antipaucity

As I write this post, I’m surrounded with the sounds of a live musician and dozens of patrons. The wooden floors, open-frame ceiling, bus lights, and comfortable chairs surrounding glass-topped tables adds to the ambiance. Chanda just refilled my dad’s iced tea. And my dessert (my favorite drink) is en route shortly.

Last night who would’ve guessed that clicking the “pubs” option on my GPS would put us at such a place. Usually the GPS options aren’t obviously good. (Certainly it can find places I already know of.)

After driving from Durham NC to Jacksonville FL Monday, and then to the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, my dad and I were looking for some place local. Some place with modest prices, and, hopefully, and interesting beer selection. So for kicks, while we were tolling across central Florida on I-4, I punched-up restaurants -> pubs -> Tanner’s on the GPS. It was simply the closest location to where we were when we decided we were hungry.

What a choice it has turned out to be. Tuesday night I ordered their chicken piccata. Let me warn you: they put crack in their sauce. They must. It’s the only reason I can come up with for wanting to finish what was obviously too much food!

My dad ordered pork chops. I don’t like chops at all, but I was tempted to steal a little off his plate. After dinner we split their chocolate lava cake – and should have passed. It is the richest dessert I’ve had in months!

While we sat letting dinner settle, I checked for where our hotel was, not knowing the town we were in (Winter Haven). Turns out that our reservations were just down the road – literally less than a mile from Tanner’s. How serendipitous.

After we started dinner, we independently decided we’d come back Wednesday after going to Sun ‘n Fun in Lakeland – the whole reason we’re in Florida to start with.

So tonight we came back. And we’ve migrated to other menu choices – since the first two were so good, why not try something new? Tonight I was in a seafood mood, and ordered their blackened mahi mahi, while my dad got the tornadous oscar – angus slices with asparagus, hollandaise, and crab meat.

Two dinners in a row we couldn’t finish fast enough. An impressive feat indeed for a place we found off the GPS’ restaurant list.

It’ll be a little saddening when we have to leave 325 W Central Avenue tonight, because we’ll be heading back north tomorrow, and probably won’t be able to come back till we’re next in Florida – whenever that may be. But I know the next time I’m anywhere close, I’ll be back.

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I love good pubs. Recently I discovered yet another Irish pub in Waterford NY. Kielty’s sits on the north side of Broad St a couple blocks from the Hudson River – number 41. My sister and I had been planning to grab a light lunch at Don and Paul’s (a coffee/sandwich shop she likes), but when we got out and saw this, we both decided to check it out.

Seating is fairly limited – perhaps [legally] space for about 40 folks. Limited seating certainly doesn’t impact the quality of either the beverages (not a wide selection, but a few good ones to pick from), nor the excellence of the food. When we went for lunch, she got sweet potato fries (eww!) that she said were awesome (<shudder>) and a grilled cheese sandwich while I ordered a tuna melt with chips. Had I been more clever, I would’ve eaten the tuna melt first, then had some chips. But no, I wasn’t that clever, eating the small mountain of fried potatoy goodness then attacking the melt.

I couldn’t finish the sandwich – it was really good, but way more than I needed for lunch

The next evening my dad joined my sister and I in going back. He got a burger, and I tried their grilled cheese sandwich after ogling the one my sister had eaten the day before. By the time we left, some live music was getting ready to start, and the place was beginning to pack-in. It appeared that Kielty’s an active member of the local music scene in southern Saratoga and northwestern Rennselaer counties.

Having added yet another restaurant to my list of places to eat is great. Now the problem becomes which one to pick when I want to go out!