Motel 6 Tallahassee Downtown

Tree Hugger? part II

by pchamlis

As I'd mentioned in the previous tip, Tallahassee is a town very much in love with her trees and greenery. Take a look at the accompanying photo. This is taken right in downtown Tallahassee, and it looking directly at the Doubletree Hotel, from across the street. Although this huge hotel is only 70 meters, at most, away...you can barely see it through the trees of the Park avenue median greenery.

riverside cafe

by doug48

located on the river in st marks is the riverside cafe. they offer seafood and burgers on a covered deck overlooking the st marks river. a fun place to have lunch. on weekend nights they offer country and western bands. a typical old florida fish camp type bar and restaurant. inexpensive. located on the river in st marks. 69 riverside drive. from downtown tallahassee take hwy 363 (woodville hwy) south about 35 miles to st marks.

Fond of Fondue???? Dip into something special.

by pchamlis about The Melting Pot

Tallahassee's "The Melting Pot" is one of the city's favorite special occasion eateries. One of several such restaurants by the same name in the state of Florida, The Melting Pot offers a varied and quality fondue experience.

The food is excellent, the service is even better. And, when you factor in the ambience and atmosphere, it's just a terrific experience.

Dinner at the Melting Pot is the sort of event that will easily take two hours.....things are done in a slow and easy-going manner.

Dinner will start with drinks as you wish, followed generally by a starter course of cheese fondue. (there are several options, but it's hard to be the traditional Gruyere and Emmenthaler fondue). Next comes the salad, which is always fresh and well-presented, no matter which choice you choose. Then, there's the main course, which you (not surprisingly since it's a fondue restaurant) cook at your table. There are numerous styles and choices, and it's all good.

If you have room, there are several scrumptious dessert fondues, usually based on some sort of sinfully rich chocolate concoction.

MAKE RESERVATIONS. This place is popular. The only way you'll ever get away with just dropping in is if you choose to come by late in the evening to just have dessert and coffee.....always a nice thing to do after a show or concert.

ANOTHER NOTE.... Even though the Melting Pot is a very nice restaurant, the dress code is very relaxed. This is a place that you can comfortably enjoy wearing your blue jeans and a t-shirt. EVERYTHING is good here. Among my favorite items are some that you'd consider mundane.....

The "house" dressing that comes with the chef salad (one of the better salad choices with dinner) is wonderful. I continue trying to duplicate the taste at home. Speaking of salads, the mushroom and spinach salad is also good.

My favorite appetizer fondue is the Emmenthaler, Gruyere and white wine fondue, with crusty bread, veggies and fresh fruits for dipping.

For main course, I'm simple.... I love the chicken breast. I like it cooked the traditional Melting Pot way.....fried in peanut oil with a sesame seed batter. VERY good. The filet beefsteak is also good, as are the scallops and jumbo shrimp. Lobster is great, too. As for accompanying veggies, we especially like doing our mushroom caps "The Melting Pot Way", which means filling them with green goddess dip, battering them with the sesame batter and frying them in peanut oil. Ummm Ummmm good.

For dessert, I'm partial to the dark chocolate and cherry liquer fondue. Lots of people like the mixture of the milk chocolate with the rich and creamy peanut butter.

There is a very good wine list at the Melting Pot as well. As for the prices below, I'm not figuring wine. The Melting Pot also has a full service bar.

If you decide to have a decent bottle of wine, or maybe couple of drinks, then the tab per person could approach or exceed $40 or even $50. Not cheap, but this is a great place for that special night out.

Tallahassee's TWO seasons

by pchamlis

There are two basic seasons in Tallahassee...

College football season
(mid-August, when training camp starts, through early January, when the bowl games are played. There is another little two week snippet of college football hysteria in the spring, during spring practice.)



NOT college football season
(all other times)

And, our favorite teams are the Florida State University Seminoles and the Florida A&M University Rattlers.

Although BOTH universities are located in Tallahassee, FSU is a much larger school, and is by far the biggest sports name in town.

My advice to you....
if you don't like college football, you need to bring a good book in the fall. : )

Hurricane Dennis visits Florida's Gulf coast

by pchamlis

"The 2005 demise of Angelo's Restaurant"

The photos accompanying this travelogue are posted for those of you wanting to know more about hurricanes. In 2005, the Florida panhandle coast was visited by Hurricane Dennis. Although Dennis wasn't a disaster on par with the the renowned Katrina (POSSIBLY due to the state of Florida being much more organized, prepared and self-sufficient than the city of New Orleans....), it still caused plenty of damage.

Angelo's Restaurant had been a mainstay down at the Gulf Coast near St. Marks for years. As Dennis came ashore in June of '05, the storm surge eventually just washed Angelo's out to sea.

These photos were supplied to me by a friend. Her daughter is the co-manager of Angelo's. The restaurant is still being rebuilt and will eventually re-open.

"Hurricane Dennis lashes the coast, 2005"