Florida
New Cape Coral restaurant opens with old Florida flavor, look and feel
Watch: Baby gators swim in their tank at Florida Boy Burger Co.
Four baby gators hang out an 8-by-2-foot tank in the dining room of the new Cape Coral restaurant
Stuffed squirrels, gators and a wild boar’s head are mounted on the walls. Taxidermied gator heads with mouths wide open and rattlesnakes in striking position are scattered about on tables and shelves. Four live baby gators swim around an 8-by-2-foot tank in the middle of the dining room. Oh, then there is the skin of a python stretching from floor to ceiling.
“That was caught a year ago in the Everglades,” Roger Lolly says matter-of-factly. “It’s about 10 feet, one of the larger ones I caught that day.”
Welcome to Florida Boy Burger Co.’s newest Cape Coral location, where old Florida is everywhere.
It’s expected to open at 11 a.m. Friday, Feb. 21, in FK Your Diet’s old spot off Del Prado Boulevard.
“We wanted to expand at some point, but this happened so quickly,” said Louis Cioffi, a co-owner along with Lolly. “This spot was too good to pass up.”
“We’re going to get this one going, chill out a bit and keep going,” added Lolly (Floridaboyinc on Instagram) as he put the finishing touches on one of the mounted gators. “We have investors reaching out to us from all over.”
An old Florida and Pine Island feel
For now, though, the focus is on this new Cape location, basically a carbon copy of the original location that opened last July near the intersection of Fowler Street and Colonial Boulevard in Fort Myers.
Look closely and you’ll see references to Pine Island in the photos of Lolly’s father mullet fishing, his grandfather and uncle, and of Summer Dooley whose fishing family is “legendary to the island.”
“There’s a little more Pine Island at this one,” said Lolly, who grew up there. “It’s important to us.”
The two have spent the last three months getting ready for Friday’s opening.
“It’s been a project,” Cioffi said. “There are no shortcuts here. Everything we do is meaningful.”
Especially when it comes to the menu.
Some changes made to the original menu
“That’s the same for now, but we’re making some changes,” Cioffi said. “We got rid of the steaks and the tacos. And we’re adding gator bites.”
Other changes include making the Bangor Bash “less Louisiana” by replacing the boudin and andouille with venison sausage and wild boar cheddar and jalapeno sausage, and gator too.
“We’re making it more Florida,” Cioffi said.
“We listened to our customers,” Lolly said. “They asked, we listened and made some changes.”
All about the burgers
The biggest changes can be found in their signature burgers, some of which will be renamed when the new menu comes out.
“Our burgers are seasoned now,” Cioffi said. “They have great flavor now. Everyone seems to like it.”
Watch: A 10-foot long python skin adorns a wall at Florida Boy Burger
Roger Lolly mounted the skin from a 10-foot Burmese python he caught in the Everglades at his Florida Boy Burger Co. in Cape Coral.
The signature burgers are works of art at Florida Boy Burger.
One is topped with alligator sausage, blackened crabmeat, spicy pimento, pickled red onions and arugula, while another features bacon BBQ pork, cheddar and onion straws. Some come with bacon onion jam, a sunny-side-up egg or beer-battered lobster.
If it all seems too much, no worries.
“We have an original Florida burger,” Cioffi said. “It’s plain with cheese, lettuce, tomato. It’s not on the menu right now but just ask for it. It comes with fries for $12. We don’t want anyone to be overwhelmed. Keep it simple.”
Appetizers (think frog legs, blue crab fritters, house-made pickles and more), salads, handhelds, specialty fries and milkshakes (extraordinary ones mixed with Fruity Pebbles, Key lime pie, banana pudding and cookies and cream!) round out the menu.
Burger-esque alligator patties are in the works, along with an all-Florida beef option.
“That will be a 100 percent Florida-raised and processed beef option,” Cioffi said. “We want to support local farmers. All the greens, vegetables and fruits are local. We want to do the same with our beef.”
What’s next?
Florida Boy Burger will open Feb. 21 with little fanfare.
“There’s no soft opening, no test run,” Lolly said. “We’re going to hit the ground running. Once it’s going, we will look for another location. Orlando, Jacksonville. We want to go to Naples, North Port. We want to be part of communities. Like Louis says, ‘Come in as a customer and leave as family.’”
Here’s to a growing family.
Florida Boy Burger Co., 1402 Del Prado Blvd S., Suite 4, Cape Coral and 4480 Fowler St., Suite 110, Fort Myers; (239) 245-7145; burgers.inc or follow on Facebook
Robyn George is a food and dining reporter for The News-Press. Connect at rhgeorge@fortmyer.gannett.com
TAMPA, Fla – New SNAP restrictions will start Monday in Florida.
What we know:
These changes will ban the purchase of many sugary sodas, energy drinks, candy and ultra-processed, shelf-stable prepared desserts.
Hunger Free America, an advocacy group, is against these restrictions.
Joel Berg, the CEO, said some regulation is a good thing, but he wants to see it support access to healthy foods as a choice.
“We do support mandates to mandate that healthier food is available in stores that do accept SNAP,” Berg said. “So, it makes a lot more sense to make it easier to get healthier food.”
Berg said these restrictions are unnecessary in achieving a healthier America.
“We should make America healthier again by making healthy food more affordable, convenient and physically available,” Berg said. “We shouldn’t micromanage the eating patterns of adults to try to achieve that goal.”
The other side:
This is part of the Make America Healthy Again initiative.
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said, “Under the MAHA initiative, we are taking bold, historic steps to reverse the chronic disease epidemic that has taken root in this country for far too long.”
What they’re saying:
Berg said that these changes, on top of cuts to the program nationwide, will increase hunger.
“It’s not that low-income Americans don’t want healthier food; it’s that they can’t afford healthier food,” Berg said.
This coincides with the announcement that there will be cuts to WIC, the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children, which supplies food to mothers and young children.
“President Trump’s budget just announced that he’s proposing taking away fruits and vegetables from the WIC program for pregnant women and children under five,” Berg said. “So, they’re taking away healthier food.”
The WIC cuts would take away $1.4 billion in fruit and vegetable benefits from 5.4 million people.
Big picture view:
The SNAP changes come as part of the MAHA movement and include more than 20 other states that will implement changes over the next two years.
The Source: Information in this story comes from WIC, SNAP and interviews done by Fox 13’s Danielle Zulkosky.
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (CBS12) — The engines are revving for one final day of high-stakes bidding and family fun at the South Florida Fairgrounds.
Barrett-Jackson’s Palm Beach auction reaches its grand finale today with an action-packed “Super Saturday” lineup, promising to close out the weekend with a full slate of collector car sales, live entertainment, and fan attractions.
“Super Saturday,” presented by Seminole Casino Coconut Creek, officially kicks off at 8 a.m. when gates, food courts, and the exhibitor marketplace open to the public.
What to expect
- 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.: The Fantasy Bid presented by Dodge begins early, running in tandem with the automobilia auction in the arena.
- 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.: Thrill-seekers can catch Dodge thrill rides on the Barrett-Jackson Performance Track.
- 10:00 a.m.: New amenities open to the public, including the Stella Artois, Staging Lanes, and Food Court patios, which offer shaded seating and auction views.
- 10:45 a.m.: The national anthem will be performed in the auction arena, signaling the start of the main collector car auction at 11 a.m.
- Afternoon Entertainment: DJ sets run from noon to 5 p.m. across the various patios, and a detailing clinic by Adam’s Polishes is scheduled for 2 p.m. near the South Showcase.
For those unable to attend, the whole event will be livestreamed throughout the day on the Barrett-Jackson website and the HISTORY channel from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Today’s finale comes on the heels of a high-energy Friday that saw significant sales and notable celebrity interest.
Star power was evident throughout the day, particularly with vehicles tied to the Busch family. A 1957 Ford Thunderbird Convertible owned by Samantha Busch and a 1969 Oldsmobile 442 Custom Coupe were among the day’s heavy hitters, each fetching $159,500. Kyle Busch’s 1956 Chevrolet Bel Air Custom Coupe also drew a strong bid, selling for $143,000.
Other Friday highlights included:
- 1968 Ford Mustang Eleanor Replica: $137,500
- 2004 Dodge Viper SRT-10 Mamba Edition: $132,000
- 1972 Chevrolet K5 Blazer Custom SUV: $126,500
- 1957 Ford Thunderbird Custom Convertible: $121,000
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With a festival-style atmosphere and high-profile sales driving momentum, organizers expect a busy crowd for the final push at the auction block today.
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. (CBS12) — A quiet Monday turned into a frantic race against time when a deputy stepped in to save a choking 1-year-old’s life.
According to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office, deputies responded to a call about a 1-year-old baby choking. Upon arrival, the responding deputy performed life-saving procedures to help the child breathe again.
See also: Two arrested after 6-year-old arrives at Florida school with bruises, deputies say
Body camera video shows a deputy holding the baby, flipping it over on its stomach, and beginning to pat the baby’s back.
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When the baby begins to cry, the deputy is heard saying, “he’s good.”
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