A pulled pork dinner with baked beans and cole slaw from Herb’s Best BBQ, which sets up Saturdays at Fogg’s Nursery & Mulch Supply. TIM ATEN / NAPLES FLORIDA WEEKLY
Q: Do you know where Herb’s BBQ will go? Hopefully they have somewhere else to set up! — Natalie Kissel, Naples
A: When news was recently announced about the sale of Fogg’s Nursery & Mulch Supply property on Immokalee Road to make way for the future Naples Classical Academy charter school, readers were most interested about the future of Herb’s Specialty Catering & Best BBQ , which has popped up there every Saturday for more than a decade. That doesn’t mean there’s a lack of interest in the new school or the longtime Fogg’s, but it definitely says a lot about the popularity of Herb’s barbecue.
Savory smoke wafts from the custom built grills at the weekly roadside attraction, legendary in North Naples and Golden Gate Estates. The heavenly aroma draws in hundreds each week for sandwiches or dinners with brisket, pulled pork, ribs and chicken. Customers can opt for Herb’s homemade hot or mild barbecue sauce as well as traditional sides such as baked beans, cole slaw, collard greens, corn bread, potato salad and macaroni and cheese.
Chef Herb Small slices brisket at his roadside barbecue spot Saturday, Jan. 2, 2021, at Fogg’s Nursery & Mulch Supply, 10270 Immokalee Road. TIM ATEN / NAPLES FLORIDA WEEKLY
Engulfed in that smoke and busy slicing brisket, Chef Herbert V. Small creates culinary memories. Although the charter school breaks ground this week on the 17 acres at 10270 Immokalee Road it bought from Fogg’s a month ago, Herb’s BBQ doesn’t plan to go anywhere.
“The school is going to be at the back of the property so, from my understanding, there isn’t any plan currently for the front, so they have said it would be OK for us to continue,” Mr. Small said. “And, hopefully, go to the next level and be able to have a relationship with the school going forward. We love fundraisers, that kind of stuff, and doing work with schools and doing work with churches. If we were allowed to be of any help in that arena when the school opens, we’d love to continue.”
Naples Classical Academy, planning its inaugural classes this fall, is working with Chef Small regarding the future of Herb’s BBQ there, but nothing is concrete yet, a school representative said this month.
Herb’s Best BBQ sets up 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays at Fogg’s Nursery & Mulch Supply. TIM ATEN / NAPLES FLORIDA WEEKLY
Stanley Fogg, the owner of the longtime Fogg’s Nursery, said he is permitted to continue operating on the roadside portion of the property for 90 days after the Dec. 30 real estate transaction closed. He plans to relocate his business about 10 minutes east soon, he said, although he is not able to provide a new address yet.
Meanwhile, anticipate Herb’s smoke signals from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays across from Heritage Bay. Mr. Small, his wife, Ellen, and their extended family will keep serving comfort food each week. Herb’s BBQ also bottles its own sauces and stays busy catering events and pig roasts.
Mr. Small, who lives nearby in Golden Gate Estates, has decades of culinary experience and an impressive resume. The local chef behind the food service at First Baptist Church of Naples since 2007, he is a member of the American Culinary Federation and began his career in 1982 as a chef at the Napes Beach Hotel & Golf Club.
Deep Lagoon Seafood is relocating to the former Ruby Tuesday’s restaurant space in Marketplace at Pelican Bay in North Naples.
Goodbye, Ruby Tuesday
Q: Can you tell me what is being built where the Ruby Tuesday restaurant was on 41 in Naples? – Laurie Grieb, Naples
A: Since a similar question was answered a year ago, plans changed for that freestanding space at the U.S. 41 entrance into the Publix-anchored Marketplace at Pelican Bay in North Naples. Instead of opening its 13th location of Pinchers there, as originally planned, Phelan Family Brands plans to relocate one of its other seafood restaurant concepts to that outparcel.
Deep Lagoon Seafood is moving less than 2 miles south from 10395 to 8777 Tamiami Trail N., said Grant Phelan, CEO of Phelan Family Brands. “We’ve had a tremendous amount of success in North Naples,” Mr. Phelan said. “We’re just moving down the road.”
TIM ATEN / NAPLES FLORIDA WEEKLY
Deep Lagoon Seafood & Fish Market launched in October 2016 in the former space of Randy’s Fishmarket Restaurant in Naples Park. Deep Lagoon is targeted toward the end of April to be in its new space in the former Ruby Tuesday’s just south of Vanderbilt Beach Road, Mr. Phelan said.
Until it closed three years ago, Ruby Tuesday operated there for more than 20 years. Mr. Phelan grew up in Naples Park and remembers how popular of a dining spot Ruby Tuesday used to be. “It’s a fantastic location with great parking and great visibility,” he said.
But don’t expect the new Deep Lagoon to look anything like the old Ruby Tuesday. The 5,500-square-foot building is being completely remodeled with new roofs and walls and the old restaurant space will be opened up with an overall expansion, Mr. Phelan said. “We took it down to the outside studs,” he said. “It is going to be exquisite when we finish.”
The refreshed space will allow the Phelans to expand the Naples location of Deep Lagoon from 170 to 250 seats with two outdoor patios. While it won’t have the fish market it inherited from Randy’s, seafood will still be the center of the dining destination. “We’re going to have a very prominent oyster bar when you first walk in,” Mr. Phelan said.
Appropriately, Deep Lagoon Seafood & Fish Market will be renamed Deep Lagoon Seafood & Oyster House, which will match the name of the other two locations in Fort Myers and Marco Island. Expect the same menu, small plates and happy hour specials, Mr. Phelan said. ¦
“Tim Aten Knows” is published each week in Naples Florida Weekly. Mr. Aten is managing editor of Gulfshore Business magazine. Email questions to TimAten- Knows@floridaweekly.com. Follow @ TimAtenKnows on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter.
January 28, 2021 at 01:03PM
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Herb's BBQ plans to keep making Saturdays special - Florida Weekly
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