1500 W. International Speedway Boulevard

Daytona Beach, Florida 32114

(386) 254-2867

www.gatorsbarbqandwings.com

Gator's Storefront

In earshot but not quite sight of the Daytona International Speedway was the sight of a favorite restaurant of mine. In early 2009 I was so sadden to see that they had closed down. The location was soon replaced with Gator’s Bar-B-Q and Wings. It took me almost a full year to decide to stop in and give them a try, and man am I glad I did. When you step into ‘Gator’s’ you can see the set up is like any other sports bar. There is a full liquor bar to the right, dozens of televisions, an outdoor sitting area with high-top tables, and the usual banners of either your favorite team or the beer specials of the day. But this is not just another ordinary sports bar; they have a little something extra.

Bar Area

Sitting there in the dining area adjacent to the bar area, I was a little anxious to have our server finally help us. But, I did give her a little slack as to the fact that she was the only server and had a table that was demanding a lot of her time. She was kind and introduced herself in passing by our table as Melissa. She did stop long enough to take our drink order, and took off to get those while we looked at the menu. Looking at the menu we saw that Gator’s had several appetizers we wanted to try, good thing they have a ‘create your own sampler’. You have the option of any three for $12.99 or any four for $14.99. We settled on the any three, and chose the fried mac n cheese, the corn nuggets, and the fried mushrooms. It did not take long for this huge platter of starters to come out. With the corn nuggets and the fried mac n cheese, we got the usual. If you have had either one of these items anywhere, then you will have the exact item here, nothing special. But the fried mushrooms were fantastic, they were fresh and homemade. When Melissa was near the table again I asked her about the mushrooms and she did confirm that they are homemade and fresh. They use their own batter and never freeze them, thus creating a great fried mushroom.

Sampler Platter

We took a bit of time looking into what our main course would be, and I was torn between the wings and the one pound cheeseburger. After looking deeper into the menu I saw the pulled pork sandwich that is served on a pretzel roll for $7.99. I order this with the thought in mind, if you have Bar-B-Q or Wings in your restaurant name and on the sign outside, go with what they know. For the fact that the place was now virtually empty, I thought it took a little long for the food to come out. Not to sound like it took a long time, but it just took a little bit long than I thought it would. BUT, it was very much worth the wait. While we started to eat the server was cleaning tables from the lunch rush and letting us know about the poker nights, wing and beer specials, and the ladies night that Gator’s has. Back to the Bar-B-Q sandwich, it was moist but not sloppy. Thick and juicy, with a hint of a smokey flavor. The fries that came with it were not to my liking, but my friend said he thought they were great. The fries were not bad, and did seem to be fresh, just not my kind of fry.

Sandwich & Fries

If you are either vacationing at Daytona Beach or there for the races, you should definitely stop by Gator’s Bar-B-Q and Wings. If you use a GPS with this address you will get a Sonny’s B-B-Q instead of Gator’s. The menu is very extensive, with items from pizza, bar-b-q, wings, burgers, gyros, steak, ribs, several different salads and also different sandwiches. Overall the items are a little bit more than other restaurants, however you will not leave hungry and will probably take food home with you…. I did. The menu that I looked at does not have a specific kids section but this is not a place I would recommend to bring a child after lunchtime. For a couple of people you should expect to spend over $25 including tip, this is not with either liquor or beer, but with soda. Hmmm, the race is coming up…. I may be back there sooner than I thought. 

Gator's Porch

Review by Pie, email:  pie@piesplate.com

630 Park Street

Jacksonville, FL

(904) 359-0035

Serving Lunch:

11 am – 2:30 pm, M-F

As a fan of food (or a ‘foodie’ as some would call me) I do not limit myself to only restaurants and cafes. There are festivals, banquets and many other opportunities to indulge in the tasty items available. In 2009 the community of Riverside in Jacksonville, Florida added a weekly open market called the Riverside Arts Market. This market features music, paintings, photos, crafts and of course…food. On this particular day we went to visit a local chef who was there featuring his coconut shrimp soup. The challenge with his booth was there were no drinks. So my girlfriend and I walked to a trailer that was set up by AJ’S at the Market.

There I waited as people ordered sandwiches and fries. When they got to me I told them I was craving an ‘Arnold Palmer’. Now if you are not aware of an ‘Arnold Palmer’ drink, it is quite simple…half tea and half lemonade make this drink. The guys at AJ’S call this drink a ‘flop’. As I watched them make this drink I was very thirsty. I do not know if it was my thirst or the drink but dad gum, that was one of the best drinks I have ever had. Over the next two hours I had three more ‘flops’. The food that was being served to the people in line was looking good as well. Thinking of how good the drink was and how good the food looked, I had to make AJ’S a stop for lunch that week.

Now it is a Monday and I am outside of AJ’S meeting some of my friends for lunch. We are in the parking lot of AJ’S on Park just underneath the Interstate exchange of I-95 and I-10 in the 5 Points area of Jacksonville, Florida. This is a very busy and industrial area of town. Nearby in 5 Points you can see churches and the quaint shops. Then when you look the other way you are staring at the beautiful skyline of Jacksonville. The actual location of AJ’S has only been on Park Street for a few months. Before they moved here, they were near the (kind of) skyscraper of Blue Cross & Blue Shield building.

As you step into AJ’S you find yourself right at the counter to order at. The special of the day is displayed proudly on a plate under cellophane wrap at the register. It was not the presentation of the pork tenderloin, rice and corn on the cob that sold me on it, but the smell of the fresh food right there. Of course I had to order a ‘flop’ even though they sell Coke products, which are a favorite of mine. Apparently you need to ask for the ’special’ recipe of the lemonade from the back. It was just as delicious this day as it was on that Saturday.

My friends and I were given our order numbers and took a seat in the dining area. The place was starting to fill up but it was never packed. We noticed after grabbing our seats that there is also the option to sit out on a gated patio as well. Now, one of my pet peeves is when meals are brought out to a table in a very staggered time frame. This was an issue at AJ’S. The guy that ordered after me got his Beef Brisket about 5 minutes before I got my Pork Tenderloin. Even worse than that, my other friend received his burger (known as the Outstanding Burger) just as the Beef Brisket was almost gone. One thing that does make-up for this was the quality of the food. Another thing that made this lunch enjoyable was the staff. One of the ladies there was willing to bring out a sample of Macaroni and Cheese and was very sweet to us.

As we were all sitting there enjoying our food we were visited by a gentleman that is known in the community as ‘Mr. Natural’. For those who do know ‘Mr. Natural’, he is a local chef and used to be a regular on local television cooking features. As he stood at our table he offered us some of his Chocolate Cake that he had made there that morning. The cake was good; I can not personally say it was great; mind you I am not a fan of chocolate. One of my friends joked around that he liked it but would rather sample some of the Peach Cobbler. ‘Mr. Natural’ took off to the back and returned with a sample of the Peach Cobbler for my friend.

If you are in the Riverside/5 Points area or even downtown Jacksonville, Florida, then you should stop by AJ’S on Park Street.  When you stop and ask for AJ…you should know that AJ is not a him but a them. Using the initials of two friends makes the name of AJ’S. These guys are established and well worth the stop. They offer mostly Bar-B-Q, but also have hamburgers, salads, wings and even roasted half chicken.

The exact location for AJ’S on Park Street is 630 Park Street Jacksonville, Florida 32204. If you need to call them the number is (904) 359-0035 and you should be aware that the scheduled hours are currently Monday – Friday 11am until 2:30pm. They do have future plans to open for special events with live music and outdoor dancing. Personally I am glad that I found AJ’S and look forward to many visits in the future.

Review by Pie, email: pie@piesplate.com