Everyone who knows Man, knows he loves to eat. He loves sea food, as in he sees food and he loves it. No typos there, he loves sea food and all food he sees he loves! (One exception might be yams, but that is another story.)
Man was on a mission, how many of the restaurants that were recommended could we find, visit, and sample. Needless to say, we did a bit of eatting out while we were in the Gulf Shores area.
One other goal would be to find local eateries, instead of chains that can be found in every major, and even minor city cross this land of ours. I mean, Cracker Barrell has its merits (cheesy potatos and grits come to mind), but, it is a chain.
So, even though we did frequent some chains we were really on the hunt for something local, unique, different, YUMMY!!
Man and I made a list of the best of the best for Baldwin County (and some over in Pensacola area, too).
Our list ran like this, some positions were tough calls, was this one better than the next?? But, lets give it a shot.
- McGuires, Pensacola, we will revisit this later. Not a chain.
- Long Horns. Yea, a chain. SIGHH, but we ate there 2 times, and both were outstanding, deserts to die for, oh, my, yes, TO DIE FOR!! The second time we ate there, we split a spring salad that has to be the bestest salad ever! Sugar coated pecans, fresh strawberries, mandarin oranges, feta cheese and loads of other goodies.
- Doc's Seafood. Not a chain. Now, ole Carol is not much for seafood, I am a burger lover/snob myself. But, the fish at Doc's was delicate, mild, wonderful. If you can hit Doc's when they have 2 for one dinners, and happy hour going at the same time, you are going to eat fine fine fine and reasonable too! Now, THAT combo is hard to beat.
- Big Daddy's, out on Fish River. Not a chain. Fun when the weather is great as well as good eats. You can take your bestest friend Fido with you, eat on the patio, overlooking the river and they will even provide Fido with a fresh bowl of water.
- Down South BBQ. Not a chain. This little building puts out the most wonderful smoked bbq food! We have Randy's just a few miles from here, and in our opinion, Randy's is the best in lower Michigan. Down South BBQ, even better. And, they make that pan fried corn bread. Groannnnnnnnnnnning good.
- Lulu's. Not a chain. If you don't go eat the onion rings while you are in the area, you have just missed the BESTEST onion rings ever. Rest of the menu was good, however, not outstanding like those onion rings!
- Hangout, down at the beach. Not a chain. Sunday brunch, fabulous!!!! Had an omlet made to order, had crab meat in it, I am running out of words for GREAT! Deserts were good too. OK, the entire buffet was more than good!
- Live Bait. Not a chain. Lunches were a good deal , food was very good, and they had good deserts too! They had a waiter there that was so interesting and smart. He sure added a level of enjoyment for us.
- Fish River 2. Second in a chain? Did lunch, food quite good, portions OUTSTANDING. Best chicken tenders I have ever had, huge, tender, batter yummy. Man reported his fish was mmmmm good as well.
- Hazel's Nook, for breakfast. Not a chain. Had a respectable buffet and even offered omlets to order. Was always busy, and a lot of locals ate there, that is always a good sign.
- Bahama Bobs, on the beach. Not a chain. Colorful, interesting, on the beach (did I say it was ON the beach?). Food was good.
- O'Charlies. Yep, a chain. Had several meals there, lunch, price very reasonable, food good.
- Vallarta Mexican, Pensacola. Small chain? Best mexican in the area, good enough that we drove back over there several times when the withdrawal pains got strong! Gotta have some good mexican on a regular basis.
So, seems we were fairly successful at finding places to enjoy that were not chains, however, I must admit that it is a bit of a surprise that our second favorite place was a chain. But, Long Horns earned that high ranking, actually, I am tempted to move them into first place. This is a hard call folks!
So, lets revisit McGuires, Pensacola. We left this almost to the end of our visit, it just kept getting put off, but, finally we said to friends John & Donna, we hear you just HAVE to go to McGuires, and another day trip came to be. One of the "draws"??? of McGuires is the decor, specifically the ceilings. Here, have a lookie see:
Yep, that is cash on the ceilings. Reports vary, but there is somewhere between $250,000 and $900,000. attached to the ceilings of this building.
Cash on the walls too!
The specialty of the house seems to be the corned beef and cabbage. The serving is HUGE, half a head of cabbage. This is really 2 meals in one. Man and Donna said the horseradish sauce was outta this world.
John and I decided on the Shepperd's Pie. Delish! John managed to eat all of his, how is beyond me, I took half home for lunch the next day. Yummy leftovers!
McGuire's, NOT a chain, great food, good brewed on site beer, and the owners seem to have a wickedly black sense of humor, just go stand near the rest rooms. Oh, yea, we had a fun lunch at McGuires in Pensacola.
* I am still trying to figure out if they ever wash all that cash?? It has to be getting kinda filmy from the food, eh?? We have been told they close once a year to "inventory" the cash! Wonder what their insurance company has to say about insuring that much ca$h hanging all over??
Copyright 2010, CABS for Reflections From the Fence
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