I was recently excited to hear that Jax would be getting a new (and apparently already well-known) cupcakery. Sweet! by Good Golly Miss Holly features Hollis Wilder’s famous cupcakes, which made her a 2-time winner of Food Network’s Cupcake Wars. The original shop has been operating in Orlando for 3 years, but about a month ago Jacksonville got its very own store in the Town Center.

Sweet!

I went in on my own during their soft open to try some mini cupcakes (LOVE that they have minis…feels less sinful), while Mario decided to dispense himself a cup of frozen yogurt, which Sweet! also sells (yeah, yogurt is the new hotness in Jax, too):
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What a slacker I’ve been! The only excuse I can offer is that I’ve been doing little eating out or even creative cooking in the interest of shedding a few pre-wedding pounds (only about a week to go!). However, I did make it out to Jax beach for a little relaxation a few weekends ago, and in order to sate an odd lobster roll craving of mine, decided to stop by A La Carte, a catering company and “gourmet shop.” The cute little building just off A1A/3rd St. looks like it was picked up from a New England coast and plunked here on the Florida coast.

A La Carte

Their “Authentic New England Style Lunch” served Friday-Tuesday features items such as fried clams, a Haddock sandwich, a “clam cake” sandwich, and the aforementioned Maine lobster roll.
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This post is a tale of two cities…or two Smashburgers in two cities. I made a trip to Atlanta last weekend to hang out with Mario and do some “official” last hurrah-type activities (mani/pedi at my most favorite nail shop, my favorite cupcakes, etc). After a half day of furniture shopping, I was really hoping to get my last Bocado burger for lunch but forgot that they are only open for dinner on Saturdays. Bummer. So we decided instead to visit one of the newer burger joints in town, Smashburger. Just a few days later, I got an invite to the opening of the 1st Jacksonville Smashburger location at Neptune Beach. I guess the fact that I accepted means my first visit went well!

The folks at Smashburger are doing some rapid expansion as of late, trying to fill the fast-casual space that they say is wide open (and maybe it is, in places other than Atlanta). How they determined that fast-casual burger joints are lacking is a mystery to me, but if you’re executing well I guess more is ok. Direct competition for them is, of course, the also-expanding “multiple men” burger joint.

We liked the open and airy feel of the dining area (very Chipotle-like) and the friendly staff members at the register where you order before grabbing a seat. The menu is largely customizable, from bread to cheese to protein (beef, chicken, and black bean), but also contains some “pre-fab” burgers. These pre-fabs are one way Smashburger aims to specially recognize each local market–one burger that is only sold in that area. Jacksonville’s burger is the Sunshine Bacon & Cheese, with orange citrus bbq sauce, bacon, cheddar, and haystack onions:

Sunshine Bacon & Cheese

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Driving around Jacksonville, you are bound to notice one ubiquitous identifier of locals: Salt Life car decals. It might be an exaggeration to say that something like 1 in 5 cars carries a Salt Life sticker–but not much of one. After a week or so, my curiosity got the best of me and I hit the internets to find out what Salt Life was all about. Turns out, it’s a surf shop + restaurant out on Jax Beach. The restaurant portion seemed to be well-loved, so I convinced a few other new-hires at the job to check it out with me one weekend.

Salt Life Food Shack

Here we find another misnomered restaurant–calling the place a food “shack” is sellint it extremely short. The modern wood and stucco exterior is made more casual by beachy-but-classy interior decor, like gorgeous wood floors and tables inlaid with ocean blue tile (don’t quote me on any of that, I’m no designer). I was excited to have dining buddies who were down with slurping oysters, and we ordered both the chargrilled and raw platters to share.

Raw Oyster Platter

Garlic Parmesan Oysters

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Ok, Jacksonville, it’s been a month. I can handle your blazing hot summer temps because of the coastal breeze, and I love being able to go sit on the beach pretty much whenever I want. However, the sprawl here is headache-inducing and gas-guzzling (it’s the largest city by landmass in the U.S.), which makes it tougher to find locally-owned restaurants, especially in my area–near a large mall. But happily, I’m 4 for 4 on identifying pretty good ones. This ain’t Atlanta fine dining, but I’m optimistic about the [smaller] food scene here. P.S. Expect me to compare Jax to ATL for the next 6-8 months. Sorry.

The first restaurant I visited while Mario was still in town helping me move in was Picasso’s Pizzeria in Southside. I’ve spoken before about my aversion to strip mall eateries, but it seems I’ll have to get over it in my new residence, as many restaurants seem to be located in them. I feel like Picasso’s name is a bit of a misnomer–while about half of the menu is occupied by pizza options, the other half contains a wide variety of dishes: from shrimp & grits to shepard’s pie to oysters Rockerfeller. Often such a menu inspires wariness (“Never order a burger from a taco stand!”), but we have been pleasantly surprised by everything we’ve tasted. Oh, and there’s a burger. One that rivals the best in Atlanta. But I’ll get to that later. On our first visit, I decided to try the shrimp & grits (Mayport shrimp sautéed with applewood-smoked bacon cubes, fresh tomato, shallots, and garlic), while Mario went with their signature steak (“Da” Steak: seared premium aged Black Angus rib-eye with fries and Mama Sauce).

Shrimp & Grits

"Da" Steak

One of the best lunches–really, one of the best of any meal–I’ve had recently was packed in one of Empire State South‘s to-go tiffin lunchboxes. ESS, headed by chef Hugh Acheson of Athens, GA (and now Top Chef Masters) fame, has been discussed nonstop since opening. Keeping with the pack, I have nothing negative to say about my experience. The tiffin lunch menus are posted on ESS’s website every week (though they seem to have made some changes recently) and must be ordered before 10:30am M-F for pickup at noon. My box consisted of:

Snacks: Pork rillette w/ cucumber, pickled mustard and grilled sourdough
1st Course: Roasted turnips and pickled cauliflower salad, pistachios and red chili vingaigrette
2nd Course: Crispy pork belly, buttermilk biscuit, Louisiana jelly, arugula and pickled onions
Dessert: Blueberry cupcake

Snack + 1st Course

I’ve driven by Delia’s Chicken Sausage Stand numerous times since its opening a few months ago, but have never been in a food mood during the drive-bys. It seems like I’m either heading to Starlight Six with picnic fare already packed, or to Morelli’s for dessert. So finally Mario and I made a special trip to East Atlanta to see what delicacies could be created with chicken sausage.

Delia's Chicken Sausage Stand

The small shop on Moreland Ave is helmed by the brains behind Flying Biscuit Cafe (see the connection? Healthy breakfast…chicken sausage). Inside is little more than a cashier and some non-edible merchandise, so all “dine in” eating has to be done on the tables outside. This could prove difficult once summer gets into full swing. We quickly perused the menu and made our selections: I got the The Grinder
(chicken sausage meatballs, mozzarella, marinara) and Mario had The Naked Slinger (link sausage, “comeback” sauce).
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I feel like there should be an instrumental track of Curtis Mayfield’s “Pusherman” playing behind all my cupcakery posts. I have stumbled upon a new-to-me cupcakery, and they may just be my new favorite pusher(wo)men: Lenox Cupcakes.

Vanilla Caramel Cupcake

I don’t visit Phipps Plaza often, but I recently had a Nordstrom gift card burning a hole in my wallet and decided to peruse the rest of the mall while I was there. I had heard of Lenox Cupcakes before, but kind of put them in my “bourgie” pile with many other things Buckhead. Well, I now know that bourgie cupcakes might just be the best cupcakes.

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In my current (but soon changing) state as a financially challenged recent graduate, I was sadly unable to participate in this weekend’s inaugural Atlanta Food & Wine Festival. The preview I attended was so great I knew the festival would be too, but maybe next year. I decided the best way to mitigate my sorrows was on a patio with libation in hand. I had heard tell of a place that served what some might consider the holy grail of summer drinks, a Jack & Coke slushie: Inman Park’s newest addition Victory Sandwich Bar. So Mario and I snagged one of their tree trunk patio tables and I ordered up:

Jack & Coke Slushie

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During Inman Park’s recent restaurant week, Mario and I visited Wisteria for some “new South” fare. I was really hoping to be able to visit again before writing this (especially because they’re now on Scoutmob), but the start of my wedding diet has delayed many of my must-trys for a while. Restaurant week is not always the best time to judge a restaurant on service, but I thought the service at Wisteria was outstanding for a regular night, and the fact that it was a Friday evening during restaurant week just made it that much better. Although not typically the case for Inman Park, many restaurant week menus are so boring to me–steak, chicken, fish. So I LOVED that Wisteria’s menu had an array of non-boring appetizers and entrees (rack of lamb, shrimp and grits, 3 meat bolognese) at two different price points. We started with the crawfish and corn fritters and fried oyster toast:

Crawfish and Corn Fritters

Fried Oyster Toast

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