Bringing Home the Bacon Bourbon Brownie
Newsletter
Everglades BBQ has an unusual history. What started as a concession stand dishing up house-smoked BBQ to fans at SunLife Stadium has taken on a life of its own. A smoky, saucy South Florida favorite, versions of the popular concept can be found at Tampa Rays games and served up at catering functions. But it was Peter Koralewicz’s team at Harborside Event Center who took the show on the road—literally—when they launched the Everglades BBQ food truck.
“The truck started as a way to service catering events and gain incremental revenue,” Koralewicz explains. “Then we began parking it in an empty lot and advertising to build a local following.” Koralewicz tweets the truck’s location so fans can line up for pulled-pork wontons with Vietnamese dipping sauce, or pork tacos with cilantro, onion, cotija cheese and charred tomatillo-avocado salsa. These days, the Everglades BBQ truck is open for special events in the downtown river district, concerts and bike nights at the new Six Bends Harley Davidson Fort Myers.
The sweetest part of the story came this fall, when the Everglades team won big at the 32nd Annual Fort Meyers “Taste of the Town” competition—beating out well-known local celebrity chefs—for the dessert category as well as the “Best of Taste Overall,” the competition’s top honor.
Chef Luke Clevenger created the show-stopping dessert. The Bacon Bourbon Brownie starts with a base of freshly whipped cream under a super-soft chocolaty brownie drizzled with Everglades’ own warm bourbon caramel sauce, then topped with crisp crumbles of bacon and more whipped cream (with a cherry on top!). It took 6 different attempts to perfect the sauce, Koralewicz explained to News-Press reporter Annabelle Tometick. “The smoky bacon, the sweet brownie, the salty, the warm, the cool,” he said. “It’s got everything.”
…and now it’s got its own award.