Ft Myers Beach - Good Neighbor

FMBGN-Tequila & Taco Tuesday-Junkanoo Below Deck

• "Cabo" Jim Schaller • Season 5 • Episode 17

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Grab a lime and pull up a bayside seat as we launch our flavorful journey through Fort Myers Beach's taco and tequila scene! Our inaugural episode takes us to Junkanoo, a mid-island treasure nestled right next to Publix with breathtaking back bay views where dolphins playfully surface throughout the day.

We're diving fork-first into their $12.99 Taco Tuesday special – beefsteak tacos with fresh cilantro on flour tortillas, accompanied by a perfectly balanced jalapeño sauce that brings just enough heat without overwhelming the palate. Paired with their signature mango jalapeño margarita, it's a combination that showcases why this spot earns rave reviews from locals and visitors alike. Beyond the spectacular food, we uncover Junkanoo's remarkable comeback story following Hurricane Ian, which destroyed their original beachfront location but couldn't dampen their spirit or their flavor.

What makes this the perfect time to explore? We're in "shoulder season" – that sweet spot between summer crowds and winter snowbirds where you can enjoy shorter waits while supporting local businesses. Junkanoo isn't just about amazing tacos; it's a gateway to other island experiences with dolphin sunset cruises, kayak rentals, and boat rentals all available on-site. Plus, we share insider tips about Florida's summer rain patterns (spoiler: those daily forecasted showers typically last less than an hour!). Whether you're planning your first visit or you're a longtime resident looking for new favorites, join us weekly as we sip, savor, and celebrate the best tacos and tequila Fort Myers Beach has to offer. Have a favorite spot you think deserves the spotlight? Drop us a line and we'll add it to our culinary adventure map!

Junkanoo Below Deck
4761 Estero Blvd, Fort Myers Beach, FL, United States, Florida
(239) 488-2400
junkanoobeachfmb.com

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Speaker 1:

Welcome to Tequila and Taco Tuesday, where we sip, savor and celebrate the best tacos and tequila Fort Myers Beach Area has to offer. It's your guide to the hidden gems, local legends and spicy spots serving up flavor with a splash of fun. Each week we're bringing you behind the bar and into the kitchens of the beach's best taquerias, cantinas and taco trucks, from smoky mezcal margaritas to crispy Baja fish tacos. If it's wrapped in a tortilla or poured in a shot glass, we're tasting it. So grab a lime, turn up the volume and let's taco about it. It's Tequila and Taco Tuesday time. Here's your host, cabo Jim.

Speaker 2:

Welcome to Tequila and Taco Tuesday from Fort Myers Beach. Right? It's the best day of the week, for sure. Why is that? Well, it's Taco Tuesday, Right? Tuesday is a great day. Any day is a good day for tacos and tequila.

Speaker 3:

Absolutely. So we came up with this idea because we're in shoulder season, and what shoulder season is is we're right between summer season and our normal season, so it's a little slower. So what we thought we'd do is highlight some of the local restaurants. And what better day than Taco Tuesday? Show off the taco specials. Every restaurant's different. So we're at Junkanoo today, mid-island, right next to Publix, and take it away, dude.

Speaker 2:

Right, well, there we go. Well, we have to try the tacos, we got to try the drinks and I've got I don't know what he called it here, but it's a mango something. A mango something, jalapeno margarita with tequila, yeah, so we like that, we like that.

Speaker 3:

That's a good thing, but um so these tacos are are quite unique. We've got beefsteak tacos with cilantro on flour tortilla.

Speaker 2:

You listen?

Speaker 3:

I didn't listen as you can see, those look amazing. And then they have this jalapeno sauce, not too spicy. If you want something a little bit more spicier, you can order it, but we keep hearing that these tacos are the bomb and Jim go for it.

Speaker 2:

One thing I think they're on special today, aren't they? They are special, they're $12.99.

Speaker 3:

Right, which is great. I'm not sure how much the margarita is.

Speaker 2:

Probably just as much, but probably two or three of those, and who cares.

Speaker 3:

So once you try that one, I'll I'll dig in here, all right oh these are just like street tacos, except flour tortillas.

Speaker 2:

That's a good taco.

Speaker 3:

I'd rate that four out of five Sure.

Speaker 2:

That's a good street taco though, too. They're not bad. They're really good, the jalapeno's good, I like that.

Speaker 3:

That is really good. So what have you been up?

Speaker 2:

to. I've been at the beach. There's nobody at the beach, so why not go to the beach? The water's been clear, which is amazing, which I love I wish we could show you.

Speaker 3:

I don't know if everybody's been to Junkadoo, but this place is fantastic. It's right on the back bay, beautiful view. There's dolphins bouncing around out here. It's just a great setting. Great place to come during the summer, absolutely beautiful setting. Great place to come during the summer, absolutely beautiful. And what's what's more is, if you want to just stop in here, grab a taco, grab a margarita, you can hop on one of our, one of our dolphin sunset cruises. There's several operators out of here that are fantastic and you know, if you, if you don't want to do it at night do a sunset cruise, you can do a date cruise. So they have all kind of all kind of cruises. You can rent kayaks here, you can rent boats. So, um, open air, open to the public and and they're in business, it's nice and quiet back there there's even a tiki cruise here too, that you can what are they doing?

Speaker 2:

and they look at dolphins. Oh, there we go All right All right, that's not a bad thing, that's a good thing. So this location wasn't always here. They used to be on the beach, right.

Speaker 3:

No, they used to be on the beach. Junkanoo and Fresh Catch were right in front of the Red Coconut, iconic location. Unfortunately, the storm Ian had better ideas. Location unfortunately, the storm Ian had better ideas. Fun fact not really fun, but interesting fact is they had great pizza. They were known for their pizza down in Japan and they had two 2,500 pound ovens brick oven right. They never found them really, that's how strong that storm was. Those ovens are gone.

Speaker 3:

They're somewhere back here they smashed through about four or five houses on the way out of the bay. But, um, it's incredible, but they're great family business. They. They made a great move right after the hurricane. Um, the guys that own this location, this used to be hurricane, the guys that own this location.

Speaker 2:

This used to be Bay.

Speaker 3:

Bay Bay side, a side, basically yep, you know stop this side anyway, front Bay front these, I'm sorry, yeah sorry, hey, something right. It's a kill of a payment on that, can't remember much that happened before the hurricane, but the owners of this place this was one of the this was the first business that got fixed up. They opened and the guys at Junkanoo and Fresh Catch approached them and they took over. So we have Junkanoo downstairs, fine Dining upstairs at Fresh Catch. Unfortunately they don't have the tacos, but they've got a great happy hour. They do.

Speaker 2:

They've got a great job up there and a great view, yeah, a great view.

Speaker 3:

And it's air-conditioned up there, which is for some people.

Speaker 2:

that's the bomb right now, but when you're from Wisconsin, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 3:

We're good, yeah, we're good, we're good, but great fine dining place. The happy hour during season there's typically a line. I know half the guys in my golf league are in line. After we play golf they go straight here and get in line for the happy hour. But right now, perfect time to come, there's no line and it's still a great happy hour.

Speaker 2:

Love it. It's a great place, great location, right in the middle of the island, and tacos are awesome. I love the tacos. These are good. That's gonna be tough to beat out there. What else could he ask for? A little afternoon shower maybe, I don't know right, it's rainy season and what that means.

Speaker 3:

If you look at the weather forecast on Fort Myers Beach, you'll see a little rain cloud every day. It typically rains for 30 minutes, 40 minutes, sometimes not at all, and it actually cools things down. So it's actually refreshing this kind of year.

Speaker 2:

We call it the rainy season. I got my friends that want to come down during the summer and they're like I'm gonna come down. It rains every day. It's raining every day. I'm like it's gonna rain for 50 minutes, it's gonna get hot and steamy and it's gonna go away. Yeah, it's fine.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, then you jump in a golf and you're okay and typically you know during rainy season that the mornings are absolutely perfect. You go out on your boat, hit the beach, do whatever, and right around siesta or nap time it's a little rainy and you take your nap or siesta and then you reload and come out here and enjoy some tacos.

Speaker 2:

Depends which way the Gulf Breeze is going Inland or outland, I don't know it's onshore or offshore, oh okay. On or off Right.

Speaker 3:

All right, I didn't know that I didn't know that.

Speaker 2:

But okay, see, I lived in Orlando for a while, so everything collided in the middle of Orlando. You don't live in Florida to live in the middle of the state.

Speaker 3:

You know, I lived in Orlando probably the two longest years of my life and I lived there when Orange Blossom Trail was a dirt road. Obt OBT was still parts of it were still a dirt road, really Sand road, wow right.

Speaker 2:

Way back in the day that was we're talking.

Speaker 3:

I hate to date myself, but that's the early 80s, wow, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's not nearly late 80s, so I'm not that much younger than you or older than you, I don't know what you want to call it, but we made our way down here to Southwest. Florida and that's the important part.

Speaker 3:

That's the important thing, and so what we hope to do with this Taco and Tequila podcast is feature a local business every week Highlighting their tacos and tequila and whatever other specials they have during the week, because although I live for, I try to treat every day as taco. Tuesday it's not, um, you know there's some great prime, everybody celebrates.

Speaker 3:

There's some great prime bread specials around. There's some seafood specials, but we're gonna highlight the tacos and I even dress for the occasion I got my pants on, so we don't want to see tackle pants Right. Come on.

Speaker 2:

All right, top and bottom, kevin. All right, we don't want to go there. We don't want to go there. Yeah, we don't want to go there, all right, but hey, no, appreciate you coming out today and being part of this and you know I look forward to moving, you know, trying different places out, seeing what's going on and exploring the beach.

Speaker 3:

Right. So if you've got your restaurant or you have a favorite, let us know and we'll highlight that as soon as possible. But until then, stay thirsty, my friends, and keep eating tacos.

Speaker 2:

Right, less tequila, as I would say You're the taco guy, I'll be the tequila guy, okay.

Speaker 3:

It's like good cop, bad cop, all right, right.

Speaker 2:

All right, there we go. That works All right. Thank you everybody. We'll see you soon, Adios.

Speaker 1:

That's a wrap on this week's Tequila and Taco Tuesday. Huge thanks for tuning in and sharing some tequila and a taco with us. If you loved what you heard, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review and tell your amigos. We'll be back soon with more local flavor cream jams and, of course, maz Tequila. Until then, stay salty.