After stopping at several Florida food joints, all recommended by fans who used the hashtag #ABRoadEats, while on the road for his Edible Inevitable Tour, Food Network star Alton Brown posted a Facebook video declaring his top seven spots around the state. And Frenchy's Original Cafe in Clearwater made the cut.
In the video, Brown, who performed at Ruth Eckerd Hall last week, called the venerable restaurant's Garlic Crab Fries "wrong in every way that I can even think of."
But it's a good thing.
"This dish is served up out of the original Frenchy's Cafe in Clearwater, Florida," Brown said while showing a photo of the fries on his iPad. "They do a lot of great food there, and a really killer Bloody Mary, but this, this stuff right here, this is like a garlic crab leg fry.
And it's basically, french fries with gobs of this kind of garlicy gravy, I think there's some cheese on there you can see and like a massive pile of snow crab meat."
Brew D Licious, Lucky Dill Deli, the Columbia Restaurant, Lenny's Restaurant and Molly Goodheads also got a visit from Brown while he was scoping out the region's culinary offerings, as did other places in cities like Jacksonville, Orlando and West Palm Beach.
And while Fort Myers' 11:Eleven Cafe is his No. 1 stop so far, those Frenchy's crab fries are addicting, according to Brown.
"I mean you stink all day long after you eat it, but let me tell you, this is... food crack, basically," he said. "Don't start it unless you plan on finishing."
