The Jones B-Side

My sister Katie and I were out on the town Saturday.  (Someday I am going to devote an entire blog post to my sister Katie.  How beautiful she is.  How wonderful she is.  She will hate it.  I will love it.)

Anyways.  We were doing, you know, stuff; going to the consignment shop, getting our toes painted, the sorts of things that sisters on a jaunt do, and of course, nourishment is a necessity on these kinds of excursions.  It just so happened that the Tune and the Nat were in town as well (school shopping with Becca), so we made plans to meet up for lunch.  What follows, dear reader, is a lesson in perseverance.  We first head to Satchel's for pizza - 30 minute wait.  (I am not even going to elaborate on Satchel's.  There WILL BE a post at some point.  With pictures.  I won't spoil it any further.)  Nah.  So we head up the road to The Jones Eastside - 30 minute wait.  Nah.  Keep in mind, Kate and I are the forward scouts.  As we drive from place to place, our lunch dates are doing their best to meet up with us, and we're not making it easy with our constant venue changes.  So we are at a crossroads.  Do we throw in the towel and drive to the nearest Zaxby's?  Or do we stand firm in our commitment to a quality dining experience?  I get a "You're entertaining." text from the Tune.  This is shorthand for "I am getting hungry and my patience with roaming all over creation is wearing thin."  The pressure mounts....  (My sister is not the most patient person on the planet, either.)

But, no.  We gird our loins and drive on, this time to The Jones B-Side. (The sister restaurant to The Jones Eastside.  Who'd a guessed.)  Annnnndddddd.........

SUCCESS!!!!!

I liked the vibe: spacious, comfortable, (a blessing - some places sacrifice comfort for hipness. Bad idea.) and unobtrusive in its trendiness.  I really liked the mix of cool and warm - dark wood, chalkboard specials, succulents on the tables...nice.

We drank house-made watermelon soda.  Nothing but fresh watermelon, simple syrup and carbonated water, or I miss my guess.  Utterly delicious, especially on a July day in Florida.  There is something so luxurious about drinking soda that actually tastes like the item it is named after.  (Think about it.  When was the last time you ate a grape that tasted like grape soda?)

Pretty girl, pretty drink

Yeah, her too.

                                                   

I don't know what this restaurant claims as its "theme", but it almost had a Mexican vibe to it, at least the day we were there.  Rebecca ordered the shrimp and grits, Nataroo did chicken and fries (surprise, surprise!), Kate did pork tacos, Tunie did an enchilada-ish dish, and I had the Inca bowl (quinoa, black beans, sweet potatoes and pico, topped with an egg).  For once, I actually kept my fork to myself, pretty much, so I only can speak for my food and Katie's tacos, but both of those were, just, really tasty.  Mine was one of those dishes where you look all heroic and healthy eating it, but you really aren't suffering at all, because the taste is right where it needs to be.  Kate's tacos oozed bright orange grease all over the plate as you bit into them.  Needless to say, they were terrific - porky and spicy and altogether nice.  The other plates were good as well, based on the reviews I heard.  We left fat and happy.  Eat your heart out, Zaxby's.

 

See the grease?  It was good.

That's what I'm talking about!

 Just LOOK at that beautiful hair.

Because, really, who writes a novel on their calf?  For his sake, I hope it was Sharpie...