You’re taking a vacation this winter. You are, aren’t you? Here’s a guide to places to eat and, often, places to stay while you’re there. Basically, it’s a collection of my reviews from winter vacation spots where I’ve spent time since I expanded this Blog to include non-barbecue places. Since then, I’ve been a lot of places and eaten at a whole lot of restaurants. You can find restaurant reviews for your destination simply by clicking the red print link, which will take you to a world of delicious cuisine, high and low. Note that the linked reviews are from a simple word search, so they pick up a few extraneous reviews. For example, the St. Thomas search picked up a restaurant (a very, very good one) in Kansas City.
One obvious and cherished vacation destination is the Caribbean. I’ve got you covered in a few of the Islands.
The US Virgin Islands. We’ve been to St. Thomas several times, with day trips to St. John, and we’ve had found some dining treasures and lovely beaches, as well as a great place to stay.
There’s also a great place to stay in St. Kitts and Nevis, in addition to plenty of delicious things to eat.
In Puerto Rico, the list focuses on San Juan, especially Old San Juan and the Condado.
There’s light coverage but a couple of must-eat places, in Grand Cayman.
The most common winter destination is Florida, home of sun, sand, and surf, not to mention a lot of good food.
First, for those driving down, I’ve identified good, local places to eat within 15 minutes of I-95 all along the route from Washington to Miami and on to Key West. That list is here.
For those flying down to Florida, here are some top destinations:
Key West and the Florida Keys offer great seafood and Cuban cuisine, and several wonderful places to stay.
I have a few destinations in Broward and Miami-Dade, but we’ve spent most of our East Coast time in Palm Beach County.
We love Southwest Florida, particularly Marco Island, 30 minutes south of Naples, and the Fort Myers/Sanibel area, which is just recovering and really could use some love.
Another approach is to take the cold head-on and go to Ski Country. We don’t ski, but we do go to Vail during the summer.. And I have one recommendation for those going to Park City and the other Utah Ski resorts.
It’s also possible that you’ll go somewhere away from the shore and the mountains, to see relatives or get to know the USA in Nashville or Austin or Hilton Head or even Pierre, South Dakota. Just search the city or the state to which you’re going, and there’s a good chance you’ll find some good places to eat. If not, shoot me a message through the comments, and I’ll see what I can do.
***
And while you’re at it, click “follow” on our front page to receive blog posts in your email box. Or bookmark us and check in from time to time. If you’re planning a trip, you can “Search” the name of the destination city, state, or country for good restaurants (in Europe, often close to sites, like the Louvre or the Van Gogh Museum, that you’ll want to visit in any event). And stick around for news, all manner of recipes, hotels, and the occasional book or movie review and fine arts and architecture commentary. Comments, questions, and suggestions of places to eat or stories to cover are very welcome. And check out our Instagram page, johntannerbbq.
John Tanner's Barbecue Blog 