Local Secrets: Where to Eat

If I had a dollar for every time someone says to me, "Wow--Saint Augustine has the most amazing restaurants. It must be great to live here and eat at them all the time!!"

If I *did* have a dollar for every time someone said that to me, I might have enough money to eat at Saint Augustine restaurants all the time.

Which is why I was so excited when Mojo's finally opened (their contractors may have moved even slower than our own--and that's sayin' something). Mojo's is a barbecue place...the kind of casual, laid back joint that offers pulled pork sandwiches and a row of 5 different sauces to enjoy with it (Chipotle, Sweet, Vinegar, Mustard, and Mojo BBQ). I like to douse the pork in vinegar, then dot with a little of the sweet sauce.

They have awesome sides, too--like pit baked beans (smoky and just a little sweet), collard greens (so good with chunks of bacon), the best french fries in town (I put a little vinegar on them too), mac n' cheese (haven't tried it yet, but people moan when they taste it), black eyed peas, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, green beans, and a bunch of other ones that I also haven't tried. They've only been open about a month; give a girl a little time.

But you know what's really awesome about it? It's huge, for one, which means that you can actually go there on a Saturday night (we locals NEVER go out to eat on a Saturday night--it only makes us cranky to wait in lines), and you can get a sandwich and side for just nine bucks.

That's right--nine bucks. In addition to the pork, the hub loves the blackened catfish, even though you can't load it up with sauces. I plan to try the maple salmon entree next time I go--sure, it's a whopping $15, but sometimes even us locals have to live it up.