Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives Stop #2

My second stop in Jacksonville, Florida was Metro Diner which was also featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. They are a breakfast and lunch place. Their saying is “Where the Locals Eat” which is definitely true.  I tried two times to go there but there was a line out the door and packed  with people waiting outside. We made it in there on Wednesday morning. There are three locations in Jacksonville. My boyfriend who is a local to Jacksonville told me before they were featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives they were packed. So this was a place I was excited to check out

(Yo Hala on the Square)

One of Guy Fieri’s favorites was the Yo Hala on the Square and I was down to try it.  It is thick slices of Challah bread stuffed with bananas, sautéed in Frangelico Hazelnut liqueur and blended with cream cheese then topped with a blueberry and strawberry compote.  The portions are so big there it could have definitely been split between two people. It was one of the best breakfast foods I have ever eaten. The inside of the stuffed French toast was so warm and amazing with so much flavor in the French toast. You definitely taste the hazelnut in the French toast from the Frangelico liqueur. The berry compote on top was so warm and it just melted in your mouth.

The Metro Diner is so simple that it has the feeling that you are at home while you are eating there and feeling comfortable. They have an open kitchen so you can see what they are cooking. It is very welcoming and bright. It makes you feel like one of the locals when you go in there.

Metro Diner 3 Locations

3302 Hendricks Avenue
Jacksonville, Florida 32207
904.398.370102

12807 San Jose Blvd.
Jacksonville, Florida 32223
904.638.6185

1534 3rd Street North
Jacksonville Beach, Florida 32250
904.853.6817

http://metrodiner.com/

Diners, Drive-In, and Dives Stop #1

(Outside Culhane's Irish Pub)

                One of my favorite shows on television is Diners, Drive- In, and Dives with Guy Fieri. I love to check out places that he features on the show. When I headed down to Jacksonville, Florida there were 4 places that were featured on the show. I got to check out two places that were featured on there which was awesome. One of the places was Culhane’s Irish Pub in Atlantic Beach, FL.  I always get to see the repeats of this episode a lot. I love that they had a spray painted Guy Fieri face with his signature on the wall. That was pretty awesome to see. I love walking into the place and the feeling that you are really in a pub in Ireland.  They have that wood and oak inside just like an old time pub. There are two separate dining areas. They have a dining room and they have a bar area.

(Kaye's Mac N' Cheese)

(Nana's Sausage Roll)

                The food is definitely an Irish pub menu.  We ordered two appetizers to start off the meal. We got Kaye’s Mac N’ Cheese Pasta and Nana’s Sausage Roll. Kaye’s Mac N’ Cheese Pasta was penne pasta tossed in a garlic cream sauce and topped with a mixture of cheddar jack cheese and goat cheese. I love mac n’ cheese but it has to me made right. This one was definitely made right. I like the sauce to not be like a soup and not too dry where you can’t taste the cheese. The garlic cream sauce was soo rich with flavor. The melted cheeses on top were so crispy and melted to perfection. The serving size was big and definitely sharable between people.  Nana’s Sausage Roll is an Irish sausage with onions and spices rolled in pastry then baked. It’s like the idea of a Beef Wellington.  The pastry on the sausage was so crisp and that’s how it should be. The mustard was the killer for this dish since it was deviled mustard. It was made in house for sure. It has this spicy but sweet kick to it. One of my favorite dishes in the world is Fish N Chips. I am like the Fish N Chips expert. I have tasted Fish N Chips from England to Philly. The Fish N Chips were ok.  They were fried perfectly. The batter was Guinness Beer flavored but you could not taste it in the Fish N Chips. I would liked to have seen that here. It needs to have more of a flavor impact.  For dessert we got the Brownie Ice Cream Pie. It was a layered cake with a cookie crust on the bottom, then a layer of chocolate brownie, then a chocolate mousse layer then a ganache chocolate topping. The great debate for dessert that night was it made in house or bought outside.  Still don’t know the answer.

(Arthur's Fish & Chips)

(Brownie Ice Cream Pie)

Culhane’s Irish Pub

967 Atlantic Blvd.

Atlantic Beach, FL

http://www.culhanesirishpub.com/

Have to Try their Buttercream!

(Outside Cupcake Gourmet)

I love cupcakes! I love eating them, making them, and seeing new exciting flavors. The display when you walk into Cupcakes Gourmet is so appealing. There are so many choices to make. They had a mixture of flavors to choice from Carrot, Lovely Lemon, Milk Chocolate, White Chocolate Raspberry, Cinnamon Spice, Coconut, Red Velvet, Classic Vanilla, Vanilla Chocolate and a bunch more flavors. They offer two sizes of minis and regular size cupcakes. When judging cupcakes you have a base which is the cake part and the icing on top. Their cake base ia so moist and have a great crumb to them. The flavor of their regular buttercream is not sweet but just melts in your mouth and is just plain good. Each month they have a flavor of the month. The flavor of the month in February is Pink Champagne. It was chocolate based cupcake with a pink champagne buttercream icing. You can taste the champagne in the buttercream icing.  I love their cupcakes because you can really taste the flavors of what they are. My other favorite from there was their Cinnamon Spice cupcake. It is a spice cake base with a cinnamon buttercream icing.

(Cupcake Display in Cupcake Gourmet)

(Cupcakes we got and brought home)

Cupcakes Gourmet

Gateway Shopping Center

279 East Swedesford Road

Wayne, PA 19087

610-688-3144

www.cupcakesgourmet.com

McKenzie Brew House

(Outside McKenzie Brew House)

I have never heard of McKenzie Brew House until I saw it pop up in Devon.  I wanted to check it out because it looked like a fun place to try. When I first walked into the place I was surprised how big and open it was. They have a separation of rooms from the bar to the dining room. I was shocked they have an open kitchen that you can see into from the dining room.  The place is so clean and bright inside and the service matched it. I haven’t had that kind of great service for a while. The server was on top of things with refills of drinks, checking on us constantly, and always predicting what was going to come next.

(Inside McKenzie Brew House)

I love potato skins and it is one of my favorite foods to eat. On the menu under appetizers they had retro potato skins. They had Penobscot bay potato skins, Cabot cheddar, bacon, sour cream, and chives. Penobscot bay potatoes are not the regular potatoes you would find at a grocery store. They are a full round ball. They are shaped like a cup when cut in half.  The Cabot cheddar is a white cheddar cheese and is a sweet and tangy cheese.  Each potato skin is loaded with crispy bacon. These are the best potato skins I have ever had. I ordered the Key West Salad with Spicy Tuna for my entrée. I liked the salad it was loaded with flavor. It was fresh greens with fresh strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, mango salsa, mandarin oranges, candied walnuts and with honey lime dressing. The honey lime dressing was tangy and sweet. The dressing was served on the side which I like because you can add as much dressing as you want. The spicy tuna served on top is cooked to your choice of wellness. I asked for medium rare. The tuna is spicy and it just melted in my mouth.  The person I was with ordered the Marguerita pizza and everything on top of it was good. The crust is not sensational. It’s just too doughy of a crust for any pizza. The crust of the pizza has no flavor either. It was a little disappointing for a pizza.

(Retro Skins)

(Key West Salad with Spicy Tuna)

McKenzie Brew House

324 West Swedesford Road

Berwyn, PA 19312

610-407-4300

www.mckenziebrewhouse.com