FMBGN-Tequila & Taco Tuesday-Junkanoo Below Deck

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
[phone]
junkanoobeachfmb.com

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Tequila and Taco Tuesday, where we sip,
savor and celebrate the besttacos and tequila Fort Myers
Beach Area has to offer.
It's your guide to the hiddengems, local legends and spicy
spots serving up flavor with asplash of fun.
Each week we're bringing youbehind the bar and into the
kitchens of the beach's besttaquerias, cantinas and taco
trucks, from smoky mezcalmargaritas to crispy Baja fish
tacos.
If it's wrapped in a tortillaor poured in a shot glass, we're

(00:22):
tasting it.
So grab a lime, turn up thevolume and let's taco about it.
It's Tequila and Taco Tuesdaytime.
Here's your host, cabo Jim.

Speaker 2 (00:29):
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 tacosand tequila.

Speaker 3 (00:43):
Absolutely.
So we came up with this ideabecause we're in shoulder season
, and what shoulder season is iswe're right between summer
season and our normal season, soit's a little slower.
So what we thought we'd do ishighlight some of the local
restaurants.
And what better day than TacoTuesday?
Show off the taco specials.
Every restaurant's different.

(01:04):
So we're at Junkanoo today,mid-island, right next to Publix
, and take it away, dude.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
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 hecalled it here, but it's a mango
something.
A mango something, jalapenomargarita with tequila, yeah, so
we like that, we like that.

Speaker 3 (01:26):
That's a good thing, but um so these tacos are are
quite unique.
We've got beefsteak tacos withcilantro on flour tortilla.

Speaker 2 (01:36):
You listen?

Speaker 3 (01:37):
I didn't listen as you can see, those look amazing.
And then they have thisjalapeno sauce, not too spicy.
If you want something a littlebit more spicier, you can order
it, but we keep hearing thatthese tacos are the bomb and Jim
go for it.

Speaker 2 (01:55):
One thing I think they're on special today, aren't
they?
They are special, they're$12.99.

Speaker 3 (01:59):
Right, which is great .
I'm not sure how much themargarita is.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Probably just as much , but probably two or three of
those, and who cares.

Speaker 3 (02:06):
So once you try that one, I'll I'll dig in here, all
right oh these are just likestreet tacos, except flour
tortillas.

Speaker 2 (02:19):
That's a good taco.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
I'd rate that four out of five Sure.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
That's a good street taco though, too.
They're not bad.
They're really good, thejalapeno's good, I like that.

Speaker 3 (02:34):
That is really good.
So what have you been up?

Speaker 2 (02:38):
to.
I've been at the beach.
There's nobody at the beach, sowhy not go to the beach?
The water's been clear, whichis amazing, which I love I wish
we could show you.

Speaker 3 (02:48):
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 bouncingaround out here.
It's just a great setting.
Great place to come during thesummer, absolutely beautiful
setting.
Great place to come during thesummer, absolutely beautiful.
And what's what's more is, ifyou want to just stop in here,

(03:09):
grab a taco, grab a margarita,you can hop on one of our, one
of our dolphin sunset cruises.
There's several operators outof here that are fantastic and
you know, if you, if you don'twant to do it at night do a
sunset cruise, you can do a datecruise.
So they have all kind of allkind of cruises.
You can rent kayaks here, youcan rent boats.
So, um, open air, open to thepublic and and they're in

(03:30):
business, it's nice and quietback there there's even a tiki
cruise here too, that you canwhat are they doing?

Speaker 2 (03:37):
and they look at dolphins.
Oh, there we go All right Allright, that's not a bad thing,
that's a good thing.
So this location wasn't alwayshere.
They used to be on the beach,right.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
No, they used to be on the beach.
Junkanoo and Fresh Catch wereright in front of the Red
Coconut, iconic location.
Unfortunately, the storm Ianhad better ideas.
Location unfortunately, thestorm Ian had better ideas.
Fun fact not really fun, butinteresting fact is they had
great pizza.
They were known for their pizzadown in Japan and they had two

(04:13):
2,500 pound ovens brick ovenright.
They never found them really,that's how strong that storm was
.
Those ovens are gone.
They're somewhere back here theysmashed through about four or
five houses on the way out ofthe bay.
But, um, it's incredible, butthey're great family business.

(04:35):
They.
They made a great move rightafter the hurricane.
Um, the guys that own thislocation, this used to be
hurricane, the guys that ownthis location.

Speaker 2 (04:48):
This used to be Bay.

Speaker 3 (04:48):
Bay Bay side, a side, basically yep, you know stop
this side anyway, front Bayfront these, I'm sorry, yeah
sorry, hey, something right.
It's a kill of a payment onthat, can't remember much that
happened before the hurricane,but the owners of this place
this was one of the this was thefirst business that got fixed
up.
They opened and the guys atJunkanoo and Fresh Catch

(05:09):
approached them and they tookover.
So we have Junkanoo downstairs,fine Dining upstairs at Fresh
Catch.
Unfortunately they don't havethe tacos, but they've got a
great happy hour.
They do.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
They've got a great job up there and a great view,
yeah, a great view.

Speaker 3 (05:25):
And it's air-conditioned up there, which
is for some people.

Speaker 2 (05:28):
that's the bomb right now, but when you're from
Wisconsin, it doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 (05:32):
We're good, yeah, we're good, we're good, but
great fine dining place.
The happy hour during seasonthere's typically a line.
I know half the guys in my golfleague are in line.
After we play golf they gostraight here and get in line
for the happy hour.
But right now, perfect time tocome, there's no line and it's
still a great happy hour.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Love it.
It's a great place, greatlocation, right in the middle of
the island, and tacos areawesome.
I love the tacos.
These are good.
That's gonna be tough to beatout 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 (06:14):
If you look at the weather forecast on Fort Myers
Beach, you'll see a little raincloud every day.
It typically rains for 30minutes, 40 minutes, sometimes
not at all, and it actuallycools things down.
So it's actually refreshingthis kind of year.

Speaker 2 (06:33):
We call it the rainy season.
I got my friends that want tocome 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 50minutes, it's gonna get hot and
steamy and it's gonna go away.
Yeah, it's fine.

Speaker 3 (06:42):
Yeah, then you jump in a golf and you're okay and
typically you know during rainyseason that the mornings are
absolutely perfect.
You go out on your boat, hitthe beach, do whatever, and
right around siesta or nap timeit's a little rainy and you take
your nap or siesta and then youreload and come out here and
enjoy some tacos.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Depends which way the Gulf Breeze is going Inland or
outland, I don't know it'sonshore or offshore, oh okay.
On or off Right.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
All right, I didn't know that I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 (07:11):
But okay, see, I lived in Orlando for a while, so
everything collided in themiddle of Orlando.
You don't live in Florida tolive in the middle of the state.

Speaker 3 (07:20):
You know, I lived in Orlando probably the two longest
years of my life and I livedthere when Orange Blossom Trail
was a dirt road.
Obt OBT was still parts of itwere still a dirt road, really
Sand road, wow right.

Speaker 2 (07:33):
Way back in the day that was we're talking.

Speaker 3 (07:37):
I hate to date myself , but that's the early 80s, wow,
yeah.

Speaker 2 (07:43):
Well, it's not nearly late 80s, so I'm not that much
younger than you or older thanyou, I don't know what you want
to call it, but we made our waydown here to Southwest.
Florida and that's theimportant part.

Speaker 3 (07:52):
That's the important thing, and so what we hope to do
with this Taco and Tequilapodcast is feature a local
business every week Highlightingtheir tacos and tequila and
whatever other specials theyhave during the week, because
although I live for, I try totreat every day as taco.
Tuesday it's not, um, you knowthere's some great prime,

(08:14):
everybody celebrates.
There's some great prime breadspecials around.
There's some seafood specials,but we're gonna highlight the
tacos and I even dress for theoccasion I got my pants on, so
we don't want to see tacklepants Right.
Come on.

Speaker 2 (08:28):
All right, top and bottom, kevin.
All right, we don't want to gothere.
We don't want to go there.
Yeah, we don't want to go there, all right, but hey, no,
appreciate you coming out todayand being part of this and you
know I look forward to moving,you know, trying different
places out, seeing what's goingon and exploring the beach.

Speaker 3 (08:47):
Right.
So if you've got yourrestaurant or you have a
favorite, let us know and we'llhighlight that as soon as
possible.
But until then, stay thirsty,my friends, and keep eating
tacos.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Right, less tequila, as I would say You're the taco
guy, I'll be the tequila guy,okay.

Speaker 3 (09:03):
It's like good cop, bad cop, all right, right.

Speaker 2 (09:04):
All right, there we go.
That works All right.
Thank you everybody.
We'll see you soon, Adios.

Speaker 1 (09:10):
That's a wrap on this week's Tequila and Taco Tuesday
.
Huge thanks for tuning in andsharing 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 morelocal flavor cream jams and, of
course, maz Tequila.
Until then, stay salty.