Best Food in Town

[ben says]

Was in a lecture today, and the speaker (whose from NYC, lived in Phoenix for about 6 years, and has lived in Jax for 4) said the following: "Jacksonville doesn't have much in the way of food, unless you want fried food. Not a foodie city by any standards." Figured I'd shoot him an email in response. Can anyone help me fill in the blanks?

French: Restaurant Orsay (Riverside); French Pantry (University Blvd/Powers Ave) (lunch only); Magnificat (Downtown) (lunch only)

Spanish: 13 Gypsies (Riverside); Taverna (San Marco); Tasting Room (St. Augustine)

Coffee: Bold Bean (Riverside)

Farm to Table: 'town (Avondale); AIX (San Marco)

Indian: India's Restaurant (Baymeadows); Flavors of India (Baymeadows)

Vietnamese: Bowl of Pho (Baymeadows)

Italian: ?

Chinese/Japanese: ?

Mexican: Pepe's Hacienda y Restaurante (University Blvd/St. Augustine Rd)

Thai: Indochine (Downtown)

Soup/salad/sandwich: Olio Market (Downtown)

Middle Eastern: Noura Cafe (San Jose and University); the Casbah (Avondale)

Feel free to add any categories!

[blizz01]

Jacksonville doesn't have much in the way of food, unless you want fried food.

I thought that all we had were Waffle Houses...
Well, if he's going to limit himself to fried food, at least do it right: Potter's House (Normandy); Beach Road Chicken (Atlantic); hopefully Sweet Lady Blue (Downtown).

Other thoughts:
Brazilian: Brazilian Jax Cafe (San Jose) Espeto (St. John's) Skewer's (Ponte Vedra)
Middle Eastern: Mandaloun (Baymeadows) Hala (all over town)
Med./Eastern European: Anatolia (Mandarin)
Barbeque: The list is endless...

[WmNussbaum]

Oh wow! Thought provoking.

One of the best in town is The Wine Cellar on Prudential Drive on Southbank. I don't know how to classify it other than "continental." Knowledgeable wait-staff. Quiet. In the same classification, Matthew's in San Marco. Pricey; worth it.

Italian: Primi Piatti on Park St. in Riverside (Northern Italian and authentic and a nice, quiet atmosphere); Sorrento's on Old St. Augustine Rd.

A taste of old Florida? Clark's Fish Camp, Hood Landing Road in East Mandarin or maybe Whitey's on SR 210 in Orange Park. For the best fried shrimp in the area, it's still O'Steens in St. Augustine - go early to avoid lines - say about 4:00 PM.

Olio is nothing really special other than it's close to my office. Noisy. No wait-staff. Lunch only.

Sushi: Sumo Sushi, next to Primi Piatti. Very good selection of saki.

Chinese: Fuhgeddaboutit. None anywhere near here that I know of.

We have a Ruth's Chris' in town and at the Beach, a well known chain of steak houses, but I'm not sure they are all that great. My next splurge for a fancy steak was going to be a return to Morton's. Alas, no more. I'm not aware of a non-chain steam house in town that measures up. I wonder what it would take to get Bern's to open a second place here.

One way to tell a good restaurant, IMHO, is whether the water glass comes with a straw or not. No straw = class - not afraid to wash the glass well. No linen napkins is a definite negative.

[coredumped]

So many options in Jax - if you want bland to go Orlando, that's darden-topia. Nothing but national chians. Jax has a great selection of mom & pop restaurants.

Ok, on to your questions:
Italian:

• http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/44/481507/restaurant/Mandarin/Santionis-Cucina-Jacksonville
• Nice atmosphere, live pianist on the weekends.

Chinese/Japanese:

• http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/44/1347675/restaurant/Southside/Mr-Chan-Asian-Cuisine-Jacksonville
• Clean and friendly. They offer an authentic menu (chicken feet, etc) and an Americanized menu.

[blizz01]

Oh, where have all the sit down Chinese restaurants gone?  I still like Pagoda on Baymeadows Rd. - 30 years strong!

[Gators312]

Was in a lecture today, and the speaker (whose from NYC, lived in Phoenix for about 6 years, and has lived in Jax for 4) said the following: "Jacksonville doesn't have much in the way of food, unless you want fried food. Not a foodie city by any standards." Figured I'd shoot him an email in response. Can anyone help me fill in the blanks?

French: Restaurant Orsay (Riverside); French Pantry (University Blvd/Powers Ave) (lunch only); Magnificat (Downtown) (lunch only)

Spanish: 13 Gypsies (Riverside); Taverna (San Marco); Tasting Room (St. Augustine)

Coffee: Bold Bean (Riverside)

Farm to Table: 'town (Avondale); AIX (San Marco)

Indian: India's Restaurant (Baymeadows); Flavors of India (Baymeadows)

Vietnamese: Bowl of Pho (Baymeadows)

Italian: ?

Chinese/Japanese: ?

Mexican: Pepe's Hacienda y Restaurante (University Blvd/St. Augustine Rd)

Thai: Indochine (Downtown)  Tuptim Thai (Roosevelt/NAS)

Soup/salad/sandwich: Olio Market (Downtown) Chomp Chomp (Downtown)

Middle Eastern: Noura Cafe (San Jose and University); the Casbah (Avondale)

Feel free to add any categories!

The Capital Grille is a chain, but definitely a great meal every time I have been in.

[JaxJerry]

I think you all have proved the lecturer's point!

[WmNussbaum]

So tell us, JJ, which of all the listed places have you been to?

[downtownjag]

French: Bistro Aix
Steak House: Matthews
Italian: La Cena

Don't forget about BB's, Biscotti's, Marker 32, 11 South, Ragtime, Mezza Luna, Aqua Grill, Blue Bamboo.

I wouldn't listen to too much your "professor" says.

[ChriswUfGator]

Yeah chain or not capital grill's pretty good. So's the steaks at Ruth's Chris, sizzling in a Paula Deen sized hunk of butter. Mmmm

[blizz01]

I think you all have proved the lecturer's point!

In what regard?

[KenFSU]

"Not a foodie city by any standards."

I'd let this one go, as the speaker is probably right, especially if his frame of reference is NYC. Jacksonville has some legitimately great restaurants (Orsay comes immediately to mind), but I don't think anyone has ever confused Jacksonville for a "foodie city" like New York, Chicago, San Francisco, or Los Angeles. Getting back to what many people in the other topic were saying, the first part of making Jacksonville great is accepting what we are. You ask the average Jacksonville citizen what they want for dinner, and they aren't going to request foie gras, rendered duck, or a chilled terrine. You don't exactly see Molecular Gastronomy kitchen labs on every corner here, and Chili's isn't exactly a master at deconstruction. For better or worse, Jacksonville is largely a meat and potatoes city where Outback, Carrabbas, and the Cheesecake Factory are our Daniel, Masa, and Le Bernardin's. Not a bad thing -- Jacksonville isn't an overly pretentious place -- and it might change over time, but it is what it is. The city loves its chains, and to a lesser extent, its seafood. Trying to convince a New Yorker that Jax is foodie heaven is probably a losing battle. What isn't a losing battle though -- and I think you're trying to do this, which is awesome -- is to continue to spread the word about our great restaurants, whether it be through word of mouth, Yelp, Twitter, whatever. I think a lot of the Outbackers could probably be converted if properly encouraged to expand their horizons a bit

[blizz01]

Perfect timing:

Restaurant guide Zagat launches Jacksonville survey

In what cold be a first, Zagat has launched one of its "featured surveys" for Jacksonville-area restaurants

http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/423471/gary-mills/2012-03-27/restaurant-guide-zagat-launches-jacksonville-survey
http://www.zagat.com/vote

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

Yeah chain or not capital grill's pretty good. So's the steaks at Ruth's Chris, sizzling in a Paula Deen sized hunk of butter. Mmmm

I think it would be more flavorful if it were a butter sized hunk of Paula Deen melting on the steak.

[David]

We have a plethora of chicken wing options. So there's that.