Gene's Steak House

GENE'S STEAK HOUSE

DESTINATIONS

Daytona Beach, Florida YOU SAY THAT SPECTATing at Daytona is a bummer because you can't get close enough to all those leather-clad, knee-scuffing heroes that you read about in the magazines? Well, fear not, because Gene's Steak House is the next-best thing to a lifetime Daytona paddock pass, and you won't even have to deal with the credential-Nazis at the speedway press office to gain admittance.

Gene’s has been a Daytona institution almost since it opened its doors way back in 1948, and today it’s the rare racer who doesn’t make the 10mile pilgrimage from the beach to the restaurant at least once during Cycle Week. They don’t come to marvel at the building’s architecture, which is done in Early Bomb Shel-

ter motif, nor for the splendor of its interior, which is only a few notches above your average IHOP’s. No, the magnet here is meat, and lots of it.

Only Iowa corn-fed cattle are used for the steaks at Gene’s. The meat is aged and cut right on the premises. And you won’t find any limp-wristed, haute cuisine presentations at Gene’s, either, just a nice cut of meat, served with little more than a baked potato and a smile, the way God and James Garner intended. So whether you go there to rub elbows with roadracing’s glitterati or just to power down a good-sized slab of steak, Gene’s is sure to satisfy. The restaurant, four miles west of 1-95 at 3674 W. Volusia, is open Tuesday through Sunday; reservations ([904] 255-2059) are recommended.

David Edwards