cookies and code

I’m happy to report that Brevard county finally has a gastropub that is worth patronizing. Vintage 56 is the most tasteful and affordable dining experience that my wife and I have had in the last year. Let’s do the walk-through.

When you come upon Vintage 56’s location, you may find yourself taken back a bit. The restaurant is tucked away in a shopping plaza which looks like it hasn’t seen much traffic in the last few years. In fact, if you’re a little faint of heart, you may turn back wondering how what you’ve heard is such a great place found it’s way there. Please trust me when I say, forge ahead, you don’t have to go into the clothing outlet and wig store; you’re just there for the restaurant. Once you make your way in, you’ll soon forget about the outside and appreciate the open floor plan and simple decor. The restaurant contains tables and half-booths (?) and open seating for its guests. We went on a Monday night and there were only a few couples dining which contributed to a nice and quiet ambiance.

I was excited to see that Vintage 56 stays fairly true to the gastropub style with its simple, seasonal menu and beer selection. I was even more ecstatic to see one of my favorite beers, Dogfish Head Pumpkin Ale ($5), on draft; they also had 2 for 1 martinis all evening, each ranging from $8 – $10 a piece. We each started with a cup of soup. I ordered a cup of the Portuguese Sausage and Kale ($3) and my wife ordered a cup of the Lobster Bisque ($4). The Portuguese Sausage soup was the perfect magnitude of spicy, made with chicken broth, kale, and diced carrot, celery, potato, and Andouille sausage; it reminded of the portions of a Zuppa Toscana that I enjoy with even more flavor. The Lobster Bisque has some small chunks of lobster in the broth and is served with a side of sherry crème fraîche which is must add to achieve the full flavor of the soup.

For our meals we went the sandwich route ordering the BLT ($8) and the Vintage Chicken Sandwich ($9). Part of what makes Vintage 56 so great is the way they can take menu items, like these simple sandwiches, and not break from your expectations, but still pleasantly surprise your palate. Both sandwiches are served on fresh baked Ciabatta bread with your choice of homemade sea-salt and cracked pepper potato chips or sweet potato fries (both of which taste great). The BLT is served with a light slathering of mayonnaise, melted whole-milk mozzarella, baby greens, yellow tomatoes, and an ample amount of crispy bacon. The Vintage Chicken Sandwich is made up of a reasonably portioned, grilled chicken breast, baby greens, brie cheese, and a pear and sun-dried cherry chutney. Although we didn’t try them, the menu also offers a selection of flat bread pizzas, burgers, tapas (cold and hot), and entrees. This evening there was also a paella for two on special, but I’m unsure of the price.

By the end of the meal, we were both stuffed, but when I heard a slice of homemade pumpkin pie ($6) was on the menu, I didn’t hesitate to order it. The texture of the pie wasn’t as smooth as I had hoped, but the flavor was amazing and definitely tasted as if the pumpkin was blended fresh. I also ordered a coffee ($2) which had a pretty typical flavor but was a nice complement to the pie.

On top of the great food, the table service was friendly and timely. We were able to sit and talk with the waiter and bartender who were very friendly and attentive. According to our waiter, by the second time he’d eaten at the restaurant he knew he wanted to work there. Being open for ~3 months thus far, it looks like he’s gotten in on the ground floor of what promises to be a great establishment. Also serving lunch, there are plenty of opportunities to stop in and see what I’m raving about. I can’t wait to see what the menu will hold as time goes on.

Vintage 56 is going into our permanent “dinner out” rotation and I’m already eager to visit again. I will go even as far as to say that Vintage 56 is the best restaurant in Rockledge at which I’ve eaten for all of my time in Brevard. Due yourself a favor and make time to stop in for a great meal and a great gastropub experience.

Vintage 56 is located at 200 Barton Boulevard, Rockledge, FL 32955.

Today my wife and I walked away from dinner saying, “That was the best meal we’ve had in a long time.” We’ve been going to Banzai Sushi and Thai Restaurant since the first week we moved into Brevard county. A friend of mine, who had grown up in Melbourne, recommended it as one of his favorite Japanese and Thai restaurants in the area. Ever since that first visit we have never had a bad experience being spoiled with amazing food, service, and ambiance. To call Banzai just an eatery doesn’t do it justice, it’s a dining experience. In fact Banzai has kept up its dining traditions when most restaurateurs have been quick to abandon them in these tough economic times. Allow me to share our latest experience.

Upon arriving at their small, but comfortable location, you are immediately greeted by one of the servers and immediately seated at a table; we’ve never had to wait. Within a minute or so, your server arrives with hot towels to clean your hands and small salad bowls with tiny spoons. The salad is a mixture of diced tomatoes and cucumber, shredded carrots, mandarin oranges, and pieces of fried tempura batter. It’s a great balance of sweet and salty and perfect to wet your appetite. We usually like to start with a pot of hot green tea ($1.50 p/person) and a couple ice waters. Once we work our way through the massive list of sushi, Japanese, Thai, and Chinese selections, we’ve never had to wait more than a 10-15 minutes to start our meal. This time around, I ordered one of the most fragrant and tasty green curry dishes with chicken (~$10) and my wife ordered the small green salad (~$3) and the shrimp and vegetable tempura appetizer (~$8). The curry is prepared with coconut millk, bell pepper, bamboo shoots, fresh basil, and red pepper oil in a huge portion; if you like spicy, try the Thai hot for that good kind of spicy. The small green salad comes with your option of ginger or honey ginger dressing on top of iceberg and romaine lettuce, tomato, shredded carrots, and sliced cucumber. The tempura appetizer is big enough to be a meal for a single person coming with three shrimp, onion, broccoli, and sweet potato. If all of this food wasn’t enough, at the end of the meal, the server brings out fried sweet doughnuts, dusted with sugar granules. This time around we didn’t order any sushi, but I have to say that Banzai has some of the best quality sushi for your dollar. Their sushi chefs will make pretty much anything you’d like, even if it’s not on the menu. The rolls are packed full of ingredients and they even have surfboards for larger groups.

Adding to the experience of dining at Banzai, every server in the restaurant is your server. They are all equally friendly and courteous offering help to anyone who needs it. I’m not sure if he’s the manager or owner, but even the man in charge is out and about taking care of his customers, making it a pleasent evening for everyone in the restaurant. What’s probably the best part of the service however, is the facet most people don’t consider, invisibility. Banzai works like a well oiled machine providing its customers with whatever they need, but without them having to ask for it. This breeds the peaceful quiet that I have to believe all of Banzai’s patrons associate with the restaurant.

Banzai Sushi and Thai Restaurant provides a high quality experience for what has become a more reasonable price now-a-days. The quality of food is high and you’ll find yourself eager for your next visit before you even walk out of the door. If you’re looking for an establishment that is just as much about the time you spend there as it is the food, do yourself a favor and give Banzai and shot. I promise you won’t regret it.

Banzai Sushi and Thai Restaurant is located in the Publix plaza on the corner of Lake Washington and Wickham at 3208 Lake Washington Road, Melbourne, FL.

In my spare time, I try to blog about locally owned restaurants at which my wife and I find ourselves dining at frequently, or just something we find along the beaten path, for the Brevard area. I am always frustrated with the quality of information I find on local restaurants when searching the web, so I hope the little I do contributes to community eatery search. With our new baby due in May, we’ve slowing been trying to acclimate to cooking more at home and dining out less. Consequently, my posts have been thinning out over the last few months, but fear not, other quality sources of information about local restaurants do exist.

I find myself always reading the online version of The Beachside Resident. They offer a monthly restaurant review with tons of details on the establishment, its ambiance, and its menu that gives a great picture of the restaurant. They don’t list prices and I have yet to see anything which denotes an inglorious experience, so sometimes reviews can get a little too shiny. The purpose of the column, however, seems to be highlighting local businesses, so this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Overall, definitely a great way to keep up with new places to try on the coast. This year they finally threw up an RSS feed, so now it’s even easier to watch.

The other publication I’ve started to use more recently is the Brevard edition of MetroMix from Gannet Press, maintained by the Florida Today. FL Today has slowly been building a nice directory of local restaurants in the Brevard area and its current incarnation, MetroMix, acts as a great directory of restaurants when you know what you’d like to eat. just not where. The foodie they have doing reviews has the rare and valuable quality of getting to the point about her experience. Her perspective is a little sugar coated at times, but she’s comes off as honest, which is refreshing. She lists prices, which is even nicer, and when the dining experience doesn’t go exactly planned, it’s easy to read into her words to understand what to watch out for if you choose to patronize the place. On a disappointing note, no RSS feeds, so you have to go to the content, just like all of the other FL Today web properties; catch up to 2009 already, even the whitehouse.gov has!

Worse case scenario, I’ll dive into Google Maps and look for inline reviews when searching. There is something about the anonymity of Google that let’s people share their true feelings when it comes to dining out. I find when people are being brash, it make it even easy to take their opinion with a grain of salt. It’s been a surprising source of information if you’re willing to dig a little. On a side note, I hope to eventually generate a KML document for Google Maps, so they can aggregate my reviews, so I can be one of those angry voices as well.

Good luck in your search of Brevard’s local restaurant scene. We’ve a diverse selection of establishments that has yet to leave me hungry, so I hope links help others to “get fed” as well.

There are very few places in the Brevard area I really enjoy sitting down for a beer at. Charlie and Jake’s is a great spot for some home brews, but you can only drink the same 6 beers so many times. When I really want my beer fix, there is only one place that comes to mind, Coasters Pub. Now Coasters isn’t a microbrewery, so maybe the comparison isn’t fair, but they do have a crap load (100+) of awesome beers available, most of which are available on tap.

My father-in-law and I have been patronizing Coasters for the last two years, but it never occurred to me to make mention on the blog of them; that may be because of the great beer selection, however. Coasters not only carries some of the most popular brands on draft, but they also keep a seasonal rotation of beers going year round. Check out the winter selection they’ve made available this time around. Now it’s important to note, that I am by no means a beer expert, but I’m having fun learning about it all each time I go into Coasters. Lately, I’m really digging on Michigan with the Bell’s Two Hearted and Oberon Ales. I was bummed this past Friday that Delerium Tremens was no longer available on draft, but I switched over to the darker Arrogant Bastard Ale and it was well worth it. They always keep St Bernardus Tripel on tap as well as PBR (see the board), so you really have the full spectrum available to you at the pub. I really like the Fall and Winter beer selections, so this is a great time to visit, IMO. Pints can range anywhere from ~$2 for the PBR to ~$20 for their most expensive bottle from what I’ve seen. I usually try to go during happy hour, which will get you about $1 off your pint’s price of anywhere from ~$6 to $10. When I’m in a good mood, I’ll take 2 St. Bernardus and I’m out.

Coasters not only has the best beer selection in Brevard county, but they have great food as well. When we go, we typically get 20 wings (~$14), the fish and chips (~$9), and the french dip (~$9). Although there are some typical bar food menu choices (e.g. – chips and salsa and queso, mozzarella sticks, etc), their menu is diverse enough such that if you don’t feel like the fried experience, you can probably find a salad or sandwich to your liking. I personally really enjoy the wings, they always know how to fry them just right, although they will bake them as well. The fish and chips is made with haddock and just freagin’ rocks; it’s beer battered and comes with beer battered fries. The french dip is a great as well with your choice of onions, peppers, and mushrooms along with mozzarella cheese on a hoagie roll. Nothing is better than those beer battered fries though after a couple beers.

On top of the tasty food, Coasters wait and bartending staff is always spot on. Our waitresses always are great about bringing us samples of the new beers on tap. From our experience, they have a great demeanor and our food is always brought out hot. It’s gotta be tough dealing with a huge bunch of beer drinkers day in and out, but they do a great job. Between the beer, the service, and the food, it’s really hard to go wrong with Coasters Pub. Any place that keeps a longer list of beers than wine is tops in my book. If you like good, quality beer and need a great pub to replace your boring watering hole, Coasters Pub is the place for you. Hell, they even use their website to get information out to the community, how can you go wrong?

Coasters Pub is located in the Walmart plaza at 971A E Eau Gallie Blvd, Melbourne, FL.

This morning after church, my wife and myself found ourselves looking for a place to have breakfast. I’ve reviewed a few places around the area, but I figured I’d list most of the places we thought of as a good option for breakfast:

• Blue Lemon Cafe – 1301 South Patrick Drive, Satellite Beach, FL
• Blueberry Muffin – 1130 N Highway A1A, Indialantic, FL 32903
• Breakfast at Lilly’s – 240 Highway A1a, Satellite Beach, FL
• Corey’s Bagels on the Beach – 692 E Eau Gallie Blvd, Indian Harbour Bch, FL
• Eddie’s Sunrise Diner – 55 E Nasa Blvd, Melbourne, FL
• Memaw’s Bar-B-Q – 600 E Eau Gallie Blvd, Indian Harbour Bch, FL
• Niki’s Rainbow Cafe – 570 Highway A1A, Satellite Beach, FL
• Simply Delicious – 125 N Orlando Ave, Cocoa Beach, FL
• Suntree Cafe – 718 S Patrick Drive, Satellite Beach, FL

I know these aren’t all the options by far, but these are the ones we’ve been to and always had good service and food. For anyone who lives in the area, what places would you recommend for breakfast?

A friend of mine has been mentioning Niki’s Rainbow Restaurant to me for some time now. I always pass by it when I’m beachside and, no matter what time of day I go by, the parking lot is always full. Make no confusion however, even though they share the shopping plaza with a few other places, Niki’s is the reason that lot is full.

So that same friend, another friend, and I all met up for lunch today at Niki’s eagerly anticipating our pending meal. The menu is a simple three page menu chocked full of choices, even for those who aren’t partial to Greek options, but my eyes shot right to the “Rainbow’s Grecian Special” section. All of the expected favorites are present, so I was worried that my choice would be really tough and I’d end up ordering more food than I probably should. That is, until I spotted the Combo Platter (~$11). The Combo Platter comes with a portion of gyro, spinach pie, 2 grape leaves, pita bread, and your choice of soup or a Greek salad; I went with the soup of the day (New England Clam Chowder). The soup came out first with a basket of yeast rolls and crackers. The rolls were nice and light and the soup was thick and hardy with big chunks of clam. Before I could even finish my soup, the meals were on the table. The gyro was topped with a generous dolip of tzatziki and was homemade. Usually tzatziki is a little too creamy for me, but the way it was made was the perfect balance of yogurt to cucumber/garlic/lemon/oil/etc. The gyro was sliced straight off of the rotisserie spit and, not surprisingly, tasted great; not too salty or seasoned and also, homemade. The spinach pie was layered, flaky pastry crust with spinach and feta and for a change actually had more spinach than cheese which I enjoyed (and also homemade). The grape leaves were different from what I expected in that they were stuffed with ground beef and rice rather than just rice, but were delicious. If you’ve read my previous reviews, I’m not a fan of grape leaves that haven’t been slow cooked or that are tough. Niki’s grape leaves were so tender, that I was able to cut them with a fork; just awesome quality (did I mention homemade?). Even the pita was out of control good, not dry and more like a flat bread, it’s the only thing that Niki’s brings in. According to our waitress, it can’t even be bought anywhere but Niki’s which has an exclusive deal with the distributor. At ~$2 for a side of the pita bread, you may find yourself with an order to take home.

Also at the table we had a gyro sandwich (~$7) with fries (~$2) and a falafel platter (~$10) which came with fries and a greek salad. The gryo sandwich was made with that great pita bread, tomato, onion, and tzatziki. The falafel was put together simliarly and the chick peas were fried locking in the moisture which was nice to see since usually falafels tend to be dry. And if all of that food wasn’t enough to get your appetite going, we also stayed to try the baklava (~$3).

Now Cedar’s makes a killer baklava and I have to say I preferred it over Niki’s. That being said it’s a different style of baklava and good in its own right. Niki’s baklava seems to be made in the traditional sense but is more doughy than flaky. It comes topped with a sweet sauce which tasted like a mixture of honey and citrus and is super tasty. I’m not saying I wouldn’t order it again, it’s just not my favorite.

If you noticed a theme, it’s because there is one … homemade food. Everything but the pita bread is made daily from scratch. In addition to all of that homemade food, our waitress was on top of everything; our drinks were always full and our food spent almost no time between the kitchen and our table. Our waitress was even kind enough take time to tell us a little about the food and the restaurant. In summary: excellent service, homemade, hot food, and a must visit. In fact, I’m going to go as far to say that Niki’s Rainbow Restaurant is now my new favorite Greek/Mediterranean restaurant in the Brevard area. Not only is the food amazing, but the work placed into each meal makes it that much better.

Niki’s Rainbow Restaurant is located at 570 Highway A1A, Satellite Beach, FL.

When I first moved to Brevard, I wondered what it would be like living near the coast and, of course being a crazed foodie, what would I think of as the quintessential eatery after a few years. After living in the area a few years now the answer to that question stares me in the face every time I pass one of Long Doggers’ locations. Long Doggers is what my wife and I consider a solid place for lunch. We usually hit up the Post Road location, but the South Patrick and Indialantic locations are also really great. No matter which location you hit up, the atmosphere reflects the lay back, beach going lifestyle of the coast with a definite focus on surfing.

One of the best parts of Long Doggers is its simple and fresh menu. This time around we ordered the Regular Dog Day Platter (~$4) and the Dolphin Reuben (~$8), a sweet tea (~$2), and a water. The Dog Day Platter comes with your choice of regular or foot long hotdog (+$1), a pickle, coleslaw, and a choice of side; we opted for the onion rings. The Dolphin Reuben is a generously portioned Mahi fillet served in a white bun with sauerkraut and thousand-island dressing along side coleslaw and a pickle. As always our meals came out hot and were delicious. As an added plus, Long Doggers’ seafood options are just great; I especially enjoy the Grilled Tuna Sandwich seared rare (~$8). We haven’t tried the entrees before, but I’ve heard good things about them as well.

As with most places we frequent, the staff is attentive and accommodating. They’ve always got some type of surfing video running on the TV and have outdoor and indoor seating available. If you’re looking for a reliable place for casual eats, look no further than Long Doggers. You’ll find lots of locals and tasty food; hell, it’s such a staple you’ll probably find yourself buying a t-shirt after a couple visits.

Long Doggers in North Melbourne is located at 2870 Post Rd, Melbourne, FL.

Every now and then, the healthy side of me is placed into submission while the side of me that needs good old greasy, fried food takes over. It’s been a few weeks now and my body is started to revolt, so I figured I’d have one last hurrah before getting back into the swing of cooking at home. Over the last few months, signs for Little Phillies have been popping up on the mainland and beach-side, so I figured cheesesteaks would be a good choice to finish out my feeding frenzy.

Little Phillies’ is located where Kimberly Plaza used to be, from what my wife tells me, hidden in a small plaza North of 7-Eleven and south of the Pineda Causeway on A1A. This new location is quite the step up from the lunch cart that the owner was running prior to opening the restaurant. From what the guy working the counter told us, on busy days, they were selling 200 cheesesteaks road-side and the volume was just too much for the Amaco next to Oasis Shaved Iced, so they opened the new place. Even though I didn’t get a chance to swing by the cart, Little Phillies keeps the back to basics feel and does it well.

The group ended up splitting two of the large Authenticate Cheesesteaks (~$9 each) with an order of fries (~$2) and onion rings (~$3) and a couple of sodas (~$2 each). Each cheesesteak comes stocked with chopped ribeye and the option to add grilled onions, bell pepper (~$0.50), or mushroom (~$0.75) as well as your choice of cheese (provolone, american, or cheesewiz). The fries and onion rings were not at all greasy, were served hot, and tasted great. The cheesesteaks were served hot and are definitely big enough to split. If you have a larger appetite, they offer an X-Large size (~$11) as well as a 1 lb. of steak option (~$12). Chicken and buffalo chicken cheesesteak options are also available along with a slew of subs and fried sides. We didn’t try dessert, but Italian ice and cheesecake bites are also available.

The staff is friendly and the joint can definitely make a good cheesesteak. If you’re looking to try out a recent addition to the Brevard casual dining scene, look no further than Little Phillies. Sometimes restaurants can get complicated with all they try to do to attract customers when all they really need to do is focus on the food. +1 for Little Phillies for getting it right.

Little Phillies is located at 190 Highway A1A, Satellite Beach, FL.

Recently I picked up an order from a local pizza place and paid with my credit card. When I came in my food was waiting for me, ahead of schedule, and the girl at the counter treated me well, so I left a tip on the receipt. The next day when I got home, I was looking over the pending charges on my card and saw that the charge from the restaurant was more than what I paid. I called up my credit card company to ask about the charge and I learned something new. If a restaurant offers their patrons the ability to tip on their credit card, the restaurant will typically request an authorization on the card for the cost of the bill + a 20% gratuity. When the manager closes out the batch for the night, the cost of the bill + the actual gratuity is then charged to card. I guess the authorization for the tip is a safe guard that the wait/bus/host staff have the potential to get something out of the check as well.

Maybe I’m dense but I never knew that eateries did this since I usually see the charge after the authorization. I’m a firm believer in tipping, but I always like to check my card activity to make sure that people don’t take advantage. Learn something new every day.

My wife and I stopped by Oasis Shaved Ice this evening and the owners told us that they are going to be extending their hours until 9:00 PM daily with the exception of 10:00 PM on Fridays. For anyone who has driven by after 8:30 PM on a weekday looking for a snack, this is great news! If you haven’t had an opportunity to swing by and give them a try then take the time support a great local business.