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NOTE: Islamorada Restaurant has been closed and re-opened as Cocomo’s Grille, an island inspired restaurant. Cocomo’s Grille has closed and re-opened at Hula Girl Cafe. Hula Girl Cafe is now closed.

Since moving from South FL, I’ve been looking for a really good Cuban restaurant in the Melbourne area. I’d heard a few people mention Cuban Sandwich down on Babcock, a place in downtown Cocoa Beach, and Islamorada Restaurant in Suntree. I figured I would give Islamorda a shot since it was close to the house, but after I learned they were only open for dinner, I was a little disappointed. Recently, however, in our local community paper, Islamorda has started to advertise about their new hours and lunch menu. This is great news to me; I finally lucked out and was able to try something other than a Cuban sandwich thanks to lunch pricing. That being said, I found that dinner pricing was a little steep, but nothing more than can be expected for a specialty restaurant.

Islamorda is a quaint little restaurant located right next to the YMCA in Suntree. Islamorda combines Key West and Cuban cuisine into what turns out to be a really tasty fusion. Additionally, the atmosphere is cozy and the wait staff are polite. Now my favorite lunch choice has always been the “media noche” sandwich, but unfortunately Islamorada does not make them; they do however make some other very tasty alternatives. For lunch, my wife and I ordered the roast pork with moro rice and tostones (~$10), a Caribbean chicken salad (~$6), a soda (~$2, canned), and a side order of fried sweet plantains (~$3). Our meals came with Cuban-style rolls and their great candy-like, whipped key-lime butter. Our food arrived after a few minutes, nice and hot. The roast pork was delicious, stewed with onion and seasonings; a little Mojo sauce added some nice flavor to it as well. You can’t lose with moro rice, tostones, and fried sweet plantains which were prepared equally as well. The Caribbean salad was a great blend of lettuce, tomatoes, croutons, carrots, pinneapple, and olives served with single breast of chicken marinated in a jerk-like seasoning and grilled. The salad came with a single serving of the raspberry vinaigrette, but you may want to ask for one more due to the salad’s size. It would have been nice to see more darker green leafy veggies in the salad as well, but it still tasted great.

Overall I’d say Islamorada Restaurant is a definite, “must visit” for residents of the Melbourne area. Good food and good people have made our experience there a pleasurable one. Look for their “10% off one entree” discount coupon in the Suntree/Viera paper while it lasts.

Islamorada Restaurant is located in the YMCA plaza at 6300 N Wickham Rd, Melbourne, FL.

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.

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.

This weekend we met up with my wife’s parents for dinner at a local fish house called Bonefish Willy’s Riverfront Grille. My wife and I have eaten lunch here quite a few times and really like the food, so we were eager to try out the dinner menu to see what was different. Bonefish Willy’s has a really great location right on the river south of Lake Washington Road on Pineapple Drive. Inside dining is available but the bulk of their seating is outside on the deck with the tiki bar overlooking the river. The building itself could use some major work, but the food is worth overlooking the “amenities”. As far as beers, they have your basic domestics on tap as well Kona Fire Rock Pale Ale and Guinness as well as a decent selection of bottled beers.

So for the evening we showed up between lunch and dinner and we had our choice of menus. We ordered the Maryland Crab Cake appetizer (~$9), the Island Chicken Caesar Wrap (~$9) which came with pasta salad, the Grouper Willy sandwich which came with pasta salad (~$9), the Snook Bruschetta Pasta (~$22), and the Sea Scallop dinner (~$20). The wrap is a typical chicken caesar wrap but you can have the chicken prepared as cajun, jerked, or grilled. The grouper sandwich is really good and served on pumpernickel with pineapple coleslaw and cheddar cheese. The pasta salad is possibly some of the best pasta salad I’ve ever had. The appetizer came with 2 crab cakes that were made of lump and claw crab meat, fried, and came with a side of remoulade; I will definitely order these again, they were delicious. The dinner meals were a little more of a dissapointment, but the dinner menu has some awesome looking choices so I would just suggest trying something else besides what we ordered. The Sea Scallops were served in a mushroom and white wine sauce. We found that even though the scallops were very tender, the sauce gave the scallops a bit of a bitter taste (they were also a bit sandy). The Snook Bruschetta was angel hair pasta with a large piece of snook and a diced tomato and scallion mixture on top, then topped with melted mozarella. The cheese was a bit too much for the meal and I found myself putting a lot of lemon on the dish to mask the flavor. For dessert, we ordered our favorite, the Brownie a la mode (~$6) which is a light chocolate brownie topped with chocolate sauce and coconut served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. There were also a couple coffees and teas in the mix (~$2 a piece).

There were a few menu items off the dinner menu I’d still like to try (e.g. – coconut curry chicken), but I think we may stick to lunch going forward if for nothing else but the price point; the prices seem to be 3x that of lunch for dinner. Just for the sake of mentioning, the jerked Mahi-Mahi sandwich is another great choice from the lunch menu.

Overall, Bonefish Willy’s is a great restaurant in a great location that could use a new building. The quality of the food is great and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it to anyone in the Brevard area that is looking for a great place for lunch.

Bonefish Willy’s Riverfront Grille is located on the intercoastal at 2459 Pineapple Ave # B, Melbourne, FL.

Today for lunch, my wife and I decided to hit up a local favorite of ours, the Pineda Crossing Bar and Grill. Pineda Crossing is a casual gourmet restaurant that has been in Melbourne since the mid-90′s. My wife and I try to go for lunch instead of dinner since the prices are so much more reasonable. The restaurant isn’t much to look at, but don’t let looks be deceiving, the food is worth to visit. In addition to a great menu, they’ve got a couple of good beers on tap. The cuisine is mainly American with an assortment of steak, sandwiches, seafood, and salads. Initially, we found out about the restaurant from a friend of ours, but we continue going back for one thing and one thing alone, the soup. Don’t get me wrong, the food is really great (and once you see what I had today you’ll know why), but the soup “is to die for”. So far I’ve been able to try the She-Crab, Cream of Mushroom, Cream of Zucchini, and Black Bean. Who knew you could make a cream of zucchini soup?!? On top of that, in fact quite literally, they always find cool accents to add as toppers for the soup. So far I’ve seen cheese, onion, croûtons, and popcorn.

Today we ordered a bowl of the Southwestern Corn Chowder (~$5), a dinner salad (~$4.50), and one of the lunch specials, the Seafood Strudel (~$12) which came with rice, broccoli, and a cup of the soup. The meal as always comes with classic fresh-baked white dinner rolls. The soup was very zesty and was topped with a few popped kernels of popcorn and had a nice mix of onion, celery, potatoes, corn, and a cream base. We ordered the salad with homemade honey mustard and homemade champagne vinegarette dressings which we enjoy. The seafood strudel was made with a pastry crust and filled with fish, shrimp, and lump crab meat. The combination of the flavors was excellent and made me jealous that I only got so much and had to eat the rice and vegetables (which were also very good). We skipped dessert because we ordered so much food, but the key lime pie (~$5) is very good.

Unfortunately, as we have found out time and time again, the quality of the service at Pineda Crossing is really hit or miss. The staff is always courteous, but sometimes getting your food may take a while. That being said, we really like Pineda Crossing, especially for lunch, and will continue to patronize it demanding more and more of its soup.

Pineda Crossing is located on US1 near the Pineda Causeway at 2515 Roberts Rd., Melbourne, FL 32940.

NOTE: Lucky Garden 2 is now Red Ginger.

Since my wife and I moved from South Florida to Melbourne, we’ve really started to enjoy the slower pace that Central Florida brings as well as some great new places to eat. One of the things we do miss however, is the great New York style Chinese food that the area had to offer. There were 2 places that we always knew we could go (Beijing Garden and Peking Duck House) to to enjoy some great Mandarin and Cantonese style food. Unfortunately, Melbourne has yet to offer any really great Chinese food in the Suntree area. We really like Yen-Yen’s in Cocoa Beach, but it’s a bit of a drive for us.

Last week, we ordered from Lucky Garden 2 for lunch and I have to say it wasn’t that bad. I had eaten in the restaurant once before and had a really good Chinese pot of chicken curry with yam and white rice (not sure if they still serve this). This time we ordered the Honey Garlic Chicken lunch (~$8.50) and the Signapore Noodle lunch (~$8). Take-out wasn’t too bad at all. The Singapore noodles weren’t very spicy, but that was a problem easily corrected with a little red pepper paste. The noodles had healthy portions of shrimp, chicken, and pork, as well as some scallions and onions. I don’t remember any peppers, so that would have been nice, but the curry they used was good. It’s kinda hard to screw up Singapore noodles, so if a place is able to, it’s a nice indicator to not go back (Hop-Bo on Murrell in Rockledge would be one place that comes to mind). The chicken was white meat chicken that wasn’t over fried and the honey-garlic sauce was a nice balance between the 2 flavors. I didn’t care for the pork fried rice that came with the lunch special, but the egg rolls and hot and sour soup (lots of mushroom and bamboo) were pretty good.

We had plenty left over for lunch the next day and it is close to the house, so I think we’ll be going back. They also have sushi, but for now I’ll stick to Banzai on Lake Washington. If someone if looking for descent Chinese in the Suntree/Viera area, definitely check them out.

Lucky Garden 2 is located in Suntree at 6300 N Wickham Rd #127, Melbourne, FL.

NOTE: World Beat Cafe is now closed and has been replaced by the Morning Star Cafe.

So this Sunday after church, my wife and I went looking for a new place to eat lunch. We ended up at the World Beat Cafe on Wickham Road not knowing anything about it except it supposedly had good sangria. As it turns out, World Beat Cafe is a tapas restaurant (I know right, in Melbourne?). They have a huge menu and some single meals as well. When we arrived they were serving their all-you-can-eat brunch ($18 p/person or $30 p/person to get the open bar). Since we didn’t feel like that much food (or spending that much money) we decided to stick with lunch.

My wife and I ordered the Bao Bao Platter ($25), a water, a tea (~$2), and a glass of sangria ($5). The platter comes with your choice of 5 tapas from an appetizer-like menu and a grilled meats category. We got the BBQ Guava Ribs, Terryaki Chicken, Chimichuri Steak, Drunken Tropical Chicken Spring Rolls, and the Bruschetta (our waiter hooked us up since this wasn’t a normal choice). The food was served in this really cool wooden segmented bowl with a little hibachi grill in the middle. Our food came with a guava sauce for the spring rolls, a pineapple salsa for the ribs, and a chimichuri sauce for the steak. The hibachi had a little too much oil in it and the flames were a little wild towards the end of the meal, but the presentation was really cool.

Our waiter, Jeff, was awesome and had some great recommendations for us. We didn’t get a chance to try the flatbreads or salads or desserts, but we’re definitely gonna go back. The food was of a great quality, the menu was creative, and the restaurant was in a nice space. My wife doesn’t like tapas, so for her to want to go back, I’m definitely for visiting the World Beat Cafe again.

World Beat Cafe is located at 3700 N. Wickham Rd., Melbourne, FL 32935.

My wife and I went out to lunch today to a new teppanyaki/sushi restaurant called Fujiyama Seafood and Steak. We usually end up going to Makotos for teppanyaki (over on Babock), which is a drive, so we were excited to try a place closer to home. I’m always up for trying new places anyway and um … yeah eating, so it wasn’t hard to convince me to go.

The restaurant is located in a strip mall like setting with a cool little entry way that doubles as a waiting room. Inside the restaurant there are about 8+ hibachi style grills which can seat about 8 people per table. The dinnerware they use is some really high quality stuff (no platic soup spoons) and the tables surrounding the grills are made of a finished black stone, so the place has a very cool vibe to it. They also had a sushi bar on the opposite side of the restaurant and daily wine specials, but I didn’t partake in any of those things this time around. When we got there we were 2 of the only 8 people dining, but by the time we left, the place was filling up.

The lunch menu was pretty limited, 2 sushi/sushimi options and 6 teppanyaki options (each of a single choice = shrimp, chicken, steak, etc). I ordered the terryaki chicken (~$7) and my wife got the terryaki steak (~$8). We both also ordered water and hot tea (~$1.25 = green tea). The meal came with a clear broth soup, a salad with ginger dressing, a single grilled shrimp, fried rice, vegetable medley, and your lunch choice. The soup was chicken broth with fresh mushrooms and scallions but nothing special. The salad was very simple, but the dressing was excellent. I liked it even better than the ginger dressing that Makatos made famous. The ginger was not overpowering at all; it tasted extremely fresh as if it was made in house. The shrimp was a shrimp and the veggies were mushrooms, zuchini, and onion (my wife does however like Makotos’ sweet carrots better). The fried rice was made with seafood sauce instead of butter along with the usual egg and soy sauce mixture. The seafood sauce gave the rice a really good taste when cooked into it. The chicken and steak were very good too, not fatty at all, and of a good quality.

The big shocker for the meal were the portion sizes. As many of you know, I eat everything in front of me with a vengeance. Usually when I go for teppanyaki I know I should be taking some home with me, but the box is always empty. At Fujiyama, the portion sizes were just enough for me to be full without feeling like I had eaten too much. For me, this is always a plus. Also, they had saucers for the seafood sauce and ginger sauce which were split down the middle. Every time I got to a teppanyaki restaurant, they always give me a metric ton of sauce that I barely touch and they throw away. This just seemed smart to me.

The wait staff was extremely nice and attentive. We got to one part in the meal when the cook tried to volley a piece of fried egg into my mouth, as a trick for the table, and I got hit the eye, dazed, and knocked my fork off the table. Within a few seconds the manager came over and replaced my fork without me saying a word. Our glasses were always filled and our check came and was taken care very quickly. Overall, I really liked Fujiyama and will be going back whenever I’m in the mood for teppanyaki.

Fujiyama Steak and Seafood is located next to Home Depot at 5000 N Wickham Rd, Melbourne, FL 32940.