The Food Scene in St. Augustine—Where Food And Wine Are Naturally Part of the Culture

By Stacey Wittig

From the datil pepper, which ancestors of indentured servants have grown in backyard gardens for centuries, to seafood plucked from the ocean in its front yard, the food scene in St. Augustine, Florida, benefits from its history and long tradition of tourism.

Exploring the cultures of a place, primarily through the lens of food and wine, gets my juices flowing. Tasting, sipping and strolling along Florida’s Historic Coast, which includes St. Augustine and Ponte Vedra Beach, satiated that craving in more ways than I expected.

St. Augustine is located about halfway between Jacksonville and Daytona Beach on the state’s east coast. An extensive system of public lands, including wildlife preserves, state parks, and national recreation areas, keeps beaches and wooded wetlands oh, so natural. Further inland, the mild climate and rich soils produce intensely-flavored fruits and vegetables that we found highlighted by local chefs and winemakers.

Spanish conquistadors first set foot on the continent here in 1513, bringing with them appetites for European foodstuffs: the Iberian trinity of wheat bread, wine, and olive oil often eaten with meats like beef, lamb, and pork. On the other hand, the indigenous people living here when the Spanish landed thrived on wholesome diets of fresh seafood and veggies, including maize and squash. The balanced diet enhanced life span and adult height—the Timucua stood much taller than the average Spaniard at the time. Indeed once the Spanish saw the Timucua people’s stature and longevity, the quest for the fabled Fountain of Youth was on.

Fifty years later, the French encroaching on Spanish territory from the north struggled to make wine from wild grapes they found in northeastern Florida. So today, you can sample the same Scuppernong grapes at local markets or sip wines made from muscadine grapes, of which Scuppernong is a variety, at Florida wineries.

“The first wines in North America were made by French Huguenots in the area that is now Jacksonville, Florida,” explains Matheson Cory, Certified Sommelier, CHS, at a five-course dinner at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club. “By 1565, they were massacred by the Spanish or had fled back to France. The wine was not very good, so their plan was to start importing French wines—but history got in the way.”

“We do not have any Florida wines at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club,” discloses the Resort Sommelier. “As in the 1560s, Florida is not the best place to grow wine grapes.” Matheson performed a ceremonial sabrage for our cocktail welcome on outdoor space overlooking the white, sugary sand beach, the same mesmerizing view that I enjoyed from my elegant guestroom. French sabrage entails opening bottles of bubbly with sabers by slicing bottlenecks below the cork.

Evolution of the Food Scene in St Augustine

As the years unfolded, the settlement established by the Spanish as a fortification against the French and English became St. Augustine, now North America’s oldest European city. Since then, the

indigenous seafood diet has mingled with Old World fare to produce a local cuisine that includes St. Augustine shrimp, Datil pepper sauces and Minorcan clam chowder.

The Minorcan influence of the St. Augustine food scene stems from a tiny Mediterranean isle off the east coast of Spain. Poor families from Minorca packed their belongings and foodstuffs for the promise of land and the good life in the New World. It was 1768, and by now, the British were solidly in control of Florida. Locals debate whether the indentured servants brought datil peppers from their homeland or whether they adapted the pepper to their cuisine once here. Enslaved Africans or Havana traders who encountered datil peppers in Cuba could have introduced the bond slaves to the hot chiles in Florida.

In either case, Minorcans, whose descendants now number over 10,000 in St. Johns County on Florida’s Historic Coast, are the keepers of secreted datil recipes passed down through the generations. Besides datil pepper sauce, watch for Minorcan clam chowder made with clams, lobster or squid; Minorcan pilau (pronounced per-low, but think ‘pilaf’ or ‘paella,’ similar one-pot rice dishes) with chicken, sausage and/or shrimp; and smoked striped mullet, a fish traditionally caught in handcast nets. You’ll find a variety of shrimp dishes along Florida’s Historic Coast. In fact, wild-caught shrimp is St. Augustine’s official seafood. The US shrimp industry was born when WWII military cooks fed fried shrimp to the troops stationed in the area. After the war, the soldiers brought recipes for their new favorite dish back home. Soon, fried shrimp was an American classic.

Gilded Age Resorts Focus on Food

The ambiance of the old Spanish colony and subtropical climate with its abundant agriculture caught the attention of Standard Oil co-founder Henry Morrison Flagler when he visited with John D. Rockefeller during the Industrial Revolution. So in 1885, the American tycoon began building Hotel Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine, fitted for electric lighting by Thomas Edison just 372 years after Ponce set the first European foot on mainland North America. The opulent hotel would be the first of many Gilded Age resorts created by Flagler, who also developed railroad systems to connect Florida’s entire east coast and transport citrus and other local foods. Dining room menus that featured Florida shrimp, clams, and citrus exemplify the haute cuisine of the day. Guests stayed two to three months, not just for the night, so the food focus was part of the total resort experience.

Visit “The Ponce,” as the Hotel Ponce de Leon is known to locals, to behold one of the world’s largest collections of Tiffany windows in their original location. If you go, you’ll join the ranks of Andrew Carnegie, John F. Kennedy, Sinclair Lewis, J.P. Morgan, Joseph Pulitzer, Teddy Roosevelt, and Mark Twain, who also spent time at the hotel, now part of Flagler College.

Experience the Legacy Today

If you’d like to stay in one of Flagler’s luxury hotels, Casa Monica Resort & Spa, Autograph Collection, right across the street from Flagler College, is the place for you. The Morrocanthemed hotel mixes a Gilded Age setting and modern amenities within walking distance of Lightner Museum, Castillo de San Marcos National Monument, and St. George Street, the historic quarter.

The newest hotel in St. Augustine, Renaissance St. Augustine Historic Downtown Hotel, was my home for two nights. Its exterior reflects the mood of the historic city, but upon entry, the interior swept me into an Alice in Wonderland-like sensory experience. A long, golden staircase leads upward, framed by giant bulbous columns reminiscent of white chess pieces. The ultracontemporary interior design reminded me of chic Bangkok hotels’ art-focused themes. The culinary team at the hotel’s Castillo Craft Bar + Kitchen partners with sustainable local farmers for its farm-to-fork focus. Before dinner, I was enamored while watching the bartender create craft cocktails, including Strawdogg Spritz with Elderflower liqueur and House Smoked Old Fashioned.

Of course, that did not top the sabrage executed by Matheson Cory at Ponte Vedra Inn & Club, where I luxuriated for two incredible nights. Visit my website to read my full review of that property at Ponte Vedra Beach. In that community, THE PLAYERS Championship is held annually at Sawgrass. The top golf event is another reason for the area’s elevated cuisine. Chefs worldwide come for the festivities, and some have stayed to call Florida’s Historic Coast their home.

The high level of service, top-rated attractions and well-developed food scene in St. Augustine that I experienced along Florida’s Historic Coast is due to its deep history, and long tradition of tourism begun by Henry Flagler.

When You Go

Ponte Vedra Inn & Club www.pontevedra.com Ponce de Leon’s Fountain of Youth Archaeological Park www.fountainofyouthflorida.com St. Augustine Experiences staugustineexperiences.com

Photos, from opposite page, left: Fresh fish PalmValley Fish Camp; Datil Pepper, St.Augustine FHC; Palm Valley Fish Camp octopus; Ancient City; Hotel interior; Aunt Kate’s shrimp