America’s Best Restaurants, a national media and marketing company focused on bringing attention to local, independently-owned restaurants, will bring its ABR Roadshow through Southeast Georgia and Northeast Florida in early March.
Restaurants featured on the ABR Roadshow are selected based on their customer reviews, menu items, social media presence, and level of involvement with their community.
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They are found through customer nominations, internal vetting or by a restaurant applying to be featured at www.americasbestrestaurants.com.
After filming on location at each of the local eateries, the finished episodes will air extensively on social media and will be featured on www.americasbestrestaurants.com.
Premier dates will be announced on the restaurants' social media pages.
Here’s a breakdown of the local spots that will be featured on the show:
Big Dawgs' Sports Restaurant
The show will visit Big Dawgs' in Orange Park from 9 a.m. to noon on March 3.
Open daily, Big Dawgs’ Sports Restaurant is at 1330 Blanding Blvd. Ste 135, Orange Park FL 32065.
Popular menu items at the restaurant include the Big Dawg burger, two handmade patties with choice of cheese; the wings, with choice of 14 sauces or the Big Dawg wings, tossed with house seasoning and grilled; and lumpia, a Filipino spring roll, served with pepper vinegar or sweet and tangy sauce.
On the ABR Roadshow, popular dishes will be highlighted, along with an interview with owner Michael Buddecke about the restaurant’s special place in the community.
Open since 2005, Big Dawgs’ Sports Restaurant provides a fun, family-friendly sports-bar-type environment with plenty of entertainment, from trivia and live music to karaoke and bingo and, of course, numerous televisions to watch the latest games.
Video games, sports memorabilia on display and framed photos of local teams enhance the atmosphere.
Beer at Big Dawgs' is served in frosty mugs which is appreciated by patrons and frequently mentioned in reviews.
For more information about the restaurant, visit www.bigdawgsrestaurant.com or call 904-272-4204.
Mossfire Grill
Mossfire Grill will host a visit from ABR from 2-5 p.m. March 3.
The oldest restaurant in Riverside, Mossfire is open Tuesday through Saturday at 1537 Margaret St., Jacksonville FL 32204.
The restaurant opened the first rooftop bar in the county, a feature that will be highlighted on ABR Roadshow, along with popular dishes and an interview with owner Ben Franco.
Franco, who has a full-time job in commercial lighting sales, purchased the restaurant in late 2022 from the previous owners who had opened the popular neighborhood eatery in 1998.
The restaurant is housed in what was once a home in the walkable, historic Riverside neighborhood. It was named after the 1901 Jacksonville fire that was fueled by Spanish moss in a mattress factory and destroyed much of the downtown area.
Franco notes that the vast majority of his guests are repeat customers, and his staff, many who have been working at the restaurant for years, know most patrons by name or by order. That helps solidify the eatery as a popular community gathering spot.
“It really is a family,” Franco says of his staff. “I didn’t want to change anything on the menu [when I took over.] I tell my staff, look, you guys think that I own this place, but the neighborhood actually owns this place.”
Mossfire Grill offers an American-Southwest menu of starters, sandwiches and salads, tacos and specialties such as burritos, quesadillas and seafood such as a tuna poke bowl and ancho honey glazed salmon.
Popular menu items that may be featured on the episode include the crab cakes, topped with chipotle-lime mayo and roasted corn salsa; the Slammin’ Salmon Taco with grilled or fried salmon with jerk seasoning, and the Mossfire’s Famous Meatloaf, topped with mushroom gravy and served with chipotle cheddar mashed potatoes and vegetables.
For more information about the restaurant, visit www.themossfiregrill.com or call 904-355-4434.
Hobo’s 825
ABR Roadshow will visit Hobo’s 825 in St. Marys, Georgia, from 9 a.m. to noon on March 4.
Hobo’s is open Tuesday through Sunday at 1840 Osborne Road, St. Marys, Georgia, 31558.
Specializing in “comfort fast food” with a unique foil-pack presentation, Hobo’s 825 opened in August 2024. The name is an homage to the Aug. 25 birthday of the owner’s father.
While Robin Watson has a long history in the food service industry, this is her first foray into ownership; she is also the main cook.
“I’m just an old lady that has dreamed of having her own restaurant for over thirty years and it finally happened,” she jokes. “The community is loving us which is a great thing!”
The restaurant’s specialty is Hobo dinners, cooked in foil packets, such as “smoked sawsyge,” served with onions and yellow squash on top of “mushed potatoes” or the Giddy-Up Cowboy, a beef patty topped with peppers, onions, roasted tomatoes and mushrooms.
The menu also offers starters, “sammiches,” sidekicks (vegetables), salads and soups, homemade desserts and a breakfast menu. Their signature “stone soup” varies depending on available ingredients, and is based on the folk tale of adding ingredients to a pot of water and a stone, illustrating the values of cooperation and respect.
The spacious, farmhouse-style environment is host to numerous community special events, giveaways, and food specials. A “blue plate special” is posted daily on social media.
For more information about the restaurant, visit “Hobo’s 825″ on Facebook or call 912-510-8585.
Captain Stan’s Smokehouse
Captain Stan’s will host ABR Roadshow from 3-6 p.m. March 4.
The restaurant is open Wednesday through Sunday at 700 Bedell Ave., Woodbine, Georgia, 31569.
Open since 2005, Captain Stan’s Smokehouse, a former hunting and fishing supply consignment store, offers a friendly and eclectic ambiance with a comfort-food menu of barbecue, seafood, hot dogs steamed in beer, sandwiches and wraps, Captain Stan’s chili and the popular “layered bowls,” such as the Holy Trinity, baked beans, Boston butt and cole slaw.
The casual eatery also has an outdoor stage for live music, an outdoor dog-friendly patio, and a full bar.
Captain Stan’s Smokehouse was mentioned in a travel article in Garden & Gun two summers ago, and a photo of owner Stanley Mieloch posing with a plated half rack of ribs, eyes directed heavenward, made the magazine’s list of top 50 photos that same year.