The Floridian Restaurant, St. Augustine, Fla.: Review

St. Augustine, Fla.—This old city is embracing new trend with Farm-to-table restaurants. The Floridian, located next to Flagler College and owned by Chef Genie Kepner and her husband Jeff McNally, supports Florida farmers, ranchers, and fisheries by using their products and advertising their names. It caters to vegans, vegetarians, gluten intolerant, and meat eaters.

The Floridian Restaurant, St. Augustine, Fla.

My husband and I went in for dinner on a very rainy night in June. The place was packed. We decided to wait in the bar in the back. On the way I noticed several decoratively tattooed line chefs. To me this meant the meal had to be flavorful.

The hostess was very friendly and apologetic about the long wait time. She gave us a menu to look at while we sipped our Cigar City micro-brew beer. There was a whole page dedicated to recognizing farms used by the restaurant.

Summer Gazpacho with watermelon & blueberry, The Floridian,
St. Augustine, Fla.

We were seated before we finished our beers but just after we decided what to eat. First course was Summer Gazpacho made with watermelon, blueberries, lime, cilantro, bell peppers, and local honey. It was spicy, sweet, crunchy, salty, and earthy (with grain circle side).

Southern Belle salad with Mahi Mahi, The Floridian,
St. Augustine, Fla.

Next came our main courses. I ordered the Southern Belle Salad made with Georgia sourced blue cheese, peaches (South Carolina sourced), sweet potatoes, candied pecans, local salad greens, and Florida sourced honey. The salad was lightly dressed with purple basil vinaigrette. I got it with a piece of grilled, locally caught Mahi Mahi.

The bitterness of the blue cheese was enhanced by the peaches but tempered by the candied pecans. It was also surprising how well the blue cheese went with the sweet potatoes.  

Not So Mac & Cheese, The Floridian, St. Augustine, Fla.

My husband ordered the Not So Mac & Cheese made with Anson Mills (S.C.) faro, Wainwright Dairy (Fla.) cheese, heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, and bell peppers. He got Creole seasoned, Florida sourced, grilled shrimp on top.

The Creole seasoning covered everything in a delicious spicy blanket. The faro was earthy, the zucchini velvety, the tomatoes juicy, and the cheese creamy. 

Chocolate, pecan, coconut pie, The Floridian, St. Augustine, Fla.

We finished our meal with a generous portion of Chocolate Georgia pecan coconut pie made with caramel and double whipped fresh cream. It was deliciously low in sugar with an earthy chocolate flavor and a huge number of pecan pieces. The salty caramel balanced out the meal.

 

To find out more about this restaurant you can find them at 39 Cordova St., St. Augustine, FL   32084, Phone 904-829-0655

 

Or you can go to their website www.thefloridianstaug.com

Popnature, Miami, Fla: Seasonal Frozen Pops, Now CLOSED

Miami, Fla—Another frozen pop company breaks into the Miami food scene. PopNature, owned by Cortland Joyce, has seasonal fruit pops made with Miami-Dade sourced ingredients. At this year’s Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Mango Festival he featured four mango based pops. Many of his customers were return visitors from last year.


Cortland Joyce owner of PopNature gourmet pops, at Fairchild Tropical
Botanic Garden's Mango Festival

Joyce uses organic Demerara sugar, or agave nectar, purified water, local fruit, and organic fruit when he can, in his pops. “There’s less than one teaspoon of sugar in each Pop,” He said.

According to the company website, Joyce first got introduced to this style of pop at a San Diego taqueria, in the form of a paleta pop. His extensive restaurant experience has helped launch his product.

Many people asked him the same question all day, “Which flavor is your favorite?”

And he would answer, “They are all my babies.”

He has some unusual flavors like avocado, papaya, tamarind, strawberry balsamic, pear mint, Hibiscus, Coconut with lime & Chile.  

And according to his website not all flavors or ingredients are available all the time because he uses locally grown seasonal fruit. He also makes sure they are GMO-free.

He sells an adult version of the pop at the Epic Hotel, Miami Beach that contains less than a shot of alcohol.”It sells for $10 a pop but here you can get a pop for just $3,” he told a customer who asked if the one they were buying his alcohol pops.

Joyce said, “No.”

Someone else asked why he was not selling his pops in Whole Foods Market and he said, “I need nutritional analysis labels on them. It costs $650 a flavor and I have 104 flavors."

I bought a Cilantro Limeade pop for $3 and liked it a lot. He said it was a crowd favorite.

Joyce is confident his pops will soon be available Nationally but until then you can find out more about them at http://popnature.com or call 786-567-8428

Updated Oct 2014

Mango Fest At Fairchild Gardens, Miami, Fla: Mexican Themed

Miami, Fla.—There’s no place like Fairchild Topical Botanic Garden’s Mango Festival. There are cooking demos, fruit tastings, tree sales, lectures on mangoes, and food, lots of food made with mangoes and even some alcohol made with mangoes. This 85-acre garden in Central Miami-Dade County has been hosting this event for 14 years. This year’s theme was the mangoes of Mexico.

Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Mango Festival,
Miami, Fla.,

Intermittent monsoon like rain showers didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of mango foodies who flocked by the hundreds to this two-day event.

I went to see the cooking demonstrations and buy a dozen mangoes from the International Market for $2 each.

Pandan leaves and uncooked sticky rice at Khong
River House Thai cooking demo, Fairchild Tropical
Botanic Garden Mango Festival, Miami, Fla.

Khong River House was the first to put on a cooking demo featuring mango with sweet stick rice and coconut sauce. Chef Bee Piyarat Potha Arreeratn, or Chef Bee as he preferred to be called, gave tips on how to cook Meekong River style Thai food. “You can use pandan leaf as a temperature reader of oil. Tie it into a knot, throw it in the oil, and when it gets crisp the oil is ready.” 

Chef Bee at Khong River House cooking demo, Fairchild
Tropical Botanic Garden Mango Festival, Miami, Fla.

Half way through the demo an audience member asked, “What type of mango is that?” Chef Bee put down his knife, picked up a mango and said, “I don’t know. It’s a Mexican mango.”

The audience giggled as Chef Bee added, “In Thailand we have mango. We call it Thai mango.” The audience exploded into laughter.

The Khong River House sources ingredients from Homestead farmers and from the Chef’s backyard according to Bee.

Thai sticky rice with mango by Khong River House,
Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden Mango Fest,
Miami, Fla.

At the end of the demo everyone, including people standing on all sides, were given sample plates the mango  and sticky rice dish. The demo came with a printed recipe.

 

It was a delicious way to end my day at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden's Mango Festival.

 
To find out about next year's Festival you can go to
www.fairchildgarden.org