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Veddy, Veddy Tasty
The state boasts at least ten tea rooms plus some 75 pubs that can be considered authentic. "A true British pub," Kawaja explains, "should have at least one British owner, at least four British beers on tap or in the bottle and genuine pub grub such as fish and chips, bangers and Cornish pasty, a dish made with meat and vegetables wrapped in pastry."
In St. Petersburg, on the harbor across from the Vinoy Resort, a restaurant called The Moon Under Water is under construction from the ground up and promises to be "a British colonial tavern" with hardwood floors, mahogany interior and artifacts from the East. The owner, a Welshman named Alan Lucas, says it will be based on the "design and ambiance" of Raffles Hotel in Singapore. It will serve Indonesian, Malaysian, Pakistani and Indian fare, as well as British.
One of the most authentic pubs is pouring its first jugs as you read this. That's the Blue Anchor in Delray Beach (804 E. Atlantic Avenue, 561/272-7272), named after a pub I knew well in London that was built in the 1860s in the heart of the legal district on Chancery Lane, not far from Fleet Street. It was torn down a century later, but the facade was saved and now provides a great sense of place, beckoning Brits and non-Brits to Florida's east coast. The owners are two Fleet Street expats (British expatriates), Lee Harrison and Roy Foster, who have been operating the best pub in Palm Beach County the past few years, the Lion and Eagle in Boca Raton (2401 N. Federal Highway, 561/394-3190).
Classic pub grub is priced from $6 to $11, with traditional British Sunday dinners - roasts of lamb, ham and beef with Yorkshire pudding, "lashed with Guinness gravy" and served with mashed potatoes, roasted potatoes, peas, carrots and Brussels sprouts - pegged at $9.75. Those prices are typical, as are the hours of business, lunch and dinner daily, and they apply to my other favorite places to pub crawl in the state as well.
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Rose and Crown
3660-80 W. Commercial Blvd.
954/731-6245
Fort Lauderdale
The lads from Leeds, Pat and Paul Rowan, had a birthday bash a few months ago, celebrating their 20th year as the pioneer pub of the state. Disney has a pub of the same name in Epcot but it's not as authentic; it doesn't have the beloved Scottish lass Aggie in the kitchen; nor does the Royal British Legion hold its weekly meetings in Mickey's shadow.
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Churchill's Pub and Restaurant
Pine Lake Plaza
954/680-0226
10076 Griffin Road, Cooper City
A five-month-old stunner in the heart of Florida's cowboy country, this display gallery of all things British, old and honorable, represents a $3 million-plus investment by Victoria and Bob Williamson. They have a staff of 65 in their three exhibition halls, one an authentically furnished pub and two far more formal (one honors the namesake hero, the other marks medieval times). The menus are far more ambitious than bubble and squeak, as four of us learned a few weeks ago while dining on Southern style crab cakes, sauteed shrimp and scallops, veal T-bone (at $32!), prime rib and seared rare, jerk-seasoned yellowfin tuna with mango chutney and fried plantain flares. Dinner entrees, served nightly, range from $14 to $32, and there's a dress code with jackets required in the formal dining rooms after 6 p.m.
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Kings Head British Pub
6460 U.S. 1 North
904/823-9787
St. Augustine
There haven't been so many Brits in these parts since Sir Francis Drake laid to waste America's oldest town in 1586. And they all rally at this handsome Tudor cottage eight miles north of the city. This northernmost Florida pub, with its landmark red, double-decker bus, is where Michael and Ann Dyke hold forth, running such specials as Saturday late-night fish 'n' chips, served from 10:30 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. for $8.75, including a pint.
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Crown & Anchor Pub
4921 Cortez Road West
941/795-4575
Bradenton
The affable, articulate team of Gordon and Jill Ratcliff opened this award-winning pub with son Mike in 1990, practicing their philosophy that Brits and Americans want a place where they can relax, where there's decent beer and food, and "a welcome and appreciation from the owners, staff and customers." It's not enough to put a poster-size photo of the Queen or Henry VIII on the wall, Gordon believes; it's better to have a dozen British beers on tap plus one domestic, and to have dart boards. But you won't find a TV for live or taped coverage of British soccer league games. The Ratcliffs don't believe in that kind of distraction from the realities of their authenticity.
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Cockney Rebel
1492 4th Street North
813/895-2049
St. Petersburg
With an inviting wraparound porch, this newcomer calls itself an authentic English country pub, and its walls inside and out are filled with a fine collection of domestic and agricultural implements. The menu expands from pub basics by featuring chili, burgers, buffalo wings and black bean soup, but I like the Farm Manager's and Foreman's lunches, variations of the good old ploughman, and the beef and Guinness pie is splendid.
Business Beat - Week of May 3rd
