Now that the state is starting to slowly come back to life, Ric decided to make the most of it by hitting up all his local haunts as soon as the governor freed them to accept diners (and drinkers) into their places of business. Ric makes a big stink about Trump's handling of the Coronavirus crisis but he has no compunctions of breaking social distancing and stay-at-home guidelines. It's the quite contradictory way Ric is.
But then again, who am I to bark up about it? Ric exhausted his novel experiences of visiting his fav Lake Mary watering holes again on the first weekend in May and by May 9th he was texting me saying he was on his way south to Sebring. Another "paint the town green" Saturday, oh joy! And in the midst of the pandemic, oh my.
So we did our Sebring lazy weekend afternoon thing and if that wasn't enough, he unexpectedly shows up knocking at my door just this past Sunday for another romp around the ol' Lake Jackson.
Here's Dimitri's Pizza Kitchen and "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere Bar." This has become our go-to place and I gotta admit, the pizza is the bomb here. First visit we had the hearty roasted red pepper and pepperoni New Yorker pie (8 out of 10 stars) and the cheesy, bacon-y La Bambina (7 out of 10).
Our next visit featured us ordering pizzas that were even better, the white sauce basil and fresh tomato Sebring Pie (9 out of 10) and the "deep dish" sausage Chicago Style (9 out of 10). Seating was Covid style, no bar stools (except very spread out ones inside) and spaced out tables. This would be the case everywhere BTW. Here, the waitstaff were mask-less (as were 90% of the patrons; only the take out picker-uppers were sporting them, frankly) but elsewhere staff had them on (except Sunset Grill, which, is next on our tour...)
The open air deck seating right on the lake provided awesome views and interactions with nature in the animal (Mr. Squirrel) and climatic (Mr. Rainclouds) kind. The squirrel enjoyed a couple of chunks of Ric's deep-fried gator but Ric sure didn't. They were nice enough to comp him. My "Kickin' Balls," despite it's clever name, were not living up to its moniker. The deep-fried mystery meat paste filled mashed potato balls came with a buffalo sauce which was as hot as the Atomic sauce at Beef O'Brady's (we're getting there) and without the sauce were bland and dry. I dipped them in ranch dressing but they were still gross. They have a stage for outdoor music so when the quarantine is over, maybe that can save this place from being nixed on our next itinerary?
Don Jose's, just up the road a-ways, also offered a great lake view, this one covered and screened in. The place is much larger then I thought and I liked the decor (although the next Mexican restaurant, Azul Tequila, wins the best in show prize in my opinion). We chomped on tortillas and white queso while trying just about every frozen drink on the menu. Eh. I like the offerings at the next place on our tour much better though the prices were a bit lighter here.
Azul Tequilla, the restaurant that opened soon after I moved here to Sebring and, conveniently, within easy walking distance to my house, is my fav. The big ass frozen margaritas, the fresh made salsa and chips, and the awesome decor. A tad on the pricey side but considering I don't go out that often, it's a worthy treat.
And finally, Beef O'Bradys. Its proximity to my house, and the very friendly staff along with pretty decent food make this quite popular with us. The day we came this month, I tried a small sample of the Atomic sauce for hot wings and I just about died! I like spicy but man alive that was liquid fire. I felt like I was on that YouTube show where celebrities are challenged to try wings with progressively hotter and hotter sauces on them. The regular "hot' option was more to my palate though and went well with their always fresh and cold beer.
