Engine 15

It's been about a year since Engine 15 first opened its doors, bringing its signature high-brow craft and import beer paired with delectably high calorie pub food to Jacksonville Beach. While we've been by a handful of times, I didn't want to write a post until I got the full Engine 15 experience. See, Engine 15 isn't your typical bar. Ignoring the 35 high-quality beers on tap and food with the right balance of proteins, fats, and carbs to complement an evening of alcohol fueled merriment, there is one thing that sets Engine 15 apart from all of the other gastropubs, brewpubs, and beer bars for hundreds of miles: you can become a brewer for a day and make your own beer on the premises.

Earlier this year I suggested to my boss that we should have a team brewing session at Engine 15 to celebrate a few recent milestones. Having a number of beer snobs on the team, the suggestion was well received and we made an appointment a couple months out. Due to demand, a lead time of a month or more is to be expected but, for anyone who's ever toyed with the idea of brewing their own beer, it's worth the wait.

Before I start rambling about our experiences making beer, let's make a quick detour for those not particularly interested in the brew-on-premises offerings from Engine 15. If you're just looking for a good drink or bar food then there's plenty at Engine 15 to be excited about. The beers are all top notch, spanning favorites from our local Jacksonville and Florida microbreweries through a myriad of craft brews from the Left Coast and all the way to ales made by Trappist Monks in Belgium. To help fend of any of the ill effects associated with the consumption of such beverages, Engine 15 offers a variety of appetizers, soups, and sandwiches. I'd suggest going with the beer brats or chili brats. Very few things complement a second beer better than a big juicy sausage. And trust me, you're going to want a second beer.

The consumption of beer is not required during the brewing process but is highly advised. Not only does it serve as a great motivator, it also helps take the edge of some of the drudgery. The first thing to keep in mind is cleanliness. The second thing to keep in mind is cleanliness. Everything is sanitized. After all, when your recipe involves encouraging a colony of microorganisms to multiply and consume the concoction you've prepared for them, you better be sure you haven't introduced any unfriendly competition.

Disclaimer: everything that follows is merely a brief recantation of our experience brewing beer at Engine 15 with some very simplistic explanations of the process. There are many good resources online detailing the history and process of brewing. To any experienced brewers reading this, please forgive me.

For the sake of time and convenience, many amateur home brewers use malt extract to make their beer. Malt is dried germinated grains. Malt extract is a thick syrup consisting of the sugars extracted from malted grains. At Engine 15 they employ a hybrid approach. First we ground up some malt, wrapped it in cheesecloth, and stuck it in the boiling waters of the brew kettle.

This part of the process is called mashing. The starches in the grain are broken down into sugars by the heat and the enzymes created during the malting process. What you end up with is a liquid called wort which is later filtered out of the mash. Since we didn't use a particularly large amount of actual malt, we supplemented our wort with the malt extract. To put it in crude terms, the wort is to beer what grape juice is to wine. It is the fermentable fuel upon which your carefully chosen strand of yeast is going to feast; converting sugars into ethanol.

The next part of the process calls for the addition of hops to the mix. Hops are the flower cones from the female Common hop (Humulus lupus) plant. Hops are used as a buttering agent to balance out the sweetness of the wort (which can still be a bit sweet even after fermentation) and for its antibiotic properties. There are many varieties of hops and they can be added to the wort at different times throughout the boiling process in order to impart different aromas and flavors.

Once the boiling process is complete, the wort is filtered, cooled, and transferred to a fermentation vessel. If I remember correctly, the yeast is added at this point and the vessel is sealed, not to be opened for three weeks or more as the yeast works on converting as many of the sugars in the wort into ethanol before dying of acute alcohol intoxication.

When the the fermentation process is complete, you must return to Engine 15 to bottle your brew. Again, cleanliness is key and everything is sanitized. Drinking beer while bottling is not required but is strongly recommended. Now I understand why some microbreweries don't bottle their beer. It's incredibly repetitive work but can be an enjoyable experience when armed with a pint and the knowledge that you're not going to be doing it very often (if ever again).

So here they are, the finished products: Ping Pong Pale Ale and Mess You Up Wheat. Both brews were pretty good and their character changed over the weeks they aged in the bottles.

Conclusion: do it. Overall it was a great experience, ideal for small teams if you have a group of interested friends or an employer who doesn't object to such activities. But even if you can't be bothered, you can always just head to Engine 15 for a good sausage and a great beer.




Engine 15 Brewing Company
1500 Beach Blvd. #217
Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250

(904) 249-2337

Delicomb

The Locavore Movement is gaining a lot of strength and momentum around these parts. More than mere fashion, it represents a fundamental shift in the way we eat, live, and do business. While this movement may not live up the hype and save the world, it will undoubtedly give us a more vibrant, varied, and creative local culture and economy.

Over the past couple years we've seen Jacksonville businesses eagerly supporting the local microbreweries and coffee roasters but the local sourcing of ingredients has been undertaken predominantly by the more trendy and expensive restaurants around town. There are, however, a few smaller restaurants that have dedicated themselves to supporting their neighbors. One such place is the top breakfast and lunch spot among the foodies and locavores in Jacksonville Beach: Delicomb.

Practically Everything at Delicomb is made fresh using organic ingredients; from the sandwiches and wraps to the soups and all-day breakfast fare. The ingredients in my not-quite-vegan wrap (a vegan wrap with chicken added) hadn't even had time to mingle between construction and consumption and the side of chickpea salad was crisp and crunchy. Even with the freshness constraint and the diminutive size of the restaurant, there's an overwhelming number of delicious sounding items to choose from.

Delicomb serves up some killer espresso drinks using single origin beans. Being unable to restrain myself in the face of over-caffeinated beverages, I couldn't pass up the speed bomb: a coffee with added espresso shots. While it still tasted quite nice, I think I'll just go with a regular old latte next time; if not for the flavor then for the sake of my kidneys.

Delicomb also specializes in making their own kimchi: a traditional Korean dish of fermented vegetables and various spices. The recipes aren't quite conventional but they are pretty delicious. The kimchis are featured in a few of the sandwiches and wraps and you can buy jars to take home.

But the kimchis aren't the only thing you can get to go. True to the deli name, you can stop by to pick up some cheese, deli meat, hummus, and various sides along with the premium coffee beans and some goodies from local artisans (like Claude's Chocoloates). This is definitely a place that requires multiple visits to sample the great quality and variety, as is evidenced by their many hardcore regulars.

The tiny little building off 3rd Street is easy to miss but hard to pass up. Whether you're a fanatic about organic and local food or just appreciate a good, fresh meal; Delicomb won't disappoint. If I were closer then I'd happily join the ranks of the regulars but I'll just have to be satisfied with the occasional journey to grab a good lunch and another jar of kimchi.




Delicomb
1131 3rd St N
Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
(904) 372-4192

Beaches Green Market

Every Saturday, from 2 - 5pm, a horde of local farmers, food preparers, craft makers, and other vendors descend upon Atlantic Beach to peddle their wares at the Beaches Green Market.

One thing I miss about living in St. Augustine is the Saturday morning farmer's market at the amphitheater. While I didn't often go because I wouldn't remember until it was too late (hours are from 8am - noon), I did greatly appreciate scoring fresh fruits and vegetables for relatively little money every time I managed to make it. The only farmer's market I knew about in Jacksonville was the one on Beaver Street, just north of the Riverside/Avondale area. Whereas there are a great number of stalls there, I didn't really get the comfortable farmer's market vibe from the one visit I paid the place a few years ago.

I don't remember how I found out about the Beaches Green Market, I'm assuming either directly or indirectly through a perusal of the blogs on Jax Reader. Either this place doesn't go out of it's way to promote itself or the Firefox Adblock plugin has successfully migrated to my brain because I was shocked (although not surprised) to hear of its existence and immediately scheduled a visit for the next Saturday.

The market is fairly small but swarming with people. There are currently 26 vendors listed on the website for the current season. I'm going to shamefully plagiarize that list and include it here for the people who may not be inclined to click on the link above:

• Twinn Bridges Herb Farm Heirloom vegetables and vegetable plants, herb plants, jams, pickles, honey. Located in MacClenny. Pesticide-Free. Some supplemented produce from area farms. They also donated herb plants to fill our community garden beds!


• Down to Earth Organic Farm All organic vegetables, herb bunches, and flowers. Fun heirloom varieties. All organic, located in Jacksonville.


• Musickal Acres Pecans in Season. Also a variety of vegetables and organic eggs. Pesticide-Free, aiming to be organic. Located in MacClenny. Some supplemented produce from area farms.


• Ashlin Farms All-natural beef. Both grain-finished and grass-finished, all pasture raised. No antibiotics, animal by-products, or growth hormones. Located in Jacksonville.


• Alvarez Farms Located in Raiford, Alvarez brings us local, conventional produce.


• NCL Farms NCL brings us a variety of mostly Naturally Grown produce from small farmers all over Florida.


• Grower's Alliance Coffee A Jacksonville-based coffee company. The owners are originally from Kenya, from where they currently import their organic coffee beans. Coffee is locally roasted.


• Arbonne Vegan body-care products in all recycled packaging.


• Annie Clydes Homemade deserts, such as miniature pecan and sweet potato pies, cakes, and brownies.


• Turtle Island Natural Foods Our local health food store, Turtle Island sells delicious homemade organic dips, spreads, and salad dressings, as well as a selection of local organic produce. They also offer organic, regional produce baskets that you can pick up weekly at the Market. They are donating the tool shed for the community garden!


• Jaxma Orchid Greenhouse Large variety of orchids from a local family greenhouse.


• Bone Appetite All-natural dog and cat treats, as well as hand-sewn pet collars and toys.


• Earthen Jewelry Designs Lil sells her handcrafted jewelry, specializing in natural stones and handmade clay beads.


• Cognito Farm Cognito joins us a couple times a month, bringing their free-range all-natural broiler chickens, eggs, beef, goat cheese and milk, and organically grown produce.


• Maria's Bakery Maria sells a huge variety of baked goods, such as whole grain breads, calzones, cookies, etc.


• Porters and Importers Beth travels the world in order to find fair-trade products made by small organizations. She has a variety of neat products, such as jewelry, purses, toys, etc.


• My Eco Organic Kettle Corn They started as a local store, specializing in ecological home products... now they are featured at the market with organic treats such as kettle corn and shaved ice.


• St. Augustine Crab Cake King Arthur serves crab cakes from Fernandina, as well as coconut shrimp.


• Shoe House Studio Melanie melts wine bottles into cheese trays, bowls, and decorative wall hangings-- recycling bottles into something functional. She also makes ceramic jewelry and soap dishes from clay and glass.


• Ocean Bottom Custom Crafts Donna makes natural soaps from goat's milk, avocado, cucumber, and shea butter. She also makes tote bags from recycles fabric samples.


• Josey's Honey Amanda sells a variety of this local honey from well-managed hives.


• Afric Boutique Princess Trinity creates customized skin care from a variety of butters, including shea, avocado, and cacao, brought directly from family plantations in Kenya.


• FiFi's Granola Maribeth sells her homemade granola, with a variety of different flavors.


• Natural Solutions Karen Sparkman makes a variety of herbal salves, teas, sprays and balms to help all of your ailments. All are made from organically grown herbs.


• Shakti Life Kitchen Shakti is a local vegan, raw food cafe. They bring organic treats such as flax crackers, buckwheat beans, blue corn chips, and seed cheese.


• Charlie's Citrus bCharlie is a long-time local and grower of organic citrus. He has a great variety, including several kinds of grapefruit, tangerines, meyer lemons and more.

Fruits, vegetables, fresh meat, hygienic products, snacks, coffee, tea, flowers, and crafts; there's a lot of variety represented in such a small space. Again, I totally stole the above from the Beaches Green Market website but I feel that the above vendors definitely deserve as much promotion as possible.

Being a hopeless coffee addict, I'd like to give a special shout out to Grower's Alliance Coffee who work with farmers in Africa to provide single origin, organic and fair-trade coffees. The beans are roasted here in Jacksonville the night before you purchase them at the market and will only cost you about as much as an equivalent amount of Starbucks coffee beans. And while I'm not much of a flower appreciator myself, preferring instead to grow edible plants, the amazing orchids at the Jaxma Orchid Greenhouse tent are a must-see for anyone stopping by the market.

There's nothing like fresh produce. Eating a tomato straight off the vine is one of the most sublime experiences I've ever had the privilege to undergo with any regularity. But while they don't bring the living vine, the freshness of the vegetation is unparalleled in super markets. And until Native Sun opens a Jax Beach branch, this is pretty much the best local option the salt water people of East Duval county have to for fresh, organic produce.

But before I go, I must relate one tragic detail about my visit which left me a little disappointed. I did not see this guy:

And while my disappointment hasn't put me off visiting again, I think my trips would be more frequent if Carrot Man were a regular feature.

Beaches Green Market
Every Saturday
2- 5 PM
Jarboe Park, Neptune Beach
(intersection of A1A and Florida Blvd.)

TacoLu

I've been reaching out to friends recently and asking them to donate ideas for places to go, things to do, etc. around the area. Basically I'm asking them to do the hard work here and find me good content. I could be a great manager. The downside to these pleas for assistance is that I'm essentially forced to tell them about my little web log and then, to my great horror, they actually come here and read it. So recently a friend told me about a new CaliMex restaurant that opened up on the beach end of Beach Blvd. I've broadcast my indifference towards the sloppy, refried variety of Mexican food many times throughout these electronic pages but I was assured that TacoLu was of a different breed. Spicy AND fresh? Excitedly, I scheduled a visit for the following day.

As far as I can tell, TacoLu is a one-of-a-kind restaurant yet still has that same level of professionalism and attention to presentation that chains like Tijuana Flats excel at. Nice website, clever copy, good graphic design on the menus; all the signs that would lead you to expect to find a TacoLu in every major city but it looks as though we've got the only one. TacoLu takes a proud stance on its tacos, arrogantly and rightfully proclaiming that anyone seeking a "regular" taco can run down the street to [$ YOUR CORPORATE FRANCHISE NAME HERE! $] for a sloppy mass of prepackaged near-food. Here they make almost everything fresh and prefer to take novel approaches to the art of el taco, specializing in the use of atypical ingredients like fish (I know it's becoming more common but [$ YOUR CORPORATE FRANCHISE NAME HERE! $] still doesn't offer it), lamb, and brisket.

I had been led to expect a more gaudy atmosphere but there was really nothing unusual here, pretty much your typical nouveau CaliMex set up.

I came precariously close to an embarrassing outburst upon my initial scan over the menu.

"No burritos? This is ridiculous!"

Luckily my morning coffee had worn off and my energy levels were low from not having eaten in for a couple hours so these exclamations deteriorated into a weary mumble by the time they reached my mouth. So, tacos it was, but what a selection. At $2.95 a pop for the "regular" kind and $3.50 for the specialties, ordering two or three will get you a reasonably sized (and priced) meal.

I opted for the Baja Fish Taco (Beer battered Mahi, served on a homemade corn tortilla, with cabbage, pico, crema, cilantro, lime) and the Chingona Chicken (spicy chicken with a tomatillo/chiles de arbol salsa on a freshly made corn tortilla, plus diced onion and cilantro). My wife ordered the Suizas Stacked Enchilada (freshly made corn tortillas layered with pulled, roasted chicken, topped with a creamy tomatillo sauce and Monterrey Jack cheese) which I gladly helped consume despite not being too fond of the typical enchilada.

The food was amazing. Seriously. Far exceeded our expectations and more than made up for the long drive. Although it looks like a freezer section fish stick, the fried fish on the Baja Fish Taco is actually quite tasty and the Chingona Chicken Taco was incredible. I'm tempted to go back and order one of each taco on the menu because if they're any where near as good as the two I had then it will be worth the money and extra calories.

Hands down, best Mexican inspired food I've had in the area. But if you're still not convinced you ought to give it a try then get this: I didn't see it on the menu when I was there but they have a drink that combines a glass of PBR with a shot of tequila. What's it called? The Dirty Sanchez. Go. Now.

TacoLu Baja Mexicana
1183 Beach Blvd.
Jacksonville Beach, FL 32250
(904) 249-TACO(8226)

Jacksonville Beaches / Ragtime Tavern

Florida beaches have, with few exceptions, left me disappointed and nostalgically yearning for the majestic shores of my youth in a far off land. When I moved to Florida in 1996 after a five year stint in waterless Colorado I was beyond thrilled at the prospect of once again indulging in the pleasures of the oceanside but the brown waters, dirty looking sand, and tiny waves quickly drowned my enthusiasm. That said, being by the ocean is better than being landlocked and there is a definite atmosphere permeating the shoreside communities that can't be found elsewhere.

On the morning Saturday, April 19 we took a trip out To Jax Beach for a mini-expedition as neither of us have ever really explored the area much. Being relatively early in the day, the streets weren't too crowded but there were still plenty of patrons engaging in all manner of sun, sand, and surf related activities down by the pier. Preferring more solitary environs (and because our flesh tones range from ivory to egg shell), we didn't spend much time weaving through the sun bathers and rugby players and instead chose to wander the lonely alleys among the closed bars and shops, marveling at the little plants growing out of the cracks in the concrete. However, if you're single, confident, and on the prowl then the beach front is the perfect place to parade your goods and cast your net. Perhaps we'll make it a point to visit the area again in the evening/nighttime to experience and assess the infamous nightlife that attracts people from all over the North East Florida region.

With growing hunger we headed back to the car and drove a few miles north to the Atlantic Beach area for lunch. One of our favorite restaurants in the Southside area is Seven Bridges and Atlantic Beach is the home to one of its two sisters, The Ragtime Tavern. The menu at The Ragtime Tavern is basically the same as Seven Bridges but with more seafood dishes and fewer chicken or beef alternatives. Being a sharing couple, we split the Sesame Tuna (I got the tuna, Kateri the sides and a salad) which was utterly fantastic by my standards. We don't drink often but enjoy a good beer or wine on occasion, particularly from microbreweries like The Ragtime Tavern and Seven Bridges, so we shared a glass of the Westbury Wheat. We're both rather fond of wheat beers and, while not the best wheat beer I've had, the Westbury Wheat had a good flavor. Weighing in around 3-4% alcohol, it's definitely not a brew you'd settle on if you're looking to get drunk but a good choice for those who really do drink for the taste (really!).

Wanting to experience more of the area, we wandered around the shops a bit and grabbed a cup of iced coffee from Shelby's Coffee Shoppe. There's a cute outside area where you can sit and sip your coffee whilst watching the sparrows engage in their mating and scavenging activities, all quite pleasant but slightly cheapened by the plastic container our coffee came in (it's an anti-disposable goods sentiment, not purely snobbery). The coffee itself wasn't very good either. It didn't taste bad but, then again, it also didn't taste like coffee. But here I must admit that I am a coffee snob yet typically forgiving.

All in all, it was an interesting few hours of wandering around the Jacksonville Beaches but I still find them to be rather overrated. Maybe a few more visits will change my mind and I'm open to any suggestions that will help brighten my opinion.

The Ragtime Tavern
207 Atlantic Blvd.,
Atlantic Beach, FL 32233
904-241-7877

Shelby's Coffee Shoppe
200 First Street,
Neptune Beach, FL 32266
904-249-2922