The Black Sheep Pub in Ormond Beach, FL

Had dinner at a restaurant called The Black Sheep Pub in Ormond Beach. Located across the street from the ocean along A1A, this restaurant served pretty standard British foods.

I decided to try The Black Sheep's Award Winning Famous Fish & Chips. That's multiple superlatives used to describe the fish & chips, so I was expecting something amazing. The fish & chips were good. The meal came with two large pieces of deep fried fish, topped with slices of lemon, served aside a pile of fries. I'm not sure if this fish was amazing enough where I'd give it an award, but it was good enough.

Someone else at the table ordered the Black 'Sheep'herd's Pie.

The food I tried at The Black Sheep Pub was tasty enough. It wasn't the best British food I've had, nor was it the worst. I'd eat here again.

Captain J's Ocean Deck in Cocoa Beach, FL

It is time for a correction on this blog. Back in 2011, I ate at and wrote about a restaurant that I thought was called Captain J's Ocean Deck in Cocoa Beach. I was wrong. I actually ate next door to Captain J's at a place called Sandbar Sports Grill. On my most recent trip to Cocoa Beach, I realized the error of my ways when I actually ate at the real Captain J's Ocean Deck.

When we were seated, I saw somebody eating their taco salad and I suddenly had a craving for one. I knew what I was ordering before looking at the menu. The taco salad was served in a tostada bowl, filled with lettuce, tomato, black olives, jalapeno slices, cheese, and ground beef. Sour cream was served on the side. The salad was alright for what it was. I've had better taco salads elsewhere, but this served it's purpose of satisfying my taco salad craving. The funny thing was that as I was eating, I heard a few people walk past and mumble about how my salad looked really good, just like I did upon entering the restaurant. Captain J's makes very attractive looking salads...

Nathan's in Coney Island, NY

I was in New York. I had just rode thirteen miles on a unicycle from the Brooklyn Bridge to Coney Island. The end of this epic ride was in front of the original Nathan's Famous hot dogs. It was time to eat and a hot dog seemed like an appropriate food.

The inside of Nathan's was very busy with lines stretching out of the building. I got the feeling that most people in here were tourists, just like me, coming to get their taste of a famous Coney Island food.

I ordered a hot dog with sauerkraut. It was exactly as I expected, just like what is served at the countless other Nathan's locations around the country. It was a hot dog, nothing more. The sauerkraut did dress it up a bit, but in the end it was still a pretty standard hot dog.

Nathan's hot dogs are highly overrated, but a visit to Nathan's in Coney Island isn't really about the food. It's about the whole experience of going to a fast food landmark. Just don't throw up your hot dog when you get sick on the Cyclone or Wonder Wheel afterwards...

Mama's in Copiague, NY

I headed out towards a Long Island beach town while in New York. This brought me to Copiague where I had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Mama's.

The meal started out with a basket of garlic knots. The doughy knots of tastyness were covered in plenty of garlic and parmesan cheese and were served with a bowl of tomato sauce for dipping.

 

For another appetizer, everyone shared one of the specials that Mama's had for the day. It was a large caesar salad topped with fried calamari. I've never seen that combination before, but I liked it.

 

We also had the Margherita Pizza. This pie was topped with lots of fresh mozzarella, sauce, and basil. It seemed like the pizza was cooked a little unevenly with one side of the pie being way more doughy than the other, but otherwise this was a very respectable pizza!

That's Amore in New Smyrna Beach, FL

After a day at New Smyrna Beach, I had dinner at an Italian restaurant called That's Amore. The meal started with a caesar salad.

We shared a Margherita pizza for the main course. The pizza was very tasty with a nice, thin, crispy crust. It was topped with a good amount of cheese, sliced tomato, and basil.

Since pizza from other Italian restaurants in New Smyrna has been disappointing, I'm definitely going to have to add That's Amore as a place to keep in mind after future visits to the beach.

The Deck Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, FL

While down in Fort Lauderdale for a weekend, I had breakfast in a restaurant called The Deck.It was connected to a hotel and had a very nice view of the ocean.

Walking in, we were greeted by this wooden pirate. The wooden pirate then proceeded to tell us a joke: Where does Captain Hook do all his shopping? At second hand shops! Who knew wooden pirates had a sense of humor...

Once seated, we had an almost unobstructed view of the ocean. It was very nice.

 

There were several breakfast combinations on the menu that consisted of eggs, potatoes, and meats. All of us ordered different combinations, and they were all served to the table looking exactly like this regardless of what they were supposed to consist of. I take it this means no matter which breakfast you order, you will get scrambled eggs, home fries, three strips of bacon, two sausages, and a side of bread. Nothing was too far away from what the combinations should have been and most of the plates had more meats than the meal should have came with, so nobody complained.

The Deck had a nice view of the ocean and decent breakfasts, but just don't expect to be served what you order...

Green Apple Frozen Yogurt in Clearwater Beach, FL

During a rainy visit to Clearwater Beach, we decided to get dessert from a place called Green Apple Frozen Yogurt. The name was honestly a bit perplexing, since they only had two flavors of frozen yogurt, neither of which were green apple. They had a much bigger selection of gelati, but I went in there expecting yogurt and picked the Georgia Peach. No self-serve yogurt here and each topping cost an additional $0.95 so I had my yogurt plain. Overall, it tasted okay, although it didn't exactly scream peach to me. More like an extra sweet version of the standard tart yogurt with a slight pink tint...

The Whale's Rib in Deerfield Beach, FL

We headed to Deerfield Beach one evening to find some seafood near the ocean. Once there, the decision of what restaurant to eat at was made mostly by which restaurant offered free parking. Turned out The Whale's Rib was one of the few restaurants in this part of town that didn't have meters charging $0.25/ five minutes. I suppose that's a good thing, because apparently The Whale's Rib has some Food Network credibility.

I was able to find this through the magic of YouTube:

The only thing I tried mentioned on TV was the Whale Fries. These were homemade potato chips, served with a couple of cups of Whale Sauce. Can't go wrong with homemade potato chips...

My meal came with a side salad, consisting of romaine lettuce, tomato, onions, cucumbers, croutons, and balsamic dressing.

For my main course, I had the California Shrimp & Scallops. The menu described this as being artichokes, pepper, and onions over spinach pasta. When the plate arrived, I was initially impressed. The colorful plate of pasta had lots of huge shrimp and scallops and three good sized garlic rolls. I could have done without the mushrooms that were also added to the pasta, mentioned nowhere on the menu. I'm really not a big fan of cooked mushrooms. Overall, the pasta was also a bit boring tasting and could have definitely used a bit more flavor in the sauce. I ended up adding some salt to give it more flavor.

Seemed like everyone else at my table enjoyed their food. I think I should have stuck with a classic fish dinner. I'd go back to The Whale's Rib again, but I wouldn't order a pasta dish next time around...

Hull's Seafood Kitchen in Ormond Beach, FL

After a day at the beach, I tried a restaurant/seafood market in Ormond Beach called Hull's Seafood Kitchen. Hull's took up an entire strip mall, half of which was the seafood market that sold all sorts of interesting edible sea creatures, including some live stuff. The other half of the building was the restaurant. Some of the fishy smells from next door did drift into the restaurant, but I suppose that was just a reminder of the reality of seafood.

I ordered a crab cake sandwich, served with cole slaw and a pickle. The sandwich was good, consisting of the meaty crab cake, lettuce, tomato, onion, and remoulade sauce. Very tasty...


Hull's also had seafood dinners that sounded really good, but they were kind of pricy. Dinners were out of my budget on this visit, so I stuck with my sandwich. Perhaps next time...

Captains Pizza in Clearwater, FL

After a day of enjoying Clearwater Beach, it was time to get some dinner. It was decided that pizza would be an appropriate post-beach food and we were off to search for an Italian restaurant. It seemed just about every pizzeria within walking distance of the beach served small conveyor belt pizzas with really high prices, that is, until we came to Captains Pizza.

The place was kind of dingy looking, but they had real pizza ovens and had a pie that was large enough to feed five people for an affordable price.

Our cheese pie wasn't the best pizza around, but it served it's purpose for a post-beach dinner. It was quickly devoured and we were out of the restaurant in time to see the awesome sunset on the Gulf of Mexico...

Mamacita's Mexican Bar & Grill in Hollywood, FL

On a cold winter evening, I made my way to the boardwalk in Hollywood, FL to find dinner. After a short walk, the scary mannequin outside of Mamacita's Mexican Bar & Grill drew me in for some food.

Like most meals at Mexican restaurants, tortilla chips and salsa came first. The salsa had a nice kick to it...

I ordered the Torta al Pastor for my meal. Mexican tortas are something I was completely unaware of until a few months ago. Once I was conscious of tortas though, I've been coming across them everywhere and it was about time that I finally try one of these Mexican sandwiches. The Torta al Pastor was filled with spicy pork, sliced avocado, lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. Technically, it was the typical fillings found in a taco (except the mayonnaise) with a more substantial baked good holding everything together. I had nothing bad to say about the sandwich. It was cheap, filling, and delicious. The ocean view didn't hurt either.

Umbertos in Deerfield Beach

I'm a big fan of the various Umberto's Pizza up in New York (although my last visit was disappointing). About a year ago, I was driving through Deerfield Beach, FL and spotted a place called Umberto's of Long Island. I really wanted to give the place a try based on the name alone, but I had already eaten for the night. Fast forward a bit, and I am in Deerfield Beach once again, and this time I know exactly where I was going to get food.

I stopped by the restaurant and the initial feeling wasn't the same as a visit to one of the actual Umberto's Pizzas in Long Island. No one was speaking Italian. There wasn't a huge selection of pizza choices either. The choices consisted of the standard pie or Grandma pizza. I ordered a slice of cheese pizza, and it turned out I got the last slice. My dining companion also wanted a plain slice, but the options were to wait for a new pie to be made or make another selection. We didn't have much time left in the parking meter, so a slice of pepperoni was selected.


After being reheated, we received our slices and ate them as we walked back towards the car. My cheese slice wasn't as attractive as I would have liked (too many collapsed bubbles in the center of the slice), nor did it compare to a slice of pizza from an Umberto's up north. It tasted acceptable, but not exceptional. The same was said about the pepperoni slice. It was good, but nothing great. The pizza definitely wouldn't be worth making another special trip to get, but if at the beach, I could see myself getting another slice. The one thing that the Long Island Umberto's can't compete with is being able to cross the street to eat pizza on the beach...