Angel's Diner

The sign says "Florida's Oldest Diner" and a quick Google search corroborates this claim. But whether or not the claim is factual, this old fashioned diner housed in a converted train car with drive-in service is impossible to resist should you find yourself cruising towards the big bridge on Reid Street / US-17 in Palatka. We had less than two seconds tops to make our decision and our deranged impulses had us swerving off the road with enough force to topple even the sturdiest SUV. Fortunately we weren't in an SUV and, more importantly, we soon discovered that we had made the right choice.

I have a vibrant imagination, not really a skill that will get you anywhere in life unless your dad/uncle/sibling works in Hollywood. In my mind's eye I can see Angel's Diner enshrouded in the desaturated-blue tone of a 1950s night, packed to the brim with the leather clad young men and skirted girls from the surrounding enclaves, the nexus of youth culture in a remote Southern town. And perhaps the nights are still like this, despite the shift in styles over the past 50+ years, but we crashed the party during the daylight hours and the patrons were a split between the aged former-youth and the leather clad bikers of the present.

This place is the real deal. Perhaps a few fresh coats of paint have been applied since its ancient inception but I doubt there's been any drastic changes. Perusing the menu, one is even inclined to believe that the prices have remained stagnant. Seriously, you can scarcely feed yourself at McDonald's for as little as it cost us at Angel's Diner.

I ordered one of their specialty items, the Black Bottom, which involves scrambling eggs, some hamburger meat, and some bacon up into a patty and slapping it on a sandwich. I successfully maintain a rather healthy diet but decadent foods like the Black Bottom could ruin it all for me. It was delicious. The lovely lady got the chili fries but that's only because Angel's, being an old Southern establishment, doesn't serve creamed chipped beef. All you Northerners will have to go to the Metro Diner for that.

Looking around at some of the other patron's choices, I notice that the hamburgers are entirely too big for the price. I mean, as a person who has been raised to think that McDonald's meat to dollar ratio is the market minimum, I was surprised to see how big the burgers were when thinking back to the meager prices listed in the menu.

And the service? What we got was super nice, as if the 50s "happy to be here and glad to see you" attitude perfumed the walls and permeated the atmosphere.

Open 24/7, I can't think of any other place I'd rather stop when cruising through Palatka... I can't think of any other place I could stop at all hours (we're going to pretend that Waffle House and Huddle House don't exist for a moment, maybe longer). Whether it be for the food or the atmosphere, Angel's Diner is a must-see for anybody exploring the Northeast Florida region.

Angel's Diner
209 Reid Street,
Palatka, FL 32177,
386-325-3927

Cafe 11

I am a creature of habit. Given the choice between: A. a restaurant I know and love and B. an interesting new place I have yet to try, I invariably choose A. Which, of course, is one of the main reasons we decided to start this blog; repetition is a catalyst for boredom. Unfortunately, in our quest to find new and interesting places to go to in the area, I think we have managed to over look some of the places we formerly visited quite regularly, one such place being Cafe 11.

Located on A1A in St. Augustine Beach, Cafe 11 is a favorite amongst locals and tourists alike. They offer a wide range of items for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as a weekend brunch. Every time I've been, and that has been many a time, I've spent at least five minutes perusing the vast menu, even though I have always ordered the same thing. No, really... I've been to Cafe 11 more times then I can count. And in all of those visits, I have never ordered anything except the Chicken Tomella sandwich. This is not to say that I don't find the other dishes appetizing; it's quite easy to find something else that I might order, if I were not completely and hopelessly in love with the Chicken Tomella. It really is that good.

Cafe 11 not only serves great food, but also regularly hosts bands from all over the country. I've seen some of my favorite bands play there over the years and love the intimate setting which is greatly enhanced by the low stage.

Whether you're just out for a quick bite to eat, a pint of beer with some friends, or a night of live music, I'd highly recommend a visit to Cafe 11. And if you, too, become highly addicted to the Chicken Tomella Sandwich, don't say I didn't warn you.

Gypsy Cab Company

With its strange name and gaudy green and purple exterior, St. Augustine's Gypsy Cab Company could easily be mistaken for a gimmick. But on the contrary, Gypsy Cab Company is one of the area's best and most iconic restaurants.

The food, like that found at many good restaurants these days, is hard to pin down with a few simple descriptors or ethnic references. There is no single culinary style employed nor could one aptly call it "fusion" as their self-labeled "Urban Cuisine" incorporates elements from many flavors of the culinary arts until the end result is something wholly unique.

The signature Gypsy Chicken dish is a good place to start. Based solely on appearance, one might assume it came from the Applebee's recipe book. But as we all should know, looks can be deceiving. The chicken is lightly breaded and cooked to perfection and the sauce is flavorful and entirely unlike the viscous, syrupy mess slathered upon the food at its big-chain counterparts. My fondest memory at Gypsy Cab involved a blackened salmon burrito. It was absolutely delicious, far exceeding any other fish burrito I've had since and, apart from the tortilla, there was very little resemblance to typical Mexican cuisine. The menu also changes regularly. Alas, the blackened salmon burrito is no more but it's never hard to pick a winning dish when dining here.

Next door is the Gypsy Bar & Grill. There's a full bar and a menu sporting way-better-than-usual bar food. On Friday and Saturday (and some Thursday) nights it becomes the Gypsy Comedy Club where you can attend performances by touring comedians and laugh until your beer comes back up. Visit the Gypsy Comedy Club website for the schedule and pricing information.

Not wanting to be outdone, the main restaurant sometimes hosts Dinner and a Movie-Monday Night where $25 will get you a buffet dinner, a movie, one non-alcoholic beverage, and a $5 donation to the St. Johns Cultural Council. The schedule is erratic and I don't think there's a calendar anywhere online so either call or visit the St. Johns Cultural Council website to find out about upcoming events. The next Dinner and a Movie night is April 27, 2009 and will feature the film The Village Barbershop.

There's a lot to do at the Gypsy Cab Company and the adjacent Gypsy Bar & Grill but the great food is the only motivation I need to keep going back. It's definitely worth it, particularly when prices are often lower than comparable mid-tier restaurants.

Gypsy Cab Company
Gypsy Cab Company
828 Anastasia Blvd.
St Augustine, FL 32080
904-824-8244

Beach Boulevard Flea Market

We've been on a local food / Farmer's Market kick lately (and I hope, for the sake of the planet, these become more prevalent) but as far as I'm aware, there are no Farmer's Markets in Jacksonville's Southside. However, certain sections of the Beach Boulevard Flea Market could serve as a viable substitute.

I had never even noticed the place before randomly stumbling upon it online a few months ago. Even then I was never able to register its presence whenever I drove by. Sure, I guess I'd seen the big Flea Market sign stretching towards the sky but something prevented me from understanding that the sign was indicating the Flea Market's existence at that very location and not merely advertising that somewhere in Jacksonville a flea market was in full swing. Perhaps my powers of observation aren't as sharp as I thought, or maybe the fact that the Flea Market, owned by and located next to an Atlantic Self-Storage, looks exactly like an Atlantic Self-Storage made it invisible to me.

Whatever the cause of my inability to see the place, it was the the suggestion of a coworker that made me commit to scheduling a visit one Saturday morning with the promise of finding some strange and exotic fruits.

According to the verbiage on the web page, there are "over 800 booths selling furniture, produce, computers, electronics, bikes, lawn mowers, clothes, collectibles, antiques, games, pets & a whole lot more. Open 7 days a week."

Now, if you've ever been to a flea market before, you'll probably know what to expect from the majority of those 800 booths. We headed in through the main entrance after braving the nightmare parking situation and almost left within the span of a couple minutes. There were two produce stalls along that one corridor but neither were displaying any of the exotic wares I had been promised (and I wasn't about to ask if they were hiding any under the counter). All of the other stalls were filled with, shall we say, the standard flea market "niche" commodities. To a very specific target market, many of these items have incredible significance and monetary worth. To the rest of us, it's just a pile of trash and my mounting unease almost led me to abandon the place in a fit of agoraphobic anxiety.

Thankfully my obsession with finding the exotic fruit compelled me to race around the perimeter of the market until I finally stumbled upon my hidden treasure. Along the Western edge is where the bulk of the fresh fruit and vegetables are being hawked. Many of the stall operators are foreign and bring both the produce of their native land and the market culture that long ago faded from the American landscape.

There is a huge selection of the standard domestic fare alongside a great variety of some strange, exotic items. Prices are quite reasonable and I was able to score a bounty of interesting items for relatively little except for my purchase of the legendary durian which set me back $13. Anybody interested in reading about these strange finds and other weird foods can wander over to Edible Oddities where I'll eventually get around to posting pictures and details of the produce I picked up during this trip.

Again, the Beach Boulevard Flea Market is open 7 days a week but I've been told that the weekends are best for the groceries. And who knows, maybe some of you out there will even be interested in the other non-edible items on offer at the hundreds of other stalls. Feel free to comment with any interesting finds and please let me know if you stumble across anyone selling time... I need to somehow get ahold of more than what I'm currently being alloted.

Beach Boulevard Flea Market
11041 Beach Blvd
Jacksonville, FL 32246
(904) 645-5961