Beachcomber

There are a lot of little restaurants hidden in St. Augustine Beach. Having lived in St. Augustine for a good while, I ought to be ashamed of myself for knowing about a very limited number of them but my penchant for discovering new eateries (and my ability to afford the habit) has only developed over the years since migrating further North. Now that they're so far away, it's a matter of finding an excuse for the trip.

Search for St. Augustine Beach restaurants on Google and the first result is Beachcomber. Strange, considering there are some more well known restaurants on the same list and, prior to our visit, I hadn't even heard of the place. But if any one restaurant embodies the St. Augustine Beach area, it might just be this one.

Beachcomber is a small wooden shack on the beach. Right on the beach… with half of the beach's sand on the floor of the restaurant. Salty water vapor blows in through the wide-open doors and the sunlight reflecting off the sand bathes the interior in a warm, desert glow. And then there's the heat, oppressive and unrelenting. The ceiling fans spin in a vain attempt to provide an illusion of a cool breeze.

Reading some online reviews, a few people said they have good burgers but, having turned up for breakfast, we decided (or perhaps the decision was made for us) to go with the traditional morning fare.

Breakfast burrito, a measuring stick of sorts. I'll admit, it didn't look like much and I was a little disappointed on first glance. But it actually tasted pretty good, far better than its drab appearance implied, perhaps an apt analogy for the place as a whole.

And what breakfast out is complete without coffee? Lots of coffee. Endless coffee.

Nice atmosphere, nice warm light, full bar. Were I actually a journalist and writing about something worthwhile, I could imagine myself stumbling into the place in a Hunter S. Thompson inspired haze with a typewriter tucked under my arm or a dictaphone in hand, filling up on alternating cups of coffee and rum and letting loose a barely coherent stream of consciousness rant about all things insane and unjust in this crazy world of ours. For now I'll just grab a breakfast burrito and relax in the warm, hazy glow.

Beachcomber
2 A St
St Augustine, FL 32080-6902
(904) 471-3744