BITE BY BITE

Posted Wednesday, August 6, 2014 7:56 pm

HERE’S TO GLUTTONY!

Twice a year, Folio Weekly sets out to deliver the most comprehensive guide imaginable to dining in Northeast Florida, something for you to keep on your coffee table (or, let’s be honest, in your bathroom) to consult whenever you seek out something new and interesting. The heart of this Bite-by-Bite issue, of course, is the encyclopedic compendium of restaurants, organized by cuisine and compiled by our senior editor, Marlene Dryden, whose tireless work on this product is truly awe-inspiring.

But this is also our twice-annual chance to gorge ourselves on the company dime (and, you know, write about it), and once again we dived in with aplomb. Last go-’round, back in March, we gave you 52 Amazing Things to Eat in Northeast Florida Right Now, a culinary orgy of unparalleled proportions; this time, we’re doing things a little differently.

I asked our intrepid team of eaters to select a food or food category intrinsic to some segment of the First Coast — we settled on shrimp and grits, oxtails, barbecue, fried chicken, burgers, eggs Benedict, camel riders, milkshakes and vegan brunch — then spread out around the vast expanse of our coverage zone in search of perfection, and write about the journey. (And it is ultimately about the journey, not the destination.)

We drew on word-of-mouth, Internet recommendations, our own experience, and sometimes mere happenstance (“Hey, that place looks interesting!”) in selecting our stops. It is possible, perhaps likely, that given how large this geographic region is, something worthwhile slipped past our notice — it’s basically de rigueur for joints around here to offer shrimp and grits, I learned, and I only had the time and budget to hit a handful. So here’s the deal: If there’s a place that you think serves the perfect something, and you don’t see that place and thing here, shoot us an email (mail@folioweekly.com); we’ll put together a list of your recommendations and publish them next week.

In the meantime, we hope you have as much fun reading as we had consuming mass quantities.

—Jeffrey C. Billman, glutton-in-chief

[Next: The Quest for the Perfect Barbecue]