Lunch Report: Moe's Southwest Grill, Gainesville, FL...
My son and I left PCB en route to Brandon and drove for several hours before both agreeing that it was probably time to get some vittles. Since we knew there was a Panera Bread in Gainesville, we thought that would be a heart healthy choice, what with all the abuse my body had endured in eating out over the previous several days.
We pulled off of I-75 and drove into the assortment of restaurants that line the streets to accommodate the more than 50,000 students who attend the University of Florida. Just as a side note, I did not understand the enormity of the student population of Gators until recently, and one time seeing a group of Florida Volleyball (I think) players at the airport in San Antonio, I casually asked a young girl if she knew my nephew, Andy. Yea. She looked at me with that look that girls give creepy older guys and I pretty much grabbed my luggage and slithered away. If I see the volley ball team again, I'll ask her if she knows Tommy, Andy's younger brother who also attends Florida; what are the chances two brothers would go to the same school at the same time, right?
Anyway, we pulled into the Panera and come to find out, right next door is Moe's Southwest Grill. My son reports that Moe's is awesome, so, forgetting all about the healthy benefits of a nice salad or a lean sandwich, in we go for huge burritos.
As soon as we walked in the door, we got the loud "Welcome to Moe's" yell from the staff and made our way to the menu board. All you need to know about Moe's is something called the "Homewrecker", and the fact that the place was clean, and reminiscent of Subway or any of the places where you go down a line telling the guy what you want to add to your heart attack in a large tortilla.
Don't get me wrong, I suspect this is considered healthy food, and in fact, I went with the black beans instead of the regular. That has to be healthy. But when you are allowed to tell the guy you want sour cream and guacamole and they are willing to throw it on like whipped cream on a sundae - at no additional charge - I'm loading up.
The end result is, you get this enormously huge burrito filled with rice, beans, chicken or beef (my son had chicken, I had the beef), sour cream, guacamole, cheese, jalapenos, black olives, and whatever combination of stuff you could think of, and then it is rolled up and served with lots of napkins and some nacho chips. My God, look at that thing!
My burrito was very good and it really was all I could do to shovel the last few bites down my gullet, even though I came in extremely hungry. In Florida or other places, this is probably really awesome cuisine, but in San Antonio, why the heck would you even consider something of this nature. Dare II say it? We have more Taco Bells than you can shake a stick at (what does that mean, anyway). I can find ten places between Silver Creek and my office that would serve up huge burritos for a fifth of the price. Having said that though, there is a Moe's in San Antonio up in Stone Oak in case you want to see it first hand.
We pulled off of I-75 and drove into the assortment of restaurants that line the streets to accommodate the more than 50,000 students who attend the University of Florida. Just as a side note, I did not understand the enormity of the student population of Gators until recently, and one time seeing a group of Florida Volleyball (I think) players at the airport in San Antonio, I casually asked a young girl if she knew my nephew, Andy. Yea. She looked at me with that look that girls give creepy older guys and I pretty much grabbed my luggage and slithered away. If I see the volley ball team again, I'll ask her if she knows Tommy, Andy's younger brother who also attends Florida; what are the chances two brothers would go to the same school at the same time, right?
Anyway, we pulled into the Panera and come to find out, right next door is Moe's Southwest Grill. My son reports that Moe's is awesome, so, forgetting all about the healthy benefits of a nice salad or a lean sandwich, in we go for huge burritos.
As soon as we walked in the door, we got the loud "Welcome to Moe's" yell from the staff and made our way to the menu board. All you need to know about Moe's is something called the "Homewrecker", and the fact that the place was clean, and reminiscent of Subway or any of the places where you go down a line telling the guy what you want to add to your heart attack in a large tortilla.
Don't get me wrong, I suspect this is considered healthy food, and in fact, I went with the black beans instead of the regular. That has to be healthy. But when you are allowed to tell the guy you want sour cream and guacamole and they are willing to throw it on like whipped cream on a sundae - at no additional charge - I'm loading up.
The end result is, you get this enormously huge burrito filled with rice, beans, chicken or beef (my son had chicken, I had the beef), sour cream, guacamole, cheese, jalapenos, black olives, and whatever combination of stuff you could think of, and then it is rolled up and served with lots of napkins and some nacho chips. My God, look at that thing!
My burrito was very good and it really was all I could do to shovel the last few bites down my gullet, even though I came in extremely hungry. In Florida or other places, this is probably really awesome cuisine, but in San Antonio, why the heck would you even consider something of this nature. Dare II say it? We have more Taco Bells than you can shake a stick at (what does that mean, anyway). I can find ten places between Silver Creek and my office that would serve up huge burritos for a fifth of the price. Having said that though, there is a Moe's in San Antonio up in Stone Oak in case you want to see it first hand.
Eva says:)
ReplyDeleteit is salads for a week when you come home Mister:) .
This place is much like Chipotle Grill, except you have to pay more for the guacamole.
ReplyDeleteLOL on the "Salads" comment. Maybe you should clarify, Eva? I'm thinking for Dave this would mean a taco salad with chicken and rice and beans with sour cream and guacamole. Same as what he got here, only the tortilla is fried.
Hey Dave!
ReplyDeleteWhat didn't you tell me you were heading to my old stomping grounds! I lived Gainesville from 1986-1989, when I was a student at UF. There is a large contingent of Gators in SA, there's even a group that meets for every Gator game!
Cheers! M2
M2, It was just a lunch break on the way south. We like to stop in Gainesville whenever we travel up or down I-75, just because they have so many places to choose from.
ReplyDeleteWhenever I am back in Florida I end up eating at Sonny's BBQ about 2-3 times a day! I miss that stuff (despite having some good BBQ here in SA) and the original Sonny's is in Gainesville!
ReplyDeleteI had some great times in that town, it's amazing that I actually survived the experience!
Cheers! M2