Located inside Florida’s Deleon Springs State Recreation Area, the Old Spanish Sugar Mill Grill and Griddle House* is an old fashioned breakfast experience.   Just an hour north of Orlando and 30 minutes west of Daytona Beach, this will be a fun-filled addition to your Orlando family dining adventure.

Entrance to the Old Spanish Sugar Mill Grill and Griddle House

Opened in 1961 by Peter and Marjorie Schwarze, the Old Spanish Sugar Mill Grill and Griddle House still serves breakfast every day until 4pm (except Thanksgiving and Christmas).  Besides pancakes, the menu includes French toast, sandwiches and salads.

The staff is southern friendly, welcoming you with a smile and a southern drawl.

Once you place your order, homemade pitchers of pancake batter are brought to your table. Your batter is made from stone ground grains of five different flours and an unbleached white. Your job — pour the batter on the griddles in the middle of each table for an all-you-can-eat $4.95 pancake experience. Read More »

Filet and Maryland Crab Cake at Captain Anderson's.

One of the great things about established beach towns is that there is always at least one incredible restaurant.  But not just an incredible restaurant–one that’s stood the test of time, serving food to tourists and locals alike for decades, perhaps even longer.  Usually, this restaurant is a family-owned joint–and that feeling of family extends to the staff, the ambiance and the food they put on your plates.  It’s the kind of place you feel lucky to find.  And it’s the kind of place that you return to again and again–it’s as much a reason you return to that beach town as the beach itself.

In Panama City Beach, Florida, that place is Captain Anderson’s, a large yet welcoming restaurant right on the water.  Open since 1967, Captain Anderson’s knows not to try to fix something that isn’t broke.  Many of the waitresses have been working there for years–some as long as Captain Anderson’s has been open.  And the food is fantastic.

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Trust Me, They Serve Food

Over the last six months I kept hearing about the new Angry Ham’s Garage in Framingham, Massachusetts which is one town over from where I live. I heard its menu is all over the map. I heard it seems to be searching for an identity. I heard it is a lot of fun. I heard the pizza rocks. I heard these things from a couple on date night, a family with young kids and a group of softball players. That’s a varied a mix of patrons all providing thumbs up. I decided to just go and check it out for myself.

Having driven by the location on many occasions, I was familiar with the fact that it looks like a big, ugly, gray warehouse. The restaurant’s name and logo alone would not lead you to believe it was a restaurant. Neither would the images of race cars covering the entrance windows. In fact, if you didn’t know going in, you would drive by it and assume it was in fact, a garage.

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Dinner on the Beach in Barcelona

All along the beaches of Barcelona, from the crowded La Barceloneta to the open shores of the Forum, there are beach bars & restaurants. These beach eateries set up late April and come down in the fall serving the influx of visitors and sun worshipers who come in the summertime.
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