When we finally move into our house we will be very close to St. Augustine. We’ll be in the northernmost part. We go to SA often. Found a food French Bistro called the Drunken Horse, a good meat store the Chop Shop. I heard O’Steens has a nice view. Haven’t played pickleball. Maybe someday!
1 Like
I’m updating my list of good locally owned places to eat that are within 15 minutes of I-95. I’ll be adding some Palm Coast places, and welcome suggestions for places that are within a few miles of the interstate. I’m looking for short-cut to figure out one by one which of the places y’all have mentioned are close to 95. A sentence or phrase on what’s good at the place would be a big help
Thanks for any suggestions.
John, this is probably not what you’re looking for as it’s not locally owned but I heartily recommend a stop at Buc-ee’s gas station just north of daytona beach off I95:
- florida’s largest gas station, worth a stop just to wander around their huge store, bbq sandwiches, top-notch jerky and buc-ees nuggets are all worth a try. 5-10 mins from i95.
I’m sure you have gary lees, my review is here on HO as well as arnold’s in lumberton. As for additional stops, I can’t speak for gwenn but we’re rarely on I95 when we’re staying at our place in FL, so don’t have a real sense how far the places we like are from i95.
we’re heading down mid-october, hopefully we’ll have a place or two to add to the list by the time we get to fl.
best,
Sorry for the late reply. Just got power back! I don’t take 95 much either so I don’t know what is within 15 minutes. We love The Cellar in Daytona. Excellent upscale Italian in a beautiful historic home.
4 Likes
viinouspleasure, Thanks. I’m putting both buc-ee’s on the list. Daytona and St. Augustine. Yes, non-chain is a rule, but Buc-ee’s is bigger than rules.
And I do have Gary Lee’s. What do you recommend at Arnold’s? And I got a number of places in GA and mid-coast FL from a frequent visitor, so I’ll be adding those.
at arnolds we like the fried pickles, wings, burgers and cheesesteak. The burgers are served on texas toast, probably our favorite menu item. my sense is the buc-ee’s in daytona is the one to visit if choosing btw the two.
also, there’s white swan in nc, I beleive i posted about that…and the dog house in delaware. I know you have mccabes in manning, do you have d&h? we haven’t been to the summerton diner in…ten years, loved it and still seems to get good reviews online. I have a review somewhere or other if u need it. also, I believe I posted about carl’s in fredricksburgh va.
I’m planning a bbq/chicken trip with my brothers, to my eye there’s a lot of interesting food in and around brunswick, ga…
2 Likes
Carl’s is the ice cream place next to the Mason Dixon Diner?
I’ll have some Brunswick suggestions for you
1 Like
I don’t know if it’s next door but they are close. I’ve only had the frozen custard and it’s life changing…
Yikes! I’ll see if my proofreader is willing
no worries, heading back in dec, lots of places in the hopper to try this ttip!
Vinouspleasure – All of the new places are in if you search it now. I’m putting in links to some of the new places right now. Except Arnold’s, which you know. It will be oil the list in the fullness of time.
Have a great, great trip.
1 Like
thank you, fabulous writing and recommendations!
I’m not as sure as you are that smith’s red and white air dried sausages don’t need refrigeration and I’d suggest unless you’re 100% sure, you many want to re-think publishing that point. If we stop on the way down I’ll make a point of asking.
best,
Where can I find these links? Thanks!
assuming you mean john’s links and not sausage links 
if you mean sausage links:
1 Like
gwenn, not sure if you and/or your husband surf fish but apparently there’s an epic pompano run in your/our area, hoping I catch the tail end of it.
best,
vinouspleasure
On air dried sausage from the NC Folklife Institute in article oil Mac’s –
Air-dried sausage is made like other country sausage, but it’s not smoked and doesn’t need to be kept refrigerated in the same way. Instead, you preserve the sausage either by adding salt, which removes moisture that bacteria are fond of, or more commonly, by adding nitrates, which prevent the worst kinds of bacteria from growing.
But I think I’ll edit it anyway
john, thanks, I recall reading that article, maybe we had this discussion a while ago, I’m getting so old, my memory so bad, that my wife claims I gave her permission to throw out my favorite shirt and I can’t in good conscience argue with her 
anyhow, the article jogged my memory, a couple of visits ago pretty sure I asked if the sausages were air dried and the woman behind the counter said they were out of air dried, they were in the process of making more and all they had was fresh and yes, it needs to be refrigerated.
The conversation made me wonder, past orders have simply been “pound of hot, pound of mild” without asking for air dried vs fresh. Next visit I’m going to get a definitive answer on how this works!
Not sure if you noticed, no more jarred hot peaches, very sad…
sorry gwenn to post in your thread.
1 Like
I don’t think we do, since I don’t even know what that is!
No problem. My thread is your thread!!! 
1 Like
Sorry if too late for this trip, but on St. Simon’s “Porch” is good for Nashville style spicy chicken, if you’re willing to go a bit farther for it (you can ask for less spicy if you want), and in Brunswick “Sista’s Kitchen” is also good for chicken.
1 Like
