For The Kitchen

To Market, to market

Producer Sarah Wood Hunt | Photographer Ed Hall

An estimated 380 billion plastic bags or wraps are thrown away in the United States each year. The solution: Reusable shopping bags. Our collection includes (clockwise from center front) ones from Publix ($.99); handwoven Fair Trade African Grass Baskets from Native Sun ($34.89) at its two Jacksonville stores, (904) 260-2791 and (904) 260-6950; Winn Dixie ($.99); Friends of the GTM Reserve ($6.50), which are available from the Reserve’s Nature Store in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, (904) 823-4527; Twal Y’all tote ($22.95), which is available at Julia Claire in Jacksonville (904) 387-3175, House Dressing in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, (904) 280-5859, and Tonya’s Gifts & Accessories in St. Simons Island, Georgia (912) 634-6588; Target’s foldable, self-zippered case ($.99), Native Sun’s Treecycle ($1) and Chico Bag ($5.99), which come with a small storage pouch that clips to your purse or belt.

See more new products from area stores in the September issue of Water’s Edge, on newsstands now.

Dining Out

Creative and native

Southern-style bistro partners with local ranchers and farmers.

By Catherine Enns Grigas | Photographer Ed Hall

You’ve got to admire a restaurant that has a big sign saying, “Chasing Perfection” on the wall. That’s a tall order for most places, but it seems a goal that may be within reach for 29 South, a Fernandina Beach, Florida, eatery that puts out memorable meals nightly.

Located on the corner of Ash and Third streets, 29 South is in a circa-1920s house with a wrap-around porch. It has all the charming – and slightly quirky – aspects of historic houses in Fernandina Beach’s downtown. With a light purple painted exterior, its porch looks like the perfect place for genteel dining under the breeze of ceiling fans. Inside, it is bistro-stylish with bold red walls, black and white tile accents and contemporary lighting with tables arranged in the rooms throughout the first floor of the house. Be prepared for noise from the diners and hustling wait staff, if it’s crowded.

My husband, daughter and I were seated at a table opposite the open kitchen pass-through counter and next to the beverage station – not particularly good for a quiet meal, but great for watching plate after plate of beautiful food find its way to customers’ tables. It all but confirmed our suspicions. This place might be good. Really good.

Yes, it was an impressive parade. Salads piled high with tender lettuces and garnished with ruby red tomatoes. Steaming plates of thick pork chops. Desserts so sinfully adorned they seemed irresistible.

We opened our menus and it told the story: 29 South cares about what you eat. The produce is fresh and local, with about half of it coming from nearby organic farms. Another local farm raises a special breed of pigs for the restaurant. The eggs are straight from the hen. Its bacon is cured in a smoker behind the restaurant. And, the shrimp, naturally, comes fresh out of local waters.

“We have really embraced the slow-food movement,” says the owner and chef, Scott Schwartz. “If you find the absolute best ingredient and you baby it, the least you’re going to get is something that is great. You can let it shine for what it is and what it tastes like.”

The wine list, too, is a bit surprising and features lesser-known wines from small producers, with more than half of the wines available by the glass.

The menu, which changes three times a year, is creative, with a light-hearted approach. The dishes run the gamut of cuisine influences, but the Atlanta-born chef can’t help but keep things on the Southern side, with offerings like the Southern Barbequed Cobb Salad ($12), Romaine lettuce topped with an unlikely combination of pulled pork, deviled eggs, bacon, fried green tomatoes and corn bread croutons.

We devoured the Lobster Corn Dog ($12), a lobster tail on a stick, coated in tempura-like corn batter and deep fried until it had just the right combination of crispness and – dare I say it – slight greasiness that you expect from the humble corn dog. The ketchup that came with it was more like a decadent cocktail sauce, spiked with vodka and spiced with horseradish.

The Fried Green Tomato Short Stack ($5) was another signature dish that shined. Slices of green tomatoes sandwiched a thin layer of goat cheese and were deep-fried with a delicious jam of red pepper slices.

My daughter wanted to order something on the healthy side, so she chose the Tuscan Steak Salad ($16) since it featured local arugula and golden beets. She was rewarded with a salad piled so high with thin slices of fried onions that you could barely see the greens underneath. Never mind. They were delicious onion straws.

She set them aside and found a lovely salad with bits of gorgonzola cheese, thin strips of rare steak and the real treat, roasted golden beets that looked like peach slices but tasted buttery and sweet, mixed with arugula and dressed with a light Dijon vinaigrette.

I usually avoid pork chops, mainly because my Iowan mother taught me never to overcook pork, but one of the reasons to go to 29 South is its Sweet Tea Brined Pork Chop ($20) that is pig perfection. The chop comes from Berkshire pigs raised at the DelKat Family Farms in Hilliard, Florida. Several inches thick, the chop was grilled to a bit pink. It was moist and succulent with a faint earthy sweetness from the tea and came atop a tasty macaroni and cheese gratin. A warm sauce of blackberries and ginger provided another contrast to the balance of flavors.

Southern satisfaction came in the form of Fried Shrimp and Grits ($19), one of the best versions of this dish I have ever eaten. Fried shrimp sitting on a full plate of mill-ground grits were smothered in a rich pan gravy flavored with bits of andouille sausage, sherry and more shrimp.

I dare anyone to leave 29 South without sampling dessert. We were tempted by the fruit sorbets made by executive chef Rob Podrasky but we succumbed to the lure of Coffee and Doughnuts ($6), a clever dessert that comes in a coffee mug that looks as if it is foaming over. It’s layered custard and bread pudding made out of doughnuts drizzled with butterscotch. It usually comes with mocha ice cream, but that night, there was only vanilla. We still ate every bite.

And that’s the way it is with 29 South. Eating there is an adventure. It might not be what you expect, but it’s definitely worth the trip.

Read about Chef Scott Schwartz and his food philosophy and try his recipe for Fried Green Tomatoes with Goat Cheese with Red Pepper Jam in the September issue of Water’s Edge. You also might want to read a quick review of Café Eleven in St. Augustine Beach, in the September issue of Water’s Edge, on newsstands now.

Fork In The Road

Cafe Eleven

By Allen Thigpen | Photographer Ed Hall

Atmospherics: Spacious and modern, what owner Ryan Dettra terms “vernacular aesthetics” – stained concrete floors, exposed ducts, basic metal table sets and contemporary art lining the walls.

What’s cookin’: The aim is fresh and healthy, mostly from scratch. Lunch includes hot and cold sandwiches, wraps, gourmet salads, even pizza. Dinner offerings include pesto chicken quesadillas, fish entrees, pasta, seafood and more. Plus specialty coffee – cappuccinos, lattes, espresso – and chai tea, smoothies and juice.

Cost: From buffalo chicken panini ($7.25) to the baked mahi dinner ($14.95), to the seared tenderloin dinner that sets the bar at $17.95.

Fresh air fare: Order at the bar and dine inside
or out along the front porch.

Don’t miss: The apple turkey, a fresh spin on the traditional turkey sandwich, adding sliced Granny Smith apples and cranberry sauce to an old standard. Leave room for the hot Apple Franny, a homemade mini apple puff pastry, paired with vanilla bean ice cream.

21& up: Wine, draft and bottled beers.

Location: 501 A1A Beach Boulevard
St. Augustine Beach, Florida
(904) 460-9311, www.cafeeleven.com
Open daily from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Your tips Got a great lunch idea in Northeast Florida? Coastal Georgia?
Tell us, and we’ll check it out. Call (904) 359-4038 and leave a message along with your name and number. Or, e-mail sarah.hunt@waters-edge.com, or write to Fork in the Road, Water’s Edge, P.O. Box 1949, Jacksonville, FL 32231.

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