Showing posts with label pancakes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pancakes. Show all posts

Sunday, April 14, 2019

Fun Playing With Destin-Area Breakfast

What better way to start the day than with breakfast? We found a number of tasty options nearby and barely scratched the surface of the local offerings.

In all our prior years visiting Destin, we'd never succeeding in playing with food at the Destin Diner - it was a cool looking old railcar style place, but always seemed to be between owners during our February visits. The current operators of the space (now called Mary's Kitchen) have remedied this. They also operate a second Mary's Kitchen at Uptown in Fort Walton Beach, which is open until 8pm for dinner. The Destin version is open from 7:30am until 2:30pm, and offers daily "Blue Plate" specials beginning at 11:30am for lunch in addition to the generous breakfast and lunch menus. Due to the number of meals we ate there, Mary's will get it's own post. However, our first breakfast at Mary's, on our first morning in Destin, warrants a preview here.

Bob's Pancakes

Half Order of Biscuits & Sausage Gravy
My side of cheese grits










Bob's pancakes were light and dreamy. I honestly didn't love the sausage tossed into the gravy, but the white gravy itself was delicious and the biscuits were light and airy. They told me their biscuit maker makes them from scratch daily and they certainly tasted like it! People tend to love grits or hate them; I am in the former category and found these creamy, cheesy and serviceable. A lovely start!

Our next breakfast adventure took us back to a place that didn't really impress in years past, but has upped their game quite nicely. The Donut Hole now has three locations; on this trip, we dined at two of them. The original, in Destin, impressed us both times we visited.

Bob's: The Everything. 2 eggs, sausage, cheese grits (subbed in for homefries), 2 pancakes.


Mine: Texas Sweet Potato Pancakes with Praline Sauce
The quantity of food provided two full meals for each of us, and then some. But more important was the quality, which was very good and delivered at very reasonable price points. More of Donut Hole will appear in a later post.

We enjoyed two breakfasts at The Pancakery, just up the street from us. While they do use liquid egg product for their omelets, the fillings I sampled tasted of freshness and quality.

Mine: Crabcake Omelet 

They get the crab cakes already made from their vendor, which they said was a local product. They also source local shrimp for omelet making, but we didn't sample it. This mammoth plate gave me two meals, with some to spare! The quality of the filling and presentation of this dish almost made up for the use of liquid egg product. And to accompany this savoriness:

Sand Dollar Pancakes


What a treat! Why get a side of food service bread toast when there are freshly made pancakes in the house? 

Bob's: Strawberry Fields, pancakes filled with strawberries and topped with strawberry compote. 
This was a little too sweet for my palate, but Bob loved it.

Gone Bananas: Filled with fresh bananas and served with bananas foster sauce.
We both ordered this on our second visit, and didn't love it as much as our first visit. The Bananas Foster Sauce had a strong margarine/butter substitute flavor that wrecked the dish for us. So the trick to enjoying the Pancakery is to order carefully - they do a fabulous job with the pancakes themselves and some of the toppings are worthy. We will definitely return.

Crackings was recommended by our realtor, who is a food guy and is married to another food lover. Originally part of the still-existing “Another Broken Egg” chain, but recently taken independent by its owners, Crackings still felt (and tasted) way too chain like. It wasn’t bad but wasn’t especially good either, and more costly than other local options. The menu bragged about serving Hormel meats – that sort of sums it up. There are better choices. And to be fair, my realtor and his wife had lunch items not breakfast; perhaps they do better with that. 

Mine: Praline Pecan Pancakes - two sweet cream pancakes, filled with sweet crunchy praline pecans, drizzled with scratch made cinnamon cream cheese icing
This looks like a bit of a mess and that was how it ate. Way too sweet, and the parts that weren't covered with icing were quite dry.

Bob's: Banana Foster's it Up - a scratch made brown sugar, banana liquor, and butter cream sauce with fresh bananas with pancakes
Crackings actually did a better job with this dish than the Pancakery had, probably because they used real butter rather than substitutes. Bob clearly chose better than I! Having lots of sauce to drizzle where needed helped.

The final two places are almost polar opposites, but each delivered deliciousness!

Mama Clemenza's is owned by the couple that are part owners in Fat Clemenzas in Miramar Beach and Clemenzas at Uptown Station, Fort Walton Beach. The Miramar Beach location, 12273 Emerald Coast Parkway, Miramar Beach, Phone: 850-424-3157 is open Wednesday – Sunday 8am – 1pm. The Fort Walton Beach location is open 8am- 1pm Sunday in the premises of Clemenzas at Uptown Station, 75 Eglin Parkway | Suite 126 | Fort Walton Beach, FL 32591. Both locations offer an upscale, hand crafted breakfast and lunch experience. Though our second experience was marred by some technical difficulties, the house responded well and we'll certainly be back.

Sliced Oranges in olive oil with black pepper

So tasty that I tried to recreate it for our Snowbird group's Happy Hour. How'd I do?

Plant City Truck Farmer Honeybells with EVOO & Black Pepper
Back to Mama Clemenza's.

Bob's: Italian Breakfast Panini "Special" House-made Italian Sausage, sunnyside eggs and Gruyere cheese, served with side of Hollandaise and "side of the day" which was Raspberry Steel Cut Oats 

Mine: "Special" Seafood Quiche topped with Hollandaise, served with Croissant and "side of the day", Raspberry Steel Cut Oats (it ate like pudding!).

Bob's Banana's Foster French Toast: maple glazed sliced bananas and warm caramel sauce.
Mine: Croque Madame. An open faced egg sandwich with Prosciutto, and Gruyere cheese. Served with Side of the Day (Blackberry Steel Cut Oats) and an addition of Hollandaise sauce on the side.
The menu changes frequently and every day brings one off specials. Mama Clemenza's is not a cheap date, but the quality of the food is a notch above most local offerings and well worth it. Despite the hiccups on our last visit, we'll be back! 

Blue Collar Cafe in Fort Walton Beach is the only place in the area making real NY style bagels from scratch. And doing it quite well. But go early if you want a bagel, because they will sell out (by 10:30ish)!  We didn't get there in time the first time we visited. But the made-in-house biscuits almost made up for it! And that Maple Bacon - divine! The grits - nothing special. But there remains plenty of special to go around at Blue Collar Cafe! And at very friendly prices.

Mine: 2 Eggs Over Easy, Biscuit, Cheese Grits, Maple Bacon

Bob's: 2 eggs over easy, toast, sausage patty.

The bagels were worth the price of admission and a second trip. New Yorker approved. And though that cream cheese probably started life in a food service loaf, it had been whipped with a perfect touch of white pepper by the time it hit my bagel. Outstanding! As was the service, a real treat.

Mine: Plain bagel, not toasted, cream cheese, fruit.

No New Yorker would ever toast a fresh bagel.

Bob's: Poppyseed Bagel Toasted, Cream Cheese, Fruit

Another lovely touch - that fruit garnish isn't just a garnish - it's fresh, substantive fruit, which cut nicely through the richness of the bagel and cream cheese. And the sausage and bacon at our first visit.

Finally, a rare made from scratch breakfast in the condo, featuring Black Bear Bread Company Bread made into French Toast with Blue Eggs we got at the Sandestin/Grand Boulevard Farmers' Market, topped with Strawberry Syrup I made with Plant City Farmers' Fresh Strawberries.



And so we have breakfast in Destin and environs. Some lovely places to play with food, and a few others we didn't get to try. There will be more Fun Playing With Food from this trip, coming up shortly!

Thursday, July 30, 2015

More Fun Playing With Vacation Food

Because food always is more fun when you partake while on vacation, even if you are still at home!

Breakfast at Garretts Mill Diner, Stow Ohio:

Short Stack of Pancakes with Strawberries
Chef-Owner Brian Krasney does a Steve Schimoler with his air-whip can - house-made Maple Whipped Cream! Bob cleaned his plate.

 House made biscuits with house made sausage gravy and home fries, poached eggs.
Brian says more additions to the traditional menu are in the works! My dish was a special in June, but is now on the regular menu and it is well crafted. The eggs were poached perfectly, and the sausage gravy popped with peppery, porky goodness.

Dinner of Grove Hill Happy Hour Small Plates:

Pulled Pork Sliders with Coleslaw & Coffee BBQ Sauce

BEEF & CHEDDAR CROQUETTES: horseradish crème fraiche
SPICY GREEN BEANS: pancetta, calabrian chile, parmesan, extra virgin olive oil & basil.
This new addition to the menu was spicy, but oh so good! Bacon, cheese and fresh green beans? Hell yeah! Grove Hill Happy Hour runs Monday-Thursday 4:30-6:30 and Friday & Saturday 9:00 pm - close.

Breakfast on the way to Louisville at Flury's Cafe, Akron:

Eggs Florentine: w/spinach & Hollandaise on a muffin w/homefries
We found out via GPS that Flury's recently moved to 2202 Front Street Cuyahoga Falls, so you may need to walk a little from the public parking areas. But you will be well rewarded. Somehow, the new location seems even smaller than the original. Come early to get a table!

Lovely fresh spinach and house-made Hollandaise kicked my breakfast up. The home fries, though, seemed like they came from a food service bag. However, Kim says she made them from scratch and I believe her! We will definitely return to Flury's. 

Bob's:
Pancakes
Chorizo
Dinner upon our return to Cleveland - Nobu Tei, Solon Ohio; so glad they finally have their website up and their full service liquor permit!

Tuna Tartar: Chopped Tuna, Avocado and Spicy Tuna

I want to love the fish at Nobu Tei, but it just isn't fresh enough. I actually liked this pretty dish very much, but wanted the raw fish to be just a bit more pristine.

Red Curry Beef


The intense Thai flavors in the curries make up for the deficiencies in the fish, well sort of. The Thai food is really, really good here. 

Pineapple Fried Rice With Duck
As much as I enjoyed my ducky rice, I kept wanting to drench it in Bob's Red Curry sauce. And, I sort of did. 

My last day off would be spent doing laundry. But first, breakfast - Jim's Open Kitchen, Solon:

Bob's: Waffle with Strawberries
Mine: Cheese Omelet with home fries, English Muffin
Finally, after the laundry was done, a last leisurely meal out together at Crumb and Spigot, Chagrin Falls Ohio:

Cauliflower Hummus
Darned if it didn't have the mouthfeel of hummus! Most enjoyable.

Pizza with Sausage, Escarole, Hot Pepper, Provolone
This was the first pizza we've had at Crumb and Spigot that didn't completely work. The pieces of escarole were just a big too big, tough and sloppy. But you can't beat sausage and provolone on a pizza and the sausage is of excellent quality. We enjoyed this pizza despite its flaws.  


Gotta love that crust, though!

And so, another Fun Playing With Food vacation came to an end. 

Saturday, February 15, 2014

Fun Playing with Jack Flaps

Eric Williams is one of my favorite Cleveland Chef/Restaurateurs. Proprietor of Momocho in Ohio, Eric keeps reinventing himself in different directions, with delicious results, and always Cleveland-centric. After Momocho came The Happy Dog, which went into in a classic bar space on Detroit Avenue in the Gordon Square District before the location was hip (and we join Cleveland in mourning the recent, untimely passing of co-owner Sean Kilbane), then El Carnicero in Lakewood, and plans to revive the historic Euclid Tavern with the Happy Dog brand (which I haven't heard any updates on since Mr. Kilbane's passing). 

The latest Williams venture to take flight is Jack Flaps, a small breakfast-through-the-lunch-hour spot located near the Momocho home base in Ohio City. We visited this morning after a pilgrimage to the West Side Market, and had great fun playing with our food. Jack Flaps is a keeper; I just wish it was open more hours and had dedicated parking. I'd eat breakfast for dinner, if I could eat it here! When we arrived shortly before noon today, the restaurant was mostly full and there was one 4 top ahead of us. We watched that queue wax and wane for over an hour once we were seated; no question that they were slammed today, which is why they get a Fun Playing With Food pass for a couple of small flaws; overall, the meal was excellent. 

Ironically, the Jack Flaps (or flapjacks) weren't the best part of our meal. Not because there was anything wrong with them, but because Eric and his partner Randy Carter really know their way around pork. We'll get to that in a moment. First, the Jack Flaps:

Original Buttermilk Jackflaps
Bob decided to be a purist today. Fluffy pancakes, cinnamon-y butter, maple syrup. The combination was tasty, but the butter and syrup would have melted better if the dishes had been warmer. Small flaw #1, our food was a little cold - not so cold that we had to send it back, but we wished someone had asked, because it really was a little too cold for everything, to well, melt together, and the pork would have sung even higher notes with just a few more degrees of temperature. As noted, though, they were in weed city, so we decided to just enjoy the food as it came (and the butter did eventually melt into the pancakes). 

Cracker-Jack Flaps
These pancakes were served with a Salted Caramel Sauce, and had Corn Nuts cooked into the batter. Cinnamon House Butter and Syrup were along side. Small flaw #2, the "prize" promised by the menu (to complete the "Cracker Jack" experience) never materialized. Again, the out-the-door line at the entrance made it impossible for me to want to question or complain. And I really didn't get that big "salted caramel" hit of flavor I was expecting. But it still tasted delicious, and not too sweet, which would have been an easy line to cross. The cooked corn nuts gave it a uniquely crunchy-chewy texture that did not threaten my dental work, but popped with corny flavor in the wheat-based dough (note that all of the Jack Flaps and Waffles can be made with gluten-free buckwheat batter at the diner's request). As for the pancakes themselves, how many times have you ordered pancakes in a restaurant and been served an obvious commercial mix that fell flat on your palate? That will not be your experience at Jack Flaps, where everything tastes of love and care in the preparation.

Vietnamese-Style Sausage Patties
These little flavor bombs explode in your mouth a bit better with a little dab of the house hot sauce, but even plain, they are fabulously porky and well seasoned. Nary a morsel remained.

Mexican Coke-Braised Slab Bacon
Probably the best bites of the day (and so plentiful that we had two full slices to take home) - this is not your mama's Oscar Meyer! Beautiful pork belly, prepared low and slow, melted in our mouths. A touch of the maple syrup (and even a touch of the hot sauce, not usually something I'd put on bacon) transported us to porky nirvana in one bite. At $3 for four huge slices, this may be the most economical ticket to that nirvana in C-Town.

The staff is still working out some of the "slammed" kinks, so be patient if you go at a busy time, and you will be rewarded. We shared our table (a six top) with three young ladies who enjoyed Jackflaps, as well as a waffle dish (looked like the "Fat Elvis" and looked delicious), the vegan Root Vegetable Hash, and Grits with Cinnamon House Butter. I also spied an amazing tower of French-Toasted goodness (I think it was the PB&J) at the next table that made me want to return ASAP to try it.

We loved our breakfast at Jack Flaps and look forward to returning there for more sweet and savory fun playing with breakfast in Ohio City. 






Sunday, February 26, 2012

2012 Fun Playing With Fish in Destin FL, P.1: RIP Mr. Ferrell Shipp

Our winter trip to Destin, Florida enables us to consume a disproportionate amount of fish and seafood. We are just returned from the tenth edition of this trip, and we were fortunate to have fun playing with several species of water creatures at a variety of venues. This report will be broken into several blog posts, and won’t be entirely chronological this year, but stick with it and you won't regret it!

Tasty Crab Cake Sliders from Obrycki’s at the BWI Airport
Kindly note the usual disclaimer – though we return annually, we generally eat at each establishment only once per year. Great restaurants can have bad days, and mediocre spots can have stellar days; this blog simply seeks to share our experiences as we perceive them, and to bring some positive attention to those that we enjoyed the most. 

We arrived in Destin a little later than we’d planned on Wednesday February 8, due to a GPS [operator] error when leaving Panama City Beach's airport. The original plan had been to hit a restaurant on Route 30A on the Alys Beach/Rosemary Beach side of the world on our way west to Destin, but Bob wanted to check in at the condo first. So here it was after 8pm, and we needed dinner. With my inner ear still clogged from flying, and with me still adjusting to maneuvering and parking the massive Lincoln Town Car we'd rented (don't ask), I committed the most quintessential sin a traveling food lover can make in this smart-phone enabled age – picking a dining destination on sight alone. 

As we’d headed west on Route 98, around the Cross Bay Bridge, we passed a place that for years had been a ubiquitous chain dinner house; the sign atop the restaurant at 34906 Emerald Coast Parkway now read “Miller’s Destin Ale House.” “How could an independent restaurant survive the rents in this strip,” my brain wondered, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to make a new locally-owned find so close to our lodgings. My first instinct proved unfortunately correct. It became quickly apparent once we stepped inside that despite “Destin” in the neon name, this was indeed part of a chain, called "Miller's Ale House" and which apparently inserts the city name into most units, whichever city it might be. Founded in Jupiter, Florida in 1988, the brand is primarily located throughout Florida, but also has outlets in seven other states. I asked the fellow who seated us whether any of the fish was from that part of the world, and he said yes and described the local supplier they source from, so we decided to stay. 

Indeed, some of the fish served here is locally procured, though they were out of Grouper this evening. We accepted the remaining choice of Mahi, and each ordered the grilled fish plate.

Grilled Catch of the Day (Mahi) with french fries and cole slaw, plus choice of sauce (I got roasted red pepper, Bob tried Red Thai Curry) on the vegetables. Wait - where's the cole slaw?  

Oh, there it is - we had to ask for it.


Had the fish not been cooked to within an inch of its life, it would actually have been quite good. At $13.49 for the above platter, no harm or foul occurred (except to the fish, which was dry from being overcooked), though the roasted fresh vegetables served in a canned-tasting sauce were inedible. Fries and slaw, as at most places we visited, were food service pack but enjoyable. We returned to Sundestin and prepared to meet the morning.

Morning turned to mourning almost immediately. Our “go to” breakfast for ten years has been the Silver Sands Breakfast at Harbor Docks. Something looked wrong before we even got into the parking lot – no sign of the sign (pictured below, from an earlier visit), and no cars. The Silver Sands’s proprietor, Mr. Ferrell Shipp, was in his 80s when this article was written about him in 2010. He always made the Silver Sands’s biscuits, which were like no others we’ve ever tasted, even as he seemed older and more arthritic every year. The locked front door at Harbor Docks all but confirmed my suspicions. A quick Google search told me what my heart now already knew – Mr. Shipp had passed away July 5, 2011 at the age of 86, and his family decided to shut the breakfast business down in October 2011. We will miss you and your wonderful biscuits – Mr. Shipp, you cannot be replaced.











Mr. Shipp makes his Exit.
This discovery left us sad, but also wondering where we’d eat breakfast at this early hour. We meant to head to The Donut Hole, but in another feat of operator error, turned left instead of right onto 98, out of Harbor Docks. After driving west across Okaloosa Island and into Fort Walton Beach, and finding nothing that looked appealing for breakfast, we turned around and headed back towards The Donut Hole. Then, just across the Destin Bridge, a sign caught my eye: The Florida House of Destin. 

Located where Another Broken Egg had been for years, at 104 Harbor Boulevard, the independent-looking restaurant promised breakfast, lunch and dinner (the menu refers to a website at www.thedestinfloridahouse.com, but it doesn't appear to be working). This menu item caught my eye: “Crabcake Benny – two poached eggs served on top of two pan seared crabcakes and topped with a creamy hollandaise sauce and served with homefries or grits.” I asked our server about the fish and seafood on the menu, and he said it was all fresh and local. 

While we waited for our breakfast to be served, we chatted briefly with the owner, Charlie. A native of Connecticut, Charlie had owned a restaurant in Vermont for 13 years, then lost everything to a hurricane that flooded his property (you don’t buy flood insurance in the mountains of Vermont). He and his Alabama-born wife re-located to Destin about three years ago, and the Florida House was in its second full year of operation. Everything, he said, was made from scratch, and the menu emphasizes comfort foods like burgers, sandwiches, pot roast, meatloaf, roast turkey and steak. He and his wife also own the pizzeria located in the former Miss Chen’s across 98 (Crust), and he promised that the thin crust pizza there would satisfy this New York ex-pat.

Breakfast is served:

Bob's pancakes, served with sausage









Bob’s pancakes were nicely done, though to my palate, there was a “mix” flavor and texture to them. The sausage tasted typical. But what about the crab cakes? They were pretty darn tasty, though I honestly couldn’t tell you if they were freshly made from local product or not (and our later lunch experience would suggest not). The hollandaise, probably from a food service pack, was flavorful and the eggs perfectly poached (sorry, no yolky porn shots). The only problem was that the grits on my plate were ice cold. Charlie’s wife (who’s name I didn’t note; I apologize), was in the vicinity, and got me a fresh, extremely hot bowlful (which, like the cold ones on my plate, also lacked salt). The flavors and textures of crab cake, runny egg, hollandaise, melty cheese and grits, now combined together in the bowl, made for a completely satisfying breakfast, far better than a similar breakfast had been at The Donut Hole a few years back at about the same price point. 

The Florida House is offering 2-for-the-price-of-1 dinner specials throughout dinner service for the remainder of the winter, though we did not partake, and they also boast a full bar. We did return for lunch during our second week, and I’m very sorry to say that we just weren't impressed with the “Fish and Chips” plate, which we'd been told used the same "Golden Fried Grouper" as the Fish Sandwich. During our first visit, and again on our second, I asked each server about the fish – both insisted it was fresh, local Grouper. Judge for yourself:

Mine




Mine - featuring the noteworthy potato salad




Bob's


The potato salad was deliciously fresh and obviously made in house – if only the other items on the plate were also house-made! You can see from the size and shape of the fish that it isn’t a Grouper filet (I’d guess tilapia); I didn’t photograph it after I cut into it, but to my eye and tongue, it was a previously frozen product (and previously breaded, as well). At that point in the trip, having already wrassled with a couple of places over quality issues, we just let it be. The potato salad did dazzle.

Our overall experience at Florida House was very pleasant, as was the crab cake in my breakfast – but I can’t recommend the fish, period. As with La Famiglia Ristorante a few doors down, land and vegetable based comfort food seems to be delivered well for a fair price, but avoid the fish and seafood if that is what you crave. The pizza at Crust will be addressed in a later post, but it is worth your trouble if you enjoy New York-style pizza (and the meatballs and tomato sauce on it were fabulous).

So - did we find any worthy fish dishes in Florida? Of course we did - and it didn't take very long. Cue Harbor Docks, which now serves lunch until 4pm daily! After a few uneven years, Harbor Docks seems to have stabilized itself, though the "restaurant group" now extends to seven restaurants in multiple states. The dinner price points remain a little high for what is offered, but we've enjoyed several recent lunches there. After taking our seats, we were delighted to learn that Harbor Docks's owner Charles Morgan had decided to bring breakfast service back at Harbor Docks, and that some of the Silver Sands Breakfast's staff would also return. Service would commence on Valentine's Day.

Armed with this happy information, we asked about the lunch menu; particularly, the mullet. I'd never had mullet, but was game to try it. Our server started to describe it, then said - "wait a moment, I'll be right back." The next thing we knew, this appeared for our consideration:

Two strips of fried mullet in "regular" batter, with tarter sauce
Hot and crispy, and exploding with intense, yet fresh fish flavor - these bites immediately convinced us to try the Panko Crusted Mullet lunch special. While we waited, the internet informed me that mullet is primarily used as fish bait, but is on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch list as a "best choice" for human eaters also.

Pretty succulent fish bait! Mullet tastes a bit more of the ocean than the "milder" white fishes, and it's size does not lend it to grilling, but neither of these considerations mattered. The freshness shined through every flaky bite. The cole slaw and hush puppies as usual were of the food service variety, but serviceable, as were the grits.

Our next visit to Harbor Docks would be for breakfast on Friday, February 17. It definitely felt strange. Morgan was smart to change some things up, while trying to keep other things the same.

New Harbor Docks Breakfast Menu


Harbor Docks kept the Fisherman's Platter (a Shipp invention, and now named for him), biscuits, sausage gravy and grits. Fried chicken, which used to be a take-out item only, is now on the eat-in menu, together with waffles, which are new. Gone is the ham steak, which Bob enjoyed though it was an acquired, salty taste, and the plain gravy I was so fond of. Alcoholic beverages are now available. And some new omelet combinations and breakfast sandwiches have been added, together with sauteed apples and fresh fruit.




Breakfast began with this complimentary basket of food service muffins and butter.

Biscuits and Sausage Gravy



A mixture of old and new - the biscuits were split oven and smothered in the gravy instead of being served whole with a bowl of gravy. Less waste must surely result - I could never finish the contents of a gravy bowl with two biscuits. But the gravy lacked the peppery freshness I remembered, and the biscuits lacked profundity. I also enjoyed a side of cheese grits.



Bob's Breakfast - Mr. Shipp's Fisherman's Special with sausage, and






Biscuits










For as long as he'd been working, Mr. Shipp had never allowed anyone else to make the biscuits. We wondered if he'd left any of his recipe or technique for another to follow. These biscuits probably wanted to be baked a bit more. Even with more browning, though, their made-from-mix character and lack of great biscuit texture (flakiness) would have been apparent. Hopefully, with practice, whoever is making these will improve - Mr. Shipp had decades of practice before we ever tasted a one of his (and we'd noticed the last couple of years that they weren't quite the same). Mr. Shipp's biscuits inspired us, on more than one occasion, to carry home a 5# bag of White Lily flour in our luggage, the better to try to duplicate his biscuity goodness - while Bob is a good biscuit-maker, they are never quite as light and flaky as Mr. Shipp's. (BTW - White Lily Flower can now be acquired in or near most cities.) 

I hoped to get back for another breakfast, to try the Chicken and Waffles, but it just never happened this trip. We will definitely try them again next year, since they'd only been operating for three days when we ate there; it was too early to really judge it fairly.

Our last visit to Harbor Docks came on Presidents' Day (Monday, February 20) and was largely a repeat of  our first lunch, though with a different start:

Freshly baked corn muffins


I would suspect that we weren't served any muffins at our first lunch due to the late hour; they may have run out of them. At the time, I didn't even remember this usual start to lunch at Harbor Docks. These specimens were hot and toothsome. 

Country Fried Mullet, Cole Slaw, Grits, Hushpuppies







Both mullet lunches were a veritable steal at $8 dollars a plate. The comparable plates of snapper, grouper and tuna were $13-15 (all offered with a choice of sides, including cucumber salad and ginger rice). Of course, taste is everything. The impeccably fresh, well seasoned, crispy mullet satisfied on both occasions.  

Yes, fun playing with Florida Panhandle food was off to a great start indeed. More to come in the next post.