers from whence they came. Hush puppies doused in BBQ sauce and pickles made for a happy vegetarian in the midst of the mounds of meat piled on the plates of my family members.
But now that I’ve once again joined the ranks of the omnivores? Jimbo’s is the sole reason I’m looking forward to my next trip to the land of the geriatric set.
Would I take my dad there? Hell, he took me there.
Jimbo’s Pit Bar-B Q
1215 E Memorial Blvd
Lakeland, FL 33801
(863) 683-3777