Road Trip to Orlando, Florida via Savannah, G along the coast thru St. Augustine

Greetings my fellow food frolickers......well its time to hit the road accompanied by my chi-town family ( I live in NC now),they always count on me to find Jane & Michaels picks for great dining experiences. I always travel with the Stern's books so when I stop to eat in a place I have the owner autograph my book on the page their establishment is on!

Ok there are a lot of listings here for the route we are taking. Plans are to leave NC & eat in Savannah at Paula Deans, last time family went their was a huge waiting line. I think its still like that!lol
So I'm looking for a breakfast meal in Savannah or somewhere down the road south along the coast. We are darn hearty eaters and love unusual things. Any advice? Lunch is probably gonna be in the St. Augustine area. We are staying in one of the Disneyworld Hotels so I guess we will be eating in Disneyworld.

Also I'm a professional chocolatier by trade....anyone know of some small candy shops on this route?

the Muffster

Whetstone chocolates has two locations in St Augustine.  They are a local company, check their web site out.  I have eaten at Barnacle Bills, O'Steens, Salt Water Cowboy and Schooners.  All have seafood.  They are good, check out their listings in the site.  The Oasis is a two story seafood joint on A1A on the island.  It is come as you are with people in swimsuits and flip flops, week end bikers, families, and everyone else thrown in.  It serves cold beer and seafood as well as well as a little of everything else. I love the place.  Kinda funky on a beach weekend!  They have a website too!

Clark's Fish Camp in Jacksonville is also different.  It is an old fish camp that became a restaurant.  It serves a great variety and you can feed the turtles and alligators off the outside deck and watch them swim around through the bay windows.

muffy1219


Greetings my fellow food frolickers......well its time to hit the road accompanied by my chi-town family ( I live in NC now),they always count on me to find Jane & Michaels picks for great dining experiences. I always travel with the Stern's books so when I stop to eat in a place I have the owner autograph my book on the page their establishment is on!

Ok there are a lot of listings here for the route we are taking. Plans are to leave NC & eat in Savannah at Paula Deans, last time family went their was a huge waiting line. I think its still like that!lol
So I'm looking for a breakfast meal in Savannah or somewhere down the road south along the coast. We are darn hearty eaters and love unusual things. Any advice? Lunch is probably gonna be in the St. Augustine area. We are staying in one of the Disneyworld Hotels so I guess we will be eating in Disneyworld.

Also I'm a professional chocolatier by trade....anyone know of some small candy shops on this route?

the Muffster

Hi,, if the line is too big at Paula Dean's try her other restaurant, Uncle Bubba's. For breakfast near there try either J. Christophers or Clary's. Clary's is more traditional but both offer good breakfasts. In the same area try Scrimin; Mimis for subs or pizza, or Tanners for hot dogs ( either Vienna beef Chicago style or Georgia style dogs) or Vienna beef made Italian beef sandwiches.  For a drink before dinner try the bar upstairs at the Mansion at the Park or Molly Macphersons.

Columbia's in St. Augustine,in the ols St. Augustine section, is a great looking restaurant with great sea food!!!!

My absolute, most favorite restaurant in the whole world is Saltwater Cowboys in St. Augustine.  I used to live literally one street away for several years and I just loved it.  If you go through St. A I highly recommend it.

People on here have very mixed feelings on the dining in Disney World.  I'm of the persuasion that the mouse has really made an effort to improve their food.  Several of the restaurants, especially at the hotels, are very nice.  But it will probably be a little pricier than eating outside of the park in Orlando.  I'm particularly fond of Boma and Jinko which are in the Animal Kingdom Lodge.  Boma is an African themed buffet and Jinko is a sit down place.   

aleximoon

People on here have very mixed feelings on the dining in Disney World.  I'm of the persuasion that the mouse has really made an effort to improve their food. 

In general, I agree with Alex with the exception of the Magic Kingdom. I try to avoid eating in this park if it's at all possible. If not, I stick to Clancy's hot dogs at the end of Main St. This website will give you a nice overview of the restaurants in WDW parks & hotels. I can recommend Raglan Road & the Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney.

We love Disney world food...and I'm a very picky eater. If you pick one of the buffet's, it's a great buy!! and in the hot summer...all the drinks you can drink is refreshing. That said, Boma, in Animal Kingdom disappointed us, and we won't return to that one.
     By the way, California Grill at the top of the Contemporary is a class restaurant even locals return to often!!!
      When you're staying on site, eating without travel also saves!

Wow I was surprised to come in here & find all this tonight! Thank you guys so much! Family really counts on me to tell them where to eat, they travel a lot, but this trip they are coming just to take me to Disneyworld. I'm 51 but I been trying to get back to that place a lifetime. Last time I was there is when the park 1st opened its doors, so its been awhile!

Thank you for all the suggestions. When we get to Disneyworld most likely we will eat in the park because 2 in the party are in wheelchairs & its tough getting them around. Also we are staying at the Contemporary, so thank you for that suggestion. I saw those buffets in the African part on TV. Thought that would be fun.

Just phoned family in Chi-town to tell them all you folks wrote about here>>>they said thanks too!

Muffy

Muffy,
Exactly when will you be in WDW?

leethebard
 

     By the way, California Grill at the top of the Contemporary is a class restaurant even locals return to often!!! 
     

It also has an outdoor balcony that has arguably the best view of the Magic Kingdom fireworks!

muffy1219

Lunch is probably gonna be in the St. Augustine area.

If you don't want to get too far off I-95, I can recommend the Murray Bros. Caddyshack
http://www.murraybroscaddyshack.com/ 

Bill Murrays Caddyshack in St Augustine is very good. We ate there in May on our way to florida. I would also recommend the shell house in savannah. we ate there on the way up and back. it is always a favorite. as for disneyworld, breakfast at the cape may cafe in the yacht club was wonderful. it was so good we had lunch there
twice.  dont forget to have a dole float at the magic kingdom in aloha isle. also, excellent food in downtown disney was earl of sandwich and wolfgang puck express. both were exceptional.

cavandra....Well we are taking one day to recover from Halloween. We had over 300 people come through our house last year to view the decorations so its pretty intense to say the least. Actually thats why my family si coming to FINALLY spend a halloween with me. SO we're leaving Nov. 2nd & heading to Savannah, we will overnight it there. We will be in Orlando the 3rd or 4th.

Anyone loving halloween here's my link to my halloween site...it has a quite large recipe section with pictures. I'm always working on that area. Enter the site & the 1st page has links to all the recipe sections.
Use the yahoo search engine:        www.collinwood841.com


Thank you for the additional suggestions here!

Muffy

You really get into Halloween.
 
You'll be getting to WDW in time for the tail end of the Food & Wine Festival at EPCOT...
 
http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/parks/epcot/special-events/epcot-international-food-and-wine-festival/

cavandre........thanks so much for the info for this festival!

Muf

I was in Savannah back in April. Ate at a restaurant called The Pink House. Had the whole fried flounder. The meat was scored & fried & served with an apricot glaze. The pieces came off in nuggets & it was one of the best seafood dishes I've ever had.