Food on the Road - Tour Day 11 Lake Worth to Sarasota, FL

Day 11 - Lake Worth, FL to Sarasota, FL 

We woke up to a beautiful morning in Lake Worth, FL. It was close to 80 degrees, bright and sunny, the bluest of skies you could ever ask for. My direct deposit had gone through overnight - thank goodness! - so when going out to breakfast in the morning was brought up, even I was a yes vote. Capt. Bobo, our kind host said he knew just the spot and we took the short walk from his house to Toojay's Original Gourmet Deli (Toojay's Website). They were able to get us seated quickly, even though it was Sunday after-church rush. I ordered coffee, orange juice (hell, I was in Florida!), and water, then perused the menu for the perfect choices.

The orange juice made me realize that I wanted more fruit, not really having had any since Philly, so I started out with a fruit salad consisting of honeydew melon, cantaloupe, raisins, nice big juicy grapes, strawberries, pineapple and pine nuts over a bed of lettuce. It was a great start and kept me busy until my main course arrived.


For my main course, I chose Eggs Benedict. This is one of my favorite breakfast dishes, especially when at a place quality enough that I want to test their food. Toojay's Eggs Bene was advertised as basic and simple, just what I was looking for: Two poached eggs on an English muffin with ham and tomato, topped with Hollandaise sauce. Now, this isn't the easiest dish to prepare, but it is in essence a simple dish. The two main keys are: 1) that the eggs much be poached perfectly - not too soft, not too hard: texture and shape are both important; and 2) that the Hollandaise sauce must have both the appropriate texture and flavor. It should be a creamy sauce, so smooth. I am happy to say that they got both right. It was exquisite, the perfect follow up to the fruit salad, and it was complimented by a slightly mushy but well-spiced potato hash.

That was the food highlight of my day. After that, we walked around Lake Worth in the beautiful weather, stopped in at a local record store, hit the open air artists' market, where we even got to meet Bobo's mom, who is a great artist and sweet lady.

We managed to pick up a show for that night in Sarasota, FL through a friend of a friend, playing with Carolina Still and with an acoustic player with a great voice. It was about a 4 hour drive from Lake, not much to tell - we stopped at Taco Bell once and Subway once, and both of those were about what you can expect from those places anytime. 

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Chestnut Growler plays drums for The Swaggerin' Growlers, a punk/folk band based in Boston, MA. He tours full time. This blog is about the food experienced on the road: the good, the bad, and homemade and the gas station sammiches. You can find the band here: The Swaggerin' Growlers