We're almost six months into this pandemic with only hopes that there's an end in sight. While I've spoken out numerous times over the last few months about the need to support our local restaurants, old favorites closing, and new faces popping up...I thought it best to let 10 local restaurant owners share their thoughts in their own words. From food trucks to more upscale fare, counter service to sit-down, and from longtime stalwarts to opening during the height of the pandemic...this is what they're seeing first-hand. This is Part II of a two-part article. Please click here to read Part I ..read more

We're almost six months into this pandemic with only hopes that there's an end in sight. While I've spoken out numerous times over the last few months about the need to support our local restaurants, old favorites closing, and new faces popping up...I thought it best to let 10 local restaurant owners share their thoughts in their own words. From food trucks to more upscale fare, counter service to sit-down, and from longtime stalwarts to opening during the height of the pandemic...this is what they're seeing first-hand. This is Part I of a two-part article. Part II will be released this Sunda ..read more

BREAKING NEWS! Halo Potato Donuts is opening up a "Drive-Thru" at the Oaks Mall parking lot. This is in addition to their brick and mortar location in downtown Gainesville, as well as the food truck on Archer Road...albeit with some shuffling. Angel, the big food truck will park at the Oaks Mall parking lot off 62nd Blvd near Belk and the Wells Fargo, while Lil' Tater (the new smaller truck) will take over at the Archer Road dog park location. The Oaks Mall setup will be a drive-thru style pickup similar to a Chick-Fil-A setup, and feature the same menu and coffee from Sweetwater Organic Coff ..read more

It has been a while since I’ve done a news round-up, and to be honest, I had to step away and take a mental break for a hot minute to focus on my actual job and let the social medias cool down for a hot minute. In spite of everything going on and the changes to our local foodscape, there is still a lot of good news on the horizon and currently happening. We’ll try to keep it positive beyond the first bullet-point just in case y’all missed it. - Leonardo's 706 announced earlier this week they will be permanently closing after 47 years of serving Gainesville. I shared my thoughts on this in an ..read more

After yesterday's bombshell sad news, I wanted to follow it up with something more positive. Tommy Dorn of Dorn's Liquors and the venerable Dave Piasecki, former GM at Dragonfly Sushi & Sake Company are opening a new concept together in Downtown Gainesville. Occupying the former Gelato Company space will be The Leaning Pig, a restaurant focused on sandwiches, salads, charcuterie, and small plates using locally sourced ingredients. While Dragonfly alum, Jesse Kingsbury, will helm the kitchen, there will also be rotating menu items created by other local chefs. The restaurant will be servin ..read more

The rumor mill was swirling for a while now and it is finally confirmed. After almost 50 years in business, the legendary Leonardo's 706 has closed permanently in large part due to COVID-19. This is a monumental loss for the Gainesville food scene. Not very many restaurants can last as long as they have without dropping off or becoming irrelevant. They remained great and constant until they quietly closed at the beginning of April due to the virus. From the wine dinners to the constant eclectic art displays, to the crazy chef pants and latke table service. This was a spot for some of the best ..read more

Happy to have some good news to report! Patticakes is moving into the space vacated by Starbucks in Tioga Town Center adjacent to Dave's New York Deli and Cilantro Tacos. It'll be the same offerings as their current Haile Village location, but they are looking to add some wrinkles and new items. As things progress, I'll update everyone on my next general news post. They are currently targeting a Mid-September opening ..read more

This is going to be a short news post, but I wanted to update everyone on a few other items of note locally. - Yesterday was National Donut Day, but Halo Potato is extending it into a weekend celebration. Today (Saturday, June 6th) AND Sunday (June 7th) they’ll have giveaways and t-shirts printed on site for sale at their storefront. They’ll also have a “Black Lives Matter” design for sale with 100% of profits from those shirts being donated to the cause. - More and more restaurants are starting to allow for limited dining room seating. Some of the restaurants currently seating inside are Dra ..read more

Sad to report that Civilization announced their permanent closure in a message posted to their website. The restaurant had previously decided to close down operations in mid-March shortly after the stay-at-home orders came out. RIP to one of the best brunches in town. As I said when we lost Wayward Fox, there will unfortunately be more. This is why I cannot stress enough that we need to support our favorite LOCAL restaurants in whatever capacity they choose to open. Some won't even get the chance because for whatever reason, their model, food, or staff isn't conducive to reopening. But the on ..read more

As we slowly progress back to normal and enter into Phase I of the re-opening process, I’ve spoken to a dozen different establishments over the last couple days, to gauge their plans and thoughts on how to proceed. One thing I’ve been very passionate about over the last few days has been the ability for local restaurants to choose how they wish to proceed. As I’ll be outlining here, the responses are varied, but the constant is they are all taking additional sanitary precautions, abiding by state orders, and are considering the safety of both staff and customers. Restaurants with ample outdoo ..read more