Jesse is joined by Andrea Jones Downs, Co-Owner of St. Augustine Tasting Tours. Andrea talks about the state of the current food scene in St Augustine (clue: its GREAT), plus some of her favorites as well, both casual and fine dining.

Jesse Blanco (
All right, hey, I got distracted by a text. All right, here we go. Five, four, three, two, one. Welcome everyone to another edition of the Eat it Florida podcast. My name is Jesse Blanco, host of not only this podcast, but chief, I guess firefighter of a whole lot of other things you can find at eatitandlikedit.com, including conversations around the state of Florida about the food and the food scenes. My guest today is in St. Augustine, Florida. Her name is Andrea Jones-Downs.

Andrea Jones Downs, She is a owner, CEO and chief firefighter. That’s where we got that from. Of the Tasting Tours, a local tour company in and around Old Town St. Augustine. First of all, welcome. How are you?

Andrea Jones
Thank you! Thank you for having me today!

Jesse Blanco
My pleasure. 2010, you said you moved to St. Augustine. That is a decade and a half ago.

Andrea Jones

2010. That was that was a long time ago. But native Floridian but let me let me say though native Floridian born and raised as well as the family beyond that before that. Yep it does.

Jesse Blanco
Very good. Yeah, that matters. I know. I’m a Miami boy. I understand how all that works. Yeah, no, I get it. I get it. So we’ll get into your tours and what you guys do here in a minute. But first of all, how are things in St. Augustine these days? Summer 2025? Yeah. Capital H.

Andrea Jones
You understand.

Andrea Jones
It’s hot. It’s very hot. Yes, very. You know, it’s from what I understand and from what I’ve read in the different meetings that we’ve gone to, tourism as a whole is kind of down for right now. So I think a little bending and a little super weaving to try to make sure that we do what we can with the tourism’s down and make sure that locals are having a good time. I mean, overall, I mean, I think it’s been a very nice summer. A little hot. Stay hydrated.

Jesse Blanco
Yeah, yeah. Is it palpable to see when you’re walking down or driving through Old Town to see, we’re a little bit off. You’ve been around long enough to be able to pick up on that? The trolleys. Yeah. Yeah.

Andrea Jones
You know what the telltale is on that one? Yes. You knew exactly where I was going on the trolleys. If the trolleys are not full, then know tourism is slightly down. But the fall is almost upon us. It’s coming. So it’ll be back up.

Jesse Blanco
Yeah, yeah, that same thing is happening here in Savannah. The same thing, you see the trolleys like, okay, usually there’s people hanging off the side of them trying to get in on it, when you see them 10, 20, 15, 30 % full, you’re like, okay, it’s soft around here. But I spent…

Andrea Jones Yep.

Andrea Jones
everybody’s avoiding that heat. I think everybody’s avoiding the heat as well, you know. Gotta love Florida and, you know, southern summers.

Jesse Blanco
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, I hear you. And then I talked to chefs and restaurant owners. Yeah, we’re still up from 2021, but it’s not as up as it was, you know, before pandemic. Okay. Well, you can’t have everything. Okay. Can you just, can you just roll with it and stop walking around pouting? We, we tease because we love everybody’s working hard out there.

Andrea Jones
I can’t have everything

Jesse Blanco
Tell us then about the tasting tours. is, this is, you are one of two founding partners, correct?

Andrea Jones
That is correct. My partner is Joanna and she is the CFO. And then we also have a third little cog in the wheel, which is Nikki and she’s our director of national sales. We were formed in 2011, 2011. So we’ve been around the block for a little while. We have food pairing tours. We evolved from a food and wine pairing tour to now food wine cocktail pairing tours in the historic district. But

I want to say also preface that we have three EVs that we’re able to take people outside of just the walking area in the Historic District, take them to like the island, Anastasia Island, Uptown, Lincolnville. So we’re able to actually show them more with these capabilities of the EVs.

Jesse Blanco
I’ll jump in there and say, you know, as I told you before we started rolling, I’ve been down to St. Augustine a bazillion times. It feels like since 2020, since the St. Augustine Food and Wine Festival came along, everything, feels like, I shouldn’t say everything, so much is gravitating toward Anastasia over the Bridge of Lions. You know, we know the Floridian has moved, Gypsy, what is the name? Gypsy.

Andrea Jones
Gypsy, it just closed but another restaurant is going in. I believe that was Cafe Eleven if I’m not mistaken on that. So somebody else is going on. Gas, it also closed in the island but the Floridian, if could talk today, is actually one of their spin-offs. Bee’s is going in there from what I understand.

Jesse Blanco
Yes.

Jesse Blanco
Very good, very good. And then, you know, the whole Anastasia scene over there, I’ve been, like I said, a million times. I actually did a photo shoot with our friend Melissa over at Odd Birds a couple of years ago. The Osprey Tacos, which is one block over. Yeah, been there. I’ve been pretty much everywhere. I’ve had dinner at Llama and all of it. Yes, of course.

Andrea Jones
Marcel’s fantastic, love him. Auburn’s one of our favorite stops on the tours. Osprey Tacos, if you have not tried it yet, there is a, and I kid you not, there’s a Brussels sprout taco, and I know it sounds crazy. I’m not a vegetarian, but I’m gonna tell ya, it is amazing.

Jesse Blanco
Okay, I’ll have to try that. No, Brussels, Brussels are one of those things where when they’re done well, there’s for me, few things better. So if they’re great Brussels in a taco, I’ll eat the fool out of that. So our tourists, we call them visitors. Are they finding Anastasia or is that still kind of a locals area?

Andrea Jones
I love them.

Andrea Jones
sure they’re finding Anastasia per se. I think we have the Island Boulevard tour that’s seasonal where we are introducing people to or guests to Anastasia. I’m not sure they’re actually still… I guess you know unfortunately everybody thinks that just the historic district in St. George Street that’s all there is in St. Augustine. There’s so much more to St. Augustine than that.

Jesse Blanco
I know, I know, so much more. mean, I’m not a resident. I can even tell you West King is having its moment right now. Down where the guys are in the marina at Asada Life, the food truck marina that’s down there, there’s so much. Uptown, you know Uptown is having a moment.

Andrea Jones
So much. So much. There is. It’s like, you know, I find it very interesting since we started this company, like I said, 2011, the industry itself, the food industry, the dining, the fine dining that has come to St. Augustine since we opened, it’s been a total change. A total change. It’s becoming very foodie, very foodie. With a…

Jesse Blanco
How so?

Andrea Jones
With the expansion, the chefs that are in town, you look at somewhere like Lotus with Chef Barry Honan. mean, just the talent that is in town now is incredible, incredible.

Jesse Blanco
Yep.

Jesse Blanco
Fair to say then, and I’ve asked this question a few times down there, in your opinion, from your view, you’ve been there decade and a half, it used to be kind of a quiet bedroom community for Jacksonville, but there’s been enough talent moving in now to be able to stand on its own and go, we don’t need Jacksonville. There’s, yeah. Of course. Of course.

Andrea Jones
absolutely. Still a small town. Lots of people. It’s still a small town. But the talent that is here. Just incredible. Incredible.

Jesse Blanco

Yeah, I don’t disagree with that. Even something as casual as bar foodie, if you will, and I say that respectfully, as there’s on St. George Prohibition Kitchen has fantastic food. Speaking of… Yeah, so the last time I was there, I had their Brussels. I’m sure you’ve had their Brussels.

Andrea Jones
yeah. yeah, absolutely. And the live music scene too.

Jesse Blanco
Yeah, those are some of the best Brussels I’ve had outside of a big fine dining restaurant. That’s why I make a point of it, because you don’t think there were a throwaway that night. wanted a vegetable, and I said, let me get the Brussels. And my wife asked me, why did you get Brussels? Well, because I wanted something green. And they were outstanding. Man, they were really, really good.

Andrea Jones
And you know, Odd Birds too, when you get a chance Odd Birds as well. Yeah, we’re going to make a whole podcast on Brussels.

Jesse Blanco
They’re Brussels. I’ve never had them.

Jesse Blanco
But we’ll have to go do that in Brussels. What do you say? All right, it’s a date. So tell us then, you said you have, you started off food pairing, wine pairing and cocktails. Tell us your most popular tour food related or drink related, what is it?

Andrea Jones
Okay, okay, that sounds good. That’s a deal.

Andrea Jones
Our flagship tour is called the Corks and Forks. That is a strolling tour. That is a four to five stop pairing tour. So food could be food and wine, it could be food and cocktails, kind of a mixture of both. I think that’s probably our most popular seems to be. That is within the historic district. And then second, the wine and dine, which is the rolling. And that is of course on the EVs where we stretch out and get over to Anastasia.

Jesse Blanco
That sounds like fun. How long does that last?

Andrea Jones
That’s year round. Year round. three hours. Well, it’s three hour tour just like Gilligan.

Jesse Blanco
I don’t know, the tour, the actual tour.

Jesse Blanco
That’s not too hard to remember. Are all of your tours about three hours, three and a half?

Andrea Jones
three hours. We do have some seasonal fun. have like this season, last season we had it was a big Mrs. Roper season and we had pub crawls with Mrs. Roper and all the women would dress up like Mrs. Roper. This year apparently Moo Moos are a big thing. Who knew? So we’re doing some mimosas, Moo Moo and Mimosa, Moo Moo and Margaritas. So just a little fun. I people like themed things so we will cater to that and have fun with it.

Jesse Blanco
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, the Mumu thing, the Mumu thing is I think a spin-off of the Mrs. Roper. They kind of hung it on Mrs. Roper from Three’s Company back in the day. We were dating ourselves, but it was I think more so the women were enjoying it because they could wear something comfortable when it was warm out. If Mrs. Roper had dressed in something else, it would have been something else. Yes.

Andrea Jones
I would, yes.
Yes, yes, it’s flowy.

it would be something else. And we do, I tell you another popular one, popular one, Jesse, coming up in October, we do have a Beetlejuice pub crawl. Bullgar beetlejuice. And we do kind of this, I don’t want to say haunted, because there’s not really haunted tales, but it is a Beetlejuice hosted by the ghost with the most pub crawl.

Jesse Blanco
What do mean there’s no, well, there’s no haunted on the tour. There’s plenty of haunted at St. Augustine. Yeah. Gotcha. Gotcha. It’s, and so Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice takes you on a pub crawl. I like that. That also three hours. Who is? Who else is on there? That’s Winona, right?

Andrea Jones
There’s plenty of haunted there. He’s not doing, it’s not like a haunted ghost tour. It’s it’s character pub crawl.

Andrea Jones
Exactly. And Lydia’s there too. That’s about two and a half. About two and a half. Lydia?

The counterpart, the dark haired counterpart, Lydia. Who was that? Winona Ryder. Winona, yeah. We got this. Exactly.

Jesse Blanco
What is your name? Ryder, Ryder, Winona Ryder. Not to be confused with Winona Judd. That sounds cool. that how you’re gonna do that every weekend, seasonally?

Andrea Jones
every weekend in October for Halloween month.

Jesse Blanco
Is the first time you’re doing it? Have you done it before?

Andrea Jones
No, we’ve done this for years. People love it. It’s already booking out right now.

Jesse Blanco
I bet, yeah, I was going to say, I bet it fills up real quick. Very, very cool.

Andrea Jones
We have a fantastic character that does that, who is also during the Knights of Light season, is also Grinch.

Jesse Blanco
how convenient.

Andrea Jones
Isn’t it? Yeah, and you, you know, you don’t think about it, but I mean, we’re approaching the holiday season quick, quick. And I know, I’m sure you’ve been down here when it’s nights of light season. Insane, you know.

Yeah, my man found his niche. He’s Beetlejuice and then he’s the Grinch and then, yeah, wow. Very cool, okay, so I’ll ask you in a couple of minutes how we can find you and track you down and all that stuff. I do want to ask you, how often do you guide any tours? Do you do any tours or you just run in the business these days? No.

Jesse Blanco
Give me two or three, four if you’ve got them.

Andrea Jones
Hmm. Okay, so if I cross off my fancy ones, because I like my fancy dinner, love to hang out at Carrere Wine Cellar for lovely wine and their staff is amazing. love to sit in the rockers on their front porch drinking my wine. I think we touched on…

Andrea Jones
I love Carrera, staff there’s amazing. I say casual, but I don’t know if I would call it casual. We touched on it just a while ago, was Asado Life, amazing. mean, Chef Matt Brown and Nick Carrera, amazing. They have a wonderful bar staff too, all craft cocktails.

Jesse Blanco
Agreed.

Andrea Jones
think it casual. Hmm. And we did touch on llama. That’s not really casual, but Chef Marcel amazing. Lotus. Yes. Now we’ll go back to Lotus. think Lotus is is amazing. A little bit, you know, a little bit more upscale. And then oh, one of my favorite places for brunch is La Nouvelle. So over in Lincolnville, the French concept. One of the best quiches I have ever had. I have to say.

Jesse Blanco
That is owned by the same ownership as Michael’s. Yeah, the old preserve over in Lincolnville. Yeah, yeah. Have you been to the new, and I’m sorry, I’m hijacking your list, but have you been to the new French spot there next to the brewery behind the Leitner Museum?

Andrea Jones
Correct. Michael Lugo. That is correct. Yes. Yes.

Andrea Jones
No, it is on my list though. I did hear really good things. I did go to Jacksonville location a long time ago, but it is on my list to do.

Jesse Blanco
Uh-huh. My understanding is this one is far more bougie than that Jacksonville location. Yes. Yes. That is on, that is top of my list. I’m going to, I’m going to be down there probably around Labor Day, not Labor Day weekend, but either before or after. And that’s, that’s first on my list is that place. so then a one or two lovely dinner. Where are you going?

Andrea Jones
That whole romantic date night thing. Well, Collage is always a must. Collage is always lovely on Hypolita.

Andrea Jones
I would probably hit up Michael’s. I have to say I would probably hit up Michael’s too. Because, I mean, you always count on a fantastic meal, For date night.

Jesse Blanco
Yeah, have you been out to his new spot in Vilano yet? Well, I’ve been for the festivals, but I haven’t been to sit and eat a proper dinner, so.

Andrea Jones
Absolutely. The decor, amazing. What they did with the space, just like what they did with Le Nouvel. I’m not sure who their decorator is, but they did an amazing job with that.

Jesse Blanco
You know, you and I just rapid fired a lot of names and places that if someone’s listening and they’re taking notes, we hit them with a lot of stuff, but that’s just an indicator of how deep the food scene is becoming in St. Augustine. I don’t think anybody’s going to go comparing it to a Miami or, you know, Tampa, St. Pete, but for little old St. Augustine, y’all got it going on quite a bit.

So tell us then before we go where we can find you if we want to jump on that Beetlejuice tour.

Andrea Jones
Absolutely. It’s TheTastingTours.com

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