This Florida Restaurant Sells A Famous Soup For Only $0.18

When you're in Florida, you probably plan on taking advantage of the state's incredibly affordable, high-quality seafood. But if you're ever in the Panhandle, it might be worth making a trip to Pensacola to visit McGuire's Irish Pub for their famously cheap soup. 

When McGuire's opened in 1977, it offered the U.S. Senate's signature soup: a simple, pork and bean mixture that's more an appetizer or a side dish. Like many classic pork soups, it relies on tough, hard-to-eat cuts rather than more desirable, expensive pieces of meat like chops or tenderloin. McGuire's recipe calls for large, bone-in pieces, like ham bones or hocks, to season the broth while providing enough shreds of meat to bulk up the meal. The end result is something salty, rich, and just a bit fatty, enough to excite your appetite but not so much that you'll be too full for dinner. 

In 1977, the soup cost 18 cents in the Senate cafeteria, so the restaurant matched the price. Despite inflation, it found that such a cheap offering was a sort of novelty, becoming a loss leader that drove more business for their pricier options. While there's a warning on the menu that the price jumps to $18 dollars if it's the only thing you order, this is largely a joke and rarely followed through on, so don't be afraid to order the soup no matter what your appetite looks like.

Aside from the vintage soup you may miss seeing at other establishments, McGuire's has a rather eclectic menu. Coupled with its carefully cultivated atmosphere, you can dine on anything from seared ahi tuna in an overstuffed steakhouse chair to a burger and onion rings at a barstool. 

Despite having more of a tavern feel versus a bar atmosphere, this cozy restaurant is anything but small. It seats over 600 people in its various dining rooms, some with bar counters and neon signs, and others with plush carpet and taxidermied moose heads. But the most notable thing about McGuire's, aside from the quality of its food, is the two million dollars in singles decorating its walls and ceilings. Started as a good luck charm from the original owner's wife, Molly, it's since become a tradition for new customers to stick a dollar to any open surface, earning them a card that reads, "Honorary Irishman."  

McGuire's achieves a truly juicy prime rib roast by letting it cook in its smokehouse rather than the oven, delivering something as intensely flavorful as it is juicy and decadent. While possibly the best cut of red meat on the menu, their Jameson-glazed pork chops and fire-grilled rack of lamb do offer up some competition. But if you're looking for something a bit more basic but still upscale, the lamb shank colcannon, served over a traditional bed of leek-rich mashed potatoes, comes with an earthy wine gravy that'll leave you wanting to lick your plate.