Gainesville FL restaurants

We finally made it into Shands Cancer Center for my wife’s Bone Marrow Transplant. 30 days in the Hospital followed by 60 days in a local Halfway house (Hope Lodge). We have to be with her 24/7 for the last 60 days and we have to supply meals! Breakfast and lunch are easy, but as soon as she can we would like to bring in most of the dinners. What are your favorite restaurants in Gainesville?

Thanks - Scott

Nothing to add, but good luck to your wife. She'll be in my prayers.

Good luck with the treatments

43rd street is freakin killer for breakfast. Sorry I don't know much more than that. It's been 15 years since I lived there and I was POOOOOOR! I don't remember ever takin a chick out for dinner. Made breakfast for many.

Best of luck man. Shands is a GREAT hospital. Saved my brother's life. No joke.

Not much obvious to choose from there. I spent the longest hungry time of my life there last year looking for something special.

Hopefully there will someone from the area that can speak to those hidden gems I never found.

Oh, for pizza, Gumby's is the best. White pizza + meatball = bawler.

poopshovel wrote: Oh, for pizza, Gumby's is the best. White pizza + meatball = bawler.

You clearly haven't had it sober, or recently. It went out of business on our campus because it was so crappy.

Or maybe it is just that our campus is 97% Chicago kids who don't like crappy pizza. Either way, Gumby's sucks. Except for the Pokey sticks.

The best ribs I've ever had (and I've had ribs in a lot of legit places) were at Texas roadhouse on SW Archer rd. It was 10 years ago, and only once, but my wife and I are BIG eaters, and neither of us could finish our dinners. These days we could probably split one.

Shands is on campus, so there's food everywhere. Reggae Shack at 619 University is good, but their service can be slow if you're in there when it's busy. Burrito Bros. is good for a quick burrito, far better than the Cipotle that sits just down the street. BB is behind the Presbyterian student center, right across the street from campus on University. A little hole in the wall, literally. For full on Mexican, Try La Nopalera at 3265 SW 34th St.

If there's anything you need, let us know. The Gainesville crew is around, and I'm only about an hour away.

It's not health food, but does Gainesville still have Gutherie's? And Scott, thinking about you guys. Hopefully we'll see you soon.

Guys, I got this.

Breakfast: bagels unlimited next to sweetbay, flying biscuit, or peach valley cafe. I have had them all. Adam's rib also has a pretty good breakfast (not to mention ribs), and they just opened a restaurant a quarter mile southeast from Shands.

The best (in my opinion) Chinese food in Gainesville is Hong Kong deli. Their menu is always changing; just ask for their recommendations.

If you like Chicago style pizza, try Leo's. the one in west gainesville in the mill hopper plaza is better, but further away than the semi-related location on university avenue. If you prefer NY slices, the best place is Italian Gator ("Eindow Pizza"), a walk-up window right across from the university on University Ave.

La Tienda Latina had great Mexican food. There's a little Tampa-style Cuban sandwich shop nearby called La Familia. Cash only. Flaco's has a slightly different Cuban sandwich, but also good. Mi Apa is another Cuban/Puerto Rican place, almost fast food, but not too greasy, if that makes sense.

I'll continue this tomorrow.

Yeah, duh, Mitchell knows both food and Gainesville. Thanks for the help, Mitchell.

Just saw this! Sorry to hear about why you're in town, but would love to treat you to some Gainesville hospitality. I'll PM you.

As for food, my favorite places might be a little different than Mitchell's. I'm 43 and he is a college student.

I'll stick to dinner, since that's what you asked for.

Very close to where you'll be is a great, relatively new, place named Blue Gill. Seafood and southern style comfort food. Great place.

A little further away is downtown. Fantastic sushi at Dragonfly, good food at Emiliano's, Paramount Grill is one of our favorites. Also there is The Top, which is awesome and has lots of vegan options, if that's of interest.

Beyond that, there is a host of chain places on Archer Road (a main artery to I-75). Bonefish, TGI Fridays, Moes, Chipotle.

The top is a nice place. If you want a steak, a really good one, try Embers. The strip mall appearance from the outside hides a truly classy place within.

mtn wrote:

poopshovel wrote: Oh, for pizza, Gumby's is the best. White pizza + meatball = bawler.

You clearly haven't had it sober, or recently. It went out of business on our campus because it was so crappy. Or maybe it is just that our campus is 97% Chicago kids who don't like crappy pizza. Either way, Gumby's sucks. Except for the Pokey sticks.

Relevant, seeing as this thread is about where to eat in Illinois. I didn't say it was the best in the berkeleying world. If you live in gville, it beats the E36 M3 out of Five Star.

Flying biscuit is great if you like grit soup and "bacon" and "sausage" made from bird parts. Ack!

Thanks for the suggestions. We had Kay Bros. BBQ, Satchel's Pizza and The Top during the consults. All have been great. I look forward to hitting the places on your lists! Sue is doing ok, receiving chemo 24hrs a day for 5 days. We won't be bringing her anything for a while. Her brother the donor arrived today to start his process.

Don't forget about Newberry's Backyard BBQ, and the original Sonny's BBQ is in Gainesville, too! Copper Monkey makes a pretty good hamburger, Falafel King has damn good "middle eastern" food. You should probably hit up The Swamp, just because, well, it's The Swamp. Consider Calico Jack's or Mother's for wings. I think it's closed now, but the oldest restaurant in Gainesville is Louis' Lunch, a little east of Main in a not-great part of town. Worth if for the little slice of history alone (they have a semi-legitimate claim to inventing the hamburger), and a damn good burger.

Best French fries in town is a tie between Gyro Plus and Stubbie's and Steins (a bar). If you go to Stubbie's, get the dill mayo.

Some day for breakfast, you have to go to Uppercrust Bakery on NW 16th St. I think that they're closed on Saturday and Sunday. Get a baguette (they are stellar; the first real baguette I had since I was in France a few years prior), coffee, and a chocolate croissant, or really, any of their pastries. The scones are also really memorable. Buy some butter and fruit from Fresh Market next door, and feel great in a way that you can only feel after overeating excellent food that isn't greasy.

If you like cheese, the Wine and Cheese Gallery will put together a great plate at a surprisingly reasonable price. Their lunch is supposed to be quite good as well.

David, Guthrie's closed a few years back, unfortunately.

poopshovel wrote: Flying biscuit is great if you like grit soup and "bacon" and "sausage" made from bird parts. Ack!

I do like grit soup, and they have always had pork sausage and bacon, you just have to ask. I'm not quite sure why they favor the poultry variants, but the other options are there.

Charlie, CJ's closed awhile back. New owner couldn't pass health inspections. He had ruined the wings by not keeping the oil fresh by that point anyway. :(

Mitchell wrote:

poopshovel wrote: Flying biscuit is great if you like grit soup and "bacon" and "sausage" made from bird parts. Ack!

I do like grit soup, and they have always had pork sausage and bacon, you just have to ask. I'm not quite sure why they favor the poultry variants, but the other options are there.

Somebody needs to make you some real grits, man. That E36 M3 is horrible. Waffle House makes better grits. Glad they serve pork down there. You can't get it, even by request, in ATL.

Have you been to 43rd for breakfast?

Spitsix wrote: Thanks for the suggestions. We had Kay Bros. BBQ, Satchel's Pizza and The Top during the consults. All have been great. I look forward to hitting the places on your lists! Sue is doing ok, receiving chemo 24hrs a day for 5 days. We won't be bringing her anything for a while. Her brother the donor arrived today to start his process.

I don't know a thing about Gainesville, just wanted to wish all of you well.

MrJoshua wrote: Charlie, CJ's closed awhile back. New owner couldn't pass health inspections. He had ruined the wings by not keeping the oil fresh by that point anyway. :(

Damn.

poopshovel wrote:

Mitchell wrote:

poopshovel wrote: Flying biscuit is great if you like grit soup and "bacon" and "sausage" made from bird parts. Ack!

I do like grit soup, and they have always had pork sausage and bacon, you just have to ask. I'm not quite sure why they favor the poultry variants, but the other options are there.

Somebody needs to make you some real grits, man. That E36 M3 is horrible. Waffle House makes better grits. Glad they serve pork down there. You can't get it, even by request, in ATL. Have you been to 43rd for breakfast?

I guess I like the non-grit part about FBC's grits, then. When I made grits more often, I would make them with lots of butter, cream, and parmigiano reggiano. I guess that's not very southern of me. 43rd Street Deli had at one pointa second location on 13th Street, now that I think about it, that must have closed down 4 or 5 years ago. I have never been to the one that's actually on 43rd.

For the last few months, my go-to breakfast place has been Bagels Unlimited. It satisfies everything I want in a breakfast:

• Crispy hashbrowns.
• Good scrambled eggs with decent cheese choices (I like them with feta).
• Excellent hot sauce selection.
• Breakfast comes with a bagel featuring a ton of cream cheese, rather than some limp piece of white toast covered in margarine goo.
• Good diner coffee (I break my coffee into two categories; snob coffee and diner coffee. They each have their places).
• Most importantly, it's close to campus and my girlfriend's place.

Day 0 was yesterday. Now she has two birthdays!