Floridiana Magazine

History. Heritage. Home.

Year in Review: Florida Eats

One good thing about traveling the state, visiting small towns is discovering old Florida restaurants.  We’ve had the chance to dine at some great places that served up not only good food, but good old Florida character!

Farmer’s Market Restaurant, Webster

Small town restaurants serve up more than just food – they offer hospitality with a touch of home. The Farmer’s Market Restaurant in Webster is no different.  It is a place to sit down for a meal and hear the locals around you talking about their week or asking about each other’s families.  It’s a place where you can enjoy a meal without being rushed to make room for the next customer.

This is a no-frills restaurant. A variety of kitchen gadgets adorn the walls. Shelves along the top of the walls hold plates and cups. A mixture of booths and tables provide seating in the dining area.

The buffet appears to be the more popular choice and, whether you are there for breakfast, lunch or dinner, provides enough culinary options to satisfy anyone’s cravings. And the best part is you can fill your plate and go back for seconds. From one end of the buffet to the other, it’s a diner’s dream. Oh, and the desserts?  One word: scrumptious!

The Farmer’s Market Restaurant is open Monday – Thursday from 6:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 6:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and Sunday from 7:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Desert Inn, Yeehaw Junction (CLOSED)

The Desert Inn sits at the busy intersection of Highway 60 and U.S. 441 and had been a favorite lunch and dinner spot for locals, tourists and bikers out for their weekend rides, until it closed this past year.

The Desert Inn was established as a trading post in the late 1880s.  The current building can be traced to before 1925 when it served as a respite for cattlemen and lumbermen after long days of hard work. With the construction of roads in the 1930s, the Desert Inn saw an increase in the number of tourists who stopped by.  Then in the 50s, the turnpike was built, an exit added, and the name officially became Yeehaw Junction. (The area was known by several names in its early years: Crossroads, Jackass Crossing, and the Crossing.)  In 1994, the Desert Inn was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

If you want to read more about it before it closed, The Desert Inn was featured last March.

Kappy’s Subs, Maitland

Kappy’s Subs has been a Maitland icon for more than 50 years, serving Central Florida customers since 1967.  (It’s one of our favorites!)  This unpretentious diner backs up to the railroad tracks and sits at the busy intersection of Sybelia and North Orlando Avenue.

This is fifties dining at its finest – inside or out. Place your order at the walk-up window, then sit in your car in the limited covered parking outside or have a seat at one of the picnic tables for that true outdoor Florida feel.  The menu offers up typical diner food – everything from burgers to chicken nuggets to sandwiches, hot dogs and subs.

Kappy’s is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and on Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

Beefy King, Orlando

Beefy King served its first roast beef sandwiches in 1968 in Orlando. The restaurant’s founder, Tom Viegle, came up with the idea during a trip to New York City where he visited a similar restaurant and decided it could be the next big hit for the restaurant industry.  Within a year of opening, Viegle sold the business to Freeman and Margaret Smith, whose grandchildren now run the restaurant. Although the company expanded and went public, it never took off as a franchise.  Only one Beefy King remained open – the original restaurant on Bumby Avenue.

The menu boasts being the “Home of the Real Roast Beef Sandwich,” but over the years has expanded to include ham, turkey, pastrami and corned beef.  The sandwiches come with just meat and a bun, but can be made to order with lettuce, onions, cheese and tomatoes.

Beefy King is located at 424 North Bumby Avenue, between Colonial Drive and Robinson Street.  It is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. and on Saturday, from 11:00 a.m. until 3:00 p.m.  Beefy King is closed on Sunday.

Angel’s Dining Car, Palatka

Angel’s has been serving customers since 1932, when Porter Angel took an old train dining car and converted it into a restaurant.  Situated along busy Highway 17 in the heart of Palatka, the pink and green awnings, the bright silver chrome exterior and its neon sign rising up into the sky make Angel’s easy to find.  True to its history, the diner still offers curb service. Simply park your car, honk your horn, and a waitress will come out and take your order.  Of course, there is indoor seating as well, even though it is limited.

Although we have not been there for breakfast, the menu features a variety of pancakes and omelets. Like other restaurants, Angel’s has its specialties.  Their onion rings are a must-have.  Other favorite menu items include the Black Bottom – scrambled eggs, bacon and ground beef on a bun and the Pusalow – a chocolate frosty drink that tastes a lot like a Yoo-hoo.

Andy’s Drive-In Restaurant, Winter Haven

Andy’s has been serving up meals for nearly 70 years.  Roger “Andy” Anderson opened the restaurant as a Dairy Queen in 1951, when it was surrounded by orange groves.  As the city grew, the landscape changed, and Andy’s now occupies a corner at the busy intersection of Avenue G Southwest and 3rd Street Southwest.  It was, and still is, a favorite gathering place for folks living in Winter Haven.

The menu says it all.  “Hungry? You’re in the Right Place!”  Andy’s describes its menu as “American standard fare featuring burgers, seafood, steaks & ice cream in a simple setting.”  Although there is a wide variety on the menu, the cheeseburger basket is to die for – a juicy burger served with crinkle cut fries and slaw.  Of course, don’t forget to top off your meal with one of their delicious award-winning milkshakes.

FM Notes: 

We have a list of additional diners to visit in 2019.  If you know of one, please leave us a comment so we can check it out!

Florida Eats: Kappy’s Subs

Part of the fun of exploring Florida is finding interesting places to dine or visit.  Sometimes you find them just by driving the back roads.  Other times they appear in unlikely places.  Who would have thought one of those locations sits in the shadows of new development in Maitland?

Kappy’s History

Kappy’s Subs has been a Maitland icon for more than 50 years, serving Central Florida customers since 1967.  This unpretentious diner backs up to the railroad tracks and sits at the busy intersection of Sybelia and 17-92.  New construction flanks two of the corners, a 7-11 sits on the third. The environment around this diner have changed, but the owners (it has been in the same family since 1972) haven’t changed a thing.

The Ambiance

Part of the allure of Kappy’s is its ambiance. Don’t go if you’re expecting a fine dining experience.  This is fifties dining at its finest – inside or out. Place your order at the walk-up window, then sit in your car in the limited covered parking outside or have a seat at one of the picnic tables for that true outdoor Florida feel.

Inside, an L-shaped counter lined with 12 swiveling stainless bar stools with burgundy vinyl seats welcome a limited number of guests.  The sound of grease bubbling in the deep fryer indicates a fresh batch of onion rings is being cooked. A waitress yells out “burger” to the cook.  No matter where you sit at the counter, you can view of the grill as your food selection is cooked.

On the Menu

The menu offers up typical diner food – everything from burgers to chicken nuggets to sandwiches, hot dogs and subs.

For me, the Philly Cheesesteak piqued my culinary curiosity (on both recent visits).  It’s one of Kappy’s specialties and it didn’t disappoint.  In all honesty, I didn’t experience the true cheesesteak.  I’m not much on peppers, so I went with the cheese and onions and added on mushrooms.  My dining companion tried the Fatima’s Sensation, with roast beef, grilled onions and mushrooms, plus melted Swiss cheese and a tangy BBQ sauce. On another occasion, he tried The Rodney, with pastrami, onions, Swiss cheese, lettuce and tomato.  Coupled with onion rings, our lunches were, as the sign outside says, “yummy.”

Philly Cheesesteak

Fatima’s Sensation

The Rodney

Onion Rings

We both topped off our meals with a chocolate milk shake, made fresh in front of us.  It was creamy, and it was delicious.

Kappy’s Hours

If you’re looking for a change from fast food restaurants and want something more authentic, Kappy’s is the place to go. It is open Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 9:00 p.m., on Saturday from 10:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., and on Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.

If you visit, let us know what you think.

Floridiana Magazine (FM) Note: After publication we received additional information from the family about Kappy’s.  It operated as a Valentine Diner in 1964. (In case you’re interested, a Valentine Diner was a small diner that seated eight to twelve people with a limited menu, making it possible for one or two people to run with limited capital.) The establishment also operated as a What-A-Burger for two years and, after closing, reopened as Kappy’s by Isadore Kaplan around 1967 . Bob Caplan (with a “C”) purchased Kappy’s in 1972 and the diner has been in the family ever since.

Audubon Center for Birds of Prey

Tucked away along the shores of Lake Sybelia in Maitland is a hidden Florida treasure – the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey.  It’s not necessarily a step back in time, but it is a representation of a part of Florida some visitors rarely see. The center has been treating, rehabilitating, and releasing raptors since 1979.  But beyond that, it provides an important role in educating the public about protecting these birds and their habitats.

Audubon Center for Birds of Prey

Having lived in the area for more than 20 years, I have to admit I have never visited the center. It’s amazing what you can find in your own backyard when you actually stop and look for it. On the day of our visit, we were greeted by a red-shouldered hawk, sitting peacefully on a handler’s arm.

Red-shouldered Hawk

The hawk is just one of the birds now in residence at the center.  Housed in large enclosures there are peregrine falcons, caracaras, owls and vultures. A casual stroll along a meandering sidewalk provides visitors a chance to not only learn about the types of birds, but also the individual stories of the birds that are now permanent residents. Hali and Tallulah are two of the eagles here, both arriving at the center in the same year but for different reasons.

 

Guidebook provides history of the birds

Although the goal is to release these raptors back into the wild, not all of them can be because of their injuries: paralysis, blindness, puncture wounds and neurological damage – all caused by different incidents. Birth abnormalities also prevent some of them from ever living in the wild.

Gazebo

 

A boardwalk and gazebo extend out over a man-made wetland. From there the Flight Barn is in full view, the place where birds are currently being rehabilitated. A sign indicates what is inside on any given day.  It is not open to the public because the center does not want the birds to get accustomed to humans.

Educational signs are located throughout the property; however, the Audubon Center for Birds of Prey provides educational programs for schools.  And there are also volunteer opportunities for those who want to get involved in the center’s efforts.

The center is open Tuesday through Sunday from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.  It is closed on Mondays and holidays.

Don’t miss out on a chance to get up close to some of Florida’s most beautiful birds.

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