At 31, with a crown of long black curls he sometimes pulls into a ponytail, Vizcarra is very much his own man, an entrepreneur who is succeeding in pulling off the creative vision he has set for himself. I think people are surprised sometimes when they meet me, they imagine maybe some older dude and then they see some hippie kid, Vizcarra said with a laugh.
Starting from scratch
Vizcarra grew up watching the action around the hot stove of his family s home. He originally considered going into the seminary to become a priest, but his love of food won out.
Valentine s Day is one of the biggest nights to eat out, and with a multitude of restaurants in the St. Augustine area, diners certainly have their pick from high-end favorites like Collage to the romantic Raintree Restaurant, as well as newcomers to the culinary landscape including Bistro 206 and PK s Roosevelt Room.
Husband-and-wife team David and Janet Cassirer, owners of Bistro 206, will spend their Valentine s Day entertaining other couples in the cozy, chic eatery they opened in south St. Augustine two years ago.
The Cassirers, who are originally from New Jersey, serve elevated, homestyle Italian dishes like lasagna and zuppa di pesce alongside fresh seafood specials. The restaurant is not usually open Sundays, but is making an exception this weekend for Valentine s Day (though they will see how Sundays go from here on out with a comedy night starting Feb. 21).
The city of St. Augustine is moving ahead on several major traffic projects following delays from events in 2020.
One key part of the city s mobility efforts is public involvement, and the COVID-19 pandemic has put some of those public gatherings on hold.
Social justice issues of 2020, such as removing the city s Confederate memorial, also pushed some routine programs to the side, Mayor Tracy Upchurch said. We now have the time and the capacity to kind of, if you would, to return to our agenda, return to our strategic plan and other projects that we had assumed we d be able to address in 2020, Upchurch said.