Bay Ave Diner, Manahawkin NJ

Posted on April 28, 2009 by slip60

As most people know, New Jersey is the diner capital. Unfortunatly for me, on this day, I chose the wrong time to visit one.

Feeling hungry and on my way to work, I can’t help thinking about a stack of pancakes with some fresh fruit.  A visit to our neighborhood diner is in order to satisfy my craving. I order up a short stack with banana’s, strawberries and blueberries and can’t wait to sink my teeth into them. Last night wasn’t a good night for dinner so I wake up hungry and craving some ‘ cakes.

As I sip a hot cup of coffee my waitress sets the plate in front of me. At first glance I am impressed at the amount of fruit that is piled high over my ‘cakes. At second glance I realize that the fruit, other than the banana’s, isn’t fresh.  Disappointment begins to set in as I attempt the navigate thru the mushy and hot blueberries to search out the ‘cakes. Even the strawberries were like tasteless shaved strawberry ice. To add insult to injury, I am served whipped margarine in a cup instead of butter. I hate margerine and especially on pancakes.

Trying to make the best of the situation and still hungry, I make it to the pancakes beneath the frozen fruit mess. The ‘cakes are always tasty and I make sure to eat the banana’s with each mouthful.

So how does this story get worse? How about the price they charged me for 2 pancakes and frozen fruit. How does $8.79 sound for that short stack mess. I can not believe my eyes and realize a lesson is hereby learned. Total for ‘cakes and coffee amounts to $10.49. I know I will never eat here again, especially since the waitress sees I didn’t eat all the fruit and charges me full price anyway.

How is it that when a customer isn’t satisfied, the waitress doesn’t make it a point to address the issue at hand to make it right or at least remove something from the bill to ease the distress. This is why I write this stuff, more for a warning shot to potential customers to these establishments.

Regular Guy rating * *

Bay Ave Diner

Bay Avenue

Manahawkin New Jersey

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The Regular Guy Marriage and Sex Survey

Posted on April 1, 2009 by slip60

Men like to talk about marriage and sex. Well let me rephrase that…men usually always talk about marriage and sex. More so sex than marriage but marriage or even better,  “the wife”. So what does the Regular Guy think about marriage and sex? To get a better idea, I sent out a survey to 15  married Regular Guys that I know.  Out of the 15 requests sent, 9 were willing to spend five minutes of their time to take the survey. The survey was confidential, although I believe some thought it wasn’t and that their name would appear beside their answers.  Too bad because the 9 responses returned some interesting, some typical, some surprising and some exactly as I thought, answers to how men feel about their marriage and sex.

My first thoughts about the survey revolved around love, happiness and reasons men married their wives. Of the 9 guys surveyed, 90% were in love when they married and 100% were in love with their wives today, but only 65% were happily married. The top two reasons as to why these men married were love, 75%, and best friend 35%. Along those lines, 65% of these men stated that they hang out with their wives alone for fun, other than for vacations or family functions. That’s pretty telling because a lot of men usually talk about getting away from their wives but this shows the opposite.

The majority of these men, 62%,  said that they enjoy sex with their wives but 85% said they wanted it more than their wives did. Curiously enough, 82% thought that their wives sex drive changed for the worse since they were first married, and the number one cause was because of children in the marriage.  When asked if their wives asked, initiated or invited sex as often as they wanted it, 43% said no” shes never in the mood” and 43% said “yes, but she doesn’t always initiate it.” Pretty even split there.

The last question probably explains why we are so far apart with the way we think about sex.  When asked if they believed their wives understood the male sex drive. 75% said ” no, and they really don’t understand or care about our sex drive”.

So what does all this mean? I always believed that men and women never really take the time to learn about what each other truely wants and needs with sex in a marriage. Oh yeah they probably talk about it or talk at each other but as men we feel that it just falls on deaf ears. I also believe that children in a marriage become the number one thing to the woman, where in a marriage without children, the man is still the most important thing. That is usually the what I hear most from married men. They believe that they are no longer number one and that bothers them. They can’t understand why women change so much as they age.Most understand that the children are probably the reason why they change. My favorite example of the change is the “convertible test”. Can you remember a young girl who is offered a ride in a convertible say no because her hair will get messed up. Never, but take that same girl some 30 years later and there is no way shes getting in a convertible with the top down. Hell my friends wife won’t let him take the top off his Vette while shes in it.

I once heard a saying that is so true. ” Men marry women hoping they never change and women marry men hoping they do”. How true is that saying. When I say that around my friends they can’t believe how true it is especially in their marriage. They think back to how it was when they first met their wives and the things they used to do with each other. Now those same things wouldn’t even be considered by their wives. This my friends is why we have what women call “MID LIFE CRISIS”. We want the same things we always did but can’t have them anymore.

If your interested in taking the survey, just click on the picture of the “blue monkey face” in my favorites links area on this page.

The Regular Guy

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Meils Restaurant, Stockton NJ

Posted on March 22, 2009 by slip60

Quaint little towns always seem to have at least one restaurant that clearly stands out. Meils is one example of just such an establishment.

I have dined at Meils at least four times that I can remember and perhaps at least one more time that I can’t recall, but each time did not disappoint. Although small and crampy, the atmosphere is mom and pop, old style homemade dining. And the food….is exactly that.  Big portions of very tasty and some clever, combinations. My favorite over the years has always been the meatloaf. I make it a point to eat at Meils every time I visit the New Hope/ Lambertville/ Stockton area.

This time I made it there for breakfast, a first. Three friends and I set out from Manahawkin NJ on a very frigid Sunday morning on motorcycle, for a long awaited first spring ride. With the cold breeze threatening to make our trip shorter than we would like, we persevered until finally an hour and a half later we arrived.

First order is to drink as much hot coffee as possible to warm our frozen extremities. Our waitress promptly delivered the goods along with menus. At first glance something changed from what I remembered about Meils…their prices. I have to say that I was very shocked at the prices for the breakfast items. My last recollection of Meils was fantastic food at very, very reasonable prices. It has been some five years since my last trip to Meils so I thought that the popularity of the place created a sale and the new owner changed the menu. As I found out later, the same owners are still there after some 18 years, so that wasn’t why the prices were so much higher than I remembered. For example..Ham and eggs, with two sides $11.00.  Omelets ranged from $14-$18. I stopped short of reading the whole menu because no matter how good the breakfast might be, I can’t see spending this much money on eggs. That being said, the ham and eggs were delicious. I opted for the home fries and a Cinnamon Butterscotch scone as my two sides, with a side of salsa for my eggs. The salsa, which I love to eat with eggs, was fresh with the much needed addition of Cilantro. Anyone who eats salsa knows that fresh Cilantro really sets it off and separates the good salsa from the just so so salsa. I am a baker/chef by trade and I have to say that the scone was as good as any I have made in my own shop. Served up warm and flaky with a side of jam, it definitely made the meal better than if I had it with toast. The breakfast took quite some time to serve (about 25 minutes) and the place wasn’t jamming so we couldn’t understand why it took so long, but once we started eating , we soon forgot the wait time. By the way, all the dishes were garnished attractively and overfilled the plates. Also the bacon is the best any of us ever had, and describing it just wouldn’t cover how good it was.  If you love bacon, you have to order up some on your visit.

So what does it cost for great food, great service ( the coffee kept flowing with out asking) and great atmosphere. Well for us, including tip, $80.00. I told you it was pricey. Although the food is excellent, I don’t know how they justify Manhattan Hotel prices. If I were to say how much it should have cost us, it would be more in line with $60-$65 including tip. So, a bit costly but at least you are getting a meal that leaves you full and satisfied. Nothing worse than overpriced bad food, so it makes it a little easier to accept the bill.

Regular guy rating * * * 1/2 ( only because of high priced menu)

Meils Restaurant and Bakery

Bridge & Main
Stockton, NJ 08559
(609) 397-8033

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Atlantic City Collector Car Auction

Posted on March 1, 2009 by slip60

By the looks and sound of it,  I guess the economy has affected the Collector Car circuit. As I do each year, yesterday my good friend Willie and I attended the Collector Car Auction in Atlantic City, and not to my surprise, a lot of cars just passed over the block in vain.  If you needed to sell your car then you better not have had a reserve price on it because you were taking it back home with you. I watched about fifty cars roll through and none of them sold with a reserve tag. As a matter of fact, most just rolled past and went back to the corral to be looked at once more. The few that sold were reserve removed or no reserve cars.

1969camaross

1969 Camaro SS

We did however, see a1969 SS Camaro that was fitted with ( I believe) an L78  Big Block, one 0f only 311 made, sell for $135,000. Now I can really appreciate the ’69 Camaro, especially after owning three of them. I did in fact own two 1969  Z-28 ‘s, one whose sale provided the funds to purchase my home and the second, sold some 10 years ago, brought me $12,500. At the time I was elated with the amount I received since I had $6500 into it. That guy worked me for three days before finally giving in and handing over the funds. I bet he either sold it for a big gain or is sitting on a pretty good investment as I write this. I have often been tempted to call him to ask him what he did with the car. It was a nice one too! It had all the good options like deluxe interior, wood grain dash, wood wheel, tilt steering, power brakes and steering. heavy sway bars and the cowl hood. The car was pretty cool and I miss that ride.

Funny thing about cars like that. I have bought, built and/or  sold eight cars since high school. Always the Chevy guy, I favored Camaros and Chevelles. They rewarded me for all my efforts every time I sold them. That’s the thing with these cars. You have to use your head when you buy one. I always look at it as if I were going to build one. If the price to buy one is about the same as the cost to build one, well hey, you gotta choose the buy option. Building one these days is a costly and usually, a long endeavor and can easily run you more than you might get in return at the time you choose to sell it.

Getting back to the auction, I saw quite a few cars sell for less than they would cost to build. And I also saw some  offers turned down at prices I just can not fathom. I have driven these Muscle Cars since my days in high school and they still drive and handle the same now as they did some 3o years earlier. That is why I can not believe that people are turning down tens of thousands of dollars for these same cars. How much money do they think they are worth? And why would anyone pay that much for a car that doesn’t compare in quality, modern techno advances and the speed of today’s cars. Yes, I did say speed. Today’s cars run as fast or faster and are sooooo smooth riding compared to yester years models. So why then do we still ogle and drool over the older models? We do it because it reminds us of our youth. It reminds us of a simpler time in our life. It reminds us of hanging out with our buddies and talking cars. It makes us feel good. That is why every time I sell one of my cars I always buy another one within a couple of years.  Yeah I guess I can see why some guys are willing to spend so much on these rides. I bet a lot of them couldn’t afford one when we were younger or later in life, their families came first and now they have the extra cash to overspend on a dream from their childhood.

I am one of the lucky ones. I owned my dream car not once but twice in my life and I would love to have one more shot at a third. This time I want to build it myself like I did with my first Z-28 over twenty years ago. This time I will build it with today’s improved drive trains, brakes and suspensions. After all that is what Chrysler has done so successfully with the Challenger. Man that car is really cool. I almost like it as much as the older version. If it were a ‘Cuda I would be very tempted to own one and give up my dream of building a third.

So where is the market going with these cars? I guess if the economy stays like this we will see a lot more cars at very affordable prices. Its like anything else that people collect. You have to get in at the right time and sell when you DON”T have to sell. It’s a neat way to have your cake and eat it, but you just have to do it the right way!

The Regular Guy

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Granny’s Kitchen, Lakewood NJ

Posted on February 19, 2009 by slip60

My friends and I eat breakfast out every Tuesday morning, usually in the same place but lately we’ve been trying to find some new places to go. So I print out a coupon from Restaurant.com ( which in itself is a great place to visit and take advantage of) for Granny’s Kitchen and proceed to place it on my refrigerator for almost 1 year before finally using it on this past Tuesday.

Granny’s is in Lakewood on the Bricktown border in the Home Depot plaza on Rte 70 east Since Granny’s is in a town some 25 miles from my neighborhood, I don’t have any sense of what type of place it is.  Upon arriving and at first glance it appears that Granny’s is a diner/luncheonette (remember that word?). Upon entering the first thing you notice is a broken down and cluttered wind break area between the two doors that lead to the seating area. We are seated quickly (and given menus) at a table that does not fit three men of our stature, so we move to another table that allows more elbow room.

Ordering takes awhile since the menu is pretty extensive and two sided, but we navigate to the Steak and Eggs which seems to be a good deal compared to the other breakfast specials and regular meals. We order three Rib eye steaks and eggs, all med rare, all over medium eggs, which also include toast and home fries. Vinny, as I like to call him, can not just eat breakfast but has to order some types of sides to start. Usually toasted corn muffins are his preference as it is today. He also orders a short stack of ‘cakes as Gus orders up a side of potato pancakes.

The corn muffin arrives first and we all agree that it tastes like fish oil. Not a good muffin at all. Eggs are being served as we set aside the muffin.  The steaks turn out to be cut “thinner than the slices of toast”,  a quote from Gus, and our eggs are browned and yolks are dried up. The home fried potatoes are a mix of what looks like old and new. some of which are blackened throughout. As it is we proceed to eat most of the food served to us and complain as we do that we won’t be returning to feast here again.

Okay so lets look at the good first. The waitress was friendly and competent. The food was served quickly and nothing was incorrect or missing. Now the bad. The eggs were overcooked, the steak was about 3 ozs, pre cooked weight, the potatoes black and white. The pancakes were average but as Vinny noted the syrup was very good. “Thick”, he said. The potato pancakes were the type that are served in almost every place in New Jersey. Frozen, pre-made and fried in deep fat and served up with apple sauce and sour cream. No comment.

So there you have it, although as bad as the meal was, it wasn’t as bad as the run down and dirty dining room. The over head fans were thick with dust, the air registers were black and the walls were in desperate need of new paint. The type of walls that had pictures framed in dirt from being there so long.  I almost feel bad writing such a bad review but I can’t find anything that would make me return for a second try.

Too bad because the wait staff was very nice and deserve a better working environment. It would definitely make for better tips. It almost seems like the owner has given up on his investment and refuses to put any effort into cleaning up.

For three steak and eggs, one short stack, one potato pancake, two corn muffins and  three iced coffees, a grand total of $42.23. With the Restaurant.com coupon we save 50% which puts us at $21+. We drop $30 on the table and bid the place ad

Regular Guy rating * 1/2

Granny’s Kitchen

Rte 70 East

Lakewood New Jersey

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Lighthouse Tavern, Barnegat NJ

Posted on February 8, 2009 by slip60

Tonight my friend and music editor for this site, are dining together. He is in town for a visit and wants a steak dinner but I draw a blank to where we can find a good steak. On our way up rte 9 I spot the Lighthouse and remember in years past, having a good meal there.  If you have ever been to the Lighthouse, it is hard to determine if it is a restaurant with a bar or a bar with a restaurant. Tonight sadly, it is a bar with a restaurant.

It is a very busy night for the Lighthouse crew. People are lined up at 6pm for tables. We happen to get lucky and land a deuce without wait which is great because we are hungry. Our waiter, who never told us his name, brings us menus and promises a return for a drink order.  Tonight’s specials include, what else,  but a steak dinner.  Ny strip steak with mushrooms, bacon and crumbled bleu cheese, served with jumbo grilled shrimp, vegetables and a choice of potatoes or onion rings. The description makes us immediately opt for two orders.

While waiting for the meal, we are served our salads. Mine although a little warm, is the best of the two. My friends salad looked like half had slid off the plate before it reached our table.  Where’s the bread we ask and the waiter returns with a warm basket of french style bread.

The salads go down and the bread disappears but the entre’s are now in front of us. To both our surprise, the steak is buried beneath a layer of bleu cheese sauce, which is extremely thick and overflowing the plate. In this sauce are my mushrooms and bacon, both of which a very hard to find. A very disappointing start when your really craving a steak. I proceed to scrape off the sauce to look for my hopefully, buried treasure below. The steak is done medium rare which is how I ordered it, so that is one for the plus side. The steak is also tender and flavorful as it is dredged in a Cajun sprinkle. Proceeding to the onion rings brings more sorrow than glee. They are cold and mushy, which are a very bad combination for such a great side to a steak dinner. The vegetables are over seasoned with salt and can not be eaten.

Grilled jumbo shrimp sounds great to me, if in fact you GET grilled jumbo shrimp!!!! If you know shrimp, they are sold in increments of size ( amount) per pound. Shrimp that are considered under 15 or U15, are in the jumbo category, although closer to U12’s are really nice for jumbo shrimp. In fact at my wedding I insisted on U12’s for the shrimp cocktail bar which was the hit of the event. My friends still comment on how great the shrimp were.  If you want to leave a lasting impression with shrimp, serve  U 12’s, or don’t do it at all.

Our shrimp were probably in the 16-21 range. Good for those shrimp rings in the supermarket that you see in the freezer sections, but bad for a steak and shrimp dish.  Serve me 4  jumbo shrimp instead of 6 or 7 smaller ones. The bigger ones always taste better and make a much nicer presentation. I eat most of my steak and leave the rest on my plate.

Upon clearing our dishes the waiter asks if everything was okay and we hesitate and reply it was “alright I guess”. The waiter takes our plates  and leaves without question about our reply. Too bad because this is the only way a kitchen gets feedback for its hard work.

Price for both steaks, a diet soda and a Corona beer $52.00. Add a $10 tip for mediocre service and there you have it.

Regular Guy rating * * 1/2

Lighthouse Tavern

Rte 9 southbound side,

Barnegat New Jersey

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Ipod

Posted on February 4, 2009 by slip60

How does the Regular Guy listen to music these days? I am going to go out on a limb and guess that its with an MP3 Player. The Regular Guy used to carry that Walkman with him to work on the subway. Now our personal music players are so small they can fit in your palm. My IPOD is one of the best things that I have acquired in my lifetime. This electronic piece of magic brings me more music from such a small place than all the albums, cd’s and cassette tapes I had collected for over 40 years. How the hell does this thing work anyway? How can so much music fit in such a tiny place? At 30 gigs I will never reach maximum capacity.

I have loved music since I can remember. My mom sang professionally on and off all her life. I think I inherited the music bone. I wake up every day with a new  song in my head and it must be because of my mom. Somehow I got the love of music without the talent to do anything with it. So I just enjoy listenming to as much as I can. And now with my IPOD, I am loving life.

Plug this thing into your home stereo. Plug it into your car. Take it to the beach. I even fall asleep with it while listening to Podcasts. Hell I even listen to the Minnesota Vikings Podcasts of their local radio stations. How cool is this thing!!! You know the best thing I found so far is that I take all my Cd’s and rip them and then toss ’em to the curb. Who the hell needs all those shiny discs anyway. Man all those years collecting discs for sometimes just one song. No more. And organizing music was never so easy. Playlists by genre, by year, artist, album.. it goes on and on. Endless combo’s endless ways to listen. Does it get any better?  Yes it does. Did I forget to say how I watch movies on my IPOD while flying at 35,000 feet. Take this thing on a plane and you have your own personal video player. Team this baby up with your Tivo and things get better yet. Tivo has a program where you upload video from you DVR to your computer and then transfer the files to your favorite IPOD.

So now they bring us the ITOUCH. How can they do this to me. Just when I get used to my IPOD they tempt me with this new version. Maybe a christmas gift for me this year. Well this Regular Guy has to get back to work ripping those Cd’s and dancing to the tunes.

The Regular Guy

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Big Apple Pizza, Jensen Beach Fl

Posted on February 4, 2009 by slip60

Okay, I ‘m from New York and have been eating pizza before John Travolta made it cool to down two slices at the same time ( see Saturday Night Fever, in case you didn’t get the clue). New Yorkers love pizza and we have this thing about finding the best pizza everywhere we go.  Its always “Its good but not like our pizza back home”. So what do I do when I get to Jensen this time? I go looking for the perfect pizza. And guess what. I damn near find it.

Now I really hate recommending a place, especially after just one visit but I get real good vibes from this joint. Our waitress Stephanie seats us quickly and hands us menus and runs for glasses for our wine that we bring along. Just for your information, Big Apple  Pizza serves wine and beer. When we realized this, we were told it would be okay to pour our own. I don’t think this is common practice so leave your bottle at home. Very nice gesture though.

Take a look at the menu and it begs you to ask “What is this?”  A lot of options for pizza. I lose out and we order a thin crust extra large pie, with sausage and mushrooms. I opt for the Sicilian but everyone else wants thin crust. Good thing I lost as it turned out the thin crust pie was extraordinary. Two things make an ordinary pie extraordinary. Sauce and crust. Lets face it there isn’t much to a pie but sauce and crust,,  so you better make them really good. Big Apple Pizza does both exceptionally well. The sauce is top shelf and the crust was thin, crisp and very tasty. A lot of flavor in those two items. I hope they know just how good the pie is because they should be bragging about it.  So I sprinkle a little hot and a little cheese and magic happens. Sooo  good. Pour me some more of that Chianti I am not going anywhere until I eat my share.

So all told we order a plate of Wings (12), 2  house  salads ( that feed 4) , and a large pie , as noted earlier. Oh yeah, we also get a complementary helping of Garlic Knots which also are as good as I have had anywhere.  Total for this evenings event, $ 34.00. Great good food atunder $10 a person. Hard to beat that deal. We left very full and satisfied that we found the best pizza in Jensen Beach.  I can’t wait for my next trip back to the beach and Big Apple Pizza.

Regular Guy Rating  * * * * 1/2

Big Apple Pizza

Publix Shopping Center Downtown  Jensen Beach on the blvd ( next to Dunkin’ Donuts)

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Mulligans in Jensen Beach Fl.

Posted on January 25, 2009 by slip60

Breakfast is always a big deal for me.  I love eating out for breakfast, so my search for a good breakfast spot is never ending.

Mulligans is a neighborhood restaurant/bar on the corner of Jensen Beach blvd, in a cool little beach town on the east coast. Mulligans boasts open outdoor seating and a tiki style bar with endless drink specials.

On Friday this past week, my wife and I decided to search out breakfast in our little town. Our usual spot closed down due to a lease problem so we needed to find a new favorite.  Mulligans posts a sign each day welcoming patrons to breakfast at the very low price of $1.99. The Regular Guy just has to try this special.

Our waitress greets us with coffee and tea and offers up her special of two scrambled eggs, home fries and toast all for a buck ninety nine. I ask if the eggs have to be scrambled and she replies that for $1.00 more I can have fresh eggs any style. I do not like frozen liquid eggs especially for breakfast. Believe me people, you do not want to see how those eggs are handled and kept from day to day.  Any way we both opt for the eggs over medium in place of scrambled.

Two things are a must for a great breakfast place.  A waitress who knows when you need more coffee and terrific home fries. Lets face it, anyone can make eggs if they can cook, but really, really great home fries are few and far between.  Home fried potatoes should never be from last nights baked leftovers. Nor should they be fried wedges of last nights baked leftovers. Home fried potatoes must have at least onions and a good seasoning blend. It’s really not rocket science, but it just takes some effort to put out a good home fried potato. After all it is half of what makes up your breakfast plate.

Mulligans needs to look at the way they do breakfast. I really don’t expect too much for $1.99 but two eggs, a few potatoes and toast really doesn’t cost that much to prepare, so why not do it right?  The breakfast turned out to be just what we expected. The eggs were fine, the home fries were horrible and the toast, well it’s toast. The home fries were made from wedges of potatoes ( probably leftovers) that were deep fried. All five small wedges worth. The coffee though was surprisingly good. The service was also nice and friendly.

Cost for the two specials with fresh eggs, one coffee and one tea..around $8.95..oh yeah rye bread will cost you a buck more too.  All in all it would have been twice as good by just doing two things. ALWAYS use fresh eggs and make a really, really great home fried potato. The search continues….

Regular Guy rating of * * 1/2

Mulligans

Corner of Jensen Beach Blvd and River Road

Jensen Beach Florida

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Shrimpers in Port Salerno Fl

Posted on January 25, 2009 by slip60

I am told that there are three good restaurants on the river in Port Salerno. One of which myself, my wife and another couple visited while attending the Seafood Festival ( see Seafood Festival Port Salerno Fl blog entry) on a beautiful day in January.

Plenty of outdoor seating right on the water, makes this spot a welcome site. We literally sat right next to some one’s cigarette boat as we ate our lunch. Tables with umbrella’s for those who don’t like eating in the sun’s strong rays or right out there in the middle of the heat. They also have outdoor seating in the bar area that has a covering over top of the serving and table areas.

We chose the table in the shady part of the outside seating to get the best of both.

I come to Florida as often as possible and when I do I make it a point to find a place that serves Grouper. If you don’t know, Grouper is a white fish with the texture of lobster meat. It should be cut fillet style for best portions. I like it because it is thick and flaky when prepared correctly a this one was. I ordered the Crispy Grouper Reuben which I later found out is one of the house specialties. As with any good Reuben the Crispy fried Grouper is sandwiched between two slices of grilled rye bread. Instead of sauerkraut, Shrimpers uses Cole slaw with a light spread of thousand island dressing and Swiss cheese. Served on the side are Seasoned Fries, a pickle wedge and Cole slaw. I have to say that this was one of the best sandwiches I have ever eaten.. From the crispy Grouper to the grilled rye, everything about the combo was fantastic. I now understand why Shrimpers is known for its Grouper Reuben. The price is a little steep at $13.95 but everyone should experience this sandwich at least one time.

As luck would have it my friends decided to follow my lead and order the same thing. My wife on the other hand loves Sushi Tuna seasoned and grilled rare over a bed of greens. She couldn’t resist this salad on the menu. Served with wasabi, fresh ginger (ask and they will gladly bring you extra), a sesame ginger dressing and some crispy noodles as a garnish. The Tuna was exceptional and as good as any we have had before back in New Jersey. The salad cost $12.95 and the portion was enough for her, although she was hungry later that day and I couldn’t eat a thing until late that night.

Beers were cold and from a pretty decent selection. The fancy drinks leave a little to be desired as with most places the alcohol gets lost in the fruity drinks they add to them.

Overall for three Grouper Sandwiches, a Sesame Tuna Salad, three beers and a fancy mixed drink, $77.00. As I said earlier, a little pricey but the excellent food more than makes up for the cost of lunch. Service by Stephanie was terrific and cheerful. She was very knowledgeable and helpful with the menu and  her suggestion was right on the money.

Regular Guy rating of * * * *

Shrimpers

on the river in Port Salerno Florida

( 20 minutes southeast of Stuart) off Dixie Highway

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