Food and Dining
Let Tommy Thompson, our Food and Dining blogger and “Sportsman’s Kitchen” columnist for Florida Sportsman Magazine, point you toward the best eats in Natural North Florida.
35th Annual Yankeetown Seafood Festival, November 19 & 20, 2016
Fall is here and Yankeetown’s famous “no-see-ums”* have succumbed to the cool weather, making a walk through the annual Seafood Festival lots of fun for the entire family. Yankeetown is a historic town on Florida’s Gulf Coast, and is the southernmost town in our Natural North Florida region. It’s located on SR40, just west of …
Jefferson County Fair and BBQ Cook-Off, November 12
The Monticello-Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce has announced the 2nd annual – Jefferson’s County Fair and BBQ Cook-Off scheduled to take place on November 12 and will be hosted in Lloyd, Florida at the Lloyd Arena. The festival, will host a variety of food contests aimed at BBQ fans, providing various entertainment shows that …
2016 Cedar Key Seafood Festival, October 15 and 16
The town of Cedar Key, located in western Levy County, juts into the Gulf of Mexico and has been a long-standing source of excellent seafood. And, since the 1990’s, it’s been the epicenter of commercial clam aquaculture, recognized nation-wide. This year, Hurricane Hermine pushed as much as 9 feet of storm surge water onto shore, …
Florida’s 2016/2017 Stone Crab Season Opens October 15th–Great Eating Ahead
The result of stone crabbers’ hard work–a plate of mighty fine eatin’ There’s nothing more tasty than a Florida stone crab. And some of the best come from the ports of Natural North Florida. Florida’s stone crab population is highly regulated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC). Not only do regulations apply …
Spotted Seatrout–A Big Bend Favorite (To Catch and To Eat)!
Fall is here and all those undersized spotted seatrout that Big Bend anglers have been catching and releasing since last spring have grown up. Now, they’re mostly all in the 15 to 20-inch slot (you can keep one over 20-inches) and there should be no problem catching dinner as the waters on the Big Bend …
Florida’s Big Bend 2016 Recreational Scallop Season Ends–With A Bang!
Five of the seven counties that make up the official Florida bay scallop harvest are in Natural North Florida–Levy, Dixie, Taylor, Jefferson and Wakulla. And what a year 2016 has been! The harvest started in June, and quick boat limits (see www.myfwc.com/fishing for regulations) were taken. And even after Hurricane Hermine slammed the coast over …
Natural North Florida Overcomes Hurricane Hermine
Hurricane Hermine comes ashore on Florida’s Big Bend, September 1, 2016 with minimal hurricane force winds. We’re a tough, resilient bunch in Natural North Florida. When Hurricane Hermine hit just east of St. Marks in Wakulla and Jefferson counties on September 1, 2016 it had been a full decade since we’d had a similar event. …
St. Marks Stone Crab Festival, October 22, 2016
There’s just about nothing better to eat than Florida stone crabs and despite the “hype” that we hear from south Florida, stone crabs from the northern Gulf waters are tastier and more plentiful. Those “jumbos” and “colossals” on menus at fancy south Florida eateries are good, but our “mediums” taste better and there’s …
It’s Country in the Pines Time! Perry, Florida Music Festival, Sept. 23-24, 2016
One of the most sought after Country Music events in the Southeast, the Country in the Pines Music Festival is right around the corner this Sept. 25-26 at Forest Capital State Park in Perry, FL. This event promises to bring with it one of the most exciting line-ups of country artists around, the 309C …
Thirsty? Don’t Miss Gainesville’s First Magnitude Brewing Company
When writing about food and dining in Gainesville, it’s hard to bypass a place that’s really geared towards beer and beer-drinking. First Magnitude Brewing Company isn’t a bar, but a real brewery where you can sample any number of their standard brews or a few of their seasonal specials. And, if you’re hungry, there’s usually …