Cafe Du Japon in Daytona Beach, FL

I was in Daytona Beach and was looking for another Japanese restaurant which I had visited in the past. After being unable to find it, asking around told me it had closed up and I should try Cafe Du Japon instead. Cafe Du Japon is like a sushi speakeasy. GPS will give you directions, but you end up a somewhat sketchy storefront with a question mark in the window and old neon signs advertising Beer & Wine and Internet. There's nothing with the name of the restaurant, nor is there any indication that they serve Japanese food if you don't already know. Seems like a bit of a strange advertising method, but the word of mouth about Cafe Du Japon must be good because they were busy.

I tried three sushi rolls at Cafe Du Japon. I had the Fuzzy Caterpillar Roll, Orange Country Roll, and Spicy California Roll (left to right in the photo). All of which I enjoyed. The presentation on the Fuzzy Caterpillar was very nice with the sauce antenna on the plate!

Stavro's Pizza House in Daytona Beach, FL

I had dinner at Stavro's Pizza House in Downtown Daytona Beach. There seem to be lots of Italian restaurants in the area that use the Stavro's name. It's very confusing because they all claim to be completely independent and not connected to the other Stavro's in any way. The menus and foods at each of the Stavro's seem to vary a lot from location to location as well. I wonder what the story is here how so many Italian restaurants in the area all ended up with the same name?

We ordered a pizza topped with half pepperoni/half meatball. The pizza here was pretty average. The crust had a nice texture that I liked, but there was too much cheese in my opinion. Never good when there's so much cheese that it can't be supported by the crust and it floods off of the slices. Otherwise, this pizza wasn't too bad. I might stop here again at some point...

Zeno's Boardwalk Sweet Shop in Daytona Beach, FL

Zeno's Boardwalk Sweet Shop is an ice cream shop and candy store attached to a t-shirt store located less than a block from the Daytona Beach Boardwalk.

They had a taffy machine in the window that seemed to be doing a good job of bringing in customers when I visited.

I tried a scoop of their Coconut Joy ice cream in a cake cone. It had plenty of toasted coconut and actually did taste pretty similar to an Almond Joy candy...

Joyland Arcade in Daytona Beach, FL

I stopped into the Joyland Arcade along the Daytona Beach Boardwalk for some dessert on the beach. It isn't exactly a fancy place and actually looks like the arcade has seen better days. Still, Joyland Arcade has a bit of a nostalgic feel and unlike it's former neighbors on the boardwalk, it hasn't been demolished.

They had the food you would expect from a snackbar located in an arcade on a beachside boardwalk. Lots of fried stuff, and what I was looking for on this visit, a soft serve ice cream machine.

I had vanilla soft serve in a waffle cone. It was nice and tasty, just like soft serve vanilla ice cream should be...

Starlite Diner in Daytona Beach, FL

Starlite Diner in Daytona Beach is located on A1A, just across the street from the Ocean Walk shopping area/hotels. This restaurant is in one of those great prefabricated diner buildings that aren't seen too often in Florida.


Inside, the restaurant continues the classic diner look...

I've visited Starlite Diner several times on my visits to Daytona Beach. Some meals have been better than others, but the food has always been pretty good as far as Florida diners go.

This Philadelphia Chicken Cheesesteak wasn't the best sandwich I've had here. The sandwich was filled with grilled chicken, peppers, onions, and cheese. It tasted very plain and really could have used some sort seasoning. It took lots of mustard to give the sandwich more flavor...

The Turkey Club that I ordered on another visit was much better. The triple layer sandwich was filled with turkey, cheese, and mayonnaise on the lower level, followed by a slice of bread, then topped with an upper level of lettuce, tomato, and bacon. The sandwich was generously filled and was a whole lot to eat. Homefries and pickle slices were served on the side. It was a relatively simple, but yet tasty sandwich, leaving me with no complaints about the meal!


After dark, the neon lighting on Starlite Diner blends in nicely with the illuminations on the Oceanwalk hotel across the street. It all looks very retro...

Daytona Beach Buca Di Beppo

I ate at the Buca Di Beppo in Daytona Beach, FL. It was probably a sign that the meal wasn't going to be perfect when there were about twenty employees smoking on the restaurant's patio and at the most ten cars in the parking lot. We were seated and there was some beverage confusion when after about a half hour, the drinks were finally served, then served a second time by someone else minutes later. Bread was brought out, but at a table of five people, only three butter packets were given. When the bread was refilled, there was no butter. A mixed green salad was brought out next. I don't know what mixed greens they were talking about, because the entire salad consisted of iceberg lettuce with a few olives and pepperchinis on top.

When nobody was looking, the waitress swooped by and cleaned up some of the bread plates off of the table, and took the quarter plate of yet to be eaten salad along with them. My main dish of Penne Campofiore was served soon after. It consisted of whole wheat penne pasta topped with zucchini, artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, spinach, garlic, and romano cheese, topped in a broth. It was okay, but wasn't anything all that great. The sauce actually tasted kind of bland and needed salt. One thing I did like was the amount of spinach given. Many restaurants will skimp in spinach in pasta dishes, but Buca Di Beppo provided plenty...

The service was kind of strange at this Buca Di Beppo, but the food wasn't all that bad. I wouldn't be making a special trip back to the restaurant any time soon though. In closing, here is a picture of a Christmas light covered statue in front of the restaurant...

Pulled Pork Sandwich from Cruisin Cafe

I ate at the Cruisin Cafe in Daytona Beach, Florida. I was originally going to eat at a Bubba Gumps, then a diner, and then somehow I ended up here. In this restaurant, you get to sit in booths shaped like NASCAR racecars while you get to see cars race on the TVs above every table. I suppose if you are a NASCAR fan, this is a big deal. It was not for me.

I ate a pulled pork sandwich served with sweet potato fries and a pickle. I've had much better sandwiches elsewhere...