I’m in Pensacola, Florida, this week, teaching courses for my friend’s training business.  I’ve never been here before, but I’ve got to say, there are some of the most beautiful beaches I’ve ever seen.

Now…about Goat Lips.

I was pointed towards a place to eat lunch between classes to a place called The Goat Lips Deli & Dinner House.  When I drove up, I was a bit reticent.  It looks like a place you wouldn’t want to go for a meal.  I drove by it once, not even noticing it.  And when I did, I thought, “Where the heck have these otherwise reasonable people sent me?”

A true dive, and a not very attractive one at that.

But I decided to try it, as it was convenient to my workplace, and it did come with a recommendation.  So in I walked.

And there, behind the counter was Larry.  Larry Cowan.  Hair just a bit too long, middle-aged guy with a smile on his face and a gleam in his eye, and pointing towards a menu that contained such interesting things as a twenty-dollar muffuletta, (or a ten-buck half), Caribbean Jerk Chicken I was warned would make my forehead sweat, a classic gyro, a blackened fish sandwich, and a host of normal lunch fare.

So, forewarned, I tried the Jerk Chicken sandwich

Folks, this beast is all you could ever want in a lunch sandwich.  Enough jerk seasoning and crushed red peppers to last a lifetime.  Smoked ham and cheese, fresh red onion, lettuc,e and tomato, and a thrilling spicy mayo–this is all a sandwich should be.

And the sweet tea, a southern specialty, was a homerun.

Larry let me know that there were some wonderful things coming up at suppertime, and I will certainly need to try them as well.

And a for atmosphere?  The dining room–he called it the Sports Bar, and there are the requisite big screens playing ESPN, has more autographed 8×10 photos than I have ever seen in one place before–featuring everyone from Emmitt Smith to Dave Schultz to Johnny Miller to Willie Nelson to xxxxxx to, well, you get the idea.  Just about anyone you can think of, collected over what appears to be more than thirty years.

And Larry himself is just the right guy to herd over this little place.  A former advertising executive who decided to chuck it and follow his passion.  And the food, lorded over by Marsha Surprenant, a tiny and feisty white-haired lady (who floated me my meal when I discovered that I had forgotten my  wallet-I paid her back the next day), is about as good as it gets.

Here’s a link to the Goat Lips:  http://www.goatlipsdeli.com/default.asp.

I know Pensacola is a bit off the beaten track, but if you get here, Goat lips is an absolute must!