This is why ESPN’s Todd Blackledge should stick to Xs and Os and why you should always check Fined Dining before taking anyone’s word for where to dine out.
If you aren’t a college football fan, you might not know Blackledge. He’s a former collegiate standout who quarterbacked the Penn State Nittany Lions to greatness in the Reagan era. He played in the NFL, too, but never had as much success there as he did in college.
He’s a broadcaster now and he was in Gainesville over the weekend to do color commentary for the Florida vs. Auburn game. About midway through the third quarter ESPN cut away to what we presume is a weekly restaurant feature called “Todd’s Taste of the Town.” This is where Todd hits a local eatery and goes ga-ga about how great it is.
In Gainesville Todd tasted the Ballyhoo Grill and, naturally, he had nothing but effusive praise for the place. In fact, for a second there we thought he was having some kind of culinary orgasm over the Bananas Foster. We have no idea what they put in that stuff but, judging by Todd’s slightly crazed reaction, we want some.
Or maybe we don’t. If the Ballyhoo Grill that Todd pimped is the same Ballyhoo Grill we know at Fined Dining, thanks but we’re not hungry. Not even for orgasmic Bananas Foster.
We know a Ballyhoo Grill in Gville for the wrong reasons - a lot of wrong reasons. Since January 1, 2005, state restaurant inspectors have nailed that joint for $12,600 worth of fines. That’s good enough for a top 10 spot on our map of the 50 most-fined restaurants in Florida since 2005. (Memo to ESPN: Top 10 means multiple violations. Think penalty flags. Lots of them).
The latest fine for $5,000 was levied less than a year ago. Judging by what we read in public records, we’re guessing it was connected to several critical violations involving, among other things, food stored at improper temperatures and something called “Cross-connection, back siphonage, backflow.” We’re not exactly sure what that means but it sounds critically yucky alright.
We’re not cool with anything unsiphoned backflowing on to our Bananas Foster. And we definitely don’t want to backflow into ye olden throne at 3am. So, thanks Todd, but we’ll probably pass on the Ballyhoo Grill and stick to Saltines and soda the next time we’re in Gainesville.