what do I know

The adventure to find really great Chinese food in Brevard has come to an end for my wife and me. Yen Yen Chinese Restaurant uses some of the best ingredients and has one of most diverse menus we’ve found yet. We always try to find other Chinese places that compare but we never can. Whenever we find our way back, we always remember why we drive 30 minutes for good Chinese food. During the week Yen Yen’s offers lunch specials and on the weekend they offer early bird, so no matter what time during the week, you can find price breaks on their menu. Unfortunately their dinner menu is a little steeper than what my wife and I are used to paying for Chinese food. That being said, it’s definitely worth it and if you order during the right time the pricing isn’t bad.

This time around we went on a weekend and got the early bird special. We started with the Crab and Corn soup (~$4) and a couple egg rolls (~$3 each). The soup is an egg drop soup with tender chunks of fresh crab meat and sweet corn. The egg rolls had huge chunks of shrimp and pork and were fried perfectly, not burnt or dry like you’ll get sometimes at other places. For our meals, we ordered the Shelly Chicken (~$9) and the Hunan Lamb (~$9); both came with a choice of fried or white rice. The Shelly Chicken is thin strips of chicken fried and then stir-fried with an extremely sweet ginger-like sauce, broccoli, and celery strips. In fact, the chicken is so sweet it’s almost like eating dessert without getting a sugar overload. Definitely an amazing alternative to a sweet and sour or honey garlic chicken. The Hunan Lamb was just spicy enough (and I like spicy food) and came with peppers, onions, and jalapeños in a brown pepper sauce. One of the nicest things about Yen Yen’s is their tea selection. They charge per the pot ($2.50) and only have a few choices, but one of those choices is Chrysanthemum tea (they also have green and jasmine). I rarely find Chrysanthemum tea when I go out so it was nice to finally enjoy a pot. To finish the meal with something sweet, we ordered some Almond cookies (~$2).

I can’t emphasize enough the great quality of the food served at Yen Yen’s. The atmosphere is great, the staff is very attentive, and the food is always hot (virtually steaming right from the pan). I’d recommend Yen Yen Chinese Restaurant as the best Chinese food in Brevard. If anyone knows a better place, please let me know, so I can try it out and prove you wrong.

Yen Yen Chinese Restaurant is located in Cocoa Beach at 2 N. Atlantic Ave., Cocoa Beach, FL.

So Sebastian recently reminded me about The Beachside Resident which is a local magazine put out for the coastal area. This month’s restaurant review … Trevor’s Blue Toucan, a Jamaican restaurant in the Cape Canaveral area. We don’t know if it’s any good yet, but I definitely need to try it out. I haven’t had ginger beer in a long time and could definitely use one. The menu looks good so I’m excited to give it a shot. I’ll let you all know what I think.

I haven’t really started to explore the microbreweries in the Central Florida area, but Charley and Jake’s Brewery and Grill feels like a great start. My wife and I always go to the restaurant located in Suntree rather than Indialantic because of the microbrewery; we’ve heard that the food on the island is better, but we haven’t taken the time to try it yet. Before we found Slow and Low, Charley and Jake’s was our BBQ stop in the Brevard area. More recently we’ve noticed a shift from a focus on BBQ to more of a diverse menu with salads, sandwiches, burgers, etc. This may be, however, because my wife and I look for different things to try on the menu rather than BBQ now-a-days. In fact, you may notice that Charley and Jake’s and Slow and Low have a very similar menu when it comes to BBQ, so who knows what that’s about. In any case, the food and beer is great and definitely worth the visit.

We went a few weeks ago with my in-laws and finally were able to resist ordering a smörgåsbord of food but we were still stuffed after we finished. To start, we ordered the Anniversary Ale (~$3), which has made it onto their permanent menu finally (pale ale), as well as a german-like beer being brewed in house. We also ordered a water and a sweet ice tea (~$2). For our meals, we ordered the catfish platter(~$11) with greens and mac and cheese, the Fisherman’s Plate (~$14) with fries and corn, the cheese steak (~$9) with a baked sweet potato, the prime rib sandwich (~$10) with corn, an extra side of fried sweet potatoes (~$4), and a plate of 6 hush puppies (~3). The catfish plate comes with fried catfish fingers that taste great, not like the traditional farm raise catfish people are used to and dislike. The fisherman’s plate comes with a beer-battered fried white fish, fried shrimp, and fried clams. The cheese steak has lots of veggies and is made with roast beef (I think) and mozzarella on a hoagie roll. The prime rib sandwich is very lean and comes open-face on garlic bread. The hush puppies were a little drier that what I like, but still tasty. If you’re looking for other items to try out, check out the BBQ Chicken Nachos (~$8) as well as the pulled turkey sandwich (~$8).

Overall, our servers have always been attentive and quick to get our food to us. Our food is always hot and the order has always been correct. I’ve heard of mixed reviews from others, but we’ve always enjoyed Charley and Jake’s and will continue to patronize it as long as they keep making their great beer and food. Keep up the great work guys (and get a website).

Charlie and Jake’s Brewery and Grill is located in Suntree at 6300 N Wickham Rd, Melbourne, FL.

Just a reminder, the November Adogo meeting is tonight at Devry in Milenna @ 7:00 PM as usual. We will have a presentation on on “Continuous Integration” by Ryan Miller as well as a presentation on “AIR, Flex, and Twitter” from Adam Fortuna. If you haven’t already, join our Google Group so we can send you a Google Calendar invitation for our next meeting.

It promises to be great meeting, so I hope you can make it

Last week, I joined my wife for lunch at Island Pasta Company, an island-inspired restaurant, located in historic, downtown Melbourne. There is plenty of free parking behind the restaurant and on the side streets, so definitely don’t be discouraged to visit the restaurant because of the downtown area (especially during the day). Dining areas are available inside as well as outside in the pleasant alleyway next to the restaurant. Now I have some pretty high standards when it comes to Caribbean food (Lauderhill took care of that … mmm, Jerk Machine and Robby’s), but Island Pasta is not your traditional Caribbean restaurant; it is more of a tasty hodge-podge of Latin cuisine, some jerk seasoned menu items, and a couple of Eastern selections.

This time around, we ordered Coconut Shrimp (~$9) to start, the Island Wrap (~$9), and the Blue Lagoon Salad (~$10). The coconut shrimp come fried in a light coconut batter, dusted with shaved coconut on a bed of lettuce, and served with a sweet raspberry dipping sauce. There are 6 per plate, perfect for two people to split if you’re hungry. These by far are our favorite coconut shrimp in the area and one of the main reasons we keep coming back. The island wrap is your basic herb flavored wrap filled with cheese, lettuce, pico de gallo, and your choice of grilled veggies or grilled/jerked chicken or mahi. I order the mahi, but unfortunately was brought the chicken, which is pretty good, but by no means as flavorful as the Caribbean food I’m used to. We also added sweet potato fries to the wrap which are definitely worth the buck. The salad is a fresh salad with walnuts, grape halves, lettuce, tomato, blue cheese, and few other items that can have chicken or mahi (jerked/grilled) added to it. The meal is served with fresh bread and a very mild jalapeño butter that has a great flavor. We also ordered a sweet tea (~$2) and a water.

We have yet to visit Island Pasta unfortunately and have really consistent, great service. Sometimes we get our food extremely fast, other times we’ve waited for over 45 minutes; sometimes we order fish and we get chicken. The wait staff is always very courteous, but the discrepancies from visit to visit are worth mentioning. That being said, we enjoy the food at Island Pasta and always plan on going when we know we will have lots of time to chat and take it easy during lunch.

Even though it would be nice to be able to get a ice-cold ginger beer and sit back with some jerked baby back ribs, I have yet to find a really good Caribbean restaurant in the Melbourne area to do so. My longing aside, the Island Pasta Company makes for a good eat in a nice spot downtown. If you’re looking for something different in the Brevard area, definitely check it out.

Island Pasta Company is located at 903 E New Haven Ave, Melbourne, FL.