Taste the World in St. Augustine, FL
If you can dream it, you can do it in St. Augustine. Be immersed in history, enjoy the water, fuel your imagination. But by far the most enjoyable adventure (at least to this writer) is experiencing the diversity of food, mastered by locals and served with passion.
Gather your girlfriends; round-up the kids; collect your partner and be transported to St. Augustine, the nation's oldest city, and feast on what's cooking.
Meehan's Irish Pub and Seafood House
We must admit; we're partial to anything Irish. If we can find an Irish pub within walking distance of our keep, we'll make a point to get there sooner rather than later.
And with some degree of search and discovery, disappointment happens. Since we have tasted the real thing in Ireland and know perfection when it's in a plate on our table or in a glass on the bar, expectations dissipate.
Our hostess recommended Meehan's located just south of Castillo de San Marcos on the bay front. Whether you arrive through the back entrance via the Backyard Bar or through the front door where you can dine inside or outside, this two-story home built in 1917 holds that Irish ambience of dark/cozy and loud/happy. We opt for the "sharables" and dive into Hand-Cut Irish Chips (potatoes with garlic, parsley and Parmesan), Johnny Mac's Mac & Cheese (macaroni tossed with Kerrygold cheese sauce, bread crumbs and hives) and Guinness Beef Sliders (Irish Stout braised beef brisket with crispy onions on garlic rolls). And of course, two Guinness.
Our senses danced a jig as we sat in America's oldest town enjoying one of the world's oldest fares. Every bite was sgoinneil (fabulous)!
No disappointing craic in this establishment, for it felt and tasted as if we were on the Emerald Isle itself.
And if you return and have time to kill and whiskey to sample, ask the bar keep the story behind the signed empty Jameson Whiskey bottles. And, about the time Bill Murray . . .
20 Avenida Menendez, St. Augustine.Open daily 11 a.m. - 2 a.m.
St. Augustne Distillery Co.
What's a destination without it's own brewery.
Handcrafted in small batches, St. Augustine Distillery Co. gathers the best flavors of Florida (sugar cane and citrus to start) and produces whiskey, rum, gin and vodka, leaving no consumer thirsty. Located in the historic FP & L Ice plant (first to make commercial ice for Florida) built in 1907, the visionaries - 22 local families - restored the large space located in the Lincolnville Historic District which is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Their mission - "keeping it close to home" by using as many local and regional products as possible. Even the labels hail from St. Augustine. "It's not about the distillery," our guide explains.
It's the first bourbon distilled in Florida since prohibition, and if they were going to do it, they were going to do it with St. Augustine written all over it.
112 Riberia Street, St. Augustine.Open daily, hours vary. Free tours running continuously every 30 minutes.
Café Alcazar
Dining in a once-upon-a-time swimming pool was a first. Located in the Lightner Museum, this lower level was once filled-to the brim with water for the elite who were guests at Hotel Alcazar during the late 1800s. Today, people drop in mid-day for soup and sandwiches; many simply slide in to take a gander to understand if the rumors of pool dining are true.
Today, you'll be washed away by fine dining in the deep end of the pool which is steeped in history. During it's renaissance, Henry Flagler, builder of the hotel and casino, bragged of it being the world's largest indoor pool. If you close your eyes, the chatter of ladies and gentlemen sliding along the catwalk is only surpassed by the splashes of water and smell of sulfur baths. During the Gilded Age when men were more wealthy than the pinnacle of their dreams, opulence in the form of a pool solidified their status. And Flagler was a titan, and Cafe Alcazar is only one of his larger-than-life legacies.
75 King Street, St. Augustine. Open daily from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Live music daily.
Peace Pie
Yes, Dorothy, there is a Peace Pie World. You can find this childhood, ice-cream sandwich treat in Charleston and Cape May. But next time you're on Aviles Street in downtown St. Augustine, stop by their local Peace Pie and collect a few of these monster ice cream sandwiches; count your lucky stars that you're an adult and you can buy as many as you want.
Created from left-over pie filling and a pie crust, Jerry Klause baked it all up, stuck it between two shortbread cookies, and added some ice cream for good measure. His "Pecan Pie Lasagna" was a hit, and they soon hit farmers markets in New Jersey. The rest, they say, is history.
And if you can't make it to one of these locations, never fret; there's online ordering where you can have these yummy treats shipped right to your door in 12 or 24 count. Which one? Pecan pie, key lime pie, banana cream pie, salted caramel apple, coconut cream, American pie, lemon meringue, cherry pie, blueberry cobbler and/or Boston cream. Hungry yet?
8 Aviles Street, St. Augustine. Open daily at noon.
The Raintree
For fine dining, the atmosphere is elegant and intimate, the service, spectacular. It had the feel of sitting down to a meal in my own dining room. And, the Beef Wellington, well, it's about the best I've ever had. And it is this memory that will confirm my return visit to The Raintree.
For the last 38 years, the MacDonald family has been making memories for themselves and the community in this 1879 building which they renovated and restored. In 1979, they "sold businesses [in England], bought a boat and sailed to America." After finding the Victorian house in 1980 and bringing it back to life, the MacDonald's crafted a level of hospitality in keeping with the home's heritage.
"It's a family affair," says Alex MacDonald of the restaurant and of the city's electric culinary scene. "It's nice to be friends with everybody" she says of the relationships held between restaurants, especially those led by women. She goes on to say that their family gets out of the country twice a year to explore "everything food," ushering back new tastes and recipes for the people and guests of St. Augustine.
102 San Marco Avenue, St. Augustine. Open daily at 5 p.m. Sunday brunch, 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m. Reservations recommended.
Amici
Of all the eats we experienced in St. Augustine, Amici Italian Restaurant delighted us most.
It was there we met owners Vito and Benadetta.
Giovanna and Giuseppe Arena, their parents, emigrated to the US from Sicily in 1955 and made a home for the family in the Bronx, NY. Their father was a baker [Arena Bakery], and naturally, food was an important element of their lives. "It was good business," says Benedetta of her father's craft. Their love of food and family has since constructed the foundation that Vito and Benadetta have with the people of St. Augustine, dishing out authentic, old-world Italian cuisine for the last 35 years.
All the recipes, the sauces and pastas, the crusty breads were born from the Italian tradition of keeping the family legacy alive.
As we listened to their story- sampled cheeses and fresh garlic - feasted on heavenly bread and olive oil - dove into the rich lasagna - devoured the tiramisu, we were transported back to our time in Italy. I watched Len from the corner of my eye during the entire meal, and he was home. As the grandson of a Sicilian immigrant family, he identified with the pride of family, the joy of gathering in the kitchen as mama and papa cooked, the children and adults sitting around the kitchen table, the taste of his Italian heritage.
As with all destinations we visit and all food we share, it is the personal connection that connects us to a specific place. It is the connection of a place or taste that is relative to our own lives that will ultimately bring us back. The food soothes the soul and transports us back to Italy, but it's the history behind the cuisine and the hands that have rolled and kneaded the dough that will make Amici our family tradition.
1915 A1A South, St. Augustine Beach. Open Tuesday - Sunday; hours vary. A must: the fresh Mozzarella Caprese.