Fall 2025 Taste Issue

No.

29

50 P L A C E S T O D I N E

U N W I N D TH IS FALL

THE TASTE ISSUE

Where Floridians Flock

THE SWEET LIFE: cakes, pies & cinnamon rolls Galore

LEVEL UP YOUR TAILGATE

GAME-DAY EATS FOR GATORS, NOLES, CANES MUCH MORE E X CLU S I VE

DON’T CALL HIM A MASCOT:

P LU S

The Swamp’s “Freshman 15” Burger

MIAMI’S MICHELIN INVASION

( RECIPE INSIDE )

WHO IS OSCEOLA?

&

OOHS

&

AHHS

St. Pete-Clearwater is all about immersing yourself in the finer things in life. But the warm sunshine & beautiful beaches are just the beginning.

Legendary resorts, elevated art experiences & Michelin-recommended restaurants await.

Experience the soul of the Caribbean where 18,000 insiders are waiting to share the best of local culture, beaches, and endless adventure.

Wake up in an Overwater Bungalow with freshly poured Jamaica Blue Mountain® Coffee before scuba diving into crystal blue waters. Here, we’re always finding new ways to redefine all-inclusive luxury, from tropical handcrafted cocktails to vibrant entertainment. Come see all we are.

Sandals.com | 1-800-Sandals or Call Your Travel Advisor

Sandals® is a registered trademark. Unique Vacations, Inc. is an affiliate of Unique Travel Corp.,the worldwide representative of Sandals Resorts. 46/0725

gatorland.com

ADVERTORIAL

Finding Flavor

in the Florida Keys and Key West How a trio of culinary and conservation crusaders are elevating the food and drink scene in the Florida Keys

Paul Menta

CHEF AND OWNER OF KEY WEST FIRST LEGAL RUM DISTILLERY

From top: Paul Menta; Jeremy Ford; Rachel Bowman

Daredevil chef and rum distiller Paul Menta became a vocal supporter of the Keys’ gastronomy when he arrived here three decades ago.

When he opened Key West First Legal Rum Distillery, Menta applied his culinary acumen to crafting each batch of rum because, as he puts it, “food and beverage collide heavily down here.”

The same way he turned to the ocean to source his food ingredients, Menta emulated the process with his distillery, known for its small-batch, allnatural production.

While traditional rum-making includes filling barrels with fresh water, Menta fills his own with salt water scooped straight from the ocean. He brings the barrels back to the distillery where he empties them and lets them dry, which, after around five days, leaves a layer of salt brine on the inside.

The result is a rum selection that evokes the essence of the Keys, including a tropical line of green coconut and glazed pineapple flavors and silver rum that prefers a Florida Demerara sugar instead of molasses.

“I make the best rum in Key West because it’s a flavor of Key West,” Menta says. “And there’s a pride that comes out of it.”

Jeremy Ford

CHEF AND PARTNER OF SALT + ASH After receiving a Michelin star in 2022 for his Miami Beach restaurant, Stubborn Seed, Jeremy Ford was ready for a new challenge. His next feat?

Opening elevated farm-to-table, fresh-from-the-sea restaurant Salt + Ash. Strategically situated inside Hawks Cay Resort, a 60-acre tropical retreat in the Middle Keys, Salt + Ash brings Ford's passion for foraging and farming to a stunning seaside locale. Much of the restaurant’s ingredients are harvested from his own farm in the Redlands, located an hour and a half north of Salt + Ash, and local fishermen bring in just-caught seafood like swordfish and snapper.

“It’s special here,” Ford says of the Keys. “And we get to serve fresh fish with tomatoes that we grew with our bare hands. It doesn’t get any better.”

Rachel Bowman

LIONFISH HUNTRESS When Rachel Bowman dives into the ocean, she enters the aquatic terrain for one purpose: to hunt lionfish. The first confirmed sighting of this invasive species in the Florida Keys was in 2009. The rapidly rising lionfish population has threatened local wildlife and coral reefs, changing the area's pristine natural ecosystem ever since.

Armed with her spear, Bowman’s hunts have turned this invasive species into a food source.

High in omega-3 fatty acids, lionfish have a delicate flavor that Bowman describes as mild, slightly sweet and similar to hogfish. She enjoys it baked with bell peppers, sliced onions and a dash of salt and pepper.

Her hauls are sold at Whole Foods Markets and at local establishments like Chef Michael’s in Islamorada, making Bowman not only a hunter but also a provider.

For more culinary inspiration, visit fla-keys.com.

FLORIDA KE YS & KE Y WEST, CONOR DOHERT Y

T

o truly appreciate the Florida Keys, you have to taste and savor its storied past.

Long hidden behind the Conch Republic’s laid-back lifestyle and waterside adventures, the region’s food and beverage scene is now getting its long-deserved spotlight. Here, three of the area’s culinary innovators share what it’s like to source from the region’s abundant waterways to master the art of casual dining.

Load up on apps and some real face time.

In The Florida Keys, it’s less about what’s on the itinerary and more about who’s around the table. Fresh seafood.

Big laughs. And a view that makes everyone put their phones down without being asked.

VisitFloridaKeys.com 1.800.FLA.KEYS

Extraordinary, from the fairways to the greens.

T WO CL ASSIC R ESORTS. ONE STEP FROM THE BEACH.

Perfectly situated on more than a mile of North Florida’s finest beach, the iconic Ponte Vedra Inn & Club and The Lodge & Club Ponte Vedra Beach are a feast for the senses.

Enjoy celebrated cuisine in a variety of magnificent settings. Championship golf on two world-class courses. And an epic spa that will nourish your soul. All amid an air of gracious hospitality that has been making guests feel at home since 1928.

PonteVedra.com 844.648.8833

ADVERTORIAL

TASTING TRADITION

PONTE VEDR A RESORTS

A

Supper is a special affair at the historic Ponte Vedra Inn & Club̓s revamped Inn Dining Room.

ll it took was a childhood memory to spark an entire dinner menu at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club’s Inn Dining Room. Chef Erik Osol remembers being 9 or 10 years old when his parents took him to Bern’s Steak House, the storied Tampa restaurant. They ordered a Caesar salad, which was prepared tableside. “And to this day, I can still see the ingredients going in the bowl, see them making it, and still taste the flavors,” says Osol, now the Chef de Cuisine of the iconic Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. “It’s those scenes that get burned in your memory, the scene and smell. And that’s the sensation I wanted to give hotel guests and members at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.”

And that he has. By creating Inn Dining Room’s first-ever dinner menu, Osol gave new life to the former breakfastonly restaurant.

Part of the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club’s extensive portfolio of dining outlets, Inn Dining Room has been reimagined with classic American fare, all wrapped in an atmosphere of Southern hospitality. The new dinner lineup showcases a sophisticated yet approachable fine dining experience, including steak Diane, tuna niçoise and, of course, a tableside Caesar salad.

Opened in 1928, the historic AAA Five Diamond Ponte Vedra Inn & Club has long set the standard in hospitality and culinary excellence in Northeast Florida. Along with its new slate of entrees and appetizers, the Inn Dining Room has a revamped vibe with custom hand-painted wall coverings— done in collaboration with wallpaper design group Gracie Studio—which includes depictions of

beloved landmarks on the property to honor the Ponte Vedra Inn & Club’s nearly 100 years.

As part of a property-wide transformation leading up to the beloved resort’s centennial anniversary, the Inn Dining Room and The Tavern are the first of several exciting enhancements. In its transformation, The Tavern introduces a hint of nostalgia thanks to its deep teal hues and walls adorned with custom hand-blocked jute wallpaper by artist Stephen Floyd.

“The spaces evoke elements of our history with an elegant yet more contemporary feel, and this is just the beginning of an incredible journey for the resort, with a new state-of-the-art Surf Club and Sports Club to come,” says Michael Gordon, President of Gate Hospitality Group and General Manager of Ponte Vedra Inn & Club.

The sprawling oceanfront destination, which includes two championship golf courses, a 30,000-squarefoot spa and tennis facilities, offers an array of elevated restaurants and eateries. The Golf Club Dining Room includes views of the famous par-three “Island” ninth hole. A fun standout is The Sandpiper food truck, a casual spot that serves a premium selection of to-go fare like poke bowls and quesadillas.

As the Inn Dining Room ushers in a new era of dining, Osol is hopeful that it becomes a place where families can build similar memories, like his own unforgettable night as a kid in awe of Bern’s.

“At Ponte Vedra Club, it is about family,” Osol says. “When we get kids in there, we want them to feel special. Sometimes we’ll even get them a chef’s hat, or we ask the kids to make the Steak Diane with us. They are a part of us, and we want everyone to feel welcome here.”

Above from left: A new scallop entree at the Inn Dining Room, the Inn Dining Room, The Tavern

To book your table, visit pontevedra.com.

— fall 2025 —

CONTENTS F E AT U R E S

58

68

78

SIDELINE SUPERHEROES

MIAMI’S MICHELIN IMPORTS

BY EMILEE GARBER

BY ERIC BARTON

OUTLAW FISHERMEN OF THE FORGOTTEN COAST

Storm the field with the team icons of the Sunshine State and meet the characters behind the mascot masks. Relive the glory days with Sebastian the Ibis, do the chomp with Albert Gator and plant the spear with Osceola and Renegade.

Plus, three college-town recipes for your tailgate.

Ever since scads of New York, LA and global restaurant groups came to town, Miami has leveled up its food scene. The celebrity-chef invasion, which includes stars like Thomas Keller, is having a positive effect on local spots too. Our latest culinary guide breaks it all down.

BY ASHIRA MORRIS

Cast a net with legendary mullet fisherman Leo Lovel.

Learn the storied past of the Panhandle’s favorite bottom-feeder, find out why one law forever changed the fishing industry and meet the generation putting mullet back on the menu.

Cover Photography by KRISTEN PENOYER

On the cover: Two freshly

grilled game-day burgers, made from the playbook of Gainesville’s The Swamp Chef and food stylist: Rachel Deremer

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D E PA R T M E N TS

24

55

91

WADING IN

COLUMNS

ON THE FLY

26 /// STONE’S THROW: Take a leap of faith at Puerto Rico’s Noche de San Juan.

55 /// C APITAL DAME: Diane Roberts waxes poetic on her favorite books and pies and shares a sentimental family recipe.

93 /// G ROVE STAND: Chef Clay Conley, of the famed Buccan in Palm Beach, fires things up in Gainesville.

33 /// THE SPREAD: Three South Florida mixologists cross the culinary line.

37 /// M ADE IN FLA: This sister duo gives literature classics a new look.

42 /// T HE STUDIO: Stuck in the suburbs with artist Ericka Sobrack 44 /// DIVE BAR: We saved you a seat at Jacksonville Beach’s best-kept secret.

48 /// JUST HATCHED: Bao-wow and boogie at these 12 new openings.

87 /// PANHANDLING: For Prissy Elrod, food and travel don’t always mix.

102 /// F LORIDA WILD: Carlton Ward Jr. captures the moment the sun goes down on a would-be town.

98 /// DESIGN DISTRICT: Find midcentury modern rarities at this furniture spot.

104 /// BIRD’S-EYE VIEW: Antique all day in the small-town getaway of Micanopy.

106 /// T HE TIDE: 24 spirited statewide fests that have us saying, “Ale yeah!”

112 /// F LORIDIANA: Roll a Cubano at the last cigar factory in the United States.

On this spread: Jackie Skelding displays her midcentury modern finds inside her Tallahassee furniture and design store, Rare Bird Interiors.

Photography by ALICIA OSBORNE

@T H E FLAMI NG O M AG

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11

MEMBER TICKETS ON SALE OCTOBER 20 • PUBLIC TICKETS ON SALE NOVEMBER 3 TITLE SPONSOR

SUPPORTED BY

Fifth Third Bank FPL

Naples Daily News WAVE 101.1 FM Tech-Tronics *Excludes December 24, 25 & 31, 2025

ADVERTORIAL

It’s Garden Party Season at

Naples Botanical Garden From shimmering lights to not-so-spooky skeletons, these upcoming events at Naples Botanical Garden aren’t your average garden party.

W

hile there may not be a kaleidoscope of red, orange and yellow foliage to denote the change in seasons in Southwest Florida, Naples Botanical Garden is ushering in the autumn and winter months with a leaf season of its own, featuring a lineup of can’t-miss happenings.

The 170-acre tropical oasis located just 10 minutes from downtown Naples has truly planted roots within its community, delivering unparalleled horticultural education and experiences for visitors of all ages. These awardwinning grounds, that include everything from Brazilian and Asian gardens to orchids and succulents and beyond, always provide a serene escape, but an amazing way to see the property in a different light is by touring them during one of their special events.

Día de los Muertos Celebration Much like a tropical garden, the Day of the Dead is an explosion of color and costume.

The holiday, which originated in Mexico, is a time to celebrate the memories of loved ones who have died through gatherings with family and friends. On November 1 and 2, explore the Mexican tradition’s cultural signif icance through special displays,

From top: Johnsonville Night Lights in the Garden; DÍa de los Muertos Celebration

musical performances, hands-on arts and crafts stations and more. The Garden also has its own take on of rendas, or offerings, with community altars and a memory wall in addition to plenty of festive fare, from Mexican food trucks to specialty dishes f rom the on-site Fogg Café.

NAPLES BOTANICAL GARDEN

Wonder Circle Starting October 1, Naples Botanical Garden’s W.O.N.D.E.R. program moves to its Performance Lawn spot dubbed Wonder Circle. There, budding green thumbs can explore hands-on activities, play games and enjoy the outdoors. Kids can drop in to enjoy the fun Friday-Monday and learn to interact with the Garden’s natural beauty through walking, observing, navigating, drawing, exploring and reading. While activities are geared toward children from pre-K to fifth

grade, kids of all ages (and kids at heart) can traverse the tropics in the nearby Jungle Hollow and Palm Hop nature play areas.

Johnsonville Night Lights in the Garden This annual celebration running f rom November 28 through January 4 is the epitome of the phrase “merry and bright.” The beloved dazzling lights display is the surest way to get in the spirit of the season amongst towering tropical plants. Walk under palms and florals illuminated by twinkling lights as you sip hot cocoa or cider, enjoy live music from local acts and snap a picture at one of the many photo ops stationed throughout the property. There’s even a living bromeliad tree that’s designed to look like a traditional fir, showcasing just how magical winter in the tropics can be.

To see what’s growing in the Garden this season, visit naplesgarden.org.

EDITOR’S NOTE

s my husband, Brian, and I drove through residential Gainesville, Tom Petty’s “I Won’t Back Down” floated through the radio, as if on cue. Orange balloons marked the spot to turn off the pavement and onto a winding dirt path. At the end of the road sat a soaring open-air barn, tucked away on 80 acres of farmland and set off by string lights and firepit smoke. My sorority sister Averill Conley squealed across the yard in a floral maxi dress with her signature pep and greeted us with tight hugs.

Six years had passed since the last time I’d hung out with Averill inside the cozy dining room of Buccan in Palm Beach, the restaurant she and her husband and Chef Clay Conley own with their business partners. Thanks to Clay’s seven James Beard Award nominations for Best Chef: South, Buccan has become one of the most coveted reservations on the island, with a guest list stacked with socialites, politicos and celebrities—Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce dined there earlier this year. But on this recent spring evening, I found myself reuniting with my old friend at Stoke, the couple’s new culinary-meets-farm collaboration located 270 miles north and a world away from the elite island.

That night, Clay was laser-focused in Stoke’s open kitchen, turning out woodfired pizzas and five courses that included eggplant lasagna, pork larb lettuce cups

Above: Averill Conley and Jamie

Rich at Stoke in Gainesville

and wild mushroom risotto. Averill oversaw the night’s operations, which included their kids and other teenagers from the community carrying plates to long tables, which were decorated with sunflowers and seating about 100 guests. Every dish tasted like an edible thank-you card to the folks gathered for one of the first seatings of this new endeavor. Our table included the man who actually built the barn, along with Averill’s hairdresser and other friends from their life in Gainesville.

As each dish hit the table, we all pulled out our phones to capture the perfection before demolishing it seconds later with our forks. We ate, we laughed, we met new people. Averill and I even vowed to reunite our college friends at Stoke—hopefully we make it happen. The convivial vibes had Brian and me wanting to linger, but after polishing off Clay’s blueberry cheesecake, there was nothing left on the table.

At the end of the evening, I paused at the edge of the property and looked back.

The flames from the wood-fired pizza oven still flickered in the distance and laughter echoed through the trees. Stoke is a game

changer for this region of North Central Florida, known more for football than fine dining. Clay and Averill are already culinary fixtures in South Florida. Later this year, they’re opening Miami locations of their other four restaurants—Buccan, Grotto, Imoto and Buccan Sandwich Shop. And in Gainesville, the pair has created something entirely radical—a reinvention rooted in family and fire in the heart of Florida.

It was a culinary experience unmatched in the state: an unforgettable, treasured reunion with my friend and her new “farmily.” That is the power of food— creating connections that nourish not only the body but also the soul. Inside this Fall Taste Issue, we meet under the oaks at Stoke to bring you the full story of Chef Clay’s journey from urban epicurean to rural renaissance man. We dig into the lore behind college mascots and share tailgate-ready recipes from iconic collegetown restaurants. We track the mullet’s unlikely comeback in the Panhandle. And we explore how Miami’s new tables are being set by chefs arriving from New York, Los Angeles and beyond—remaking the Magic City bite by bite.

And while we’re raising glasses, we have something of our own to toast.

Flamingo was recently named Magazine of the Year by the Florida Magazine Association. We share this honor with you—our readers, staff, contributors, partners and Flamingo friends—who help us spread the sunshine of our state.

To be sure, winning awards is certainly a reason to celebrate, but we do what we do at Flamingo not for the praise (or the Champagne toasts), but in pursuit of telling Florida’s greatest stories. We have assembled quite a feast inside the pages of our Fall 2025 Taste Issue, and we’ve saved you a seat at our table. All you have to do is dig in.

Editor in Chief & Publisher

let us know what you think. Email me at jamie@flamingomag.com.

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KRISTEN PENOYER, BRIAN RICH

A

A Seat AT Our Table

Apalachicola . Carrabelle . Eastpoint . St. George Island . Alligator Point

Florida’s Forgotten Coast The Florida you remember Floridasforgottencoast.coM/FALL2025 Florida’s Forgotten Coast is calling you back to the Florida you remember.

Explore a quiet shoreline this Fall or plan an outdoor adventure to hike, fish or relax on family-friendly beaches.

Discover coastal towns steeped in maritime history and blended with local art, shopping, music and restaurants serving fresh local seafood.

Embrace the pace in the Florida you remember

FLAMBOYANCE

TH O UG H TS FRO M T HE F LOCK

IS SUE

29

Where Floridians Flock

• FOUNDED IN 2016 •

Dining Out in Yesteryear Readers reminisce on Florida restaurants past and present.

“The Veranda in downtown Fort Myers. The Veranda’s romantic setting in two turn-ofthe-century homes, combined with Southern regional cuisine, an extensive wine list and first-class service, creates the most unique dining experience in Southwest Florida. A Fort Myers tradition since 1978, The Veranda is consistently honored as one of the most award-winning restaurants in the area.”

—Christopher S.

Deputy Editor Emilee Garber emilee@flamingomag.com Creative Director Holly Keeperman art@flamingomag.com Contributing Designer Ed Melnitsky edit@flamingomag.com Art Production Manager Kerri Rak Chalet Suzanne in Lake Wales closed in 2014.

“I flew to Chalet Suzanne in Lake Wales as a child with my family. I’ll never forget the shecrab soup.” —Susan A. “Owen’s Fish Camp is a true slice of Sarasota history. Originally built in 1923, the building itself belonged to Owen Burns, one of Sarasota’s founding developers. There’s an incredible banyan tree out front that was gifted to Burns from his friend, Thomas Edison.

The restaurant opened in 2009, but it captures that Old Florida vibe like nowhere else. Owen’s Fish Camp is one of those places that makes you feel like you’re getting a true taste of Sarasota past and present.” —Nori G.

Governor Fuller Warren takes an interview at The Silver Slipper in Tallahassee, circa 1949.

“The Yearling in Cross Creek. It’s a trip back in time—it feels like an old hunting lodge with Florida Cracker food—and is located on a scenic byway near Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings Historic State Park.” —Natalie C.

EDITORIAL Editor in Chief and Founder JAMIE RICH jamie@flamingomag.com

“Smoke’n Pit BBQ in North Fort Myers.

Plastic plates, wagon wheel decor, laminated menus and $9.99 lunch specials. And the best smoked meats—and baked beans—in South Florida. Menu includes catfish and fried green beans. By no means trendy, a family owned and operated joint serving great BBQ and country fare for more than 25 years.”

—Cindy R.

Contributing Editors Eric Barton, Steve Dollar Cont ributin g Writers Eric Barton, Evan S. Benn, Steve Dollar, Prissy Elrod, Alyssa Morlacci, Ashira Morris, Melissa Puppo, Diane Roberts, Maddy Zollo Rusbosin, Nila Do Simon, Carlton Ward Jr. Contributing Photographers & Illustrators Carly Berry, Leslie Chalfont, Beth Gilbert, Stephen Lomazzo, Erich Martin, Alicia Osborne, Jules Ozaeta, Kristen Penoyer, Carlton Ward Jr. C op y E d it o rs & Fa c t-C h e c k e rs Patty Carroll, Stacy Cortigiano, Madeline Murphy, Nick Song Editorial Intern Olivia Evans

SALES & MARKETING Publisher JAMIE RICH jamie@flamingomag.com Advertising Sales Director Janis Kern janis@flamingomag.com Advertising Sales Megan Zebouni megan@flamingomag.com

“My favorite memory of an Old Florida restaurant is the Kapok Tree Inn in Clearwater.

I often drive by the old buildings and remember being a little girl, in my best dress, sitting under the trees while waiting for a table with my parents. It was always such an exciting experience!” —Cyndy M. “Cap’s Place in Lighthouse Point. It dates back to the 1920s and it is definitely unusual— you have to take a boat to get there. One of the coolest bars in Florida, it has a speakeasy and smuggler-like atmosphere.” —Jeffrey C.

Editorial & Marketing Assistant Helen Bradshaw helen@flamingomag.com

Newsstand Distribution Tom Ferruggia tferruggia@msn.com Contact Us JSR Media LLC 13000 Sawgrass Village Circle Bldg. 3, Suite 12 Ponte Vedra Beach, FL 32082 The entry hall at

the Kapok Tree Inn

P: (904) 395-3272 // E: info@flamingomag.com All content in this publication, including but not limited to text, photos and graphics, is the sole property of and copyrighted by JSR Media and Flamingo.

Reproduction without permission from the publisher is prohibited. We take no responsibility for images or content provided by our advertisers.

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FLORIDA MEMORY; VEC TOR STOCK

“I miss The Silver Slipper—a Tallahassee institution that served the community for more than 70 years. Affectionately known as ‘The Slipper,’ it was operated by four generations of the Kalfas family and renowned for its curtained private dining rooms, where local legislators quietly brokered deals and families gathered to celebrate life’s milestones.”

—Amanda C.

— Fa l l 20 2 5 —

WHERE E V E RY S E A S O N I N V I T E S YO U

Outside.

In South Carolina’s Lowcountry, Palmetto Bluff unfolds across 20,000 acres of sheltered landscape and winding waterways – a place where the seasons shift just enough to notice. You feel it in the crisp air of a morning paddle, in the satisfying snap of winter clays, in the way life naturally spills outside.

At its heart is a vibrant residential community shaped by world-class golf, sporting pursuits, and wellness offerings, all grounded by a deep connection to the land through the Palmetto Bluff Conservancy, where every day moves to the quiet rhythm of the outdoors.

EXPLORE OWNERSHIP palmettobluff.com 843.305.6353 Obtain the Property Report required by federal law and read it before signing anything. No federal agency has judged the merits or value, if any, of this property. This does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy where prohibited by law. The complete offering terms are in an offering plan available from sponsor. File no. H-110005

CONTRIBUTORS ASHIRA MORRIS was born and raised

ALICIA OSBORNE is an editorial,

in Tallahassee, and she now splits her

wedding and lifestyle photographer

time between the beautiful springs

from North Florida. Her love for

of North Florida and the Balkan

photography began in elementary

mountains of Sofia, Bulgaria. She

school, where she shot on analog

is interested in local environments

cameras, processed her own film and

and the forces that shape them.

made prints in the darkroom. Always

Morris’s work has been published by

the one with a camera, she eventually

Foreign Policy, Artforum and National

studied art at Florida State University and turned her love for photography into a career. Her work has appeared in publications ranging

would spend every weekend kayaking if she could. Her Flamingo

from The Washington Post to Tallahassee Magazine. On page 98,

debut on page 78 takes her to the Big Bend, where she chronicles

Osborne pays a visit to Rare Bird Interiors, a curated midcentury

the cultural history of mullet.

furniture store in the heart of Tallahassee.

CARLTON WARD JR. is a

CARLY BERRY is an illustrator and

conservation photographer and

graphic designer helping brands

Emmy Award-winning filmmaker.

convey their message by creating

As an eighth-generation Floridian,

idiosyncratic art and design that’s

Ward is passionate about protecting

undoubtedly human. Inspired by

Florida’s wild inhabitants. The Tampa

’90s cartoons, vintage ephemera, all

native filmed panthers for National

things Florida and oddities in nature,

Geographic’s “Path of the Panther”

she creates work under the name

documentary, founded the Florida

It’s Not That Weird, often shining

Wildlife Corridor project in 2010 and

a humorous light on the human

created Wildpath, a media organization dedicated to protecting

experience. She works digitally and brings her work to life using

wildlife habitats. His most recent work focuses on capturing the

various printmaking methods, like silk screen, RISO and letterpress.

beauty of the Gulf of Mexico. On page 102, Ward comes face-to-face

Find her illustrations on page 55, where she lays out a sweet feast of

with destiny in the Kissimmee River Valley in his Florida Wild column.

pies, cakes and cinnamon rolls from TC Bakery.

STEVE DOLLAR is a Florida native

ERICH MARTIN is always on the

whose pieces have appeared

go, traveling the Southeast with his

in more than 80 publications,

camera in hand. Passionate about

including The Wall Street Journal,

capturing a lesser-seen side of the

Los Angeles Times and GQ. A

Florida, Martin loves connecting

Flamingo contributor since 2017,

with people and telling unique

Dollar writes the monthly newsletter

stories through his images. When

Dollar Matinee, updating Flamingo

he isn’t behind the lens, you might

readers on all things Florida film

find him fighting a losing battle with

and streaming. He is also the artistic

18

a crossword puzzle, making folks

director at the Tallahassee Film Festival, which takes place on Sept.

groan with bad puns or working his way through a dozen oysters at

26–28. His lifelong fascination with the movies began at Tallahassee’s

one of the many dives along the Forgotten Coast in North Florida—

legendary Capital Drive-In. On page 42, he explores the cinematic

sometimes all at once. In this issue, Martin goes fishing with Leo

vibes that haunt the paintings of Orlando artist Ericka Sobrack.

Lovel on page 78 in search of a Southern delicacy: mullet.

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THE CONTRIBUTORS

Geographic. She wrote the Panhandle chapter of A24’s “Florida!” book, a quirky guide of hidden gems, and

THE SLICE PROD UC TS + EVENTS + PROMOTIONS DUC

INDULGENT DIPS, SOPHISTICATED SIPS & LITERARY QUIPS DRAGON 'TAILS With a renowned mixology program, it’s safe to say Orlando’s ette hotel knows how to make a damn good cocktail.

Try mixing this dragon-fruit-and-lychee stunner at your next soiree.

TASTE OF TALLY Located a few blocks from FSU’s Doak Campbell Stadium, Madison Social is more than a boozy brunch spot—it’s a College Town institution with a fan-favorite BLT Dip that has become an icon in its own right. This football season, make the adored appy at home with instructions printed on a MadSo kitchen towel that features the recipe written in the late FSU President John Thrasher’s handwriting.

Or, to share the decadent dip with a friend, find the recipe anytime online at flamingomag.com.

La Vie En Rose MAKES ONE COCKTAIL INGREDIENTS: 4 ounces lychee mint shrub 1/2

ounce dragon fruit simple syrup

1/2

ounce fresh lemon juice

ET TE HOTEL, MADISON SOCIAL, HELEN BR ADSHAW

1 1/2 ounces gin of choice 6-9 dashes Fee Foam (or 1-2 egg whites) PREPARATION: In a shaker, pour all ingredients over ice. Shake extremely well to create foam. Double strain mixture and pour into glassware.

Garnish with dehydrated dragon fruit and mint. NOTE: Want to make your own shrub and simple syrup? Find the recipes on flamingomag.com/recipes.

@T H E FLAM I NG O M AG

A NOVEL IDEA Find a steamy fling, romp through a swamp in search of elusive orchids or work with the Miami PD to solve a gruesome murder—anything is possible in your new favorite Florida read found in Flamingo’s latest newsletter, Well-Read. This monthly reading roundup joins the ranks of Flamingo’s essential guides to Florida living, from Dollar Matinee (a cinematic dispatch) to Key Lime (with recipes straight from Sunshine State chefs). Scan the code and get all of Flamingo’s newsletters delivered straight to your inbox, or visit flamingomag.com/newsletter.

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PROMOTION

BEFORE THE CORAL SPIRE OF THE BILTMORE became a staple of the Coral Gables skyline, crowds gathered around, shovels in hand, ready to break ground on a future icon. It was 1925, and Miami wasn’t the only Florida city booming—towns throughout the state, which would later spotlight, we’re featuring the cities, neighborhoods and monuments ringing in anniversaries across the Sunshine State. Whether celebrating 100 years or 140, we’re recognizing the anniversaries of places that continue to create modern culture while honoring Florida’s storied past.

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@THEF LAMINGOMAG

THE BILTMORE

become cultural epicenters, were just getting started. In Flamingo’s Centennials & Celebrations

Boca100.com Celebrate 100 years of Boca Raton with an unforgettable year full of art, events, culture, and community spirit.

Whether you're here for the Centennial or just discovering this coastal gem, you’ll find plenty to love - and plenty of reasons to come back.

Special Centennial events & surprises Shop merch on the Boca100 boutique Explore Boca Raton’s history

@T H E FLAM I NG O M AG

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Time To Immerse

Celebrate 140 years of Cuban heritage in Ybor City — Cigar Capital of the World.

From workshops on hand-rolled cigar making to cobblestone streets filled with the flavors, culture and architecture of Cuba, discover the historic side of Tampa Bay.

VisitTampaBay.com tbcvb_57669_01_Flamingo_Immerse_Fullpg_M.indd 1

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6/30/25 1:54 PM

@THEF LAMINGOMAG

LET'S PARTY LIKE IT'S 2025

Come celebrate major milestones in cities across the state.

VISIT TAMPA BAY, DISCOVER MARTIN COUNT Y, THE CIT Y OF BOCA R ATON

AFTER 140 YEARS, YBOR CITY’S STILL GOT IT

MARTIN COUNTY MARKS 100 YEARS Martin County’s 100th birthday weaves in signature happenings all year long with the arts taking center stage. MartinArts' latest exhibit at the Court House Cultural Center embraces the theme Timeless Martin: A Centennial Celebration, honoring the area's wild beauty and rich history through original works depicting the past century. Unwrap the destination at discovermartin.com.

In Ybor City, the party never stops. This November brings the family-friendly Ybor City Holiday Tree Lighting, while February explodes with the can’t-miss Sant’ Yago Knight Parade. Lively art walks throughout spring and fall keep this historic district, known for its cigar factories, rolling all year.

Join the fun at visittampabay.com.

HAPPY 100TH B-DAY BOCA The City of Boca Raton is celebrating its 100th birthday in 2025 with a yearlong calendar of events, public art, storytelling and community spirit. Framed by stunning beaches, lush landscapes and a thriving cultural scene, Boca Raton offers a unique blend of historic charm and modern coastal living. To learn more, visit myboca.us.

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[ — Flor idians, far e, f inds —

This page:

WADING IN

Andaluz in Old San Juan serves dishes full of Spanish and Puerto Rican flavors.

— Stone’s Throw —

Whe re to fin d c a stillo s a n d co q u is in Old S a n Ju a n

— The Spread —

Your ma rtin i ju st g o t a little d irtier.

— MADE IN FLA —

Mee t the s is te r d u o g reen - lig h tin g a n ew Ga tsby.

— the studio —

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— Just Hatched —

Do th e h u stle and esca p e th e b u stle a t th ese n ew o p en in g s.

SCAN THE QR CODE

[

ALMA SAN JUAN

SUBSCRIBE TO R E C E I V E 4 I S S U E S A YE A R

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ADVERTORIAL

A Storybook Seaside Escape

Amelia Island W

See the pages of a Charles Dickens classic come alive at this beloved coastal holiday celebration.

hile the manacled spirit of Jacob

a lantern (or grab one at the distribution center

Tavern, snacks and additional add-ons like a

Marley may not be truly haunting

on Centre Street) to light up the night. The parade

mimosa bar or a charcuterie board. Other can’t-

Amelia Island’s annual Dickens

marks the official opening of Dickens on Centre,

miss events include the Run Like the Dickens fun

on Centre weekend, there are plenty of other

and as you march, enjoy music and a smattering

run—a one-mile course on the beach designed

characters and settings pulled straight from the

of the town’s many food and beverage vendors.

for everyone, including kids and pups, to partake

quintessential holiday tale, “A Christmas Carol,”

Another can't-miss opportunity to step back in time

in—and the Parade of Paws, a pet parade and

to be seen in its historic downtown this December.

is Marley's Masquerade—the 21-and-up costume

costume contest with awards like Best Victorian

Carolers in top hats and bonnets fill the blocks

soiree held this year at The Pavilion. With live

and Most Original.

of Fernandina Beach with fa-la-las, the charming

music, stilt walkers, jugglers, dancing and heaps

buildings and cobblestone streets bask in the warm

of holiday merriment, it’s a modern take on the

Cheers to the Future

glow of sparkling lights and revelers of all ages

Fezziwig Ball from Mr. Scrooge’s youth.

Just as Tiny Tim ignited the spirit of the season

wander through an enchanting Christmas Market,

Living in the Present

and dazzling entertainment. This year, the Victorian

Even Ebenezer himself would envy the giftable

youngest, generation. Tiny Tim’s Kid Zone is an

wonderland is happening from Dec. 11–14, and it’s

items that can be found within the Christmas

epicenter of wonder. St. Nick sets up his workshop

a jubilee that will banish even the most severe case

Market. It’s the perfect place to shop for everyone

there so children can meet him while getting a

of the “bah humbugs.”

on the nice list. In addition to local art and presents

portrait taken. Crafting stations, a scavenger hunt,

to peruse, there are food trucks and community

reindeer games, a balloon artist and more help

acts, ranging from dance troupes to theater shows

make it the perfect place for a jolly good time.

The quaint Amelia Island was named in 1735 for

to band performances, at the Second Stage on

There’s even a letter-writing station to send wish

the British-born Princess Amelia, King George

South 3rd Street. Then there’s the Enchanted

lists to the elves at the North Pole busily preparing

II’s daughter, so it’s only fitting that the seaport

Village, a collection of 10 uniquely decorated

for Christmas morning. And, while classic holiday

village transforms into an English-inspired, holly-

human-sized snow globes, where guests can gather

movies like “Elf” and “The Polar Express” will

adorned hub. Visitors are encouraged to lean into

for food and refreshments alongside friends and

be screening at the Old Vic Theatre movie alley

a Victorian state of mind by dressing the part,

family, with themes spanning from nutcracker to

throughout the day, cap off the evening on a

starting with the weekend’s inaugural event, the

coastal Christmas to winter wonderland. This year,

futuristic note with a stunning drone show feautring

Illuminated Procession. On Dec. 11, don your

they’re more affordable than ever and include

500 electronic aerial acrobats creating fun holiday

petticoats, roll up your trousers and bring along

two beverage options from The Portly Gentleman

images and animations above the river.

An Ode to the Past

DICKENS ON CENTRE, DEREMER STUDIOS LLC , ADOBE STOCK

within Scrooge, Dickens on Centre aims to reveal

brimming with gifts for under the tree, festive sips

the magic of the holidays for the area’s next, and

Visit ameliaisland.com/dickens for more information.

WADING IN: STONE’S THROW

Return to Puerto Rico

Seven years after Hurricane Maria, the island hasn’t just bounced back—it’s brighter than ever.

This spread from left: Colorful homes of San

Juan; Alma, a hotel in San Juan; Fuente Raíces Fountain and Puerto Rican flag in Old San Juan

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@THE F LAMINGOMAG

DISCOVER PUERTO RICO; ALMA SAN JUAN

B Byy E Erric ic B ar arton ton

SCAN THE QR CODE

M O R E TH I N G S TO D O I N SAN JUAN

E

verybody seemed to have advice about how to do it right. A bartender at La Factoría cocktail lounge told me it had to be three times, backward and with your eyes closed. The front desk person at our boutique hotel, the new Alma San Juan, said her grandmother told her once was enough. A guy watching kites fly above the great lawn at El Morro, a fort that looks more like a Caribbean castle, swore it had to be seven times or it didn’t count. In the Uber on the way to the Caribe Hilton, the driver told me no less than a dozen.

One thing was certain: At midnight on June 23, the Puerto Rican holiday of Noche de San Juan, I would walk onto the sand, backward, and launch myself blindly into the waves, as the

locals have done for as long as anyone can remember. It’s said to bring luck for the year. Like many traditions, nobody can quite agree on the details.

The Caribe threw a party to mark the event—live music, dancing and pina coladas that were invented right there at the hotel bar. Then the skies opened, dumping an ocean’s worth of rain and sent everyone scurrying indoors.

And so there I was holding a frozen cocktail, soaked. It wasn’t the night I had imagined, but if I’d learned anything about Puerto Rico, it’s that you find joy on this island in ways you don’t expect. I’d waited nearly seven

years to come back—my last visit taking place not long after Hurricane Maria in 2017, when much of Puerto Rico still ran on generators. Despite the devastating destruction from the hurricane, the island never lost what made it beautiful: the food, the sugar-sand beaches and the welcoming people. And now, years later, I’d returned to find that Puerto Rico had quietly, defiantly rebuilt itself—not just the hotels, the restaurants and the roads, but the spirit too.

This is a story about what recovery looks like when the headlines fade, and why Puerto Rico still feels like the brightest, most enduring place I know.

THE SCOOP TOWN

POPULATION

FOUNDED

KEY ATTRACTION

PEAK SEASON

CLIMATE

San Juan

342,259

1521

El Yunque National Forest

Winter

Tropical

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Find breezes, natural beauty, and inspiration around every bend.

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WADING IN: STONE’S THROW Into the Mist The road into El Yunque National Forest was just as I remembered it—steep and pitted, not so much carved from the mountainside as borrowed from it. The forest occupies a large swath of rainforest on the eastern side of the island, an hour from Old San Juan. Our little rental car shuddered around switchbacks, past men in neon vests repairing landslides that could have happened last week or seven years ago—there’s no telling in a place where the weather never really settles down. Tree ferns towered from the shoulders of the road, and vines hung like they could ensnare us.

With me driving and my wife next to me, we climbed into the clouds, the jungle crowding closer, the air thick and wet and humming with frogs.

When we arrived at the trailhead, our hike began easily. A tidy, paved path wound through dripping palms and bamboo that

creaked like a clapboard house in the wind.

But the coqui frogs made this soundscape anything but quiet, each one calling out its name—ko-kee!—from the underbrush.

We passed mossy steps and a stone shelter built into a rock face, then up again, until a tower appeared like something from a storybook: squat and round, made of stone the color of terra-cotta, with arched slits for windows and a spiral staircase that requires walking sideways when passing anybody on the way down. I later learned the Civilian Conservation Corps, one of those New Deal-era projects, built Mount Britton Tower in 1937. At the top, the sky was the color of clotted cream, and below us, wisps of clouds raked the valley, leaving splotches of rainforest exposed with the intermittently visible summit of El Yunque Peak in the distance.

Down from the tower, we left the paved path and tourists behind. The trail turned

feral—rocks slick with rain, roots crisscrossing like veins, more a stream than a trail. Two hours later, we arrived soaked and grinning at the overlook on Los Picachos mountain.

While there was nothing to see except a wall of white-gray mist, it still felt earned.

Afterward, we descended back to sea level, aching and hungry, and made our way to Kioskos De Luquillo. The series of food stalls at Luquillo Beach came recommended by the

DISCOVER PUERTO RICO

This page, clockwise: El Yunque National Forest; streets of San Juan; Castillo San Felipe del Morro

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This page, clockwise: Alma San Juan’s rooftop plunge pool; Māro’s tuna poke pegaito; dish from Andaluz

owner of Alma, a new boutique hotel in Old San Juan and our home for the week. Kioskos is the kind of place you might mistake for a strip mall if not for the smells: fried plantains, garlic shrimp and roasted pork. Locals claimed spots in the shade with cold Medallas and Styrofoam containers. We joined them, ordering mofongo—a hearty mashed plantain dish—topped with shrimp and chicken.

We devoured it as the breeze cut the heat and salt water lapped just beyond the palms.That night, we ate at Andaluz,

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Alma’s restaurant, enjoying a dish of earthy mushrooms underneath a bright cured egg yolk and a platter of crispy-edged fideua—the pasta version of paella—dotted with Iberian pork and topped with grilled shrimp. We scraped our plates shamelessly.

I thought again about the last time we were here, after the storm. We never would have eaten like this then. The city was half dark.

Many restaurants were still boarded up, with no sign they were coming back. But there we were, in a dining room full of life and clinking wine glasses, and it felt like something permanent had returned.

Where the Light Comes Back We spent our final day doing very little and feeling very good about it. There’s a tiny infinity pool on the roof of Alma perfectly situated for maximum idleness. We took turns

sinking into the water and gazing out at Plaza Colón below, watching a cruise ship dock in the harbor beyond and pigeons plunk down across rooftops. The breeze carried sea salt, the scent of vacation.

Later we walked to Verde Mesa for lunch, a laid-back spot where the power cut in and out the last time we were there, hot and sweltering with no AC. This time, in the cool room with light spilling across mismatched antiques, we ordered kofte over stewed beans and a salad that tastes like Puerto Rico’s version of spring: radishes, tomatoes and a vinaigrette sharp enough to wake you up.

Dinner that night was at Māro, the latest from chef Mario Pagán.

The Iberian pork sando arrived with a crackling edge and a smoky depth. It was, without question, the best thing we ate the entire trip—at least, until dessert arrived. The chocolate and hazelnut bar, layered like a Viennese opera cake, disappeared in seconds.

Driving back to Old San Juan, we realized something: We never got our Noche de San Juan jump at the Caribe. So we stopped at the public lot just before the towering Puerto Rican capitol building. We left our shoes in the car and hurried to the water. We waded in at first, ankle-deep, hand in hand. We turned around, and waves crashed into our backsides.

We counted to three. No drums. No crowds.

Just us, laughing like kids.

And that, I think, is what Puerto Rico has always been—more than just its beaches and bars, more than the storms or the headlines.

It’s joy, spontaneous and unexpected. And it’s still there, waiting for you to fall in.

@THE F LAMINGOMAG

ALMA SAN JUAN; ANADLUZ; MĀRO

WADING IN: STONE’S THROW

ALRE A DY

New Smyrna Beach, Florida, known for small-town charm with big-city flavors, celebrates The Second Annual Coastal Catch Restaurant Month this October.

It’s a tasty way to savor prix fixe Coastal Chic Meals from our local chefs. Here’s where foodies with too much going on go to forget about it all. So, if you’ve been looking for your happy place, Relax, you’ve found it.

VisitNSBFL.com/foodie OCTOBER 2025

The Perfect Balance of

REST

RECREATION

Where lapping waves meet the pristine sands of Singer Island, luxury and leisure merge at Amrit Ocean Resort. Here, you’ll be nourished by fine cuisine, imbued with ancient healing wisdom and pampered by an attentive staff. Come swim, stay and find serenity with us and discover what holistic wellness means.

Learn more at AmritOcean.com | 844.692.6748 | Singer Island, Riviera Beach, Florida

WADING IN :THE SPREAD FLORIDA-FRESH BITES & BEVS B y M el i ssa P u p p o

COCKTAILS GOOD ENOUGH EAT Mixologists across South Florida are turning aperitifs into entrees.

W

hat if happy hour could satisfy more than just your thirst?

In bars across South Florida, creative minds are answering this question with inventive libations adorned with edible accompaniments that make each drink as much a culinary experience as a cocktail.

“Cocktail creation is evolving,” shares Tony Boukhari, director of operations and beverage at Fort Lauderdale's Boatyard reastaurant.

“It’s no longer just about the drink but the full experience.” Now chefs and bartenders are teaming up to create the unexpected. Dig into three concoctions that blur the lines between aperitif and entree.

Tacos Gone Tipsy PAN AM ERICANO, MIAMI

PANAMERICANO BAR

@panamericanobar

At Miami’s Panamericano, mixologist Aistis Zidanavicius had the wild idea of deconstructing the core elements of a taco and reimagining them as a cocktail. The base ingredients come together in unexpected ways: Ecuadorian agave with a tomato infusion, Argentine vermouth and tepache cider. Topping it all off? A micro taco adorned with bell pepper gels in vibrant colors.

“It’s a culinary approach that brings depth and complexity to every sip,” Zidanavicius says of the bar’s only savory creation. Some swear it tastes like eating a taco. Zidanavicius warns it’s “definitely a love-it-or-leave-it cocktail. But those who love it come back for it again and again.”

Recommended for: guests who lean into daring and savory flavors, like Bloody Marys

@T H E FLAM I NG O M AG

Taco Tini MAKES ONE COCKTAIL 1 ounce tequila infused with lime peels 1/2

ounce Ecuadorian agave infused with dehydrated tomatoes

1/4

ounce sotol

3/4

ounce blanco vermouth infused with black garlic and cilantro

1/8

ounce corn liqueur

5 drops of 20% saline water 1/2

ounce tepache cider

1 micro taco (use nacho chip as substitute) PREPARATION: Combine liquids in a mixing glass filled with ice and stir 15 times. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with micro taco.

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Pork in Paradise T H E N ECTAR R OOM, F ORT LAUDER DAL E

Coupe Couture

@piersixtysix

The moment the Caviar-tini hits the table, it sparks curiosity. Boatyard’s over-the-top indulgence starts with three hand-stuffed goat cheese olives, each crowned with Osetra caviar.

Add gin or vodka, stir with olive brine and pour over a crystal-clear, diamond-shaped ice cube.

It then gets a delicate spray of absinthe. It’s one “showstopping” cocktail, according to Tony Boukhari, Boatyard’s director of operations and beverage.

“It’s made for the spotlight,” he shares. With caviar enjoying a comeback in the food world, this luxurious libation fits right in at one of Fort Lauderdale’s hot spots. The drink delivers exactly what guests crave: exciting, Instagram-worthy moments that taste as good as they look.

Recommended for: classic martini lovers and adventurous guests

Sweet Heat

@boatyard_restaurantftl

Cocktail creation is evolving. It’s no longer just about the drink but the full experience.

—TONY BOUKHARI

Caviar-tini MAKES ONE COCKTAIL 3 goat cheese-stuffed olives topped with Osetra caviar 3 ounces Monkey 47 gin or Ketel One vodka 1 ounce olive brine

MAKES ONE COCKTAIL

Diamond-shaped cocktail ice

1

Absinthe (alternative: dry vermouth)

ounce Código 1530 blanco tequila

1 ounce Vida Puebla mezcal 3/4

ounce pink pineapple gum syrup

3/4

ounce gochujang kumquat cordial

2 dashes cucumber bitters 1 cucumber crisp 1 fried pork rind Celery salt PREPARATION: Chill a highball or Collins glass. Once the glass is chilled and there isn’t too much moisture on it, add celery salt to the rim. Add all ingredients to a shaker filled with ice and shake vigorously for 15 seconds or until cold. Strain liquid into the chilled glass using a fine strainer.

Top with a skewered cucumber crisp and fried pork rind.

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PREPARATION: Prepare a coupe or martini glass with diamond-shaped ice and a caviar olive skewer. Pour all ingredients into a mixing glass with ice and stir. Strain into cocktail glass. Finish with two sprays of absinthe (or dry vermouth as a substitute).

RECIPE NOTE: For an at-home alternative to the absinthe spray, prepare a mixing glass with a splash of absinthe or dry vermouth, swirling it around the glass and pouring it out before adding ice and other ingredients.

This will give the same essence of the distilled spirit without being overpowering.

@THEF LAMINGOMAG

RUBEN PIC TRUES, NEC TAR ROOM

Imagine lounging poolside at The Nectar Room when a server arrives with a vibrant beverage served in a vintage-style tiki mug.

Crispy pork skin cascades over the rim while a cucumber slice cuts through amber liquid. Before the first sip, the aromas of smoky mezcal mingle with the heat of gochujang and the zippy notes of kumquat.

This is Sweet Heat, mixologist Lauren Ladner’s interpretation of pork bulgogi, a popular umami-rich Korean dish, in cocktail form, available inside the rum- and sake-forward bar at Pier Sixty-Six. Each day the culinary team fries pork skins to crunchy perfection, tossing them in proprietary seasoning. A cucumber crisp and celery-salt rim add a refreshing, savory finish. Ladner describes it as “the hearty, garnish-driven drama of a bloody mary with the bright, spirit-forward lift of a classic margarita.”

Recommended for: adventurous drinkers who like umami-rich, spicy flavors

BOATYARD, FORT LAUDERDALE

WADING IN :THE SPREAD FLORIDA-FRESH BITES & BEVS

@T H E FLAM I NG O M AG

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On location at Montage Palmetto Bluff

Connect with those who matter in a place you’ll never forget.

A life well-lived begins with a connection to self, our roots, the land beneath our feet, and to one another.

At Montage Palmetto Bluff, the rhythm of the Lowcountry invites you to slow down and breathe a little deeper.

Come settle into the stillness and rediscover what it means to feel truly at peace.

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MONTAGE.COM

B I G S K Y | D E E R VA L L E Y | H E A L D S B U R G | K A P A L UA B AY | L A G U N A B E A C H L O S CA B O S | PA L M E T TO B L U F F | BA H A M A S ( O p e n i n g i n 2 0 2 6 )

WADING IN :MADE IN FLA HOMEGROWN MAKERS, DESIGNERS & SHOPS

A

B y H el en B ra d sh a w

BOND n

Books Two sisters’ art novels offer a new take on old classics.

A

BOND & GR ACE

s a child in her family’s Winter Park home, Jacqueline Bond constantly spent her time in her favorite room: a two-story library with floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. So it’s hard to imagine that the now-publisher would have ever run out of new stories to comb through. But tucked among the seemingly endless volumes on those towering bookshelves, one title always called her back.

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Miles of winding nature trails.

Not a worry in sight.

The getaway you deserve begins at AmeliaIsland.com

WADING IN :MADE IN FLA Garden” and “Alice in Wonderland,” that are brought to life with original artwork.

To make their fine-art collectible editions, the Bonds first select public domain books from their own short list of the most popular titles.

Next, they share the text with artists who read the book and pull inspiration from it to create original works to illustrate the hardcovers, which also include annotations from scholars who give context about the author’s life.

Take the Bond & Grace Art Novel of Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” At 368 hand-sewn pages enveloped in an embossed fabric cover and shrouded in a dust jacket adorned with an image of an original paper sculpture of

I wanted something that gave me a new experience with the text that i have read over and over again.

THERESA BEAR, BOND & GR ACE

—JACQUELINE BOND “I fell in love with ‘Pride and Prejudice’ when I was 13 years old,” says Bond, who’s read the book five times. “I became a helpless romantic, and since then, I started collecting her novels, and so I have probably about 50-plus different versions of ‘Pride and Prejudice.’”

While she physically moved away from the library that inspired her love for literature when she left for college, Bond’s passion for storytelling has remained steady. First as a journalism student at the University of Florida, then as a social change and public health communications expert in Washington, D.C. And today, at 35, she is a co-founder, along with her younger sister Savannah Bond, of Bond & Grace, a book publisher and art house creating specialty coffee-table books of beloved classics, like “The Secret

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carnivorous plants, Bond & Grace’s version is a 21st-century take on gothic grandeur. Open the hefty book to take a visual journey into the full text of Shelley’s masterpiece, presented with haunting fonts and surrounded by annotations from the world’s preeminent "Frankenstein" experts, along with original interpretations of the sublime story by 12 artists.

“We don’t change one word; we’re very

Clockwise from left: An illustration from “The

Secret Garden;” “Frankenstein” Art Novel; a stack of Bond & Grace's four published titles

specific about that,” Jacqueline says.

Although the words are exactly the same, the Bonds hope the accompanying art and insights from scholars who “live and breathe” the texts will create something new. For "Frankenstein," for example, the sisters collaborated with scholars to learn more about the frequently overlooked female characters in the story, and an artist designed a pattern incorporating each of the women.

With the artistry and craftsmanship of each hard-bound book, it’s difficult to believe the team published its first Art Novel just three years ago. “We all come from worlds that have nothing to do with publishing. We had no idea what it even takes to make a book,” Jacqueline says. “But I think what was great about none of us knowing was that we were also able to question how things are currently done, and

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IC

U

SE TOUR U S HO

EVENT

HIS

TO

R

E

Peña-Peck House St. Augustine, Florida

ARTISAN GIFT SHOP

penapeckhouse.com

N E V

WADING IN :MADE IN FLA

MARIEL HANNAH, BOND & GR ACE

we didn’t accept the answer, which was usually, ‘Oh, we can’t do that.’”

Bond & Grace, now a bona fide boutique publisher, was born out of an exhaustive search for a large, beautiful collector’s edition of “Pride and Prejudice.” Unsuccessful, Jacqueline took matters into her own hands.

“I wanted something that gave me

@T H E FLAM I NG O M AG

(a new) experience with the text that I have read over and over and over again, and I could not find it,” she says. “And finally, my mom, after complaining enough, said, ‘Well, if you want it so badly, why don’t you make it yourself?’ like any mom does. And I thought, ‘Yeah, sure, Mom, let me just start a publishing house and create this book from scratch.’ But then I couldn’t get the idea out of my head.”

So Jacqueline assembled the dream team: Savannah, who was working at Estée Lauder at the time, and their friend, Ayana Christie, who was at Google. Together, the three took the only universal step in any literary lover’s career trajectory: a leap of faith.

Now, after creating a small but mighty literary domain including three titles, elevated gifts like silk scarves and candles, a podcast, a newsletter and a haute book club that feels more like a private literary society, the team has turned their attention to bringing a bit of the roaring 1920s to the 2020s. F. Scott Fitzgerald’s magnum opus, “The Great Gatsby,” will be released as a Bond & Grace Art Novel this November.

The choice to feature one of the most prominent texts about the American Dream in a time of political uncertainty and chaos is no coincidence, the sisters say. “It’s fascinating, given everything that’s happening politically and

Clockwise from left: Founders Ayana Christie,

Jacqueline Bond and Savannah Bond; Bond & Grace's literary-inspired candle collection; a spread from “Alice in Wonderland”

in the world. There is a very big question of ... what does it mean to be great?”

Jacqueline says. “What is America’s legacy, and what will our legacy be?”

To every sibling’s surprise, the Bond & Grace founders rarely disagree on what titles to choose. “We don’t have any real debates on it. To be honest, every title has felt right,” Jacqueline says. For now, that’s “The Great Gatsby,” but down the road, it might be a Hemingway novel or even something by Jacqueline’s very first literary love, Jane Austen.

“I want them to feel a new connection to the text,” she says of bibliophiles exploring the collection of classics. “Because maybe they didn’t feel like that text was meant for them, but now that they’re seeing it through a different perspective or through different imagery, they’d be like, ‘Oh, this was also meant for me to read. This is something that I can fall in love with too.’”

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WADING IN :THE STUDIO This page: Sobrack’s

2023 painting titled “Drift” depicts an haunting nighttime pool scene.

FLORIDA ARTIST PROFILES B y S t eve D o l l a r

Suspense in Stillness

Orlando-based painter Ericka Sobrack captures the eeriness of a Florida suburb in her realistic landscapes.

W

hen she was an undergraduate student at the University of Central Florida, Ericka Sobrack had a breakthrough. She fell in love with color and the tactile quality of paint, but it was also essential to her to be authentic in her work.

Sobrack landed on a childhood setting as her subject. While working on a large acrylic painting of a playground as an MFA student at UCF, she casually added a pair of Converse tennis shoes hanging from the

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back of a set of monkey bars. It was a small detail, but it offered an intriguing hint of narrative possibility.

“I wasn’t thinking much about it (in the moment),” Sobrack says. “But then reflecting on it, I was like, ‘Holy shit, there might be something here’—as far as introducing my own story, but having it be ambiguous enough (so) somebody could think about their own associations.”

The painting became one of Sobrack’s first nocturnes, and a signature of her

ongoing explorations of suburban spaces mapped in a haunting and evocative body of work: eerily isolated houses, street corners, swimming pools and lawns. These scenes are often illuminated by a pale moon, phosphorescent lamps or the headlights of an oncoming car. “That was the doorway into what I’m doing now,” Sobrack says.

Sobrack, 35, moved to Orlando from her native Minnesota when she was about 12. In her formative years, she observed the geography and architecture around her.

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“(In) Orlando, we have a lot of midcentury housing,” Sobrack says. “Back in the day, when they were building them, it was (for) the idealistic nuclear household (with) the manicured lawn, the white picket fence. I was thinking, how do I twist this on its head?”

Although Sobrack grew up bouncing between schools during her parents’ divorce, she was drawn to painting because she enjoyed it. Her work speaks to budding anxieties about seeming domestic tranquility unsettled by darker forces, captured in an uncanny realism that feels subversive.

It’s hard not to bring up the example of filmmaker David Lynch, who also enjoyed a lifelong painting career. He’s best known for the surreal derangements of films like “Blue Velvet” and the television series “Twin

Above: Sobrack plays with perspective and lighting, as seen in her 2023 painting “Specter.”

I was thinking, How Do I twist This on its head?

—ERICKA SOBRACK Peaks,” which turn apple-pie Americana inside out and also embrace a dreamlike sense of the ordinary made strange.

Somewhat like Lynch’s works, Sobrack’s paintings evoke mystery and varying degrees of unease. In her 2022 paintings of a Radio Flyer tricycle, the isolated trike holds the eye with its cherry-red color, but its handlebars cast a foreboding shadow across dark pavement riven with cracks. The viewer is first struck by the color, then the eerie sense of abandonment and suggestion of a threat.

Above: Sobrack likes to paint on small pieces of

wood, allowing her to finish her artwork quickly.

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The painting could be a frame from a horror movie—or certainly the poster for one. The stillness that inhabits these paintings needn’t always trigger the uncanny. Sometimes they’re startlingly realistic.

Sobrack’s paintings also serve as documentary pieces, often cataloguing a quintessentially Floridian vibe (and of the Minnesota drawn from her memory) through their affectionate rendering. Early on, the artist looked to the tradition of genre painting and aimed to adapt it to “the idea of day-to-day things that we see in our commutes, whether or not they’re going to be here 50 years from now.”

Sobrack chooses to paint on wood, rather than canvas, because of its smoother surface. The dimensions for her pieces range anywhere from 6-by-6 inches to 48by-60 inches. “I don’t like a lot of textural brushstrokes to distract from the image quality,” she explains. “It’s mostly about the image, rather than the process of the physicality of paint for me … I also like

the small format because it allows me to get through ideas a lot quicker—as opposed to working 100 hours on one painting.”

The artist often works from pictures she takes on her phone and uses Photoshop to edit her source material. “I’ll take most, if not all, of the information out: the background, the trees, any sort of defining qualities of the house, just to keep it more ubiquitous in that way,” she says.

During this process, she considers what sort of story to suggest. Over the years, she has begun to lean harder on the intuition of “going into the studio and then reacting to that painting as I’m making it, because ultimately, the magic happens in that studio time.” The paintings can surprise her, sometimes becoming something completely different than what she had first imagined.

In doing so, Sobrack reconnects with her own early affinities for storytelling. “As far as these little pockets of detail and instances of hyperreality, I’ve always been like that,” she says. “I’ve always really been into the ‘I Spy’ books, or ‘Where’s Waldo?’ And I think (of) that influence because it’s an unassuming little pocket of information on a painting.

(I ask myself), what can I do to hide little pockets of information in here?”

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WADING IN:DIVE BAR FLO RIDA MUSICIANS ON THE R ISE

By Jam i e Ri ch • P h o t o g ra p hy by H el en B ra d sh a w

Birdsong

Once you go, Jacksonville’s Blue Jay Listening Room is the only place you’ll ever want to see LIVE music again.

T

ucked behind a nondescript door off Jacksonville Beach’s busy Third Street, Blue Jay Listening Room reverberates with the long, soulful squeal of a harmonica.

Singer JJ Grey is wailing away to the delight of a standing-room-only crowd of about 80 people when he stops and breaks into a story about his days growing up across town in Baldwin.

It’s just another Thursday night inside this tiny-but-mighty music venue: where vintage radios double as tables and a blue velvet curtain frames the stage. Before every show, owner Cara Murphy, 37, welcomes the audience in her signature rasp and reminds them how a listening room works: Hootin’ and hollerin’ in praise of the band is just fine, but once the music starts, make sure to shut the hell up. Murphy’s no-talking rule, however, doesn’t put a damper on the vibes or the level of talent performing on stage. On any given

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Above: Cara

Murphy opened Blue Jay Listening Room in 2017.

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Raise your glass and your expectations.

A getaway to West Volusia is always a rewarding experience. Whether it’s hiking a trail, biking a path, or checking out our famous Wings of the West trail, good times are found around every corner. Make time to enjoy our Cool Craft Beverage Trail throughout the year and explore unique downtowns while enjoying artisan coffees, smoothies, and award-winning local craft beers, wines, and more.

CONVENIENTLY LOCATED BETWEEN ORLANDO AND DAYTONA BEACH | VISITWESTVOLUSIA.COM

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WADING IN:DIVE BAR night, acts range from Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats to Flipturn to little-known bluegrass quartets you’ve never heard of before but will thank the music gods you did. In a world full of distractions, Murphy has created a spot along the lines of Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe—where original music, community and quiet reverence still matter. Flamingo caught up with Murphy on a recent afternoon to talk breakthrough moments, the listening lounge’s namesake, MTV Unplugged and Murphy’s all-time favorite artists.

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO OPEN BLUE JAY LISTENING ROOM?

Cara MURPHY: I grew up in the (Jacksonville) Beaches area, and I grew tired of going to see my favorite local musicians in the corner of bars and restaurants and playing these gigs that nobody was listening to. I was tired of watching people that I knew were amazing songwriters be background music. I was obsessed with MTV Unplugged.

And then I learned that there was this kind of listening room thing. I just wanted to create a space for artists to come in and share their original music to a room full of people who wanted to listen.

WHERE DOES THE NAME BLUE JAY COME FROM?

CM: When I was 10 years old, my grandmother passed away suddenly. We had her funeral service out on her front lawn, and there’s this big magnolia tree.

Her Sunday school teacher was giving this beautiful speech, and a blue jay flew out of the tree and just did loop-de-loops around the whole crowd about three or four times, just causing an absolute ruckus. My grandmother’s Sunday school teacher said, “OK, Sylvia, we know you’re here.”

@T H E FLAM I NG O M AG

And from that moment forward, my grandmother was Blue Jay. If you read about blue jays, they’re very territorial. They protect their young. She was a lioness. She was a very strong, protective, progressive woman and she’s a huge inspiration for me.

YOU’VE BEEN DOING THIS SINCE 2017. WHAT KEEPS YOU GOING?

CM: It is the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in all my life and by far the most difficult. But I’ve never been more proud of anything I’ve ever done.

I’ve never worked harder at anything I’ve ever done.

I’m gonna start crying, oh my God. To be a single female doing anything in the music industry, let alone owning a venue, poses a lot of roadblocks, a lot of obstacles. Looking back and having overcome most, if not all, of those over the past eight years is something I’m extremely proud of. And it hasn’t been single-handedly. I have an incredible community, an extremely supportive family and staff.

TOP 5

Cara’s Favorite Performers at Blue Jay

1

ATRICK HAGERMAN P “My favorite songwriters of all time: John Prine, Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt and Patrick Hagerman.”

2

AMBLER KANE R “He did his live album here, and I’ll be rooting for him for forever.”

3

AYLEE BAKER K “Her voice is otherworldly. If anybody sees that Kaylee Baker is playing, buy the ticket.”

4

FLIPTURN “They’re blowing up huge. Those are the hometown heroes.”

5

IERRA FERRELL S “We had her for two nights, and then, you know, she flew to Nashville to play the Opry.”

HOW DO YOU FIND THE ARTISTS WHO PLAY BLUE JAY?

CM: One of my favorite bands of all time (is) Yonder Mountain String Band. I got an email one day after Jeff Austin had left Yonder Mountain from his people wanting to book the Jeff Austin Band at Blue Jay Listening Room, and I about peed my pants. I was like, “How in the world?”

That was such a moment for me.

So, it is a combination of me discovering and reaching out and people reaching out to me. I’ve made a lot of great relationships with booking agents over the years. And if an artist has a good experience, they’re going to tell other musicians. That’s how I think I have gotten the more well-known artists. JJ Grey came in because his band had a great experience. So that’s been cool.

ARE THERE ANY REGIONAL ARTISTS THAT YOU THINK ARE ON THE RISE?

CM: The first person that comes to mind is Patrick Hagerman. I do not say this lightly: He is by far at the top. Like when I think of my favorite songwriters of all time, I think of John Prine, Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt and Patrick

Above: Music memorabilia and vinyl records

fill Blue Jay Listening Room.

Hagerman. And I will die on that hill. I just started to manage him, and we are recording his debut record at Retrophonics Studio.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR BLUE JAY?

CM: Next thing that I’m doing that I’m very excited about is the Cicada Series. I put in for this grant through the Live Music Society, and I won based on my proposal for an all-female Southern songwriters showcase. It’s going to be a series of shows that are going to have female-only lineups.

WHAT’S THE BEST PART OF OWNING YOUR OWN MUSIC VENUE?

CM: You know, people say, “Don’t meet your heroes.” I’m like, I don’t know, man, I’ve met a few of my heroes, and they’re pretty great. That is something that’s been one of my favorite things about having a space that has this energy that’s built out of genuine love for music and respect for artists, is that everyone’s been really cool. I can count on half of one hand the people that haven’t been nice. It’s been so lovely to meet so many cool people, and to meet people that you’re fans of. And it turns out they’re just nice people.

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WADING IN :JUST HATCHED DEBUTS TO PER USE (NORTH) THE FILIBUSTER TA L LA H A S S E E

COCONUT KEY COFFEE AND SUNDRIES JACKSONVILLE

Overlooking the St. Johns River, this cafe and gift shop was founded by Katie and Matt O’Connell, newcomers to the Mayport neighborhood. Rattan porch chairs and tasseled umbrellas beckon guests to stay for a while. Nibble on community-sourced baked goods like blueberry muffins, croissants and hazelnut truffle bites. Pair a pastry with a specialty drink like the Suns Out Buns Out latte, made with a mix of macadamia nut and coconut syrups, or the Frisky Kitty, a lavender chai. The shop displays

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Above: The datil-sumac tuna with Goddess goat cheese and herb sauce from Bea’s Fine Foods + All Day Café

a curated selection of beachside must-haves, like Sand Cloud towels, Aloha beach bags and ocean-inspired jewelry, while outside, dolphins play in the water and the St. Johns River Ferry totes beachgoers back and forth to Fort George Island. coconutkeycoffee.com

‘DROME

S A N TA R O S A B E A C H

Nothing wows like a really good bao—a fluffy and delicious Chinese steamed bun often filled with meat, egg or vegetables. Eat one and you might as well eat a hundred: It’s one of the most irresistible, mouth-pleasing foods on the planet. The restaurant was founded by Alabama-based foodies Whitley Dykes and Kunyu Li, who met while living

FLAMINGOMAG.COM /// FA L L 2 0 2 5

in China. They are among the Southeast’s great ambassadors for bao, bringing a creative edge to the Northeast Chinese flavors they love. The minds behind such witty concepts as The Irritable Bao and the food truck Dumps Like a Truck have expanded to Santa Rosa Beach with ‘Drome: Dumplings, Street Eats & Sips. The breezy site offers generous elbow room for bar and patio dining, daily specials and, yes, boozy boba (bubble tea) for sun-kissed enjoyment. instagram.com/drome_seasidefl

BEA’S FINE FOODS AND JEFE’S FISH WAGON ST. AUGUSTINE

Husband-and-wife team Jeff and Genie McNally, co-owners of local favorite The Floridian,

are doubling down on their latest venture with not one but two new eateries on Anastasia Island. Bea’s Fine Foods + All Day Café, inspired by and named after Genie’s grandmother Bea, takes over the spot formerly known as Gas Full Service Restaurant.

Grab breakfast items or lunch during the day, and at night drop by for small plates, entrees and sides served family style. Jefe’s Fish Wagon offers an even more casual vibe, with grab-and-go options available in a burrito, sandwich, salad or bowl. The food truck takes its cues from the classic seafood shacks, snack bars and kiosks that have kept beachcombers fed for decades. beasalldaycafe.com instagram.com/jefesfishwagon

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EVERGOLD PHOTOGR APHY

The once-legendary Andrew’s 228 was a deal-making dinner spot beloved as any in the Capital City: a watering hole dating back to the days when Florida was run by Democrats. The draw of this historic hangout continues today at The Filibuster, located in the former site’s revamped downstairs space beneath the current Hayward House. The membershipbased conversation club was co-founded by Adam Reiss, nephew of Andy Reiss, the original Andrew’s owner and namesake. The decor features large black-and-white photos and portraits of famous musicians and political figures from eras gone by, evoking Florida history and rock ’n’ roll spirit in equal measures. The layout includes a bar, a recordlistening room and a lounge to complete the speakeasy vibe.

Don’t get FOMO fretting over membership fees. It costs only $11.11 to join. filibusterclubtally.com

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WADING IN :JUST HATCHED DEBUTS TO PER USE (C E N T RA L ) the opening of Dirty Birds, a thatched-roof, open-air bar for laid-back nights and islandinspired cocktails. Between custom woodwork, plenty of tiki huts, an outdoor stage and a bar dubbed The Bird’s Nest, it’s a Polynesian oasis that might have you dancing the hula after one too many mai tais. Situated downtown about a block from the beach, Dirty Birds is the newest concept from local restaurateur Daniel Todd, who’s also behind 4th Street Fillin Station and The Alibi Cocktails & Bites. Given Todd’s knack for knowing the recipe for a fun night out, there’s also no shortage of buzzy sips and festive bites, which blend South Pacific culture into the Cocoa Beach scene. dirtybirdstikibar.com

CHEEKY’S Above: Cheeky’s, a laid-back seafood joint, serves classics like this New Orleans po’boy.

FISK

TA M PA

Meet Fisk, a Nordic-inspired bistro that serves everything from fish pie croquettes and Singapore crispy duck to curried cod with pressed potato and cucumber. Fisk, which is the Swedish word for fish, is a refreshing alternative to typical beach-bar fare thanks to Chef Ebbe Vollmer. Vollmer’s Swedish roots combined with his culinary prowess (he’s also behind Ebbe, the Michelinstarred restaurant next door known for its Nordic cuisine) result in a unique adventure for your taste buds. While Ebbe’s focus delivers an elevated fine dining experience, Fisk offers a homestyle feel. Many of the Scandinavian dishes are odes

50

to Vollmer’s childhood favorites, daring his diners to think (and taste) beyond the usual American offerings. fiskebbe.com

5801 PRINT HOUSE ST. PETERSBURG

Alexa Schneider and Lauren Sampson, the couple behind 5801 Print House, are dedicated to creating vintage-inspired apparel and souvenirs that won’t collect dust in the back of your closet. Schneider and Sampson started their screenprinting operation from their garage in 2022 before moving to their first storefront a year later. Now, the pair’s shaking things up again by opening a warehouse space in St. Pete’s arts district that doubles as

FLAMINGOMAG.COM /// FA L L 2 0 2 5

a shop and a design studio.

With everything printed on-site, their collections exude Sunshine State vibes. Their merch ranges from shirts featuring retro maps and illustrations of state parks to embroidered cotton twill hats and citrus-adorned baby onesies. They also lean into Florida’s tourism market by offering magnets, stickers and pennants that are an artistic take on commemorative trinkets, so you can track your home state travels.

5801print.com

DIRTY BIRDS TIKI BAR & GRILL COCOA BEACH

Cocoa Beach just got that much more tropical with

Part New England clam shack, part Southern eatery, this laid-back restaurant is dedicated to all things seafood. Cheeky’s menu hits every craving—whether it’s a New Orleans po’boy, a basket of fried Florida shrimp or a variety of oysters. The latter are available raw, grilled or deep fried, and, naturally, taste best washed down with one of Cheeky’s cocktails, icy beers or its signature salt-and-vinegar martini garnished with an olivewrapped anchovy. Designed to be a neighborhood gathering spot, it opened its doors in the heart of St. Pete’s Grand Central District in May. With an outdoor patio opening soon and a lively horseshoe-shaped bar, it’s easy to spend an afternoon or evening enjoying its chill coastal ambiance. cheekys.net

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SAR AH MAINGOT

ST. PETERSBURG

ADVERTORIAL

Have You Seen the Bats Soar?

The Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida is combining conservation and community.

TIM DONOVAN, K AREN PARKER, FLORIDA FISH AND WILDLIFE CONSERVATION COMMISSION

E

very evening around sundown, something “There (are) a lot of things that we aren't going Bats aren’t the only threatened animals the begins to stir under the coral-colored to be the expert in,” says Michelle Ashton, Director Foundation is helping through its knack for Spanish tiles on the roofs of homes south of Communications and Events for the Fish & networking. From critically endangered sparrows of Orlando all the way down to Miami. If you Wildlife Foundation of Florida. “So, the role that to bull sharks, it’s hard to find a native species listen closely—first for the flutter of a wing, then we can play is making sure partner organizations the organization isn’t actively working—and a chirp—you will hear the sounds of the United with the experts have the resources they need.” partnering with experts—to protect.

States’ rarest bat getting ready to Interest from the public is take off for a nightly moonlit feast also vital to keep conservation in South Florida skies. efforts going. Whether you’re Florida bonneted bats are passionate about combating large, with a nearly two-foot invasive pythons, restoring wingspan, but their defining reefs or protecting panthers, features are their ears: velvetythere’s a project to support for soft rounded flaps that fall over every interest, Ashton says. their faces like a fashionable cap, “Pick a cause, any cause,” hence the species name. But the she jokes. “You really just iconic critters are also in danger. have to pick a cause, and With fewer than 1,000 estimated we’ll do all the hard work bonneted bats remaining, the for you.”

This page from top: Everglades sky; Florida bonneted bat; Florida panther Fish & Wildlife Foundation of This fall, as dusk descends Florida is on a mission to save the rare species Since the Foundation started in 1994, they on neighborhoods across South Florida, the before it’s too late. have raised and given away nearly $100 million. bonneted bats will begin their nightly escapade, Through funding research to locate the bats and The nonprofit’s network has also expanded and the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida understand their environment, the Fish & Wildlife beyond the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation and partners will be right there alongside them Foundation of Florida has protected parts of their Commission to include over a dozen federal and thanks to community support from Florida’s habitat and is actively working to educate the local partners. Unsurprisingly, the Foundation and bat lovers. In the rest of the state—from the public about their importance, like how the flying its partner organizations take cues from the animal backwaters of Pensacola to the reefs of Key mammals keep insect populations in check. But world when tackling environmental challenges: West—a conservation community will be working there’s one part of the research process that will The organizations have come together in their in Sunshine State-fueled symbiosis looking out be paramount: collaboration. own form of symbiosis that turns ideas into action. for all of Florida’s native wildlife.

To help the bats soar or to support your own passion project, visit wildlifeflorida.org.

WADING IN :JUST HATCHED DEBUTS TO PER USE (SOUTH) 1970s basement,” Goodnight John Boy’s retro-styled vibes include shag carpeting, spinning disco balls, wood paneling and, yes, posters of actors Farrah Fawcett, Burt Reynolds and Shaun Cassidy. The club, which borrows its name from the catchphrase of the popular TV series “The Waltons," serves cocktails with '70s-inspired names like Mood Ring and Disco Punch. Theme nights pop up here and there, including the popular Gong Show Karaoke, where contestants belt out their favorite ballads and boogie the night away. goodnightjb.com

EATALY

Above: Cirque St. Armands Beachside was inspired by the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

CIRQUE ST. ARMANDS BEACHSIDE S A R A S O TA

What happens when the Greatest Show on Earth inspires a boutique hotel? Nothing short of spectacular. The newly opened Cirque St. Armands Beachside brings theatrics and flair to Sarasota’s Lido Key with its embrace of the city’s deep history with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus—in 1920, co-founder John Ringling brought the brand to Sarasota, which served as its winter headquarters. The result is a 135-room respite that is a visual extravaganza with ostrichfeathered chandeliers, postersize historic images of circus animals and showstopping graphic textiles. At Ringside,

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the signature restaurant that peers out over the beach, a menu of Gulf Coast seafood favorites awaits alongside murals showcasing the daredevil acts of trapeze artists. opalcollection.com

THE SHELBORNE MIAMI BEACH

In its midcentury heyday, Miami Beach’s Collins Avenue strip was the seaside playground to Hollywood’s biggest stars. Today, this iconic stretch of Florida land is gearing up for a reincarnation, beginning with the reopening of The Shelborne By Proper. Simply known as The Shelborne when it opened in 1940, the property underwent a $100-million renovation that has repositioned the 251-room beachfront

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destination for a new era of luxury and design. Guest rooms capitalize on modern aesthetics with a warm, earthy palette.

Lauded Chef Abram Bissell—a Florida Keys native whose work includes the Michelinstarred Eleven Madison Park— creates coastal-inspired dishes within the hotel’s eponymous restaurant, The Shelborne. shelborne.com

GOOD NIGHT JOHN BOY D E L R AY B E A C H

The 1970s groove is back—and this time for good (we hope).

Nightclub concept Good Night John Boy has debuted in Delray Beach, the sixth location of the Ohio-based fun factory.

Dubbed “Studio 54 meets your grandparents' funky

Ciao, Miami! Florida’s first Eataly has arrived at Aventura Mall, bringing authentic Italian marketplace energy to South Florida. The sprawling 30,000-square-foot space features an impressive selection of imported goods—from Calabrian chili peppers to aged Parmigiano Reggiano and crunchy biscotti—alongside two distinct restaurants serving exclusive made-in-Italy products.

La Pizza & La Pasta specializes in Neapolitan-style pies and traditional pasta, while Il Pastaio offers front-row seats to watch pasta makers crafting intricate shapes at a long counter.

The market experience feels genuinely Italian, with coffee from Lavazza, Roman-style pizza and fluffy bomboloni— Italian donuts stuffed with creamy pistachio gelato. You’ll also find curated classes at cooking school La Scuola along with a temperature-controlled wine room stocked with carefully curated Italian vintages. eataly.com

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OPALCOLLEC TION.COM

AV E N T U R A

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Experience Top Restaurants Recognized by The MICHELIN Guide

When you visit The Palm Beaches, you’ll trade one-size-fits-all experiences for a vacation that’s custom-fit to your desires.

Curate the perfect vacation at ThePalmBeaches.com.

Amelia Island. FL

Still so much to enjoy on Amelia Island!

A stay at the downtown Hampton Inn & Suites opens up exploration of the many restaurants, shops, pubs, and attractions within walking distance of the hotel. Book a stay and enjoy one of the many fall events: Dining Month in September, the Dance Festival, Opera, the Jazz Festival, the Island Hop Craft Beer Festival...to name a few.

Mention this ad when booking to receive a discount on your stay. Call to book - 904.491.4911 Based on availability. Certain restrictions may apply.

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— Unf ilter ed Fodder —

Capital Dame

By D i a n e R o b ert s • Il l u st ra t i o n by C a rly B erry

This page: An illustrated spread

of baked goods from TC Bakery

PIES AND PROSE Jennifer Young makes life a little sweeter at Tallahassee’s TC Bakery and their bookstore outpost, the Piebrary.

YOU KNOW WHAT pairs well with a good book? A good piece of pie. I find the first chapter of “Moby Dick” becomes even more profound accompanied by a slice of apple pie. Plenty of bookstores have coffee counters and cozy chairs, tempting

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customers to park themselves with a cup of Joe and a bestseller. But only Midtown Reader, Tallahassee’s coolest (and not just in my humble opinion) bookstore, has the Piebrary, where you can get a slice of Turtle pie or Key lime pie or one of the

other varieties that circulate weekly. It’s all sourced from a patisserie created by beloved Tallahassee baker, Jennifer Young.

I’m a decent baker and will put my pumpkin pie—my great-grandmother’s recipe—up against anybody’s, but I am

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Capital Dame UNF ILTER ED FODDER

Old-School Flavor

Startups always face challenges. Young says she struggles with getting the capital she needs to expand. But with Young as chief baking officer and her sister Renee Williams running the business side of things, TC Bakery has become a Tallahassee mainstay. You can get slices of cake and cheesecake at her shop on South Monroe Street, as well as Piggly Wiggly and IGA grocery store locations from Tallahassee to Panama City to Carrabelle and various towns in South Georgia, several coffee shops and the Tallahassee International Airport.

Young is big on old-school flavors, especially sweet potato and banana pudding. She makes banana pudding everything: cheesecake, cinnamon rolls and actual banana pudding. She says banana pudding “reminds people of their roots.”

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serious postpartum depression. So she started baking. “I needed a way to soothe the anxiety and sadness,” she says. “I could go bake a cake or a pie and everything would be better.” Young used her grandmother’s recipe books, tweaking and modifying along the way.

After all, food is family. Young says she has felt her mother in the kitchen. Her father, too. She says, “I pray while I stir.

It’s my peace.”

Above: Jennifer Young, the owner of TC Bakery

That’s no lie. When I tasted Young’s banana pudding cheesecake, a vivacious take on the most Southern of desserts, I was powerfully reminded of my grandmother’s own version. Granny Roberts was a fabulous dessert maker, always serving at least three at Sunday dinner, and all of them, except for the cherry Jell-O tapioca mold—which looked like a case of the measles—were delicious.

But the favorite, the one my cousins and I would fight over (and by fight, I mean the

Pie Fundamentalists

I’ve never had to struggle with postpartum depression, but I can attest to the therapeutic properties of baking.

My mother died four years ago, just before Thanksgiving. I didn’t care whether we had turkey and dressing, but I wanted to make her desserts: sour cream pound cake, apple crisp and pumpkin pie. As I chopped pecans, whipped butter and rolled out dough, the warm scents of cloves, brown sugar and caramelized pumpkin flesh conjured

I could go bake a cake or a pie and everything would be better. I pray while I stir. It’s my peace.

—JENNIFER YOUNG occasional hair-pulling), was the banana pudding. TC Bakery’s creation captures the Nilla-wafered, egg-rich, banana-laced custard of my childhood.

Young grew up in the culinary business.

Her parents ran Ma Mary’s Kitchen, a legendary restaurant next to FAMU. After they died, she revived the place and ran it until the COVID-19 pandemic wrecked in-person dining. After her twin daughters were born in 2016, Young suffered from

up my mother in ways pictures or objects could not. This was especially true of the pumpkin pie. We have always been pumpkin pie fundamentalists.

The biggest rule: no canned pumpkin.

Whenever some unwise person ventured it was more “convenient” to use Libby’s, my mother would roll her eyes. “That’s pitiful,” she’d say. “Get yourself a Seminole pumpkin and roast the thing.

So easy the cat can do it.”

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JENNIFER YOUNG

here to tell you Young’s TC Bakery, which stands for Tailored Confections, beats anything coming out of my oven: white chocolate pistachio cake, caramel cake, cakes with rainbow layers, Oreo cheesecake, strawberry shortcake cheesecake, peach cobbler cheesecake.

TC does 40 kinds of cake, 40 kinds of cheesecake and, per Young’s estimates, 40 kinds of pie. I haven’t even touched on the cupcakes, muffins and cinnamon rolls—which ain’t your mama’s cinnamon rolls and come in iterations such as lemon blueberry and sweet potato. TC Bakery proclaims itself “Simple, Southern and Always Southside.” For those who aren’t familiar with Tallahassee, Southside is a historically Black neighborhood. It’s the hilly home of Florida A&M University (FAMU), as well as businesses established back during the Jim Crow era. “For me,” Young says, “Southside represents family.

Southside is love.”

Seminole pumpkins are a Florida heirloom variety. They’re usually pale buff in color and the taste and texture is as far above those neon orange things from the grocery store, as vintage Veuve Clicquot is above Bud Light. It’s sweet and nutty, with flavors that deepen when combined with eggs, milk and spices. As I mixed the ingredients, I half-expected to hear my mother say, “Make sure you grate the nutmeg really fine now.”

Back at Midtown Reader’s Piebrary, the Key lime and the sweet potato were sold out, but the Biscoff cookie butter pie called and I answered. I sat down with a stack of books I thought I might buy: “Is a River Alive?” by the nature writer Robert Macfarlane, Percival Everett’s novel “James” and a mighty doorstop of a book called “Baking in the American South.” The recipes (and the photographs) were alarmingly seductive.

I shut the cookbook; who was I kidding?

I’ll keep my pumpkin pie, but I wouldn’t be trying to make lemon icebox pie or warm chocolate meringue pie, not when I can get something even better on the Southside from TC Bakery.

I opened “James” and, with a bite of Biscoff cookie butter pie perched on the end of my fork, started reading: “Those little bastards were hiding out there in the tall grass. The moon was not quite full, but bright, and it was behind them, so I could see them plain as day, though it was deep night ....”

Diane Roberts is an eighthgeneration Floridian, educated at Florida State University and Oxford University. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian and the Tampa Bay Times. She has also authored four books, including “Dream State,” a historical memoir of Florida.

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Seminole Pumpkin Pie

By Mary Elizabeth Broadwater Gilbert serves 8 to 10 1 3-4 pound Seminole pumpkin (farmers markets often have them) 2/3

cup brown sugar

1/4

cup white sugar

2 large or 3 medium eggs 1 1/2 cups evaporated milk 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2

teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, plus more for dusting 1/2

teaspoon ground cloves

1/2

teaspoon ground ginger

1 shortcrust Butter

the seeds and stringy parts, and place the two halves face down on the tin foil. Bake 45-50 minutes or until a fork sinks happily into the flesh. Cool.

Spoon out the flesh, then puree in a food processor. (You can do this ahead of time and store the pumpkin puree in the refrigerator for several days.)

Reserve extra puree for pumpkin bread or pumpkin soup and keep the seeds for planting. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Using a stand mixer, blend 1 1/2 cups of pumpkin puree with the sugars, eggs, evaporated milk and vanilla. Add salt and spices. Mix well.

Make the shortcrust of your choice or use a pre-made, refrigerated one (no judgment—the crust isn’t the star of the show). Place it in a 9-inch pie pan.

Pour into the unbaked pie shell and bake for 40-45 minutes or until a knife blade comes out clean. Run a stick of butter over the hot pie (trust me—this is easiest) and grate nutmeg on top.

Olive oil PREPARATION: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cover a baking tray with tinfoil and brush a little olive oil on it.

Chop the pumpkin in half, scoop out

NOTE: This pie does not need sugar and maple pecan topping, whipped cream or ice cream. It’s a pumpkin pie. You want people to taste the pumpkin. Happy Thanksgiving!

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Sideline SUPER Behind the Masks Florida’s Football Stars

Plus three tried-and-true Tailgate recipes from the state’s iconic college towns

By EMILEE GARBER /// Photography by KRISTEN PENOYER Illustration by JULES OZAETA

HEROES

Previous spread from left:

Freshman 15 burgers made famous at The Swamp in Gainesville and a classic hot dog inspired by a recipe from Link in Tallahassee; Albert, Osceola, Renegade and Sebastian get hyped for the pregame show.

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I

t was 10 minutes before kickoff on a crisp October night in 1989. The Miami Hurricanes were set to play the Florida State Seminoles at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee. The two schools, both ranked in the top 10, shared a notorious in-state rivalry. As the University of Miami’s (UM) football team stormed the field, a Leon County sheriff’s officer noticed someone out of place in the lineup and grabbed the offender. Four other police officers joined in, pinning the culprit against the fence but struggling to snap handcuffs on his unusual frame.

The five officers found themselves in a scenario the academy hadn’t covered—how to arrest a 6-foot-tall ibis.

“I was detained. I was never arrested,” says John Routh, who played UM’s lovable and mischievous mascot Sebastian

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from 1984 to 1993. “That’s the key phrase, ‘detained.’”

On that night, Routh had borrowed a fireman’s hat, jacket and extinguisher before the game. He had one goal: snuff out Florida State University’s (FSU) burning spear, carried by Osceola, the school’s signature Seminole warrior who rides his horse Renegade onto the field during FSU’s pregame ritual.

As Routh tells it, when he ran out of the tunnel, he was yanked to the side. The beak on his costume limited his vision, and he couldn’t see that he was tussling with law enforcement.

The man with the badge and the Bird then began a game of tugof-war over the fire extinguisher, causing it to spray right into the chest of a Leon County sheriff’s deputy, earning Sebastian a five-man takedown. The deputies eventually released Routh but stopped him from going any farther while FSU’s Osceola planted a spear on the 50-yard line.

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Feathers, Fur and Fan Psychology

UNIVERSIT Y OF MIAMI SPORTS HALL OF FAME & MUSEUM, UNIVERSIT Y OF MIAMI

Turns out all that stomping, chanting and mascot mayhem isn’t just for show—it’s rooted in science. In a research article published in 2022, University of Florida professors of sports management Yong Jae Ko and Younghwan Chang found that mascots attract new fans and strengthen the relationship between existing supporters and sports teams. When people see a mascot, they attribute human-like characteristics to the school it represents. This forms a psychological and social relationship between fan and team. And much like the importance of national morale when a country is at war, the mascot’s job is to rally fans to support their team, win or lose.

During his reign at Miami, Routh was no rookie at building morale. “At the time, I think I was the only professional mascot in all of college (sports),” Routh says. Routh started his career as Cocky, the spirited representative for the University of South Carolina, while he was a student there in the early ’80s. After he graduated, he was hired as the Miami Maniac, a mascot dedicated to UM’s baseball team. The university then asked Routh to help revamp the Miami football mascot, and Sebastian the Ibis soon became known for his stunts. The bird knew how to make an entrance—picture helicopters flying into the Orange Bowl and speedboats cutting across Biscayne Bay. Routh was ruffling feathers and making his mark on Miami.

Before his first-ever game as Sebastian in 1984, Routh asked where he could change into the mascot suit and was directed to the football players’ locker room. It also happened to be

“To this day, when Miami plays at Doak Campbell Stadium, a Leon County sheriff’s deputy will search out and keep Sebastian off the field until after (Osceola) does his thing,” Routh chuckles. “So I guess you could say I kind of created that tradition.”

It’s game-day traditions like this that ignite passion in college football fans across the nation. Every fall, hundreds of thousands descend on Florida stadiums not only to watch their team play to win, but also to revel in the pageantry—the drumlines, the chants, the cheers, the chomps and the chops. And at the center of it all, stirring pride with every wave, dance and stunt, are the mascots. These characters are more than sideline jesters. In a state where college football rivals religion, they are icons of identity brought to life by the people who wear the suits, ride the horses and carry the torches.

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This spread from left:

Sebastian the Ibis storms the field with the Miami Hurricanes football team; the University of Miami plays in Hard Rock Stadium; Sebastian was detained by the Leon County Sheriff’s Office at an FSU football game in 1989.

the first game for the team’s new head coach, Jimmy Johnson.

Johnson was walking around the locker room, slapping players on the back and prepping them for the hours ahead, when he came upon Routh sitting next to his beaked helmet. Routh introduced himself as Sebastian, Miami’s mascot. Johnson, who would go on to coach the Hurricanes to a perfect 12-0

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This spread from left:

UF fans are known as Gator Nation; three women hold Albert by leash circa 1960; the UF Gator Walk; the Fightin’ Gator Marching Band performs on the Steve SpurrierFlorida Field; Albert traveled through Tallahassee in 1965; Albert and Alberta mingle with fans.

He now works as the executive director of the UM Sports Hall of Fame & Museum, and he attends Canes’ games to see his old pal Sebastian and his female counterpart, Gigi, firing up the crowd. Routh even cheered on the Bird when Sebastian was inducted into the Mascot Hall of Fame in June.

Under Century Tower

While most college mascots are plush, padded or—in Sebastian’s case—feathered, the University of Florida once took a more literal approach. From 1957 to 1970, UF used live American alligators as their mascot—although, there are records of the tradition from long before. Albert the Alligator’s first documented home was in the backyard of the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity house, and later in a pen near Century

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TRENTON BARDI, UNIVERSIT Y OF FLORIDA ARCHIVES, JAY METZ

season and national championship in 1987, was shocked that the mascot dressed with the football players.

“And I said, ‘Yes sir, it’s a tradition at Miami,’” Routh says. “Well, the tradition started right then and there.” This continued for the rest of Routh’s time at the U, leading to friendships with the players and touchdown celebrations involving Sebastian on the field.

Fans also have Routh to thank for the iconic C-A-N-E-S spellout cheer. Once the stadium reaches a near brain-rattling decibel, Sebastian signals the chant, and fans spell out Canes in a sharp staccato. “I had tried to do it when I was at South Carolina, but trying to spell out C-O-C-K-S is a little more difficult,” Routh laughs.

After his nine-season reign as Sebastian ended at the end of the 1992 season, Routh’s ties with the school only strengthened.

FLORIDA MEMORY, MAT T STAME Y

Tower, the 157-foot-tall bell tower situated in the middle of campus.

Being the face of Gator Nation wasn’t easy. Albert endured students throwing cigarette butts and beer bottles in his pen, rival kidnappings, prank paint jobs and outlandish stunts. These antics twice turned deadly: first in 1954, when Albert was found beaten to death in his pen, and then in a shocking 1965 incident when a later alligator successor was shot near the —KOURTNEY LAPLANT eye. In 1970, the fifth live Albert alligator was released into Lake Alice, a small body of water on campus. Later that year, the university introduced a costumed version—later joined by Alberta, his orangebowed female counterpart.

Decades after Albert and Alberta debuted their softer side, UF student Kourtney LaPlant spotted an ad for the mascot auditions in the school newspaper and thought, “Why not?”

As a freshman, LaPlant had to pass three stages of tryouts: a personal interview, a skit in the mascot suit and an improv session to see how she would react in realistic, unexpected situations. She succeeded, portraying Alberta from 2001 to 2005 and becoming a Friend of the Gator—UF’s secretive mascot program. Her then-boyfriend and now-husband, Brian, auditioned a year later, suiting up as Albert from 2002 to 2005.

“Sometimes kids are scared of us,” Brian says. “Sometimes it was unruly fans.”

The energy of gator nation is pretty hard to beat.

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game-day Eats

try three tailgate recipes from THESE favorite college-town spots.

The Freshman 15 Burger

By The Swamp,Gainesville Serves 1 1 8-ounce groundbeef patty 2 slices thick-cut bacon 1 jalapeño 1 cup sliced onion 1 tablespoon butter 1 slice American cheese 1 slice pepper jack cheese 1 egg 1 brioche bun PREPARATION: Let patty sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.

Cook bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy, about 4–5 minutes per side. Leave about 1 tablespoon of bacon fat in pan and set aside. Slice

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jalapeño into five rings and add to pan. Cook 30–45 seconds per side until slightly blistered and set aside. Next, cook onions over low heat in butter until soft.

Remove from skillet. Butter the insides of bun. Toast on the skillet until golden brown for about 1 minute. Season the patty with salt and pepper on both sides.

Heat butter over medium-high heat. Cook patty for 4 minutes on the first side. Flip patty and immediately place American and pepper jack cheese on top. Cover with a lid and cook for 3–4 minutes. Remove patty and set aside. In the same pan, melt a little butter and crack the egg. Cook sunny-side up for about 2–3 minutes. On bottom bun, layer onions, burger patty, jalapeño slices, bacon and fried egg. Add more onions on top, if desired. Complete burger with the top bun.

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Mild Italian Hot Dog

By Link, Tallahassee Serves 1

HERB AIOLI 1 cup peeled garlic cloves 12 ounces neutral oil, depending on size of baking dish 1 pint mayonnaise 2 teaspoons lemon juice Chopped oregano Chopped parsley Chopped scallions Chopped basil Salt and pepper, to taste PREPARATION: Place garlic cloves on an oven-safe dish.

Pour oil to cover the garlic, plus an extra 3–4 ounces. Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake at 325 degrees for 45–60 minutes or until garlic is tender and oil is

fragrant. Let cool. Separate garlic from oil and mash cloves into a puree. Combine roasted garlic, mayonnaise, lemon juice, herbs, salt and pepper. Stir until smooth.

HOT DOG 1 mild Italian sausage 1 onion 1 bell pepper 1 rustic Italian bun or baguette 2 ounces herb aioli Grated Parmesan cheese PREPARATION: Roast sausage over a hot grill or grill pan until deep brown. Thinly slice onion and pepper and sear on a skillet for about 5–7 minutes.

Spread herb aioli on insides of bun, or baguette cut to size.

Place sausage inside and top with griddled onions, peppers and Parmesan.

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Hurricane Cocktail

By Sandbar, Miami Serves 1

ounce Bacardi Superior white rum

3/4

3/4 3/4

3/4

ounce Malibu coconut rum

ounce Captain Morgan spiced rum ounce triple sec

1 ounce pineapple juice 2 ounces orange juice Splash of grenadine Pineapple, orange and maraschino cherries, for garnish PREPARATION: Combine white rum, coconut rum, spiced rum, triple sec, pineapple juice, orange juice and grenadine in a chilled shaker filled with ice. Shake vigorously. Pour over ice into a hurricane glass. Garnish with a slice of pineapple, orange and a maraschino cherry.

Though the two dated off the field and eventually married, their characters are officially “just friends”—a running debate among Gator loyalists and loathers alike.

“It’s something we can say we did together as a couple,” Kourtney says.

Kourtney was a female mascot when women’s sports were still burgeoning. The university introduced its women’s soccer team in 1995 and softball team in 1997, among other women’s sports.

“We had to fight to get equal footing for some appearances, especially at football games,” Kourtney explains. “One thing that was kind of a struggle for me was away football games.

Home football games, both of us go. Away football games, Alberta never traveled with the team—just Albert. It really makes me proud now to see Alberta going to away games. I think it’s really changed for the better, and I’m happy for that.”

Today, the real-life couple lives with their two children in Gainesville and has season tickets to The Swamp, watching every home football game and catching up with other former mascots and friends at the F Club, an exclusive lounge for former UF athletes.

“We have a tradition,” Kourtney shares about her family.

“We don’t leave games early, win or lose. We always make pregame. We stay till the last second, and we always sing the fight song at the end of the game before we leave.” The LaPlants, like many others, like to relive the glory days while feeling like a small part of something much bigger in the present.

It’s hard for the couple to believe that 20 years have passed since they last took the field as Albert and Alberta, but the LaPlants still feel the same excitement in the stadium as if they were performing on the sidelines. “The energy of Gator Nation is pretty hard to beat,” Kourtney says.

Unconquered

Jeff Ereckson remembers the first time he saw FSU fans do the Chop. It was Oct. 13, 1984, and the FSU Seminoles were playing the Auburn Tigers in Tallahassee. The stadium was packed, and Ereckson, who served as Osceola from 1983 to 1984, felt it shaking from the roar of the crowd. According to Ereckson, the Marching Chiefs, FSU’s band, were sitting close to the student section and blocking the view of a group of fraternity brothers. The frat guys kept motioning for the band to sit down, waving their arms to a thrumming beat. Other fans saw the movement, and it caught on, he says.

“That’s kind of how it evolved. At the time, you had no idea it would become a tradition,” says Ereckson, now the Director of Development for FSU’s College of Arts and Sciences. “And

@T H E FLAMI NG O M AG

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of course, as time went on, it certainly has. It’s also become a part of FSU lore.”

The university officially does not have a mascot, insisting that Osceola and Renegade are symbols that “pay tribute to the resilience and courage of the Florida Seminoles” Tribe.

Osceola refrains from cheerleading during games, being subject to parameters set by tribal partners that control how the pair can be depicted. The Seminole Tribe of Florida—known for never signing a peace treaty with the U.S. government—has been a symbol of strength for the school since FSU adopted the Seminole name in 1947. But that early adoption came without the Tribe’s blessing. For decades, the university used sweeping Native American stereotypes in its imagery: tomahawks, warbonnets and teepees.

That changed in the 1970s, when FSU began a partnership with the Seminole Tribe of Florida to move toward a more respectful representation. The modern Osceola pregame ritual was born in 1978 when FSU alum Bill Durham created a proposal to honor the historical figure. Durham presented the idea of a horse and rider to FSU’s then-head football coach Bobby Bowden and got his support. Durham

you realize at a football game, it’s like being home again. then went to Seminole Tribe Chairman Howard Tommie, who signed off on the proposal and provided consultation to ensure an accurate presentation. Osceola and Renegade have since become an iconic expression of FSU’s culture, recognized around the world as a living tribute to the unconquered spirit of the Seminole Tribe of Florida. To this day, the Tribe works closely with the Osceola and Renegade pageantry program, creating authentic apparel for the men portraying the legendary warrior.

Before Ereckson first wore the war paint, he spent two years as an apprentice. “You may remember how Coach Bowden used to go about with training his quarterbacks,” says Ereckson, referencing the championship-winning coach’s practice of making true-freshman quarterbacks wait two years before allowing them to step foot on the game-day field. “That’s the kind of approach that we use with the Renegade team as well.”

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For his freshman and sophomore years, Ereckson spent a minimum of three days a week mucking out stalls, riding the Appaloosa horse at secret training grounds and forming a bond with the animal. “You’ve got to get to know the horse. The horse has to get to know you,” Ereckson says.

During their pregame ritual, Osceola, atop Renegade, charges the field while hoisting a burning spear over his head. When the duo reaches the FSU logo at the 50-yard line, Renegade rears up, and Osceola plants the flaming spear into the turf. The ride onto the field is no small feat. Unlike traditional saddles, Renegade’s uses only a blanket and girth—no stirrups—requiring incredible leg strength.

“When you ride a motorcycle, you know where the gas is, (where) the brake is, and you realize that everything is up to you,” Ereckson says. “When you’ve got a horse, it’s different.”

Horses can be wary of new people they don’t recognize,

@THEF LAMINGOMAG

FLORIDA STATE ATHLETIC S, JEFF ERECKSON

—JOHN ROUTH

MASCOT MADNESS

The spirit animals hyping up Florida’s game days University of Central Florida Knightro the Knight O R L AND O

University of South Florida Rocky the Bull TAMPA

Florida A&M University Venom the Rattlesnake & Lady Venom TAL L AH A S SEE

Florida International University Roary Panther M IAMI

Florida Atlantic University Owlsley the Owl B O C A R ATON

University of North Florida Ozzie the Osprey J A C K S ONVI LLE

Florida Gulf Coast University Azul the Eagle F O R T MYER S

University of West Florida Argie the Argonaut P EN S A C OL A

This spread from top: Eve, the night before the 1993 Sugar Osceola and Renegade Bowl. The Hurricanes were in New plant a burning spear Orleans to face Alabama. Routh and in Bobby Bowden Field during FSU’s pregame a group of other Canes fans were sing- tradition; Jeff Ereckson as Osceola in 1984. ing their fight song on Bourbon Street with kazoo accompaniment.

“We were doing the Miami fight song and bam!—something just kind of hit me in the face,” Routh says.

A stray bullet had struck his temple and exited through his cheek. He later learned he was the first gunshot victim of the night, the result of an ongoing practice among gangs in the area to fire celebratory rounds across the French Quarter to celebrate the New Year. Thirteen stitches later, Routh still suited up for the big game, wrapping Sebastian’s helmet in matching bandages.

“Well, it’s gonna take a hell of a lot more than a bullet hole in the head to keep me out of this game,” Routh said to ABC announcer Bob Griese in an interview at the time.

Now, decades removed from the sidelines but never far from the action at the U, Routh still taps into the power of the traditions he helped build.

“You can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been,” Routh says. “The world changes a lot, but it’s nice to have something that’s familiar. Something that brings back memories and makes you realize at a football game, it’s like being home again.”

That feeling of homecoming hits Routh every time he sees a football team take the field or when he walks the UM Sports Hall of Fame & Museum, where Sebastian lives on—and where he keeps that fire extinguisher from 1989 on display.

which isn’t ideal in game-day situations. A strong relationship with the animal is key. To build trust with his Renegade, Ereckson fed the horse sugar cubes during their time together.

“The more they know you, the more they like you, the more they’ll respond to you when they need to,” Ereckson explains.

Ereckson looks back fondly on his time portraying Osceola.

He’s grateful for the opportunity to embody FSU’s spirit and pay tribute to the Seminole Tribe of Florida.

“You’re part of the tapestry, if you will. You’re woven into it all,” Ereckson says. “You’re part of the experience. And it makes me proud to say I was a part of it.”

Homecoming

Back at UM, Routh recounts his final game as Sebastian—a memory that hasn’t faded even though his scar has. It was New Year’s

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Miami’s

Michelin Imports Global restaurant groups have flooded Miami and now the city’s culinary scene has never tasted better.

Here’s our guide to where the outsiders get it right.

LORENZO FR ANCO, DOUGL AS FRIEDMAN, VEC TOR STOCK

By ERIC BARTON

This spread from left: In the kitchen at

Otto & Pepe’s Miami location; the dining room at Dirty French Steakhouse in Miami

I

f you’re like me, you won’t find Niño Gordo until you wander into an apartment building lobby nearby and ask a security guard for assistance. After some hand gestures and charades to explain where the coveted restaurant is located, you finally realize you walked right past it a few minutes earlier. The front door, after all, is hidden down a side street, camouflaged in the middle of a gigantic mural depicting the eponymous niño gordo riding an alligator and plastered with posters that look like travel stickers on an old suitcase. There’s no sign, no hint of the neon extravaganza hidden inside.

Step through the door and a beaded curtain, and you’re transported to the neon streets of Tokyo—where a scarlet hue is cast upon everything inside, a sea of paper lanterns hangs overhead and there’s a chef’s bar so low you feel like you’re in a yoga squat when you sit down. Figurines are lined up along the bar counter—Bowser from Mario Kart, an evil version of Ronald McDonald and a rotund Cap’n Crunch—standing upright like the row of chefs behind them.

The food is as eccentric as the space: tuna tataki arrives resembling a sunflower with an egg yolk at its center as sunny as a Florida morning. There’s fried cauThis page from left: liflower with grapes—a combination Niño Gordo Miami that sort of works—and fried rice dotis an spin-off of the original in Buenos ted with hunks of crab large enough to Aires; Niño Gordo’s become islands in Biscayne Bay. vegetarian udon

I love the ambition of it all, and the spectacle alone is worth another trip. Niño Gordo, a spin-off of the original cult classic born in Buenos Aires, is the kind of place that proves Miami isn’t just keeping up with the truly great food cities of the world. We’re starting to lead.

That happened thanks to an invasion that began just after the COVID19 pandemic. It seemed like every New York and Los Angeles hospitality group planted their flag in our sand, and for a minute there, it felt like the city might sink from it. Local restaurateurs echoed the same fears: too many seats, not enough talent and a population already spoiled by choice.

But here’s what actually happened. These imported restaurant groups came to town, threw down velvet banquettes and vintage glassware, and forced everybody else to step up. They brought professional servers, deeper wine lists curated by sommeliers and menus built by chefs who collect Michelin trophies. They sourced from local farms and made tableside presentations into performance art.

So, in the name of research (and because I enjoy a good creme brulee as much as your average Frenchman), I set out to craft a weekend itinerary for anyone coming to Miami with an appetite for this new culinary wave. It covers neighborhoods and a dozen restaurants, all connected by a common thread: None of this would have existed here just five years ago.

Day 1

Wynwood

You’ve arrived in town, I’m assuming, just in time for happy hour. For your first night, I’m going to suggest a Wynwood progressive. First, head to UC HI because few restaurants have figured out how to clone the high-end sushi experience like this concept from Austin. The space is undoubtedly pushing design boundaries—nicer by a mile than most places with California rolls on the menu—terraceous lights running along the ceiling, blond and brown woods that seamlessly comingle in a masterclass in sleek restaurant aesthetics.

It’s hard to imagine disliking anything at Uchi, and you should come back for the tasting menu at some point in your

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RUBEN CABRER A , UCHI MIAMI

life. But today you’re just here for the well-priced happy hour: wagyu croquettes for $12, charcoal-seared chicken thigh skewers for $10, albacore tuna nigiri that looks airbrushed for $9 and a citrusy whisky highball for $11.

Uchi’s founder is Chef Tyson Cole, who spent his elementary-school years in Sarasota. In Austin, Cole created a restaurant that does what only the best places can do: continue, night after night, to uphold an impossibly high standard. He’s cloned his concepts now in places like Dallas, Denver, Houston, Scottsdale, West Hollywood and here in Miami. Some might even call it a chain, albeit a 24-karat gold one.

That ability to repeatedly replicate a high-quality experience reminds me of Houston’s, the first chain I can remember spreading nationwide that was a cut above an average restaurant. There are restaurateurs and chefs and servers everywhere who credit Houston’s—along with its parent company, Hillstone Restaurant Group—with teaching them how to master an exceptional dining experience. Now it’s these outside fine-dining restaurant groups that are training the next wave of servers and chefs who will almost certainly go out and open their own restaurants with what they’ve learned.

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I parsed the idea during a phone call with restaurateur Evan Funke, who in the fall of 2024 introduced Miami’s Design District to his MOTHER WOLF concept, with its hermetically sealed room to assure the most perfect pasta-making station. It was one of the splashiest openings in the last year. Funke says he studied restaurant groups like Hillstone— and even McDonald’s—when he began cloning his restaurants elsewhere. “I’ve studied these groups extensively,” he says. “They are master operators.” Not just with food consistency but hiring, ordering, training—things that can make a good restaurant. Funke says he relishes in the idea that his places are the training ground for the next crop of Miami restaurateurs. “These are teaching restaurants. We’re not slinging hash here. We’re teaching chefs, building leadership, growing teams and getting them to work as a team.”

Back when Houston’s spread nationally two decades ago,

This page from left: Inside the

bar at Uchi, which originated in Austin at the hands of Chef Tyson Cole; Uchi’s Miami location is nestled in the heart of the Wynwood neighborhood; Uchi is known for its high-end sushi.

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This spread, clockwise:

tempting to continue on to the cappelletti stuffed with corn and served in a basil-butter fondue, but I’ve got one more stop for you on this Wynwood guide.

Head now to PAST IS —a New York expat that’s been a favorite of celebrities going back to its Meatpacking District days. If it’s nice out, ask for a table in the garden, beneath the twinkling lights and leafy trees. Or head inside to a bar where tiled walls, dark wood, antique-inspired stools and lighting the color of tobacco smoke make it feel like you’re a block from the Seine. Polish off your night with the vanilla bean creme brulee—a no-fuss version that nails it all, from the crispy top and oozy center to the warm madeleine on the side. With it, order a glass of pastis: an oddball of a black licorice drink poured slowly over ice cubes, with lots of pomp. No one in Miami captured the essence of a Parisian cafe so perfectly before Pastis—but it’s just a warm-up for all you have coming over the weekend.

Day 2

Coconut Grove & Brickell

Begin the next day in Coconut Grove at SADELLE’S sitting outside on the sun-dappled and leafy patio—a popular destination for ladies’ brunches and the start of bachelorette weekends.

Here, the bagel tower comes out looking as impressive as the

WONHO FR ANK LEE, LORENZO FR ANCO, VEC TOR STOCK

Handcut filet mignon tartare from Mother Wolf Miami in the Design District; Otto & Pepe is known for its fresh pasta bar; South Pacific prawns at Mother Wolf Miami; the bar at Mother Wolf Miami

most fine-dininglevel chains in this country were steakhouses. But now many big cities have clones of places from New York and Los Angeles and, especially these days in Miami, from South American cities.

Which is why the next stop on my epicurean escape is situated just three blocks away from Uchi at the appropriately named P A S TA , where a husband and wife, who brought their concept from Peru, work behind the counter.

The cacio e pepe, a traditional Roman dish that’s essentially just pasta, cheese and pepper, performs a magic trick in being both delicate and intense, and there are no faults to find in the spaghetti with confit pomodoro and ricotta.

Just a block south is OTTO & PEPE, where the menu reads like a love letter from Rome. Chef Viviana Varese, who created the menu, boasts Michelin credentials and a knack for sneaking vegetables into things you’d never expect. Sit at the counter, where the chefs will hand you pastas as they’re made, like the perfectly al dente orecchiette with smoky eggplant. It’ll be

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We’re not slinging hash here. We’re teaching chefs, building leadership, growing teams and getting them to work as a team.

—EVAN FUNKE

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Having great hospitality only furthers a city like Miami.

—MARIO CARBONE skyscrapers on the bay, piled high on a tiered tea-time tray with smoked salmon sliced like silk scarves. The French toast could qualify as architecture: thickcut brioche as big as a slice of birthday cake, as smooth as pudding in the center, crisped and caramelized along the edges.

It’s brunch-as-a-background-for-a-selfie but with dishes good enough to make Sadelle’s popular without its Instagram-worthiness.

Sadelle’s is a gilded chain restaurant, brought here from New York by the Major Food Group (MFG) folks, which also dropped Carbone on Miami Beach and its sister restaurant, Carbone Vino, in the Grove. Food critics and online trolls sometimes call MFG restaurants overpriced, but these are the kinds of places to bring out-of-towners. MFG turns dinner into something exceptional with theatrical waiters and rolling trays where salads are assembled and bar areas that feel like

This spread from left:

STARR RESTAUR ANTS, EVAN SUNG; VEC TOR STOCK

The dining room at Pastis Miami; the wedge salad at Dirty French Miami; Major Food Group’s Dirty French; Pastis offers traditional French cuisine like this savory crepe.

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eight-figure deals are being drawn up on napkins. We can debate the true value of Carbone’s $34 spicy rigatoni vodka, or we can appreciate that its arrival in Miami spawned all kinds of clone Italian restaurants trying to outdo it. In a Magic City twist on the metaphor, the rising sea level lifts all boats.

The MFG invasion began during COVID, when Mario Carbone put together a Zoom call with the staff of his New York restaurants and made an announcement: We’re moving to Miami. With the city open months before anywhere else, Carbone opened his namesake restaurant on the beach, and it immediately became the toughest reservation to get in the city.

During a phone call with Carbone, I asked him about how locals in the industry feared all these restaurant groups at first. “I can’t imagine there’s been a negative

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Miami hasn’t lost itself to the outsiders.

We’ve learned from them.

—ERIC BARTON

effect,” he says. “Having great hospitality only furthers a city like Miami.” Any great restaurant already here before these outsiders arrived is likely doing well now, pointing to the fact that Joe’s Stone Crab is still the nation’s most profitable restaurant, with $49 million in sales in 2024. “Great places,” Carbone says, “are always going to be warranted and always be needed.”

In other words, there’s plenty of room for well-executed restaurants like Sadelle’s. Polishing off the bagel tower, however, will likely keep you satiated until the afternoon, so slowly drift your way to Brickell and land at D EL I L A H just in time for happy hour. The Los Angeles transplant has the feel of a midcentury supper club—the plush booths and raindrop chandeliers and the red-haired singer in her green silk dress all come together like a lovely plating of nostalgia. Matching is Delilah’s happy hour menu, featuring chicken tenders, pigs in a blanket and a half-off martini that’s so cold you have to put the glass down between sips. Some scoff at the food of our childhoods being served as fine dining, but I appreciate a restaurant that reinvents hot dogs wrapped in canned bread by using mini wagyu beef dogs, seeded croissants, grainy mustard and Périgord black truffles.

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Dinner awaits a block away at

C L AUD IE , the French Mediterranean

dreamscape with a limestone fountain and a dining room with a collage of artwork so perfectly mismatched you might just take a photo to help plan your remodel. The owner is Riviera Dining Group, started by husbandand-wife team Gregory Galy and Marine Giron-Galy. Originally from Los Angeles, they opened some of the country’s most profitable restaurants, including Mila on Miami Beach, which the ownership told me grossed $52 million in 2023. Its success over the past four years has served as a beacon, attracting other restaurant groups to flood Miami. The chef who oversees Claudie, Michaël Michaelidis, has cooked at restaurants that have accumulated a total of 26 stars from the Michelin Guide. It’s here that Michaelidis makes the food of his home in France: a salad niçoise that fans out like somebody spent an hour plating it, snail shells stuffed with herbed butter and a sea bass deboned tableside and presented with the

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importance of an engagement ring. Through it all, the staff glides through the room like cocktails are a mainstay at Serafina; Alvin Ailey choreographed them. the Marana Forni Try not to order too much because afterpizza oven gives Serafina’s pizzas ward you’ll head to the basement of a hightheir signature crisp; rise for D I R TY F R EN C H , an MFG-created Serafina’s fettuccine al tartufo nero; the steakhouse with zebra-print armchairs and bar at Serafina servers in ruffled shirts and pink tuxedo jackets—it’s all Vegas-like in its outrageousness. I’d recommend lingering in the lounge, where the gin martini comes with a twist or onions. End the night with an extravagance, like the classic caviar service—a thing that wasn’t found much in Miami before restaurants like this showed up. Nowadays, many places are putting “bumps” of caviar on people’s hands such as restaurant Oro, brought to Lincoln Road by a New York restaurant group. Say what you will about social-media-fueled trends, but the world is better with more caviar.

Perhaps you’ll end the night at Dirty French with hot beignets or a mint sundae. But remember: There’s still tomorrow and two meals of house-made pasta waiting.

This spread from left: Handcrafted

Day 3

KENNETH LESLE Y

Downtown & the beach

Lunch on Sunday is at S ER A F I N A in the new Miami Worldcenter development. No experimental chef-driven dishes here—Serafina is a restaurant where dishes are crowd-pleasers, like the lemon bowtie pasta and cacio e pepe, which is cooked tableside and tossed in a cheese wheel.

It’s a place that reminds me of Carrabba’s back in the day. I know what you’re thinking, but hear me out. Not because the food is in any way similar, but because in the 1990s, Carrabba’s took Italian American food as it was defined at the time and reproduced it at restaurants across America—including in West Palm, where I was living at the time. Back then, I could count the city’s good restaurants on one hand, and I’d wait two hours for a table at Carrabba’s and a plate of Chicken Bryan. Serafina did something similar in taking Italian dishes that are decidedly a step better—and more expensive—and then cloning itself all over New York, before coming to downtown Miami this year. To be sure, I’d recommend a half dozen homegrown Italian spots before Serafina (like the excellent Macchialina or Boia De), but I suspect you’ll still fall deeply in love with every plate of pasta draped with a lobster tail here at the upscale version of Carrabba’s.

Your final meal is at TH E S UR F C L UB R ES TA URANT —a Michelin-starred restaurant that has arguably done more for this

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city than any other import—inside Surfside’s Four Seasons Hotel.

It redefined the idea of an anniversary dinner. It’s owned by Thomas Keller, the famed chef from California’s French Laundry and holder of seven Michelin stars. Here he does a nostalgic menu of French onion dip with kettle chips, oysters Rockefeller and linguine with clams. All of it is wildly expensive—$24 for chips and dip!—but this is a place where all the theatrics and hoity-toityness of fine dining is replaced with a Rat Pack soundtrack, pro waiters who make jokes with you and just simply a place that feels welcoming in a way that most top-end restaurants do not.

It’s not just that The Surf Club is a very good restaurant. It’s also that it trains line cooks and servers and maitre d’s who will eventually leave for other places or open their own spots and spread their culinary intellect around Miami, cloning the very good ideas taught to them by the one and only Thomas Keller.

Cap off your experience at The Surf Club with the ice cream sundae, which is assembled tableside from toppings selected by you from a cart full of goodies: chocolate sauce, cherries, sprinkles, whipped cream as fluffy as the clouds over the Atlantic. You’re a kid again, tippy-toed at the counter of the ice cream shop, and what’s better than a meal that sends you into a fit of nostalgia?

Miami hasn’t lost itself to the outsiders. We’ve learned from them. We’ve borrowed their polish and mixed it with our melting pot of a restaurant culture. We took their white tablecloths and spilled mojitos on them. What we have now is a dining scene that finally feels grown up—a little flash, a little fire and a lot of something special.

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This spread from left:

Freshly caught mullet chill on ice; a mulletshaped weathervane on the top of the Old Wakulla County Courthouse

Long seen as a working-class fish, mullet is finding its way back on the menu.

Outlaw Fishermen of the Forgotten Coast

VEC TOR STOCK

By ASHIRA MORRIS /// Photography by ERICH MARTIN Illustration by JULES OZAETA

ff the coast of Florida’s Big Bend, Leo Lovel steered his airboat, customized with a net table on the front for mullet fishing, from the dock at Spring Creek out into Oyster Bay. The Gulf Coast town gets its name from the springs that bubble fresh water into the salty bay. Spring Creek Springs and Wakulla Springs collectively put out the highest freshwater flow of submarine springs in the world, creating an ideal environment for oysters, fish and seafood.

Zipping across the water, the fan boat flew over mats of swaying seaweed and past flocking seagulls. Lovel, up in the elevated captain’s chair, pointed us toward the St. Marks National Wildlife Refuge.

On shore, stilted beach houses gave way to rows of narrow longleaf pines topped by branching crowns. There are only two things important enough for him to cut the motor to the giant fan and come to a stop: a site with fishing history and the mullet themselves.

It was mullet run season: when the spawning silver fish migrate in massive swarms. These are the best mullet—fat

from months of eating through the summer, perfect for smoking or salting. The female fish are full of roe.

Lovel pointed out a school of mullet in the water and asked if we saw it. At first, all I could take in was the expanse of clear spring-fed water glinting in the sun. Then a wide ripple in the water suddenly came into focus like a Magic Eye illusion as it moved against the waves. Lovel watched the fish wistfully.

He would be reaching for a gillnet to strike them if it weren’t for statewide changes made 30 years ago to commerical fishing gear that banned the most popular way to fish for mullet.

There’s nobody making a

living or making money off

Below: Leo Lovel has

fished for mullet since the 1970s.

of it anymore.

—Leo Lovel

Lovel has been fishing for mullet since the ’70s, when he moved down to the coast and took over the Spring Creek Restaurant with his wife, Mary Jane. Lovel says there isn’t a 200-yard stretch on this coastline he hasn’t covered.

For decades, mullet was the staple fish in this part of the Panhandle. It was what people ate locally, and it was what visitors came down to the coast to enjoy. At Spring Creek Restaurant, the Lovels served it the classic way: fried, with salt, pepper and cornmeal. When they started running the restaurant, Lovel needed up to 400 pounds a week of the fish. But by the time they closed after Hurricane Michael in 2019, the demand had dwindled to 50 pounds a week.

The changes can be chalked up to overlapping factors. The 1995 ban on gillnet fishing, passed by a statewide ballot measure, dramatically diminished the commercial mullet fishery.

Commercial fishermen spent longer days on the water to catch fewer fish, resulting in higher expenses per pound caught.

People’s tastes changed, too. According to Lovel, families used to eat mullet “like white bread.” But younger folks coming into the restaurant wanted shrimp and stone crab: “something with no bones in it.”

“We love to eat them,” Lovel says. “We love to chase them.

We love to catch them. But I’ll put it this way: There’s nobody making a living or making any money off of it anymore.”

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Above, clockwise from top right:

FLORIDA MEMORY, VEC TOR STOCK

one man’s bait fish Mugil cephalus, more commonly known as the striped mullet, is a common fish found in warmer coastal waters, estuaries and rivers all over the world. Possessing glassy black eyes and silver scales, mullet typically grow to around 20 inches in length and weigh two to three pounds. They’re vegetarians that mainly eat microalgae and aquatic plant detritus. Their stomach has a gizzard-like structure, which allows them to grind their food.

This anatomical feature led to a famous early 20th-century Wakulla County court ruling after a group of mullet fishermen was arrested for fishing out of season. The local county judge let the fishermen off the hook by proclaiming the mullet, with gizzards, were actually birds. The weathervane topping the Old Wakulla County Courthouse is shaped like a mullet in homage to the ruling.

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Seine fishing is pictured circa 1980; since the gillnet ban in 1994, mullet are now caught in cast nets; the best time to catch mullet in the Gulf is late fall to early winter.

The mullet along the crook of Florida’s Big Bend and across the Panhandle coast feed off the area’s mineral quartz sand bottom, giving them a better taste than the fish feeding from mud-bottom environments.

Elsewhere, mullet is a bait fish—but along Florida’s Gulf Coast, the fish is a part of the culture.

“Mullet are so underappreciated,” says Angela Collins, a marine fisheries specialist with the University of Florida.

“They’re super valuable to Florida’s history and have a lot of potential to continue to have value into the future.”

That history stretches back to the native population, who relied on mullet as a primary food source centuries ago. These early Indigenous peoples caught schooling mullet using natural fiber nets that were weighted at the bottom with stones, while the top floated with the help of buoyant plants.

In the 1800s, Wakulla County saw the emergence of seine yards—seasonal base camps for mullet fishermen, which came to life in late fall when the run season started.

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This spread: Fishermen would live on site for the Mullet are known six to eight weeks of the run season. as bottom-feeders who mainly Using nets weighted down with lead eat microalgae and buoyed by cork, the fishermen and aquatic plant detritus. employed similar techniques to the Indigenous Floridians, flinging arcing nets to haul thousands of fish to shore.

The mullet were salted and put in barrels. Before refrigeration, the fish were traded with farmers in South Georgia for land crops like sweet potatoes. Barrels of salted mullet were loaded onto trains in Sopchoppy and other coastal depots and sent north. On site at the seine yard, fishermen fried mullet for camp-wide communal meals.

David Roddenberry, whose book “Historic Seine Yards of Wakulla and Franklin Counties” documents the sites, grew up in the small town of Sopchoppy, not far from Spring Creek and the fishing camps he writes about. When he was young, he remembers a man driving around town selling mullet off the back of his truck, freshly caught the night before and weighed out on a scale in the truck bed.

In Roddenberry’s lifetime, the fisheries boomed. Initially, the main value of mullet was for its meat, with demand for the fish primarily located within Florida. In the 1960s and 1970s, the state attempted to promote the fish and create a national market. First, the state formally renamed the fish “lisa” to avoid the trash fish association. When that didn’t work, the state tried a different tactic.

“For good eating, many commercial fishermen prefer mullet over all other fish,” a Florida Mullet Recipes pamphlet from 1968 proclaims. “With this endorsement, you should give mullet a try.” In 1968, the Florida Board of Conservation produced an educational film called “Mullet Country.”

Opening with footage of wild Florida waterways and happy young couples making mullet at a beach cookout, the film sold mullet as a cosmopolitan food that could be served at “fashionable gatherings.”

“Do you have mullet in France?” a man in a dinner jacket asks a French woman while playing chess in a later scene. “Oh yes we do,” she assures him. However, despite all the state’s efforts to market mullet to Americans beyond Gulf Coast Florida, what ultimately drove the fish’s popularity was an international demand for mullet roe.

“It suddenly became a super high-value commodity fish because they were fishing for roe that they were then exporting,” Collins says.

Floridians hardly considered roe to be a luxury good— some spots along the coast sold roe and grits for breakfast.

But exports to France, Japan, China and other markets caused a bonanza. Lovel remembers Spring Creek being like “the wild

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wild west” in the ’80s, with out-of-towners showing up to fish and earn money.

“Basically, if somebody offered them just a shelter over their heads, food or cigarette and beer money, they got you,” he says.

“It was crazy, wild, rough, tough. It was so much fun.”

turning tides In 1992, Lovel was asked to attend a meeting held by the Department of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources in Tallahassee. There was one item to discuss: a

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gear, prohibiting gillnets in all state waters and only allowing nylon nets of up to 500 square feet in near-shore and inshore waters.

The mullet fishery, specifically in the Panhandle, played a significant part in what ultimately led to the ballot question. At the time, the Gulf Coast area was the biggest segment of the inshore fishery. Mullet roe alone could bring in millions of dollars in a season. Lovel remembers putting up to 10,000 pounds of mullet on trucks bound for New York twice a week.

The state fisheries commission was stuck, unable to pass any measures without pushback. There were also concerns about bycatch, when fishing nets accidentally entrap other species. The end result was a blanket ban that cratered the commercial mullet fishery.

Many fishermen in the Spring Creek area remain upset at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, which enforces fishery rules. Individuals like Lovel continue to be frustrated by what they say was a prioritization of recreational fishing, development and higher-end tourism money over the working industry.

“We got to participate in historical cultural change,” Lovel says. “We just didn’t know at the time.”

It suddenly became a super high-value commodity fish.

VEC TOR STOCK

—Angela Collins

proposal to ban net fishing throughout Florida. When he returned to Spring Creek and gathered other fishermen to share the news, they laughed. It couldn’t be true.

“Well, they did it,” Lovel says. “And it turned all of us into outlaws.”

Two years later, Floridians voted in favor of Amendment Three of the Florida Constitution on the November 1994 ballot question. The movement was spearheaded by the Coastal Conservation Association of Florida and Karl Wickstrom, the founding publisher of Florida Sportsman magazine, in an effort to limit bycatch and promote sportfishing interests. Commonly referred to as “the net ban,” the ballot initiative enshrined in the state constitution a restriction on specific types of fishing

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fish of the people In the two years after the net ban, landings for mullet—or the weight of fish caught and brought to market—dropped to 7.3 million pounds from 18.5 million pounds collected in the two years prior. Dockside value for mullet dropped by 50%, while the price per pound increased by nearly 20 cents. Researchers say more studies are needed to understand the net ban’s effects fully. These days, it’s not as easy to find fresh mullet at a fish market, but a handful of shops still sell it. Nichols and Sons Seafood in Crawfordville is one of them. Their regulars have been buying mullet here for ages, owner Roger Noe says while standing outside the small white cinderblock building. There’s no sign, but people consistently pull up to buy fresh catch.

Mullet is one of the cheapest on the board.

Noe mostly sells to restaurants in the region, and, like Lovel, he’s seen the mullet demand decline from 20,000 pounds a week to 5,000.

“The older people are the ones who eat mullet,” he says.

When Noe was younger, his dad would take him out mullet fishing. He kept a Dutch oven, cornmeal and grease on board so they could fry the fish as soon as they caught it.

Ask most fishing folks their favorite way to eat mullet, and they’ll tell you that fried is the only way, served with grits or

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FRYING FISH WITH LEO LOVEL

L

ong-time mullet fisherman and restaurant owner Leo Lovel knows a thing or two about frying fish. His secret?

The backbone. “It’s tradition to fry them ’cause they are usually snapped up as quick as they come out of the pan and eaten as an informal appetizer because they are so delicious,” Lovel says of the mullet backbone. He suggests peeling the top skin off by pulling the fins, holding the backbone “like an ear of corn” and placing it flat in your mouth. Then bite down gently until your teeth hit the bones on one side and pull it out of your mouth, leaving you with salty and thin meat to enjoy.

Classic Fried Mullet

By Leo Lovel Serves 1

2 mullet fillets 2 mullet backbones, if desired 1 cup yellow cornmeal 1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil

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Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION: Generously sprinkle fillets and backbones with salt and pepper. Place fillets and backbones with yellow cornmeal in a brown paper bag and shake vigorously. Heat oil in a castiron skillet over medium heat (375 degrees). Add fillets and backbones with skin side down.

Cook for about 3 minutes on each side, turning over when downside is light brown and crispy. Serve hot from the pan. Pairs well with hush puppies, cheese grits, coleslaw or potato salad.

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hush puppies. Most seafood shacks serve it like this along Coastal Highway 98, which runs along the Gulf through mullet territory.

If not enjoyed freshly fried, the other classic preparation is smoked mullet dip. The savory spread is one of the two original items on the menu at Mineral Springs Seafood in Panacea, whose signboard on U.S. 98 reads “That place with the dips.”

Tim Williams, who took over the storefront from his parents 18 years ago, stopped offering fresh mullet as soon as he was in charge.

It’s a fish

of the people.

All of the people.

—Angela Collins

“It tastes like guts to me,” he says. “I had to eat so many of them growing up. I’d rather eat the box they come in.”

But the popular smoked mullet dip remains a staple at the roadside market—Williams acknowledges he has to have it for the locals. During run season in the fall, when the fish are fattest, Williams smokes enough mullet in the shack next to the store to make 400 pounds of dip every week.

Any seafood restaurant along the coastal highway worth its salt still has mullet on the menu.

“If you go to a seafood place here and it doesn’t have mullet, there’s probably something wrong,” says Thomas Derbes, a chef and Florida Sea Grant extension agent working with commercial and recreational fishers in Pensacola.

While most places around Spring Creek go for the traditional preparation—fried whole or smoked as dip—a few hours west there’s been experimentation. Derbes worked as a chef at the now-closed Kingfisher in Pensacola for two years, where he saw how much the community liked mullet. The restaurant hosted regular pop-up dinners; for one of the events, Derbes remembers he and the other chefs “just did something crazy.”

Mullet sushi had arrived.

“It was a hit,” he says. “People showed up for that.”

Derbes sees younger people excited about eating the fish as well, not just older folks. In March of this year, Derbes co laborated with the University of West Florida’s Archaeology Institute on an event called “A Mullet Story: Cast Nets and Cooking Traditions.” Taking place at the Museum of

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Commerce, the event featured expert talks on mullet’s cultural importance in Florida. Guests were able to try a range of dishes prepared by Derbes and other guest chefs, including old-school mullet and grits as well as mullet-topped oysters.

Derbes went more modern with fried mullet sliders.

When he’s cooking for himself, Derbes says he’s a fan of bottarga—cured mullet roe, which has a rich, salty flavor and can be enjoyed shaved on top of dishes.

Mullet has a reputation as a working-class fish—the fisherman’s fish. But the tides (and tastes) could be changing.

“I don’t think it was always that way,” Collins says. “And it doesn’t have to stay that way.”

For anyone, of any age, with a hankering for the flavors of Florida’s Gulf Coast, mullet is as close as it gets, no matter how it’s prepared.

“It’s a fish of the people,” she says. “All of the people.”

mullet memories

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Back on my tour of Oyster Bay with Lovel, he stopped his airboat along the way to point out several sites from the past. Not far from the St. Marks Lighthouse was Nat’s Point, an “iconic run stand,” where boats would line up ove night to have a good position the next morning in order to get first dibs on striking the fish coming down the shoreline. We cruised by what remained of the West Goose Creek seine yard, which had been all but leveled by Hurricane Kate in Nov. of 1985. We paused by wooden drying poles still standing sentinel over the marshland—Old-Florida relics from the days when fishermen would hang their flax cotton nets so they wouldn’t rot.

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As our time on the water came to a close and we made our way back toward Spring Creek, Lovel cut the engine once more. A small school of mullet rippled in the water nearby.

Lovel threw a green nylon cast net out into the creek—the legal way to fish these days—and started maneuvering the airboat in wide circles so the net would spiral “like a cinnamon roll” with the fish as the filling.

When the net was tightly wound, he started reeling it back up onto the bow of the airboat with mullet and bycatch trapped in the mesh. Lovel deftly removed the fish from the mesh, tossing trout and butterfish back into the water. On the dock, he worked through the fish. Before the net ban, Lovel would clean hundreds of pounds of mullet a week. It was a chore. After the ban, the task took on different meaning.

“I thoroughly enjoyed cleaning every mullet that I caught,” he says. “I would sit there and say to myself, you know, ‘I’m still here. I’m still catching fish.’”

This spread from left:

A tray of fried mullet fillets and backbone from Outzs Too; airboats are often used to fish for mullet; Lovel pulls a nylon net back into the boat.

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Gravity Defying FLAVORS

Astronaut judges evaluating cocktails at 2024’s Marstini Shake-Off

This fall, explore Taste of Space, a trio of exclusive culinary events where food meets the final frontier.

From the artistic mixology of Marstini Shake-Off to the seasonal flavors of Fall Bites and the star-studded showcase of Celebrity Chef, each experience ignites the senses. Come hungry for bold flavors and even bolder adventures.

Taste of Space: Marstini Shake-Off (After-hours, separately ticketed event) October 3, 2025 Taste of Space: Fall Bites (Chef-inspired specialty menu items) October 3 - November 9, 2025

A new selection of specialty menu items will be available for Fall Bites

Taste of Space: Celebrity Chef (After-hours, separately ticketed event) November 16, 2025

Flamingo readers can explore & save!

Get up close to iconic flight-flown space vehicles, tour behind NASA’s gates, meet an astronaut and feel the rumble of a live rocket launch. Experience the past, present and future of human space exploration, here at America’s premier spaceport. Plus, see the newest addition to the Kennedy Space Center bus tour, The Gantry at LC-39.

Chefs Jet Tila and Amanda Freitag will host this year’s Celebrity Chef

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Panhandling — sunny dispatches from NW FLA —

By Pr i s s y El ro d • I l l u st ra t i o n by S t ep h en L o m a zzo

Eat, Pray, Swell

What’s in Prissy Elrod’s bag? Homeopathic tinctures and an EpiPen.

L

et me just say this up front: I adore food. Not casually. Not the let’s-grab-dinner kind of love. I study menus. I plan entire vacations around where and what I’ll be eating. While other people research museums and historic walking tours, I’m knee-deep in restaurant recommendations, chef bios and indulgent ambiance. If I’m traveling, I’m tasting.

But every time I travel for food, cooking or

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anything epicurean, someone ends up swollen, red or en route to urgent care. Some might call it a curse. I call it a tradition. Let’s rewind.

It started years ago on a girls’ trip. Carefree and chatty, my friends and I were driving back to Tallahassee from Sarasota when someone offered me Skittles. I’d never had them before, so I didn’t know yet that I should never have them again.

An hour later, half my face was twice the size of the other. Turns out, I have a serious issue

with artificial dyes: Red 40, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Blue 1. Back home, I was pressing a wet washcloth to my swollen lips and Googling: “Skittles allergic reaction—fatal?”

After that incident, I made a trip to the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, where I was diagnosed with angioedema, an intense swelling of the face often triggered by allergies. The advice? “Take Benadryl daily as a prophylactic,” the doctor recommended.

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Panhandling

sunny dispatches from NW FLA

But I wasn’t feeling pharmaceutical or like sleeping through life—I was feeling holistic.

I called Jan Jensen, my longtime homeopathic guru. Jan’s the kind of person who looks into your eyes and asks about your energetic health.

He listened, took notes and consulted his wall of tincture bottles. That day, he handed me a remedy made from bee venom. I was terrified.

“Remember, in homeopathy: Like cures like,” he said, referencing the idea that exposure to the offending allergen can heal. “You’ll get worse before you get better. And your fingertips will probably swell last—then it’s over.”

He was right. They did (my baby finger looked like a sausage) and then, like magic, it was over.

I became a homeopathic believer, despite the skepticism of my doctor friends.

Then life showed me that it had a sense of humor: I married the male version of myself. Dale’s a swell guy.

Literally. He swells, too.

The first clue came on Jan. 1, 2000. We’d spent the night before at the Governors Club in Tallahassee, ringing in the New Year in style— sparkling lights, candlelit tables, a tasting menu filled with extravagant bites of this, that and the unknown. It was all perfect—until it wasn’t.

At sunrise, I woke to find my soon-to-be husband struggling to speak. I told him to open his mouth so I could look inside. When he did, I screamed. His uvula was the size of a ping-pong ball resting on top of his tongue.

“We’re going to the ER—now!”

I was trapped between two panicked states: “Let’s ride this out” and “Do I call an ambulance?” Since that widow’s cape still blanketed me after my first husband passed, I chose the latter. Seven hours later, Dale was discharged from the emergency room, and we left with an EpiPen and a new perspective on chef’s choice tasting menus.

time in New Orleans. What could go wrong in the food capital of the South? We were there with friends and had one mission: to eat. From powdered-sugar beignets at Café Du Monde to velvety Creole crab bisque, we indulged at every opportunity. But we saved our grandest expectations for our final night.

Through friends, we had a connection to the head of one of New Orleans’s most esteemed culinary institutions. He invited us to dine as his guests at one of the city’s top luxury hotels, where he was friends with the executive chef.

Upon arrival, we were ushered into a private dining room—posh, hushed and candlelit. No menus appeared. Instead, our host, who sat at the head of the table, announced he and the chef had curated every course, including the

a side of potential anaphylaxis. When in doubt, always order for yourself.

When in Rome

Then came peak culinary allergic disaster.

It happened on my most recent gastronomic tour: a dream trip to Italy steeped in pasta, olive oil and danger. I was prepared. I packed my No-Jet-Lag tablets (homeopathic magic), emergency meds and a cheerful outlook.

By the time we landed in Rome, after the 10-hour flight, I was energized and borderline euphoric. Dale, on the other hand, was sweating, nauseous and nursing a cramping calf.

I diagnosed him with a blood clot. Naturally, we skipped our hotel check-in and went straight to the ER. Our driver dropped us off, and I burst through the doors, Southern accent blazing, spouting what I assumed was urgent medical information.

But, in a blink, a nurse injected him with what I can only assume was a shot of heparin.

—PRISSY ELROD Then came the EKGs, echocardiograms, chest X-rays wine pairings. All 12 of them. There would be and enough bloodwork to supply a small no choices, no substitutions. It was to be an research lab. Had I misdiagnosed the blood immersive, chef-driven experience. Jackpot. clot? Possibly. They tried to admit him to the By course six—and hour three—things took a hospital and urged me to convince him to stay. turn for the worse.

He refused.

Between the duck confit and the Champagne “I’m not leaving you alone in Rome!” he toast, Dale’s throat began to swell. Again. I insisted. He’s stubborn and protective. After casually passed him a Benadryl from my purse 13 hours in the Roman ER (and one cranky and flagged the waiter. “What, exactly, is in English-speaking doctor), we fled. Later, I this?” I asked. He replied with a blank stare. watched Dale sleep, unable to close my eyes, Then came the final twist—the bill. The still buzzing from the No-Jet-Lag, wondering if culinary bigwig and the chef had hatched a plan: he was cured or if I was hallucinating.

It appeared the chef comped his meal, while the From Rome, we headed south to Termoli rest of us guests split the bill, which meant we for a week-long cooking retreat. I was ready paid for the privilege of not choosing our own for truffle shavings and wine pairings. Dale was food and nearly sending Dale to the hospital. just trying to breathe. By the time we arrived, The waiter’s tip alone gave me indigestion. But he was covered in a rash that looked like alien I had a remedy for that. I pulled my after-meal markings. I quietly asked our group leader for supplement (papaya enzyme with chlorophyll) the nearest pharmacy. She heard “rash” and from my bag and chewed it. called a doctor. Fifteen minutes later, Dale was Welcome to our new normal: fine dining with in an ambulance. Again.

His uvula was the size of a pingpong ball resting on his tongue.

Beignets and Benadryl Fast forward years later … It was another elegant evening marked by the element of surprise—this

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Panhandling

sunny dispatches from NW FLA

New town, new hospital, same mysterious symptoms. I sat in the waiting room with strangers whose words I couldn’t understand.

The hospital doors stood open to the warm night air, and I watched three chickens pecking in the courtyard—waiting, like me.

He was released around midnight—still undiagnosed, still blotchy—and with a new cocktail of untranslatable meds. In three days, he’d landed in two different hospitals in two different cities. And yet, we continued.

Because that’s what we do. I adore him.

Despite all, the week was glorious. We cooked with a five-star chef, crushed olives at Princess Marina Colonna’s estate, toured Caseificio Di Nucci (founded in 1662 and home to highly awarded cheeses) and dined in a trabucco fishing house that jutted out over

the Adriatic Sea. We drank wine until the scenery blurred. Dale scratched his way through each course like a devoted, allergic sous-chef. Despite trying to poison my husband, Italy fed my soul.

In BOCCA Al Lupo Which brings us to this year. Another epicurean adventure awaits: France and Italy. As you’re reading this, I’ll likely be mid-adventure. This trip is a girls-only getaway. No Dale. No Skittles. No medical emergencies. Please!

My husband has had his fill of Italy—literally.

To this day, we still don’t know what those Italian doctors gave him for the swelling. We only know the side effects: For two full weeks, nothing moved through his colon. Most men I know complain if they miss a single day without results. Fourteen days? The man is still scarred.

100% YERBA MATE

We all know: Hell hath no fury like a constipated man! Somewhere between the missed courses and mystery swelling, I realized I’ll never be that carefree traveler.

But I will always be the one with the story: the improvisation, the emergency, the antihistamines and the silver linings. My experience may never go as planned—but honestly, would I even remember it if it did?

In bocca al lupo, as the Italians say—wish me luck!

Prissy Elrod is a professional speaker, artist and humorist, and the author of two nonfiction books: “Far Outside the Ordinary” and “Chasing Ordinary,” the sequel. She was born and raised in Lake City and now lives in Tallahassee with her husband, Dale.

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THE REAL FLORIDA MAGIC IS HERE

PEEBLES BAR-B-Q :: AUBURNDALE, FL

Dig in to unexpected delights, from original restaurants proudly serving up fresh local flavor to amazing barbecue here in the BBQ Capital of Florida. Our growing culinary scene, extraordinary attractions, historic gems and natural beauty provide a charming retreat that’s off the beaten path, yet still close to it all. Plan your stay at VisitCentralFlorida.com

ON THE FLY: GROVE STAND SEASON’S EATINGS B y E va n S . B en n

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Shawarma marinated skewers with cucumber raita; Chef Conley tending to his vegetables

IN HOUSE CREATIVE

A Farmily Affair Seven-time James Beard Nominee Chef clay Conley serves up wood-fired fare with a hefty helping of community at Stoke barn in GAinesville.

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ON THE FLY: GROVE STAND SEASON’S EATINGS

T

he story of Stoke begins, fittingly, with a vegetable garden. Clay Conley, the celebrated chef known for his restaurant, Buccan, in Palm Beach, moved with his wife, Averill, and their daughter and son to Gainesville in 2023, commuting weekly to South Florida to check on Buccan and his other restaurants (Imoto, Grato and Buccan Sandwich Shop).

Clay and Averill Conley’s home—and now Stoke too—sits on an 80-acre stretch of organic farmland owned by their friends, Vanessa and Hutson Rapier, who also live on the property.

The two families’ kids attend Gainesville’s Jordan Glen School, where Vanessa had been helping build gardens for the students.

Clay had volunteered to cook on field trips, showing the kids how to properly prepare garden-fresh vegetables.

“Before we even talked about doing something bigger on the farm, we were already doing it on a smaller scale at school—growing gardens and cooking,” Vanessa says. “Our families both value the importance of where food comes from and eating seasonally. Stoke was born from our shared passion of cooking for your community.”

Hosting private previews since May and officially opening for ticketed and private events in September, Stoke is an open-air culinary experience unfolding under a pole barn and nestled in the heart of Gainesville, where the Conleys and Rapiers host monthly dinners, with proceeds supporting local food banks and families facing food insecurity.

You’d never guess driving down its winding dirt road—canopied by old-growth oaks

they hang above long communal tables. The travertine kitchen centers around a bright orange hearth that Clay brought up from Buccan, perfect for quick-blistered pizzas, wood-roasted vegetables and meats to serve family-style.

One Big Happy Farmily “Ever since we opened Buccan (in 2011), I’ve had the freedom to really cook the food I love

But now, the older I get, I find myself gravitating back toward living in the country.

—CLAY CONLEY wrapped in twinkling lights—that you’re surrounded by encroaching suburban developments just beyond the property’s pastures of row crops, chickens, ducks, donkeys, turkeys, goats, pigs and cattle.

The barn is vast, with a corrugated-metal roof that can cover up to 200 guests. Baroquestyle chandeliers salvaged from a Marriott in Tampa impart an air of rustic elegance as

to eat,” Clay says. “The food at Stoke is similar, with layering of flavors, textures and temperatures on each dish. Everything we make is from here. If it’s not from the Rapiers’ farm, then it’s from nearby farms and purveyors.”

Besides being local, Stoke’s food is extraordinary. Pizzas on crackling sourdough crusts kicked off a warm spring evening dinner as an acoustic band strummed away. Thai-inspired

IN HOUSE CREATIVE

This page from left to right: The farm grows a range of vegetables; from left, Vanessa Rapier, Hutson Rapier, Clay Conley and Averill Conley; Stoke place setting Opposite page: Grilled dry-aged tomahawk steak with bordelaise sauce; Stoke’s rustic barn seats up to 200 guests.

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pork larb lettuce cups followed, with the meat sourced from a pig raised on the property.

Eggplant lasagna came layered with a tomato-basil sauce that had simmered all day.

Dessert was light and whimsical, featuring fluffy blueberry cheesecake and mini 100 Grand bars. The bar was stocked with beer, wine and organic kombucha from Berryland and Orlando’s Farm Boy Produce on tap.

Dinners are a family affair—or “farmily,” as the Conleys and Rapiers named their group text. Clay and Averill Conley ease naturally into their back- and front-of-house roles, him in a blue chef’s apron and her in an orange floral dress, moving gracefully between tables to check on guests. Their children also get in on the action, running food, refilling water and bussing plates.

“A lot of families from our kids’ school come out to help us plant and weed and harvest and just to hang out on the property,” Vanessa says. “We’re bringing people together in a way that is both laid-back and intentional, to help them get away from it all and connect with nature. What we enjoy here, we want to share with the community.”

Back to His Roots For Clay, that connection to the land brings him back to his STOKE childhood on a 30-acre farm in — LOCATION — Limerick, Maine. He started his 11701 SW 8TH AVE. GAINESVILLE kitchen journey washing dishes — HOURS — at age 13, falling in love with the MONTHLY TICKETED & kitchen and with restaurant life.

PRIVATE EVENT DINNERS He came to Florida for a bachstokebarn.com elor’s degree at Florida State University, then moved to Boston to work for celebrity chef Todd English. The Mandarin Oriental in Miami recruited him in 2005 to be the executive chef of Azul, its AAA Five Diamond restaurant overlooking Biscayne Bay, a position he held until he opened Buccan and its sister restaurants in Palm Beach County. His cooking has

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earned him seven nominations for the James Beard Foundation’s Best Chef: South award and critical acclaim in outlets from Esquire to The New York Times.

“Growing up on a farm, I couldn’t get out of there fast enough—I just wanted cities, cities, cities,” Clay says. “But now, the older I get, I find myself gravitating back toward living in the country. Being in North Florida with my businesses in South Florida has been an exercise in letting go and in delegating work to people I trust and believe in. And I believe that’s made me a better, more effective leader.”

More delegation is on the horizon for Clay as he opens outposts of his modern American bistro Buccan, sushi-and-more spot Imoto and daytime nosherie Buccan Sandwich Shop.

All of these will be located at a new space in Coral Gables. He anticipates a November ribbon-cutting and has tapped a former Azul and Buccan colleague, Jeremy Shelton, to be executive chef of the Coral Gables restaurants.

“I’ll alternate weeks going down to Palm Beach and Miami, and I’m so excited to see Jeremy step into that leadership role,” Clay says. “That’s what it’s all about now: bringing other people up, developing them and then giving them the space to be successful.”

With South Florida getting even more options to experience Clay’s food, Stoke marks an exciting opportunity for those in Gainesville and North Florida to get a taste.

Stoke is a return to Clay’s farm roots, to livefire cooking and to food that comes from local land and waters.

“It means a lot to us to be working with Clay to preserve organic farming in Gainesville and to highlight what grows here,” Vanessa Rapier says. “We built this barn to make honest food for our community and to show how magical it can be in Clay’s hands.”

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Roasted Seminole Pumpkin Salad

By Chef Clay Conley, Stoke Serves 4 to 6

GARAM MASALA VINAIGRETTE 1 tablespoon La Boite Everyday Masala 2 tablespoons pear or cider vinegar 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon honey 1 cup olive oil Salt and pepper PREPARATION: In a small bowl, whisk together the first four ingredients, then slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking constantly to emulsify. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

PEAR GARNISH 1 ripe, thinly shaved Bartlett pear Squeeze of lemon juice PREPARATION: In a small bowl, gently toss shaved pear with lemon juice to prevent browning.

PREPARATION: Arrange pumpkin, onion and mushrooms on separate parchmentlined baking sheets. Drizzle all vegetables with olive oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Roast at 400 degrees until golden and tender, about 25 to 30 minutes for the pumpkin, flipping once halfway through; 20 to 25 minutes for the onion; 18 to 20 minutes for the mushrooms. Let vegetables cool slightly.

Massage kale with a drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt for 30 to 60 seconds to soften the texture. Spread Greek yogurt across the bottom of a large serving platter. In a large bowl, gently toss roasted vegetables, kale and garam masala vinaigrette until just coated. Layer the dressed salad over the yogurt, and top with pear garnish, cilantro, scallions and pistachios. Serve warm or at room temperature alongside grilled meats.

NOTE: Seminole pumpkin is a Florida heirloom variety with dense, sweet flesh and excellent roasting properties. If unavailable, substitute with kabocha or delicata squash.

This page from left: Peach burrata salad; roasted Seminole pumpkin salad

SALAD 1 medium seeded Seminole pumpkin, cut into wedges (about 2 pounds usable flesh) 1 small red onion, cut into wedges 6 ounces trimmed chestnut mushrooms, halved 2

cups Tuscan kale (or other kale), ribs removed and leaves torn into bite-size pieces

cup plain, full-fat Greek yogurt

3/4

1/2

cup cilantro leaves

2 thinly sliced scallions 1/3

cup chopped toasted pistachios

Olive oil Salt and pepper

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ON THE FLY: DESIGN DISTRICT

By H e l e n Bra d sh a w • P h o t o g ra p hy by A l i ci a O sb o rn e

Meet Tallahassee’s

Midcentury Maven Jackie Skelding is putting the modern in midcentury.

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W

ith a slam of But her obsession with her cargo van’s everything ’50s, ’60s and ’70s style RARE BIRD trunk, the began even earlier: first, while INTERIORS turn of the key in the ignition thrifting and reselling clothing — LOCATION — 122 E. SIXTH AVENUE and the burn of tires hitting hot as a teen and then as a student at TALLAHASSEE, FL the Florida pavement, Jackie Florida State University studying — INSTAGRAM — @RAREBIRDINTERIORS Skelding took off on a 24-hour retail merchandising. Skelding rarebirdtallahassee.com trek from her home in the opened her first vintage store, Florida Panhandle, cruised along Curio, in 2014 during her senior the Gulf of Mexico and ended year of college. Instead of doing a up just shy of the U.S.-Mexico border in mandatory internship, a 21-year-old Skelding Southwest Texas. The goal? Score one-of-adecided to pour her savings into the shop, kind midcentury furniture. filled with fashion and gifts. “I do not “You have to go out to source and find recommend this as a business plan,” she says all the different items because they don’t with a laugh. “I didn’t walk in my graduation just fall in your lap,” Skelding explains. because I was working at the shop.”

You just do whatever it takes, especially when you’re starting out.

—JACKIE SKELDING “Somebody could call me at 3 a.m. and I’d go. It wouldn't matter.”

She doesn’t remember her haul from that mission to the border. It might have included a teak credenza, a Danish daybed or a Malm fireplace begging to be connected to a butterfly roofline with its bold metal flue—all sought-after pieces from another era that have entered and exited the doors of her furnishings and design studio Rare Bird Interiors in Tallahassee.

Skelding’s foray into retro furniture reselling began five years ago with a string of trips much like this one—hurried and full of excitement. “When I first started out, I had a little Volkswagen Rabbit hatchback, and I would shove literally anything I could inside,” she recalls. “I remember distinctly driving down Tennessee Street in Tallahassee holding a giant painting to the roof of my car because it wouldn’t fit, so I strapped it to the roof using Christmas garland and then (held) onto it with one hand while I drove with the other. You just do whatever it takes, especially when you’re first starting out.”

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This spread, clockwise:

Rare Bird Interiors owner Jackie Skelding inside her store; a selection of vintage lighting and decor; walnut nightstand

by Albert Parvin

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ON THE FLY: DESIGN DISTRICT Her dedication paid off, and the boutique became a mainstay in Tallahassee’s arts enclave, Railroad Square. “It was just kind of a place where it felt like anything was possible,” she says.

Skelding’s love for vintage midcentury design didn’t waver, but her fixations within that scope did evolve from clothing to furniture. Seven years after starting Curio, Skelding opened the first location of Rare Bird Interiors next door. Customers could jump between vibrant vintage vetements in one storefront to stately ’60s sectionals just a few steps away. Tallahassee quickly embraced Skelding’s elevated eye for interior design. The entrepreneur opened Rare Bird’s second location in a white brick building in Midtown just two years later.

When stepping inside Rare Bird’s Sixth Avenue storefront, there’s no mistaking that Skelding, 32, is the Capital City’s preeminent midcentury expert. The space is a masterclass in mod merchandising, with a curated collection that avoids the pitfalls of the reductive ideas of ’50s and ’60s style—no kitschy boomerangs or fake flower power here. “A lot of times people assume that midcentury modern is just like the set of ‘Mad Men,’” she explains. “But there’s so much more variety … you have all these tangential styles, materials, ones that lean more organic, or wabi-sabi, or Scandinavian or Italian midcentury modern.”

Skelding’s sourcing looks a lot different than it did in those early days. There are no more midnight rides to Mexico or holding

People assume that midcentury modern is like the set of “Mad Men.” But there’s so much more variety.

—JACKIE SKELDING

onto hatchbacks for dear life.

She has cemented herself as a fixture in the Tallahassee design community, and those rare finds seem to find her instead. It’s a talent and taste that extends beyond her business and into her own home, built in an angular style and complete with a 1963 Eames lounge chair and ottoman she says she’ll never part with.

“I think part of why Rare Bird works, and the same reason (our) home works so well, is because it’s not trying to be a set,” she says. “I make Rare Bird, essentially, in my best possible way, feel like a home.”

But on a windy May morning in 2024, multiple tornadoes ripped through Tallahassee for nearly half an hour, with winds exceeding 100 miles per hour. “(It) took all of our inventory from the original location because our skylights blew out and it rained inside the store for three days. We lost just about everything.”

While the storm ruined Skelding’s collection, her building remained intact. Her now-husband, Gregg Pla, owner of a nearby antiques and architectural salvage store, was less lucky; Skelding closed Curio and Rare Bird’s Railroad Square location, gave the space to Pla, and focused all her attention on her Midtown shop.

Above: A Malm Fire Drum 3 fireplace Right: Skelding styles her store with vintage

glass tableware.

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Vintage desk with bowls and books; Rare Bird's exterior; Jackie Skelding; 1950s lamp with fiberglass shades

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ON THE FLY: FLORIDA WILD P H OTOGR APHS & F IELD NOTES B y C arlton War d Jr.

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Dark-Sky Destiny A

s you approach Yeehaw Junction—yes, that is a real place in Central Florida where State Road 60 and U.S. 441 meet—you’ll notice a ramp for the Florida Turnpike, a couple of gas stations and the burnedout shell of the historic Desert Inn. Otherwise, this remote crossroad, 25 miles inland from Interstate 95, is surrounded by wide-open space near the Kissimmee River Valley.

Take in the breathtaking views of cow pastures and native prairies—but don’t take them for granted: it could have looked a lot different.

For the traveler going from Vero Beach to Tampa, the long stretch of open woods and prairies west of Yeehaw Junction might pass by unnoticed during the time of one song playing on your car stereo. However, NOTES the 27,000-acre tract at the southwest corner of the junction was once the future site of a new city — LOCATION— called Destiny. Developers envisioned this unrealized DELUCA PRESERVE NEAR THREE LAKES WILDLIFE town about the size of Orlando. But in 2020, MANAGEMENT AREA thanks to the generosity of the most recent owner, Elisabeth DeLuca, the entire property was gifted to the University of Florida, which worked with Ducks — SEASON — Unlimited to save it with a conservation easement.

WINTER I had flown over the property in a small plane back in 2008 to show the scale of the native land that was — TIME OF DAY — slated for development, and I was thankful to return 9:21 P.M. in 2021 to celebrate the beauty and size of what was being protected.

— SUBJECT — The Kissimmee River Valley is one of last official LONGLEAF PINES Dark Sky regions in Florida—where the land is far AND THE NIGHT SKY enough from city lights to clearly see stars at night.

My purpose in this composition was to show the unique view that had been preserved by framing mature longleaf pines against the night sky. The faint lights on the horizon from the Florida Turnpike are amplified by a long exposure, hinting of the different future that could have been.

Creating the city of Destiny would have been like a can opener prying open the heart of the Everglades Headwaters, which is a western scale conservation landscape surrounding the Kissimmee River between Lake Kissimmee and Lake Okeechobee. Places like Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park, Lake Kissimmee State Park, Three Lakes Wildlife Management Area, Avon Park Air Force Range and tens of thousands of acres of cattle ranches are already protected by conservation easements. The combined landscape forms a vast, untamed place that is central to the Florida Wildlife Corridor and critical to the survival of species like the Florida grasshopper sparrow and the eventual return of the Florida panther.

27°39’4.821” N

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80°56’6.1505” W

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ON THE FLY:BIRD’S-EYE VIEW A G U I D E TO O U R FAVO R I T E N E I G H B O R H O O DS By Illustration tration by

by Le Les slie lie CChalfont halfont B y EOmile liviae Pe Evrdue ans •• Illus

Micanopy Musing Discover Antique Mystique in the town that time forgot.

1. DELECTABLE COLLECTABLES

4. LOST ARK ANTIQUES

7. GALLERY UNDER THE OAKS

2. SHADY OAK GALLERY

5. MICANOPY TRADING OUTPOST

8. BLUE HIGHWAY PIZZA

3. SWEETWATER BRANCH INN

6. OLD FLORIDA CAFE

9. HERLONG MANSION

The collection of cameos and curios inside this antique jewelry shop is vast, but the store’s owner, known to locals as Ms. Monica, offers a personal touch by curating pieces and sharing stories.

112 NE Cholokka Blvd.

The artisanal objects at this emporium, forged from the land itself, tell the story of Old Florida. Find centuries-old stones, arrowheads and fossils; stained glass; cypress furniture; and locally designed and sourced jewelry. 201 NE Cholokka Blvd.

A few miles from Micanopy, there’s a community of cottages within McKenzie gardens that make up a beloved inn.

Stroll the grounds before retreating to rooms outfitted with patterned wallpaper, handmade quilts and other vintageinspired touches. 625 E. University Ave.

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This house-turned-antique-shop feels more like a cozy home than a store, especially with the crew of adoptable cats perched at every corner. Score some Old-Florida knickknacks, furnishings and maybe a feline friend. 103 NE Cholokka Blvd.

Peruse the expansive vinyl record collection, one-of-a-kind furniture and even golf carts inside this local favorite, where staff recalls the days when the movie “Doc Hollywood” was filmed in historic Micanopy.

205 NE Cholokka Blvd. .

Situated among the shops of downtown, this time-worn gem has been serving Old Florida-style Cubans and reubens for decades. The trinket-packed garden in the back doubles as a relaxed dining patio that’s perfect for people-watching.

203 NE Cholokka Blvd.

Within this quaint Lincoln Log-style cottage awaits a trove of art by Florida artists. From bold brushstrokes to hand-thrown clay pottery, the rotating collection showcases the Sunshine State’s creative spirit.

207 NE Cholokka Blvd.

Nestled along Highway 441, this eclectic roadside pizza spot has earned a cult following for their craveable pies. In fact, regulars claim the Sicilian might just have the best deep-dish crust in the state.

204 NE Hwy. 441

This Greek Revival mansion-turned-bedand-breakfast serves scratch pancakes with a side of Southern hospitality in the morning and warm cookie platters at night.

Local lore suggests long-passed resident Inez Herlong still haunts the third floor.

402 NE Cholokka Blvd.

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This spread from left: Church of the Mediator; Paynes Prairie Preserve State Park; Thrasher Warehouse; Sweetwater Branch Inn; Herlong Mansion; Delectable Collectables

10. MOSSWOOD BAKEHOUSE

What began as a mother-daughter passion project blossomed into a town staple. Pop in for a quick coffee and muffin or sit down with owner Emily Piazza to create a custom cake with designs inspired by area flora.

703 NE Cholokka Blvd.

13. COFFEE N’ CREAM

Summer nostalgia is all but guaranteed at this cafe, where a wraparound porch, PB&Js, chili cheese dogs, fresh-squeezed lemonade and ice cream cones feel like an afternoon at Grandma’s.

201 NE Cholokka Blvd.

16. PAYNES PRAIRIE PRESERVE STATE PARK

Roll in from the north along Highway 441 and you’ll cruise straight through Florida’s first state preserve. If you’re lucky, you can catch a glimpse of the only wild bison in the state. 100 Savannah Blvd.

11. CHURCH OF THE MEDIATOR EPISCOPAL CHURCH

14. TWO PARROTS GALLERY

17. THRASHER WAREHOUSE

12. PEARL COUNTRY STORE & BARBECUE

15. THE YEARLING

18. BOND’S VINTAGE VAULT

Shaded by old oaks, the small, white steepled church usually has its red doors propped wide open. Stop by for a moment of reflection or worship, or to simply take in its charm. 501 NE Cholokka Blvd

Founded by Peggy and David Carr, this old-school country store is a barbecue mecca for smoky brisket and pulled pork.

Grab a stool at the counter salvaged from a pharmacy and savor sauce that locals rally behind. 106A NE Hwy. 441

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One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, especially when it comes to collectibles.

This quirky spot turns forgotten film flyers, theater handbills, rare books and vintage posters into coveted cultural artifacts.

214 NE Cholokka Blvd.

Overlooking Cross Creek, near where Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings penned her book “The Yearling,” this Old-Florida eatery specializes in frog legs, gator, venison and daily dessert specials. Cross your fingers for the fan-favorite sour orange pie.

14531 E. County Rd. 325

Once a warehouse and then a general store, this 1890s barn is now home to a museum displaying Old Florida artifacts, such as washboards, iceboxes and spinning wheels.

Don’t forget to snap a pic by its iconic Coca-Cola mural. 607 NE Cholokka Blvd.

Humor runs amok in this funky new addition to Micanopy’s antique haven.

Whether it’s their collection of Florida keys, kitschy porcelain cats or Elvis portraits, everything strikes a charming balance between tasteful and absurd.

118 NE Cholokka Blvd.

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ON THE FLY:THE TIDE ROAD TR IP–WORTHY EVENTS (NORTH) BULLS ON THE BEACH PERDIDO KEY

Sept. 4–6

Sandals and spurs are suitable for three nights of professional bull riding on the Flora-Bama beach, all in support of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. florabama.com

THE 35TH ANNUAL JUANA GOOD TIME REGATTA N AVA R R E B E A C H

Sept. 5–7

Join the fleet of vibrant sails in this amateur regatta. Bring along your crew for longdistance races or sail solo in shorter sprints. juanaspagodas.com

FLORIDA FIN FEST

JACKSONVILLE BEACH

Sept. 12–13

NORTHWEST FLORIDA CHAMPIONSHIP RODEO B O N I F AY

Oct. 2–4 This isn’t your run-of-the-mill rodeo—it’s a glamping goround. Get an RV set up on the campgrounds and indulge in professional bull riding, pancake breakfasts and more. nwfcrodeo.com

CRAFTED

A LY S B E A C H

Nov. 12–16 Meet the creative minds shaping this artsy Gulf Coast enclave’s cultural scene. Whether you’re obsessed with the art of the cocktail, ready to pick up a paint brush or yearning to style your tablescape like a pro, this five-day affair features leaders in food, beverage and art sharing their process and craft. Shop the Makers Market to snag personalized artisan gifts for the holidays or create your own during a Be the Maker Workshop, where artists share their medium and guide you step-by-step through their process.

Enhance your culinary capabilities by attending an experiential mixology dinner and leave with insider tips from top mixologists and chefs—as well as a full stomach. Master the art of the forehand and the perfect chaser at the Pickleball & Picklebacks tournament, featuring some strong competition and even stronger pickle-flavored cocktails. alysbeachcrafted.com

FOO FOO FESTIVAL

62ND ANNUAL FLORIDA SEAFOOD FESTIVAL

PORCHFEST

Oct. 30–Nov. 10

A PA LA C H I C O LA

Oct. 31–Nov. 1

Nov. 8

Set under the shade of aged oaks overlooking the mouth of the Apalachicola River, this fest invites you to shuck oysters for sport and savor delicacies caught from local waters. floridaseafoodfestival.com

Ramble through the historic Springfield neighborhood as more than 20 bands and performing artists turn area front porches into small stages, with live music ranging from jazz and blues to indie and folk. jacksonvilleporchfest.org

P E N S A C O LA

Wander through a corridor of blue trees lining historic downtown, witness murals take shape and even join a parade drum line during this weekend of immersive arts and culture. foofoofest.com

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Above: Regatta in Navarre Beach

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ALYS BEACH CR AFTED, THE 35TH ANNUAL JUANA GOOD TIME REGAT TA

Sink your teeth into a weekend of breezy bands, touch tanks, sustainable shopping and panel discussions featuring scientists during this ocean conservationcentered music festival. flfinfest.com

19TH ANNUAL AMELIA ISLAND MUSEUM OF HISTORY

Holiday Home Tour December 5th & 6th 2025 10 AM to 4 PM Celebrate the season touring five beautiful properties in Historic Fernandina Beach!

Tickets on sale Wednesday, October 1st, 2025 $35 until December 4th at 4PM $40 after For more information, visit ameliamuseum.org or call 904.261.738

Limitless Opportunities Opportunity is more than access—it’s skillfully guided growth.

Our faculty and staff are masters of creating a culture where students thrive and achieve excellence. Here, opportunity lives in every corner: in classrooms, on stages, in labs, on fields and in studios. Students are immersed in academics, the fine arts, athletics and activities that expand their opportunities today, so more things are possible tomorrow.

Bolles.org | Pre-K through Grade 12, Day & Boarding School

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ON THE FLY:THE TIDE ROAD TR IP–WORTHY EVENTS (C E N T RA L ) 2025 ANNUAL ARTS FESTIVAL TA M PA

SEPT. 12–14 Tap into Tampa Bay’s thriving arts scene with music, theater, dance and comedy performances, backstage tours and an instrument petting zoo. newtampaartscenter.org

25TH ANNUAL I LIKE IT HOT! FESTIVAL LA R G O

SEPT. 13–14 Spice up your weekend at Florida’s biggest hot sauce and taco fest, featuring fiery bites, musical performances and free fun at Largo Event Center. facebook.com/ilikeithotfestival

OKTOBERFEST TAMPA TA M PA

OCT. 10–12

51ST ANNUAL CYCLE MOUNT DORA MOUNT DORA

OCT. 11–12

Gear up for a picturesque ride where profits help fund swim lessons for kids. Cyclists can pick from seven paths, pedaling anywhere from 10 to 70 miles. cyclemountdora.com

SAVOR ST. PETE FOOD AND WINE FESTIVAL ST. PETERSBURG

NOV. 1–2

Grab a limited-edition wineglass and enjoy unlimited pours and bites from Tampa Bay-area restaurants, plus cooking demos and chef competitions at the waterfront of Vinoy Park.

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TAMPA PIG JIG TA M PA

OCT. 18 Pig out for a purpose at an all-day outdoor festival in Julian B. Lane Riverfront Park, where plates of barbecue are piled high and a lineup of nationally adored country and rock artists includes Megan Moroney, Matt Nathanson, Jamestown Revival, Midland and George Pippen. Before heading to the stage, take a trip down Food Row and fill up on everything from loaded nachos to ’cue classics. Then crack open a beer and cheer on the amateur pitmasters as they compete in a barbecue showdown, smoking flavorful brisket, fall-off-the-bone ribs and more. Best of all, know that every sip and bite taken supports NephCure, a nonprofit dedicated to improving research and treatment for the rare kidney conditions Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis and Nephrotic Syndrome. tampapigjig.com

laxerfamilyfoundation.org

stpeterunfest.org

ST. PETERSBURG

NOV. 14–16

W I N T E R PA R K

TA M PA

Take your seat at Haven or Bern’s Steak House and experience an exclusive dinner series dedicated to supporting veterans and atrisk youth through the Laxer Family Foundation.

Run the Bay during a weekend of races, from a kids’ dash to a 5K, 10K and a certified half marathon, which goes through the Warehouse Arts District, past historic neighborhoods and along the scenic St. Pete waterfront.

Taste your way through chefcurated bites from 35-plus restaurants and more than 200 pours of wine, beer and cocktails while boot-scootin’ to live country music. The event benefits several Central Florida children’s charities. cowsncabs.com

savortheburg.com

WHISKEY TAMPA FOXTROT NOV. 10–14

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COWS ’N CABS NOV. 15

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TAMPA PIG JIG

Break out the lederhosen and join the celebration as thousands gather at Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park to enjoy brats, brews, live music and festive games. oktoberfesttampa.com

BALLET SOIRÉE

KENNA GOLD • HITOMI NAKAMURA • THOMAS GERHARDT

A CURATED STAY WITH

EXPERIENCE THE PINNACLE OF ELEGANCE WITH ette hotel’s BALLET SOIRÉE EXPERIENCE

www.ettehotels.com

You’re invited to an unforgettable escape featuring luxurious accommodations, a complimentary bottle of sparkling wine upon arrival, an Orlando Ballet performance at the Dr. Phillips Center with round-trip black car service, and a curated breakfast by Michelin-starred Chef Akira Back, served in the serene ambiance of our signature restaurant.

Reserve your elevated experience today.

Reserve Now

* Packages are available for every performance of the 25-26 Orlando Ballet season

ON THE FLY:THE TIDE ROAD TR IP–WORTHY EVENTS (SOUTH) MIAMI INTERNATIONAL AUTO SHOW MIAMI

Sept. 26–Oct. 5 Rev your engine at this milestone event featuring 50-plus exhibitors, luxurious exotics, a new indoor Camp Jeep track and groundbreaking indoor EV test tracks. miamiautoshows.com

OKTOBERFEST OF THE PALM BEACHES LA K E W O R T H B E A C H

Oct. 10–12 and Oct. 17–19 Dust off your dirndl or Bavarian best at this two-weekend party with plenty of polka music and Old World charm.

Binge on bratwurst, imported steins and carnival rides. oktoberfestflorida.com

R E D LA N D

Oct. 17–19 Revel in three days of pure orchid mania at idyllic Fruit and Spice Park, where worldrenowned growers showcase exotic blooms alongside classes and competitions. redlandorchidfestival.com

ISLAND HOPPER SONGWRITER FEST FORT MYERS

Sept. 19–28 Join some of the nation’s finest singer-songwriters as they trade honky-tonks for sandy shores during intimate performances across Southwest Florida’s stunning backdrops. As one of the top music festivals in the United States, this 10-day fest includes multiplatinum country star Chris Young and Nashville’s popular duo Locash leading 60-plus (mostly free) shows across Captiva Island, Cape Coral, Downtown Fort Myers and Fort Myers Beach. Performers include Adriana McDonald, Bobby Tomberlin, Kurt Stevens and Bill Metts, among others. Aside from great tunes, guests can expect storytelling sessions where artists share the inspiration behind their chart-topping hits. Whether you’re sipping cocktails at The Westin Cape Coral Resort or dancing barefoot at Pink Shell’s pool party finale, each venue offers something uniquely Florida. island-hopperfest.visitfortmyers.com

GALBANI FEAST OF LITTLE ITALY JUPITER

Nov. 7–9

Above: Dean Arscott at the 2024

Siesta Key Sandsculpting Festival

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Get your Italian pride on by indulging in drool-worthy cuisine, nationally recognized entertainment, complimentary wine tastings and cooking demonstrations that celebrate family heritage. feastoflittleitaly.com

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SIESTA KEY CRYSTAL CLASSIC INTERNATIONAL SANDSCULPTING FESTIVAL S I E S TA K E Y

Nov. 14–17 These aren’t your average kiddie sandcastles. Watch as more than 20 world-class artists transform pristine sand into larger-thanlife masterpieces with some towering over 10 feet tall. siestakeycrystalclassic.com

MIAMI BOOK FAIR MIAMI

Nov. 16–23 The boldest lit fest in the world returns to the 305, where authors and readers converge for creative conversations and a street fair filled with novels and bookish merch. Past speakers include Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson and Isabel Allende. miamibookfair.com

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SIESTA KE Y CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, FORT MYERS - ISL ANDS, BEACHES AND NEIGHBORHOODS

REDLAND INTERNATIONAL ORCHID FESTIVAL

FLORIDIANA ALL THINGS VINTAGE B y S t ev e D o l l a r

Last Factory Standing

B

efore Vicente Martinez Ybor came along, Tampa was an easily overlooked dot on the map.

Nowheresville. But it had a port, and it was connected to the nation’s railroad matrix. Ybor could work with that. In 1885, the Spanish businessman bought 40 acres in Tampa as the new home of his cigar empire—previously anchored in Cuba and Key West. New factories, owned by Ybor and other tobacco kings, were manned by a surge of Cuban, Spanish and Italian workers who formed a new community built around cigar-making: Ybor City.

As Ybor City prepares to celebrate its 140th anniversary, the once-thriving industry that boasted more than 200 factories at its 1920s peak is down to one: J.C. Newman Cigar Co. The company’s historic factory is the last of its kind still operating in the United States. The business, first established in Ohio in 1895, has been owned for four generations by the Newman family. It has survived the changes and crises that killed off most cigar manufacturing in America: the Great Depression, World War II, the 1962 embargo on Cuba and high labor costs.

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“When my great-grandfather started our company there were 40,000 licensed cigar manufacturers in the United States,” owner Drew Newman says. “Every town, every city, every village had its own breweries, its own bakeries, its own distilleries, its own cigar factories. They

Above from left: Eric, Drew and Bobby Newman in

front of their Tampa cigar factory, El Reloj

were very, very common, all found throughout the country, and we’re the last one of those left now.”

Fans can still find hand-rolled cigars in retail shops, but nothing on the scale or quality that the 115-year-old factory—known as El Reloj, for its giant clock—can produce. That’s 60,000 cigars a

day, rolled by hand or using hand-operated vintage machinery, with names such as Tampa Trolleys, The American and El Reloj, the company’s signature roll.

Five years ago, to mark the company’s 125th anniversary, the building was restored and opened to the public. It now draws 20,000 visitors annually for tours, cigarrolling classes and other events, and features a museum, theater and factory store.

Newman looks forward to the 2026 completion of an $18 million redevelopment of the adjacent Sanchez y Haya building, a historic site that once served as a restaurant and boarding house for workers. In Newman’s vision, it will come full circle— once again offering hospitality with a restaurant and cigar lounge, of course, but this time for tourists.

“We’re in the process of restoring it to the way it was 115 years ago,” he says. “It will help us continue to tell the Tampa cigar story. It’s going to be ... a great way to continue celebrating Tampa’s legacy as Cigar City.”

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J.C . NEWMAN CIGAR CO.

Celebrate 140 years of Cigar City with a hand-rolled Tampa stogie.

iltmore Ho te eB l Th

N CENTE NIAL 1926 - 2026

BUILT ON A DREAM The Biltmore, where luxury never goes out of style. A true icon and National Historic Landmark surrounded by 150 acres of lush tropical landscape. The Biltmore has been a favorite of world leaders and celebrities since opening in 1926. We invite you to create memorable moments and experience timeless luxury. Immerse yourself in our rich history through decadent dining, world-class golf, spa treatments or simply a relaxing day at our iconic pool.

1200 Anastasia Avenue Coral Gables, Florida 33134

305-445-1926 biltmorecentennial.com

@JohnCraigClothier | JohnCraigClothier.com WINTER PARK • DOWNTOWN NAPLES • WATERSIDE SHOPS NAPLES • JUPITER PONTE VEDRA BEACH • EQUESTRIAN HOTEL OCALA