#LoveAmelia-Joe’s Bistro

One year ago yesterday I sent an e-mail to Brandon Dunlop, owner of Elizabeth Pointe Lodge/Amelia Island Vacations thanking him for the hospitality.  (Earlier that week his manager contacted me after she read my blog to extend an invitation to have lunch with her and to tour their properties.) In response to the thank you e-mail Brandon invited me to lunch at Joe’s 2nd Street Bistro.  I assumed this to be a business meeting.  I would find out later in our dating life that he assumed this to be a date.

It was a beautiful fall day on the island and I ordered the seafood special and he ordered shrimp and grits-both delicious.  We parted ways and the next day I received a call from him asking me to what I assumed to be our first date at Oyster Bay Yacht Club.  I accepted.  The year that follows is filled with lots of good food, many beautiful trips, one Biltmore engagement, and a hurricane evacuation.

This island holds a very special place in my heart and meeting the love of my life here was nothing short of perfect.  As we were sitting at the cabin in Georgia during the evacuation I feared the worst for our home and felt sadness that we may not be able to celebrate our first date at Joe’s.  Six days later I am back and the island is as beautiful as ever.

And I just called Joe’s and made a reservation for one ambiguously defined lunch for two.