Different Donuts

A Maple Frosted Donut topped with Bacon.  How could I not try it?

The morning after Thanksgiving in Ft. Myers, I asked my phone where to find the best breakfast. It recommended Bennett's Fresh Roast, right across the street from my hotel.  It was a great recommendation, and I had asked for the the best in town, not the closest.

The Maple Applewood Bacon Donut was indeed excellent, as was the cinnamon roll, which used a very flavorful extra cinnamony spice.  My wife enjoyed a seasonal donut with pumpkin pie filling in the center.

Bennett is about freshness: the donuts are made from scratch and the coffee is roasted daily, all on premises.  In addition to the usual glazed, chocolate, cinnamon and maple bacon donuts, you'll find Key Lime, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Orange Coconut, and more.

It doesn't stop with donuts. Next time I'm in town I'll try some Praline Bread Pudding. They also have soups, salads and sandwiches for lunch along with wine and beer. (Maple Bacon Donut with beer...no, I'd better not.)

Bennett's is located just west US 41 a block from the Caloosahatchee River. It has seating indoors and outdoors with plenty of parking and wifi.

The only downside I could find is that I don't live in Ft. Myers.  Maybe that's fortunate.

Bennett's Fresh Roast
2011 Bayside Parkway
Fort Myers, FL

Saucy Grub

There is good food and good fun, but Famous Dave's is really all about the sauce.  Its signature ingredient seems to be an extra scoop of cumin, giving it a more chili-ish flavor than most barbecue sauces.  First time visitors get a tour of the sauces from their Famous® server, ours was Famous® Amanda, who squirts samples of the five types onto a plate and leaves some chips for sampling them.  The chips, by the way, are excellent on their own.

Loaded Baked Potato

Chicken and Ribs

In fact, most of the grub we tried was quite good, from my wife's Fried Chicken Salad to Mom's Baked Potato loaded with everything including chopped pork.  My chicken was fork tender and juicy, the BBQ beans flavored with sausage and occasional chunks of jalepeño for kicks, and Cornbread right between the sweet corn muffins I like and the plain, crumbly bread many prefer.  Ribs were the weakest link: while juicy and fall off the bone tender, they had no real flavor of their own, though that did make them a good platform for enjoying the sauce.

This is a chain, but the good kind that gives a town another option without saturating the market. I've been to one before in the Atlanta area and all of Florida has only three.  But they seem consistently good and I'd recommend them anywhere.

Famous Dave's
12148 South Cleveland Avenue

Ft. Myers, FL 33907