Food: McAlister's Deli

If there's one thing you'll never have a shortage of here in Gainesville, it's sweet tea. Almost every fast food place serves it, even the dingy old McDonald's out on Archer near I-75. All the barbecue places have sweet tea on tap, too. And yes, Publix sells it by the gallon. But by far the most picturesque sweet tea comes from "McAlister's Deli," a chain of fast-casual restaurants. They even bill themselves as the "home of McAlister's famous sweet tea."

McAlister's Deli is a place that doesn't really have any standout dishes, but chances are what you order won't completely disgust you. The basic sandwiches, including the classic reuben, are prepared well enough, though they don't give you as much meat as a true Jewish deli (and trust me, I'm from South Florida - I know what deli food is supposed to taste like). The other dishes are hit or miss - the chili is pretty good, but the salads and baked potatoes can get iffy. And the prices are definitely high (6 bucks for a smallish sandwich and a bag of chips?)

The real star here, though, is the sweet tea. They give you free refills, of course, but the draw is in the presentation. Other places dump their sweet tea in Styrofoam cups or regular drinking glasses, but McAlister's piles a whole bunch of ice into an attractive clear plastic cup that inevitably collects condensed water on the outside - pretty as a picture. While the tea itself is nothing out of this world, they say the first bite is with the eyes, and the same holds true for beverages.

Rating: 2/4 stars (decent)