cookies and code

Yesterday we were tossing around ideas for lunch and nothing seemed to be fitting the bill. I suggested swinging by Negril’s: Flavors of Jamaica, off of Lee Road, since we always pass on the way to another one of our favorite joints, Rhino Subs. In any case, I haven’t had really great Jamaican food since living in South Florida, so I was eager to give it a try and hope for the best.

Nigril’s is tucked away in the back corner of the shopping plaza at the intersection of Lee Road and Orlando Avenue. It’s a very small restaurant with about 7 tables crammed in with a drink cooler, service counter, and kitchen. They have a small menu with a stock set of lunch specials ranging from ~$6.50 – $7.50 each from 11:00am until 2:00pm. Even better though, is that they keep a nice stock of D&G Ginger Beer as well as a nice variety a patties. In terms of patties, they have beef, chicken, jerk chicken, and veggie, each going for about ~$2.

I ordered the Jerk Chicken lunch special (~$6.50) with the rices and peas and salad as well as a veggie pattie (~$2). The special comes with a small portion of salad, a large portion of seasoned white rice with black eyed peas, a fresh baked roll, a couple of fried sweet plantains, and 4 to 5 pieces of jerk chicken. The salad was mostly romaine lettuce with a house dressing (tasted like an Italian dressing). The rice had lots of black eyed peas and what looked like chunks of cooked down port fat which gave it a really savory taste. The chicken was a bunch of thighs and legs and had an incredible flavor but lacked the heat I was hoping to find; definitely tasty, but a weak jerk seasoning. The veggie patty was smaller than I was used to and was barely filled, so I was a bit disappointed. Others had ordered the beef patty and said it was good, so I’ll have to try that one next time. I was a bit spoiled by the patty cart outside of the Physics building during my days at UCF however, so I’ll hack it up to me being snotty. To finish off my lunch I also got a D&G Ginger Beer (~$2); not as spicy as I like, but still a must have with a Jamaican lunch.

Overall Nigril’s: Flavors of Jamaica was a quick, tasty, and cheap lunch option close to the office that’ll definitely stay in the rotation. That being said, I’ll be looking for another Jamaican restaurant in the area to bring the heat for which I’m nostalgic.

Nigril’s is located on the corner of Leed Road and Orlando Road at 501 N Orlando Avenue, Winter Park, Florida.

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.

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.

When I took my latest job, the president of the company, Doug, took me out to lunch to say welcome. As a force of habit, I got to talking about food. I was excited to find he was just as much of a “foodie” as I am. He kept raving about a former ice cream stand turned into sandwich shop called Rolli’s. I asked around about the place and didn’t hear too much else about it, so I was held off on giving it a try. Boy was that a dumb move. The other day my wife surprised me and took me to Rolli’s before my trip to Oregon. On a side note, she has officially won the wife of the year award (which not surprisingly, she wins every year).

Pulling up to Rolli’s I have to admit, I was a little hesitant. I haven’t had much luck with the sandwich stands in the past but, as always, you can’t complain until you give it a shot, right? After some time looking over the menu, we decided to order the Rolli Original Pork Sandwich (~$6), the Rolli Cheese Steak (~$6), a cup of fries (~$3), and a 24 oz drink (~$2). Doug raved about the pork sandwich so I had to try it. For the Rolli’s Original and Jr. Pork Sandwich, they slice tender, seasoned pork tenderloin onto an egg bun with grilled onions, provolone cheese, and mayo. The flavor behind the sandwich is a little salty at first, but wow, what a great taste; the pork is so tender it melts in your mouth, no matter how big a bite you take. As for the cheese steak, I was really happy to peek over and see them chop and grill a nice rib-eye with onions. The mixture made its way onto a hoagie roll filled with provolone and mayo; we could have done w/o the mayo, but it was good none the less. The fries were skin-on potatoes cooked in what tasted like peanut oil. I would have liked it if they were a little thicker, but worth the order if you like fries. As far as the drinks go, make sure to order the large (24oz) or you’ll have to pay for refills.

Overall, Rolli’s worked out to be a great pick, so thanks to Doug for the suggestion. Every now and then you need a good, reliable place to get a great sandwich and Rolli’s is that place. If you’ve ever passed Rolli’s on your way to the Melbourne mall, don’t waste your time on the crappy food court, turn back around for a great meal.

Rolli’s is located at 620 W New Haven Ave, Melbourne, FL 32901.

NOTE : Keep in mind that Rolli’s only has a 3 or 4 tables and limited parking, so if there is a lunch rush, be ready to take their great food to go.

Well, it’s been a crazy month or so since I’ve posted, but a lot has happened on the Brevard restaurant scene. Here are a few of the tidbits that have crossed my path:

• Islamorada Restaurant, our local Suntree Cuban joint, recently closed for renovation and re-opened as Cocomo’s Grill, a not so Cuban but more island inspired style restaurant. After stopping by for lunch (review to come one day), I found out that the place is under new ownership and has a new wait staff. I think they’ve retained some of the cooking staff since many of the dishes on the menu are from Islamorada’s original menu, but unfortunately tostones did not make it back onto the menu; I also didn’t see any of that amazing key lime butter or panitos on the table. The new menu looks good however, so I’m not that discouraged.
• In crazy, all of Brevard’s restaurants are catching on fire news, Meg O’Malley’s Irish Pub, located in downtown Melbourne, had a fire break out on their rear patio. Smoke damage extended to the building costling about $150K in damages. Here’s the write up on the event for those who are interested.
• Dinners2U, the latest local craze in delivered and prepared meals for the Melbourne area, is doing so well that in the next 6 months, the goal is to open a new location in Viera off of Murrell Road. This is great news for the Suntree area since delivery is not available in our area. I want to order a few more times from Dinners2U before I write them up, but so far it’s home cooked meals for a descent prices (considering all of the food you get with your order). Here’s more info for the curious.
• Leaning Tower of Pizza Restaurant is celebrating 25 years of serving the Melbourne area. They’re running spaghetti and slice specials for the month; buy one of either and get one of the same for $0.25. Leaning Tower is a great establishment and deserves all of the praise that it receives. Swing by, check it out, and show your support for a staple of the city.
• A little birdy told me that the owners of Island Pasta Company downtown have purchased, or are in the process of purchasing, Chowders on US1 in Suntree. From what it sounds like, Chowders will remain a seafood restaurant but look for a new name and menu in the future. Not sure when that future will be, but I’m excited to hear something new will come from that spot. They’ve got a great view and I’d love to go back.
• Cantina Dos Amigos is now back open after being previously closed due to fire. Looks like business is back to normal.

So that’s about all for now. I have some reviews for some Brevard classics coming down the pipe as well as some new establishments with some great potential. Talk to you soon.

As we were walking around the historic district in St. Augustine, the aromas from the candy stores and ice cream shops are pretty intoxicating. We set out on a goal to find a peanut encrusted caramel apple as well as some mint chocolate chip ice cream in one of those fresh waffle cones. We stopped by a few stores but the prices were pretty high, averaging ~$8 per item. That was a little high for us so we kept hunting and found Kilwin’s Chocolates. As you look into the windows you can see people making the waffle cones and there are tables for candy making (maybe in the mornings?). The shop is small but the line was out the door; if there one thing I’ve come to trust when I travel is to look for where the most people are eating, usually you’ll end up with some form of “good eats” (hopefully Alton Brown won’t sue me for using that). We got a huge caramel green apple covered in chopped peanuts (~$6) and a fresh waffle cone filled with mint chocolate chunk ice cream (~$4). Considering what you pay at places like Cold Stone, we figured it was a good compromise on price. The sweets turned out great too, so it was a nice treat for the afternoon. I know Kilwin’s is a national chain, and there are a couple in the historic district, but we really enjoyed it. Guess I have to break my rules every now and then, forgive me :’(

Kilwin’s Chocolates is located at 140 St. George Street, St. Augustine, Florida.

Last weekend, we went up to St. Augustine to visit some family and see the historic district. We had a great time and when lunch time came around we were starved. My brother said he had heard of a good pizza place on St. George Street called Pizza Time, so we decided to give it a shot. Most of the restaurants in the area seemed to be geared towards tourists, so our hope was that Pizza Time would be different.

I have to give it to the owner of Pizza Time, he’s a smart business man. The shop is small and people are routed in through the front door to stand directly in line in front of prepared pizzas, stromboli’s, calzones, and garlic knots. The food is presented nicely (and looks appetizing) and the shop is lined in murals and pictures advertising its Brooklyn, New York style of food. As you order you wait in line for your food to be heated unless you get a whole pie, in which they’ll bring it to your table. By the time your food is ready and you pay, you find out they accept cash ONLY, but no fears, there is an ATM right next to the cash register for your convenience. This is an all to common tactic for tourist heavy establishments in Florida no matter the theme, the owner gets a kickback as well as the ATM company. We ordered a slice of cheese (~$2.50), a sausage parmigiana roll (~$5) which came with a side of sauce, and a couple of fountain drinks (~$2 each). The slice was sizable, really greasy, and by no means the New York style pizza I’ve come to know; someone should tell them that just because you can make a big pizza, it doesn’t make it authentic. The sausage roll didn’t have much sausage in it, but for the price didn’t taste that bad. The sauce was flavorful but really salty, so I didn’t find myself using it much. We also tried the garlic knots, but as with everything else, they failed to stand out.

As we were leaving, we noticed the man we saw on our way in (that told us “Oh this place has the best pizza in all of town”) was getting free slices from the manager. He was also standing outside (at least as long as we were there) telling other people Pizza Time had the best pizza he’d ever eaten. Hmm … I’ll let you draw your own conclusion, but props to whoever came up with that idea. In any case, Pizza Time was what you can expect from your typical touristy pizza place. Nothing stands out and you have to be conscience that you have enough cash on you to eat. That being said, the staff was courteous and we didn’t have trouble getting a table. I’d give the experience a “meh”.

Pizza Time is located at 124 St. George Street, St. Augustine, Florida.