Al and Irene Ellatter opened their restaurant doors in 1994, serving lunch and dinner and specializing in catering. Brick City Restaurant has earned a local reputation second to none, and you’ll think twice before calling another caterer after viewing their pictures at brickcitycatering.com or the shrimp tree in their ad in this issue. No strangers to large groups, they catered a Jeb Bush campaign event of 3,000, the City of Ocala at Wild Waters of 1,000, a John Deere party of 1,800, and most recently, the Golden Apple awards with a “mere” 450 guests.
Over the years, Brick City Restaurant has won three Pewter Platter and five Best Presentation awards at Taste of Ocala as well as restaurant reviews of the highest ratings.
With wedding season here, give Al and Irene a call at (352) 680-0905 for a consultation (and tast-ing) that will keep your budget in check.
“We’ll cater from two people to a few thousand, in our restaurant or their choice of location,” says Al.
Honeysuckle’s Café opened in Six Gun Plaza. The interior has received a nice face-lift com-plete with hand-painted artwork throughout, giving the space a café atmosphere from wall to wall. In full view is the chef in professional cooking apparel, creating breakfast and lunch for patrons, using only the finest ingredients.
“We don’t use processed meats,” says owner Sherri Grady. “We bake our ham and roast our tur-key just like at home.”
The day I visited, I had the Honeysuckle Roll-Up. It’s chicken, cranberries, walnuts, and blue cheese in a wrap. You’ve got to try it.
I’m not a vegetarian but I hope that whatever I eat is treated humanely. Recently, a ban against serving fois gras in Chicago was lifted. The process of making fois gras involves force-feeding ducks and geese large amounts of grain—in some cases, amounts comparable to a human eating 14 pounds of pasta a day—with a pipe. The result is an engorged liver up to 10 times its normal size. The birds are incapable of walking and usually suffer horrific puncture wounds from the feed pipe. For more information and to see which Florida restaurants are serving this type of food, go to animal-rightsflorida.org/FoieGras.html or goveg.com/factoryfarming_ducks_foie.asp. Warning: One site con-tains a disturbing video, but it’s one that has changed the minds of some chefs about serving this “delicacy.”
Nibbles: Kudos to those involved with the food at the Law Enforcement Appreciation Feast in May. Tommy Phillips of Tommy’s Country Market & Bar-B-Q donated the use of his kitchen, trailers, and other equipment. Local Rotary Clubs served the food to over 2,000. The Chamber of Commerce funded the event. JWJ Inc., an underground utility contractor, did all the frying as well as prepared tons of Tommy’s famous green beans, potatoes, and ham. Cheney Brothers, a local food service dis-tributor, sold items at wholesale price and donated the rest. They also donated 250 barbecued chick-ens and salads for the 25th Anniversary of the Law Enforcement Torch Run Barbecue to benefit the Special Olympics.
For those who emailed us to add T.G.I. Friday’s to our wish list, you’ll be happy to know construction is planned by the Marketplace on SR 200. A second Panera Bread is under construction, too. Also coming is a Taco Bell/KFC by 484 and SR 200. A pizzeria will arrive soon in downtown Ocala on Broadway. More on this in the next issue, including your e-mail requests for restaurants. Keep ‘em coming.
What new restaurant would you like to see
come to Ocala? E-mail your response to
roseann@ocalastyle.com and we’ll
put the results in future issues.
