The Ice Plant & Sea Oats Caffé – St. Augustine, FL

 

Last weekend was my friend Maddie’s bachelorette party in St. Augustine.  Her maid of honor Tessly’s family has a cute beach place up there, so we spent the weekend relaxing at the beach (and unfortunately getting very sunburned!) We enjoyed some pretty great food while we were there!

Tessly had the place all prepared with cute buckets of goodies for all of us and some incredible cupcakes from a local bakery (I need to find out which one…)

The forecast said it was going to pour all weekend, but we lucked out and got some nice perfect beach weather. 

Saturday night, we headed for an early dinner at The Ice Plant – a new local bar and restaurant.  Since they don’t take reservations and it’s such a popular spot, we decided we’d rather just eat early than chance waiting a few hours for a table.

The design reminds me of a blend of Ciro’s Speakeasy and the Oxford Exchange.  The building was adapted from an old ice plant (which is how it gets its name…)  Back in the 1920’s, the large crane that sits over the bar used to pick up enormous blocks of ice to be broken into small pieces and sold to shrimp boats.  They have managed to retain the vintage factory feel, but upgrading it to today’s popular industrial modern design. 

In keeping with the “ice plant” tradition, they hand carve their ice each day from large blocks of slow frozen filtered water into specific shapes depending on the drink you order.  The cocktails are a bit pricey, but impressive.  I would much rather spend $12 on a really fantastic drink than $6 on a rum and coke I could make myself.  You can tell that they take price in crafting their drinks just right – and the presentations were very pretty too. 

The waiters dress like they belong in the 1920’s – our waitress had a vintage looking apron with cats printed all over it.  She must have really liked cats because I got a cute kitty drawn on my receipt later. 

My Briar Rose cocktail was fantastic – with sherry, bonal, lemon, peach & blackberry jam, and mint.  I know most everyone enjoyed their drinks too, but the Kokomo cocktail was way too strong, even after the bartender watered it down with some club soda. 

For appetizers, we started with some soft pretzel bread, served with beer cheese fondue and dijonnaise dipping sauces.  The bread was actually a bit sweet and denser than a normal pretzel, coated with coarse salt. 

We also ordered a side of their hand-cut truffle fries for the table, served with a house ketchup and malt vinegar aioli.  They were topped with freshly grated parmesan and were delicious!  

For my meal, I had the valbreso feta gnocci – served with confit tomatoes, summer squash caponata, pine nuts, and wild oregano.  The most popular entrée that night was their half pound grass-fed Georgia beef burger with bacon-chive aioli, lettuce, tomato, onions, and their house curried pickle. 

My gnocci was really great – but I probably shouldn’t have eaten the whole plate.  It was a pretty generous serving. 

We made a stop afterwards down the street at Scarlett O’Hara’s bar – which I thought was a bit of a disappointment after having such incredible drinks at the Ice Plant.  We ended up heading back to the beach place since the long day in the sun had worn most of us out. 

The next day, a few of the girls had to head out early, but the rest of us went to brunch at a little hole-in-the-wall breakfast place called Sea Oats Caffé.  It was in a shopping plaza, and we lucked out that a table was just leaving as we walked in, because there weren’t a lot of seats. 

They had dozens of pancake flavors (some sounded really interesting like the chili chocolate lime and the jalapeño bacon cream cheese).  I ended up getting one of the specials, French Toast made with slices of angel food cake and topped with berries.  It was definitely more like dessert than breakfast, but it was really amazing. 

Our server was very friendly and the restaurant had a calm beachy atmosphere – it felt like we were down in the Keys.  Every time someone opened the front door, a pick strummed the guitar hanging above.  It was the perfect laid-back way to end our beach weekend.

The Ice Plant is located at 110 Riberia St, St. Augustine, FL 32084.  They are open 11:30am – 2pm Tuesday – Saturday and 11:30am – 12am on Sunday – Monday. 

Sea Oats Caffé is located at 1075 A1A Beach Blvd, St. Augustine, FL 32080.  They are open 7:30am – 2pm every day. 

The Oyster Bar – St. Pete, FL

 

Last Friday was our 4 year anniversary, and months ago we had booked tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld live at the Mahaffey Theatre.  For dinner before, we tried The Oyster Bar in downtown St. Pete.  We had bought a CL deal awhile ago, so we had a discount too. 

 

 

 

We made reservations since it was a weekend and thought it could be busy, but we didn’t realize it was First Friday, which meant the entire road that The Oyster Bar is located on was shut down for the event.

We were walking from the restaurant to the show, so we tried out some of their drink specials.  The Moscow Mules weren’t anything too special, but the Oyster Shooters were great (and the beer shooters were only $1 – the classic vodka shooters were a bit strong for me). 

 

I had the seared diver scallops with risotto, crispy pancetta, and arugula.  Lance had the bacon-parmesan crusted local red grouper with tomato butter sauce and mashed potatoes.  The grouper could have used a tiny bit of something green for presentation on the plate, but besides that both meals were amazing.    

We split a slice of chocolate peanut-butter pie for dessert.  I can’t believe we hadn’t eaten here before, but we really enjoyed it and will be back for sure!

Jerry Seinfeld had a hilarious set that night, so it was the perfect way to spend our anniversary.  

 

The Oyster Bar is located at 249 Central Ave, St Petersburg, FL 33701.  They are open 11am – 12am Monday – Thursday, 11am – 3am Friday – Saturday, and 10:30 – 12am on Sunday. 

Victory Sandwich Bar - Decatur, GA

 

The last night of our trip we stayed at the Hampton Inn near Stone Mountain (so we had another filling waffle bar breakfast…) We spent our day hiking the mountain, then grabbed lunch on our way out of town. 

 

 

We read on Bon Appetit’s 10 Sandwiches You Must Eat Now that Victory Sandwich Bar in Decatur “has to be the greatest meal deal in America.”   Thrillist also said it is the best place in the Atlanta area for cheap eats.  And it made the list of top 12 most unique restaurants in Atlanta.

 

 

 

The sandwiches range from $4 - $5, and they have a variety of cocktails and spiked sodas.  I ordered the Hambo – with prosciutto, mozzarella, arugula, apple, and reduced balsamic.  Lance had the Han Cholo – with chorizo sausage, feta, tomatillo salsa, and pickled red onions.   

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed them with Jack & Coke slushies served in mason jars. 

 

Both sandwiches were wonderful – a bit small, but definitely well worth $4.  For anyone with a bigger appetite, two of their sandwiches would only be $8.  We almost went for that, but we instead split a giant chocolate chip cookie sprinkled with sea salt.  It was perfectly cooked with huge chunks of chocolate and just the right amount of saltiness. 

 

 

We ate on their patio which was filled with greenery.  There is plenty of seating inside as well – plus they have a ping pong table which I’m sure is busy a night.  If this place was near Tampa, I’d be a regular.  It looks like they're in the process of expanding - an Atlanta location is coming soon.  So maybe one day they'll make it further south!     

 

 

 

It was a great meal to end our Atlanta trip...now back to Florida!

 

Victory Sandwich Bar is located at 340 Church St, Decatur, GA 30030 and is open 11am – 2am every day.