Alex's Fresh Kitchen, Casselberry *SC/GA Travel Notes

I tried them at lunch on Saturday. Open for three years. They do breakfast, sandwiches, salads and burgers. I suspect that they fancy themselves as gourmet. The "Alex" is Alex Diaz. They had a few awards for burgers. I, however, needed something I could eat while driving. I chose a turkey with bacon and avocado on brioche for $13. It came with fries. The fries were far and away the best thing. Probably cut by them. Not uniform shapes. Mostly fried to firm. The brioche was good. The bacon was crispy, but, probably made a bit too far in advance. The turkey was grilled and probably Boar's Head or the like. Dry. All in all though, something in it didn't agree with me and I've been burping parts of it up ever since. Just had an avocado tasting one. Small space. Five tables of four. One family one. Pretty full for Christmas Eve day. Prices were all near mid teens. In a strip mall near the Red Bug Lake over pass and/or Tijuana Flats. 

*Travel Notes - South Carolina and Georgia: I rented a car for a week from Budget for $243. Drove to North Turn Restaurant in Daytona. It is closed until mid-February because of hurricane damage. This is the north turn of the original beach course for the Daytona 500. Drove straight through to Charleston (95 to 17). Stayed at the bad Creekside Lands Inn in West Ashley for $81 (rack rate with AAA discount) because I didn't pre-book and didn't feel like auditioning hotels. Ate tasty 1/2 chicken with mac and cheese and waffle fries and beer at Southern Roots Smokehouse across the street. "Saw" Middleton Place (too expensive at $28 or so) and Drayton Hall (too expensive at slightly less). Had breakfast at Callie's Hot Little Biscuit (from the PBS show How She Rolls) on King St. Great biscuits. Even had a sweet one (shortbread). 3 for $6. Had great oysters and an oyster po boy with ff at Rappahannock Oyster Bar on Bay St. It's a chain from Virginia. They started as cultivators. Now they have places in Virginia, DC, etc. Had other oysters too. I learned that wild oysters tend to be longer (blades) because they stretch to compete. Most farmed oysters are farmed at 18 months. Size depends on age more than type. Salinity is weaker the farther up river they grow. Most oysters are the same "breed". "Terrior" differentiates. They swore that though they are filter feeders that they aren't micro plastic vacuums. I'll have to do more research on that. Saw College of Charleston TD Arena and Charleston Museum. Had four types of spirits at Hi Wire Distilling Co farther north between King and Meeting. Had beer at Palmetto Brewing next door. Stayed at new Candlewood Suites across the bridge in Mt Pleasant for two nights at $112 per. Had a tasty smash cb and crinkle fries at recently opened Heavy's Barburger on Morrison Dr. Had beer at: Tradesman Brewing Co, Munkle Brewing Co, Bene Bevi Brewing Co and Fatty's Beer Works. A little farther ne from Heavy's. Also saw the closed Lo Fi Brewing. It was raining. Nothing else to do. Had delicious brisket and slightly worse than last time whole hog pork at Rodney Scott's on King St and Grove. Also tried sides this time. Mac and cheese and potato salad. Both good. Spicy. Drove to Hilton Head. Stopped at Frampton Plantation House at intersection of 17 and 95 in Yemassee (free). Had a poor fried seafood platter (flounder, shrimp, oysters and crab cake) at The Crazy Crab at Jarvis Creek. Stayed at the disgusting Red Roof Inn for $73. Ate a pretty good bagel with cc at expensive Gruby's New York Deli. A place had pizza cones. Rolled up slice.  Saw Pinckey Island NWR. Drove 278 to Bluffton (cute town) to 46 to 315 to 17 through Savannah to Tybee Island on 80. I WAS going to try at get to Ossabow Island. Too cold. Plus most ways are very expensive and/or long. Ate one of the worst meals (microwaved and frozen mussels covered with spice blend and almost crabless deviled crabcake) at The Crab Shack on Tybee Island. They copped to EVERYTHING being frozen. And I don't mean "on ice". Frozen for a LONG time. Had beer at Back River Brewery. More bad weather (cold and dreary). Stayed at poor Dune's Inn and Suites for $85. Walked the beach at Chatham Ave entrance. Got some nice wine at Dizzy Dean's. At brunch at Paula Deen's Creek House a few miles west on 80. Surprisingly good and plenty fried chicken breasts with mac and cheese and potato cracklings and good bread. Yelp didn't love them. Said everything was too salty, etc. Maybe staying away from the seafood or peppering them with questions helped the cause? Place used to be her brother's. Would have tried Sundae something on Tybee had it been open. Good menu and ratings. Expensive. Drove through Savannah to 95 to St Simon's Island. Stayed at Sea Palms Resort off Frederica Rd (near Sea Island) for $102. Nice interior. Marsh views. In a golf/tennis club. Drove home. It rained one day. Cold after that. So, never could lay out, etc. No traffic issues. 95 north on the way back had an accident around Palm Coast. Miles of back up. DT Charleston hotels were still expensive and scarce. Highest end one's on St Simon's were still asking usurious rates. Lower end was good. Same in Hilton Head. Savannah was expensive on the weekend. Avoided because of additional parking fees. I just tried to save money once I realized there were few bargains to be had and because of the poor weather conditions.