Quote:Where are they from originally?

They're from Jacksonville.  He and his brothers all went to high school at Bishop Kenny. He went to college down in central Florida, and started the restaurant down there.  Now he's expanded.  I think they're near Tampa, Orlando, they're building one in Gainesville, and one shop is already open here, and I believe there's another one on the way.

 

It's a really cool concept because it's a cafeteria style restaurant. You order from a food line, they set it up and put your meal together on the tray.  No plates.  The unique thing is they've got a bakery in the restaurant that does all sorts of cool confections.  Apparently, John is a big fan of Cheerwine because several of the recipes include it. 

 

He's gotten to be quite a big deal regionally, and spends a lot of his time traveling the country promoting the restaurant.  When I see the pictures of him with renowned chefs from around the country, I get a kick out of it because I remember him when he was just a chubby kid playing football at BK. 

 

Again, I can't stress strongly enough that if you go there, get the cheese grits. It's not what you'd expect.  It's like a cake the way they make them. 

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