Dining-out memories come with slice of fine apple pie
According to research by the National Restaurant Association, Mother’s Day remains the top holiday for Americans to dine out, followed by Valentine’s Day, Father’s Day, New Year’s Eve and Easter.
It’s the kind of day when longtime Central Floridians remember nowgone restaurants we enjoyed on special days: Ronnie’s, Gary’s Duck Inn, the White Turkey, Lee’s Lakeside and many more. For Janet Walker of Orlando and her mom, Betty Nething of Titusville, no place was more special than Johnston’s Coffee Shop in Daytona Beach, self-proclaimed home of the world’s best apple pie.
Johnston’s has been gone for decades, but the building that housed it remains at Magnolia and Palmetto avenues in Daytona Beach and is home to A.M. Weigel Construction, Inc., according to the company’s website.
The restaurant’s founder, Isham Johnston, hailed from Bunnell and an old Flagler County family, his 1959 obituary noted; he and his wife, Alice moved to Daytona Beach in 1932 and by 1940 had opened Johnston’s Coffee Shop, near the railroad station and surrounded by popular hotels. “Many of the rich and famous northerners who wintered in the Daytona area took their cocktails and meals” at Johnston’s for more than 30 years, according to the Weigel website. In 1950, Isham and Alice Johnston sold the restaurant and returned to Bunnell. Apple pie, Chestnut Shrimp
Soon, Johnston’s Coffee Shop became part of the domain of restaurateur Charles Creighton — a community leader in Fort Lauderdale almost from his arrival in the early 1950s, his 1991 obituary noted. Creighton eventually owned eateries that included Creighton’s Garden Restaurant in Winter Park as well as Johnston’s in Daytona Beach and his antique-filled flagship restaurant on Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale. Creighton’s restaurants all proclaimed themselves “Home of the World’s Best Apple Pie.” Customers who feasted on a slice were presented with a numbered certificate that bore their name and Creighton’s signature and declared them members of the “Knights of the Round Apple.”
Johnston’s fare featured much more than pie, though. A menu from the 1950s lists not only the usual fare of chicken, seafood and beef (steak, $6), but also wide-ranging choices such as cold sliced tongue with potato salad ($1.45) or grilled calves liver with a rasher of bacon ($1.80).
One Johnston’s specialty, Chestnut Shrimp, continued on the menu of the Magnolia Avenue Grille, another restaurant that followed Johnston’s in the same Daytona Beach location in the 1980s. In 1985, veteran Orlando Sentinel food editor Dorothy Chapman responded to a request for the recipe by noting that the Magnolia’s version had been created by “host-owner Jim Galbreath when he opened the Magnolia Avenue Grille in the restored site of what had been Johnston’s Coffee Shop.”
Galbreath wanted to duplicate Johnston’s Chestnut Shrimp, but when the original could not be located, he came up with his own version, Chapman wrote. Here it is, as she described it in 1985. CHESTNUT SHRIMP “Clean and de-vein desired number of shrimp, dip in milk and egg wash, shake off excess, coat with finely ground saltine cracker crumbs. Deepfry lightly in vegetable oil until just done; do not overcook. Ladle warm Worcestershire butter over each serving and sprinkle generously with chopped water chestnuts.
Worcestershire butter: Blend together well one-half pound melted butter and 1⁄4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce; keep warm.” Florida, concisely
On Thursday, May 14, University of Central Florida historian Jim Clark will speak at the Orange County Regional History Center, sharing stories about the history of Florida and Orlando. Time: 6:30 p.m. Cost: $15 for the event, or $30 for the event and a copy of Clark’s “A Concise History of Florida.” Details and registration: 407-836-7010. Goldenrod memories
Also on May 14, the Goldenrod Historical Society presents “Fond Memories of Goldenrod,” stories of growing up in the community on the OrangeSeminole county line, with Adrienne Adriatico and Carmen Adriatico Clifton. It’s at the Goldenrod Station, 4755 N. Palmetto Ave., Winter Park, at 7 p.m. Details: 407-677-5980.