Tasting History in St. Augustine
An open invitation to a Women’s Food Alliance (WFA) event prompted me to go up to St. Augustine – and what a charming old city it is!
The venue was the very cool Corazon Cinema and Cafe, so a leisurely drive up I-95 brought me to the nation’s oldest city, gorgeous with magnolia-lined cobblestone streets, whimsical wood cottages and the massive coquina stone Castillo de San Marcos guarding Mantanzas Bay. On North San Marco Avenue, I stopped at the Uptown Scratch Kitchen Food Truck, next to the DOS wine and coffee bar, for a local IPA and fish and chips. There, I checked out the latest edible Northeast Florida, always an excellent guide to the local scene.
Quaint Inns
St. Augustine is a town of charming bed-and-breakfasts, and I was lucky enough to stay at the 1904 Casa de Sueños in the historic downtown, where I could hear horse-drawn carriages clip-clop from my balcony overlooking Cordova Street. Their sister property, the 1791 St. Francis Inn, was turned into an inn in 1845 by Anna Marie Dummett, daughter of a sugar plantation owner. Its lush courtyard is perfect for an early-morning cup of coffee. Stay at one of the B & Bs where you can leave your car, because walking is the best way to get around.
Henry Flagler’s railroad and opulent hotels turned St. Augustine into the winter resort of the Gilded Age, and are a big part of the city's charm. Wandering around the shaded and scented streets – jasmine and magnolia were in full bloom – I stopped at Flagler College, originally Flagler’s Ponce de Leon Hotel. A tour takes you around the public spaces: the dining room with Tiffany stained-glass windows and murals, the Grand Parlour lighted with Austrian crystal chandeliers, and the lobby with domed ceiling. The dining room makes a luxurious cafeteria for the college’s 2,500 liberal arts students, although the plastic ketchup bottles look out of place. The Casa Monica has been exquisitely renovated, and the Alcazar Hotel is the Lightner Museum, home to an eclectic collection that includes human hair art, Tiffany glass, salt and pepper shakers,and early typewriters. In the summer the last Thursday of the month, Lightner After Hours features music, drink and food in the pool area.
St. Augustine Happenings
I arrived at the Corazon Cinema for the WFA event. One of the oldest brick buildings in St. Augustine, this former cigar store and feed store has three small screening rooms, a cafe and lots of fun events and great movies on the calendar – one of my favorites, “Bringing Up Baby,” was scheduled for June. We started the evening with snacks and a Julia Child trivia quiz. Nancy Guarnieri, the chef from the St. Francis Inn, filled me in on the food truck scene, in particular those at Dog Rose Brewing Company. Cindy Stavely from the Colonial Quarter said business was excellent in the restored historic village on the north end of St. George Street. Like a mini-Williamsburg, it has interactive exhibits you can tour with guides for a fee. Colonial Oak Music Park is a hot spot for live music, drinks from the bar under a huge oak tree and local shrimp with datil buffalo sauce from St. Augustine Fish Company.
Jennifer King from Rype and Readi, an agricultural group with a downtown farm market, was collaborating with Picasso, a chef and medium, on their upcoming night of wine and spirit, certainly a whimsical pairing! We visited another WFA member’s shop, Peace Pie. Maryrose LaCavera and her family started the business, serving the ice cream sandwiches with pie-flavored fillings, including key lime, blueberry cobbler and dozens more.
The next day, at the Rype and Readi Downtown Farm Market, I picked up some datil hot sauce and Sebago heritage potatoes. Down the street is the St. Augustine Distillery Co., maker of small-batch whiskey, rum, gin and vodka, where a free 45-minute tour includes tastings. Originally an ice plant, it has a bar and restaurant upstairs.
I drove over the Bridge of Lions to St. Augustine Beach, checking out new restaurants near O’Steen’s, the legendary fried shrimp house – Blackfly for seafood, GAS Full Service with locally sourced ingredients, and some impressive food trucks at surf shops. There’s a Wednesday Market at the St. Augustine Beach Pier, with local crafts, baked goods and a hippie vibe. A few days’ visit seems barely enough, so it’s good to know that it’s only a five-hour drive from Miami.
The Womens Food Alliance
From chocolatiers to cookbook authors to chefs, women in the culinary and hospitality industry in get together regularly to network, eat and drink and take part in events and workshops as members of this group founded five years ago by Leigh Cort. Her mission: to cultivate and advance networking, education and collaboration for women in the hospitality industry throughout Florida and Georgia, which she says “is continuing to explode with talent, creativity and passion. The knowledge, hard work, respect and fellowship that we share leads us to believe that more women in the industry could benefit from and contribute to the Womens Food Alliance.” Find out more here.
Food and Drink Events in St. Augustine
Amphitheatre Farmers Market
Every Saturday 8:30am-12:30pm
St. Augustine Amphitheatre
Labor Day Savory Faire Food and Wine Tastings Tour
Sept. 3
City Walks
Datil Pepper Festival
Oct. 6-7
visitstaugustine.com
