The Garlic

I was reminded yesterday when hanging out with my friend Kelly that I had forgotten to post a restaurant review from our Florida trip.  What reminded me was this amazing tomato and garlic and almond dip she had, which I totally ate with a spoon out of the container she gave me.  You can see that amazing recipe HERE. 

So on our lovely, child-free vacation, Rob and I were driving down the road in New Smyrna Beach and we both suddenly were like: "Where is that heavenly and amazing smell of garlic coming from? We want to go to there!"  (Ahem. Paraphrase.)  The answer was pretty easy because we were driving past a restaurant called The Garlic.  For real.

And yes, it had giant plaster heads of garlic.  Sorry for the terrible photo. It was nighttime--what can I say.

I have to tell you a little back story before I get to why we were compelled to go to there.  When we were living in Greensboro, one of Rob's colleagues gave us a recipe for homemade salsa. You'd think that we would have gotten some kind of amazing recipe from Texas, but no.  This woman in North Carolina.  

When visiting my parents in Virginia (this story involves way too many states), we made said salsa and consumed quite a bit of it.  It's lovely: roasted peppers, fresh tomatoes, fresh garlic, some other stuff.  Maybe I will share it soon.  Maybe. 

In any case, the next morning, my mother SWEARS that walking past the guest room where Rob and I slept, she could SMELL us.  She says that it was like garlic was living and breathing inside our room and emanating out into the hallway.  I call that awesome.  My mom called that gross.

The point of that story is:  we LOVE garlic.  

The prices at The Garlic (I should also point out that I think it's oddly funny to put "the" in front of things that normally don't have "the" in front of them, like The Derby) were sort of moderately high-ish (a technical term).  Entrees came in between $12 and $30 with some appetizers under $10.  The best thing at The Garlic was, however, free.  It was the garlic.

That, my friends, is a whole head of garlic, roasted. Ready to be spread like butter upon bread.  It really was like butter, and Rob and I soon found ourselves asking for a second head of garlic.  Have I mentioned that we like garlic??  We have had roasted garlic, but not usually as something you just spread on a nice slice of homemade bread. Typically I ad it to a recipe, like mashed potatoes.  I had no idea that I was missing out on just plain The Garlic. 

The ambiance was fabulous as well, though my photos don't capture it well.  We sat in a garden lit by rope lights, with trees and plants all through it and a roaring fire in a stone fireplace nearby.  There was also an outdoor brick fire oven they used to cook pizza.  In short, this place was phenomenal, and we plan to roast and eat a lot more heads of garlic in the near future.  Mmmm.  Maybe the VERY near future. 

 If you happen upon New Smyrna Beach, stop and smell and eat The Garlic.