Aside from booking your airfare and accommodations, dining is the next significant consideration on any travel list. Below you’ll find the best eats on the North East coast of Florida!
St. Augustine
After exploring all the sights in St. Augustine, you’ll be starving. Luckily, there is no shortage of local restaurants featuring some of the freshest and finest seafood, amongst other local delights.
OC Whites Seafood & Spirits is a family-owned restaurant located right in historic downtown St. Augustine, just south of The Bridge of Lions, which you’ll drive over to get to downtown. Here, you can enjoy shrimp and grits on the patio overlooking the marina in a historic mansion built in 1790 where General Worth once lived and some claim Mrs Worth still haunts the building to this day.
OC Whites – Photo Sabrina Pirillo
Across the street from both The Lightner Museum and Flagler College, you’ll find Casa Monica, one of the most unique hotels in St. Augustine. A stop in for a Mediterranean feast at Costa Brava is a must and includes delights such as flatbreads, paella, lamb burger and more. Come hungry.
Owned and operated for more than five generations and over 110 years, Colombia Restaurant is a Florida staple, opening this location in 1984 in the historic district. From tableside guacamole to authentic Cuban sandwiches and the catch of the day, you’ll feel like you’re miles away.
Are you looking for an after-dinner dessert? Peace Pie has you covered. What is that you ask? Well, it’s gourmet ice-cream sandwiches with a layer of pie filling. You’re welcome.
Pace Pie – Photo Sabrina Pirillo
A trip over to the St. Augustine Distillery is quite the treat. Established in 1905 this distillery is housed in a beautifully restored building that once stood as an ice plant and at the turn-of-the-century began creating gin, vodka, bourbon, whisky and rum.
New Smyrna Beach
Booking a food tour with Eat NSB is the perfect way to explore all the culinary diversity you could possibly find in just a few hours.
Ricky’s Canteen Poke Bar and Street Food opened its doors less than a year ago, and their poke bowls are divine. Ahi tuna, edamame, cucumber, carrot, avocado and special house poke sauce is one I’m still dreaming about months later, and the Cuban Banh Mi tastes like authentic Cuba.
Rickys Canteen and Poke Bowl – Photo Sabrina Pirillo
Riverpark Terrace offers an outdoor oasis to enjoy menu items like a shrimp shooter and my personal favourite, the duck taco with blueberry honey sriracha topping.
Thai Mango, Fine Cuisine of Thailand allows you to experience exotic flavours without leaving the state. Spicy or mild, I have three words for you: Pineapple Fried Rice.
The Galley changes the way you’ll eat ice cream forever. Offering fresh-pressed olive oils and balsamic vinegar with every flavour you can think of from blood orange to fig, Sicilian lemon to coffee. Pour your favourite flavours over vanilla ice cream, and you’ll wonder how you’ve been eating this frozen treat all these years without it.
The galley – Photo Sabrina Pirillo
Third Wave Cafe and Wine Bar (located next door to the Hampton Inn) offers a menu to satisfy the whole family. From pizza for the kiddies to sustainable food items like the day boat scallops placed over artisan bomba rice, creamy goat cheese and scampi butter; excuse me while I salivate.
Third-wave scallops – Photo Sabrina Pirillo
It was 251 years ago since the town of NSB was founded by Dr Andrew Turnbull and a good reason why Sugar Works Distillery named several of their products after him. They are the first legal distillery in NSB, producing rum, moonshine, spiced and vanilla rum, never adding sugar or food colouring to any of their alcohol; any flavours are natural flavours. Worth dropping in for a visit not only to learn about the process but to sample a few of their flavours.
Amelia Island
Timoti’s Seafood Shak Restaurant is the perfect place to park to grab a bite. While you put in the family’s order-which for the kids includes shrimp, fish or chicken with fries while the adults can enjoy the fantastic po’boy featuring lettuce, tomato, shrimp and T’s bam-bam sauce on a crunchy hoagie- the kids can enjoy the outdoor playground.
Timotis – Photo Sabrina Pirillo
The Salty Pelican delights the palate from seafood to chicken wings and gator bites, but my personal favourite is the mac and cheese with bacon, jalapeno and smoked cheddar.
Lagniappe is Amelia Island’s newest locally-owned fine dining hot spot. Taking French Creole cuisine and adding a southern twist, you’ll find sustainable food items and local fresh ingredients hitting your plate. My fish glistens a beautiful white as my plate looks like an artist’s masterpiece working in bright colours and florals. This might be one dining experience mom and dad want to have for themselves.
Lagniappe – Photo Sabrina Pirillo
