Dustin's Bar-B-Q

Dustin's Bar-B-Q
1320 W. Granada Blvd., S.R. 40
Ormond Beach, FL 32174
(386)677-5292

A couple of weeks ago, my father told me he was wanting to go somewhere and eat some barbecue. I had to pause for a moment given that most of the Sonny's locations around Daytona Beach have closed. I was stumped for a minute as to where we should go. After pondering for a few moments, I finally remembered the Dustin's location in Ormond Beach. My brother was in town doing sales calls, so we told him we would meet him there.

We got there and found it to be fairly crowded. It appears Dustin's does a pretty good lunch crowd. After sitting down and looking at the menu it was clear to me why. They have great prices for lunch. The menu has a number of items that are available with one side and a drink for $5.99. After the many $15 lunches I have had in the past this was a welcome surprise.

Our waitress showed-up promptly to take our drink order and we were ready to order food by the time she returned with our drinks. We all ordered pork sandwiches with fries and beans and my daughter had the chicken tenders. We had to pay for the extra side, but that was all right as we were all hungry. The food arrived promptly and looked really good. I had the sliced pork, while my father and brother ordered pulled pork. Dustin's serves their sandwiches on big, soft buns. The issue I had was I thought the sliced pork was lacking on my sandwich. The bun seemed to overpower the pork, which prevented the smokey taste of the meat to shine through. The fries were hot and crispy and the beans had great flavor. For the price paid I thought it was a good lunch at a good price.

I would probably go back to Dustin's in the future given that there are no other clear leaders for barbecue in our area right now. In my mind, it wouldn't be hard for somebody to come into the area and be a frontrunner in this genre. There is a Woody's BBQ around, but I have never been there before. I'll have to check it out sometime to make a comparison.

I'll give Dustin's three Stiffy's for my visit.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

Dave & Buster's

7025 Salisbury Road

Jacksonville, FL

(904)296-1525

Off I-95, Exit 344 at Butler Road

The one good thing I can say about my recent unemployment is that it has given me the opportunity to spend a lot more time with my daughter. Today she decided that she didn't want to to to the YMCA, where we have her enrolled for the summer, but wanted to stay at home with me. I decided to surprise her with a trip to Jacksonville to visit Dave & Buster's for lunch. I must tell you I have never driven so far for a meal without having never been to the restaurant previously.

During my last business trip to Long Island, NY, we did visit a Dave & Buster's, but I wasn't that hungry that night. I can tell you I was not overly impressed with the place and the food I did get was just OK. However, the Jacksonville location is incredibly nice. The dining area had a lot of dark wood, stained glass windows and ceiling fans that have to be seen to be believed. My daughter was fascinated by them.

We are seated immediately and I begin to peruse the menu. I am not seeing a lot that is tickling my fancy, but I do see they have a Philly cheesesteak. Now you know, I am about to break one of my cardinal rules of not ordering cheesesteak outside of the city of Philadelphia. Our waitress comes to take our drink order and I notice that she is a bit on the happy side. I wanted to suggest to her that she start breaking her Prozacs in half from now on, but I held my tongue. When she brings our drinks and asks if we are ready to order, I ask her, "How's the Philly cheesesteak?" She replies, "They are very good since we get our rolls directly from Philadelphia." This has me rolling my eyes as I have heard this one before, but decide to throw caution to the wind and give it a shot. My dad orders the bar mini-burgers and my daughter the Caeser Salad. I need to have a serious talk with her. She's seven years old and doesn't like cheeseburgers and orders a salad. In the long run, it's all good as she will probably live way longer than I will, but I want her to one day enjoy the decadence of a great cheeseburger.

After about five minutes at the table, our waitress comes back to tell us our food will be out shortly and brings me another Coke. Nevermind that I have only had about five sips out of the first one she brings me, but to each his own. Our food comes and I am pleasantly surprised by what I am seeing. My cheesesteak looks really good, but I would have liked the onions to have been grilled a little longer. My dad said his mini-burgers were really good. He said the meat had a great taste and they were nice and tender. I was shocked that my daughter actually ate most of her salad and hammered all of the croutons they placed on it. I have never seen her eat a Caesar Salad before, but she obviously knows what she is doing.

The food was really good. I have to say I was quite impressed. After eating I took my daughter into the game room where she proceeded to play a number of the games and had a great time. I don't know much about the Dave & Buster's business model, but I cannot believe they do not have more locations across the country. It is amazing they do not have one in Orlando. Families are always looking for great entertainment opportunities for their kids and they also serve good food. Additionally, Dave & Buster's have full bars if the adults want to have drinks. I also noticed separate rooms for special events and private parties. This must be a great place to take a large group.

Today was a great day! I have to give our trip to Dave & Buster's four Stiffy's. Great atmosphere, really good food and friendly staff makes this a place we will definitely visit again. Even though it is 80 miles away from our home.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry

Sunshine Sunset Grill

1185 W. Granada Blvd.
Ormond Beach, FL
(386)672-6465

I recently had the opportunity to visit a new restaurant in Ormond Beach called the Sunshine Sunset Grill. My wife had gone there for lunch and told me it was great. She also thought I would be excited about going there one day for breakfast. She knows how much I like breakfast.

In an earlier post, I explained that there are some things I search for in perfection at various restaurants. For instance, the perfect cheesesteak or the perfect clam chowder. One of the things I had left off the list was the perfect eggs benedict. I love eggs benedict, but it is hard to find a place that makes great hollandaise sauce. However, I have found one in the Sunshine Sunset Grill.

On the morning we arrived, it was very busy. We should have gone earlier to beat the rush of chuchgoers, but that didn't happen. We ourselves had planned on going to church after our meal. The hostess told us it woudl be about a 10 minute wait, but that turned into about 30 minutes. We were offered the opportunity to eat outside, but it was a rather warm morning and I would have been sweating like crazy. The wait wasn't bad as they have nice comfortable benches for people to sit on.

When we finally got to our table we were promptly approached to place our drink orders. About that time another family came in and sat at the table next to us. They had the cutest little daughter about one year old that was sitting next to me across the aisle. She kept dropping her crayons and I kept picking them up for her as I have been down that route before with my daughter. Her father apologized profusely and I told him not to worry about it as I fully understood. Plus, she was just the cutest little thing I have ever seen.

We placed our orders and I opted for the traditional eggs benedict. You have a choice of homefries or fresh fruit to accompany your entree, so I went with the homefries. My father had the corned beef hash, my wife a poached egg and a side of bacon and my daughter had pancakes. For starters, we ordered the cinnamon roll supreme. It is two fresh baked cinnamon rolls, topped with a vanilla creme glaze. The rolls came out hot and fresh and practically melted in our mouths. We split the rolls so everyone could have a taste.

I picked-up the crayons a couple of more times for the little girl next to me as we waited for our food to arrive. The service was pretty quick as our waiter came back with our food right after clearing the plates used for the cinnamon rolls. He puts down each order and the food looks really good. They make a nice presentation of their food. About this time, Little Miss Cutie sitting next to me takes her spoon and flips a cube of ice right into my eggs benedict. All right, now I am mad at this little heifer. I politely explain to her that being cute in life is only going to take her so far. She is going to have to develop some manners and a sense of decorum if she is ever to be taken seriously. Her father apologized and all was well.

The eggs benedict were great! The hollandaise sauce was light and creamy with just a hint of lemon. The homefries were nice and crispy on the outside with a tender center. The only issue I had was that the eggs were cooked a little bit too long. The yolk should have been runny, but was cooked a little hard. Everyone enjoyed their meals and I would definitely go back. Next time I will try the Surfside Croissant Benedict, which is made with a croissant instead of an English muffin and comes with your choice of lump crabmeat or shrimp instead of Canadian bacon.

The Sunshine Sunset Grill is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I think you will find the prices to be very reasonable for the quality of the food you get. They pride themselves on the fact that all of their food is made fresh from scratch. It is really good food. I hope they prosper in this location and are around for a long time. I have to give our first visit to the Sunshine Sunset Grill four Stiffy's.

Eat, drink and be merry!

Harry