If you travel U.S. 19 in Pasco and Hernando counties, you've probably driven by the County Line Cafe and Grille a thousand times (I know I had) since it opened on July 1, 2000. But unless you are a friend of a friend who knows about this sweet li'l place, you may not have stopped.
It took my new neighbors, Tom and Linda Zelenak, to convince me to try the unimposing strip center diner a little more than a year ago. They had frequented the three large restaurants County Line owner Kevin Howe had managed in the Florida Keys back in the 1990s and loved his cooking style.
Now I'm as hooked as the fresh, genuine grouper that Howe offers as a special when he is positive it's the real deal.
And as hooked as regulars like Larry Fasbinder, who lives off County Line Road and says he has eaten there seven days a week for six years.
"Best in town, and I've tried them all," Fasbinder said earlier this week as he finished his breakfast of french toast. "The people are tremendous; wonderful food, wonderful people. It's like Cheers — everybody knows your name."
Howe's mainstay is his regulars, including a crowd from Zephyrhills that comes by after frequent golf outings up the road a bit.
"Our day has three phases," Howe said. "We have a casual, diner-style breakfast and a cafe-style lunch. Then we close from 3 to 4 p.m., and dinner is with linen tablecloths," or, in short, the showcase of the day.
Except for the soft buzz of companionable talk in the 48-seat place, breakfast ($2.15-$4.95, plus 75 cents for coffee with a minimum $2.35 meal) is what you might put together at home: eggs, pancakes, waffles, juice and sides.
Lunch ($3.95-$8.95) offers salads (including a generous Greek with potato salad), sandwiches (including hot open-faced ones), burgers, subs, pizzas, calzones and a quartet of house specialties, including a Quiche Lorraine with crisp green house salad ($5.95) or "Pop-Pop's" meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy (also $5.95) that are worth return visits all by themselves. (Also check the boards for specials, like the shrimp and spinach wrap for $6.95.)
But it is at dinner that Howe and his three cooks pull out all the stops, serving homemade hot bread, soups like she-crab and french onion, and entrees like Mermaid's Delight ($14.95), with sauteed shrimp, scallops, mushrooms and scallions mixed with a blue crab stuffing in a light sherry cream sauce over angel hair pasta; homemade lasagna ($11.95); and Our Own Italian Combo of veal cutlet, stuffed shells, ravioli, linguini, meatball and sausage ($13.95) that the menu wisely points out "is for those who have a large appetite."
Favorites from the grill are liver and onions ($9.25), two tender slices of liver with caramelized onions and gravy, and the two center cut boneless pork chops ($10.95).
For pasta lovers, there are three choices of primavera(vegetable, chicken or shrimp, $11.95 to $13.95) or alfredos (plain, chicken or shrimp) or a variety of pasta styles with either marinara, meatballs, sausage or white clam sauce ($8.50 to $11.95).
A variety of wines are sold by the glass ($4 and up), carafe or bottle. Domestic and imported beer is by the bottle or draft.
The importance of food is reflected in the way Howe divided his building: one-half is for patrons and the other half is for the kitchen — no cubbyhole kitchen here.
"Ninety percent of what we do here is from scratch," Howe said. Only familiar items like french fries come heat-and-serve.
"It's all wholesome stuff. Our chicken is steroid-free, for instance, which puts us a step above," Howe said.
He personally checks the vegetables the supplier brings to the back door. If they don't meet his exacting standards, he refuses them and heads for the local supermarkets to find better, he said.
Like most businesses, County Line has struggled a bit during the past 18 months.
"As long as we're careful about what we're doing, we'll be okay," Howe said.
His fans, old and new, will make sure of that.
if you go
County Line Cafe and Grille
Where: 120 Commercial Way, Spring Hill (northeast corner of U.S. 19 and the Pasco-Hernando county line)
When: Breakfast, 7 to 11 a.m. Monday-Saturday and 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sunday; lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday; dinner, 4 to 9 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday.
Reservations: Recommended, especially on weekend evenings or for large groups. Call (352) 688-8899.
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