Eau Gallie River Crab House in Melbourne, FL

I had lunch at the Eau Gallie River Crab House in Melbourne. Located in a repurposed Burger King building, this restaurant has a very nice view of the Eau Gallie River. They have plenty of outdoor seating overlooking the river, but it was very warm on the afternoon we choose to eat there, so our meal occurred in the air conditioning.

Although crabs may have been the thing to order here, I instead had the Blackened Mahi. Served with two sides, I choose the onion rings after seeing them be delivered to a nearby table and the steamed vegetables, which turned out to be broccoli. The fish had a nice spicy flavor and was nice and flaky. I don't know if it was meant to go with the fish or the onion rings, but I also liked the honey mustard dipping sauce that was served on the side.

I enjoyed the food here, but service was kind of lacking. There was one waiter for the entire restaurant. Although they were only about a quarter full, he definitely seemed overwhelmed. Taking drinks to be refilled and never returning them is never a good thing. Overall, food was good and hopefully the bad service was a fluke...

Island Pasta Company in Melbourne, FL

Island Pasta Company is located in Downtown Melbourne. They specialize in all sorts of pasta, with many of their dishes having a tropical influence.

The first pasta dish on the menu caught my attention. It was called The Mediterranean and was a tri-color rotini topped with feta cheese, scallions, basil, garlic, roasted red peppers, and sun dried tomatoes in a marinara sauce. I'm not entirely sure why, but I pictured this dish differently from the menu's description. It definitely was a tasty pasta, but perhaps because everything except the basil and feta disappeared into the sauce, I found it a little boring. Next time I'm going to have to go with something more out of the ordinary like their Trenchtown Tortellini, served in an alfredo sauce with tropical fruit...

Mustard's Last Stand in Melbourne, FL

Mustard's Last Stand is one the more famous restaurants in Downtown Melbourne. The restaurant is a small hot dog stand with some indoor seating and a nice outdoor patio. I had heard countless people talk about Mustard's, and I finally stopped into the restaurant to give them a try.

This hot dog stand was decorated with murals of a bearded hot dog and a bottle of mustard in various activities.

For a hot dog place, Mustard's Last Stand has a huge menu. I'm not a big fan of normal hot dogs served plain. They are just plain boring to me, but hot dogs get better when they can be dressed up in countless ways. When I got to the restaurant, I found out they have 2 for 1 dogs from 5-8. Since I got to try two, I had a Chicago Dog and a Guac the Dog.

The Guac the Dog was topped with guacamole, melted cheese, salsa, and onions on a poppy seed bun. This dog was somewhat messy with all of the saucy toppings dripping out while being eaten.

The Chicago Dog had mustard, tomato, onion, pickle, relish, peppers and celery salt on a poppy seed bun. This was definitely the winner out of the two hot dogs that I tried on my visit to Mustard's.

Mustard's Last Stand was a fun place. Really unhealthy with their encouragement to eat two hot dogs in one serving, but still tasty with a huge menu as far as hot dogs go. I'd go back!

Gyros & More in West Melbourne, FL

Gyros & More is a Greek/Middle Eastern fast food restaurant that has a couple locations around Melbourne. While the other locations are stand alone, potentially the most well known Gyros & More is located in the food court of the Melbourne Square Mall. A few different people each told me to try the falafel at Gyros & More the next time I visited the mall.

That visit to the mall food court happened eventually. I followed everyone's recommendation and ordered a falafel sandwich combo, which came with a side and a drink. The sandwiches were made very quickly, and soon enough it was time to eat.

The falafel pita from Gyros & More was decent, but I've definitely found better elsewhere. The pita was filled with falafel, lettuce, onions, tomato, and tahini, but yet I found it to be on the dry side. The sandwich tasted good, but a little more moisture in the pita would have been better. Still good, but not the best. I had stuffed grape leaves as my side. No complaints about these.

Although the falafel was a little dry, it was still tasty. This was also way above most of the other choices in the mall food court. I'd get food here again, although next time I think I'll try a gyro.

Cerrato's Italian Market & Deli in Melbourne, FL

Cerrato's Italian Market & Deli is a small store on 192 in Melbourne. They may be small, but they have all sorts of delicious foods. They sell foods like homemade pastas, fresh mozzarella cheese, Italian desserts, olives, and all sorts of other Italian goodies. They also have a deli that makes some very tasty sandwiches, which is the main focus of this post.

I've stopped into Cerrato's for their sandwiches a few times now. On one of my visits to Cerrato's, I had a caprese sandwich. It was served on a bread with a really nice crust, filled with lots of their homemade mozzarella, tomatoes, onions, and basil. The caprese sandwich was one of their daily specials when I tried it, so this huge sandwich was only $5 and change.

On another visit to Cerrato's, I had a prosciutto and cheese sandwich. Served on the same wonderful bread, I had this sandwich with all the toppings, including lettuce, tomato, onions, mustard, salt & pepper, and oil & vinegar.

When there are places like Cerrato's serving these sandwiches, why would anyone go to the big chains like Subway?

Lexi Martini and Tapas in Melbourne, FL

Hidden away in a covered alleyway in Downtown Melbourne, I had dinner at Lexi Martini & Tapas one evening. I passed on the martinis, but did partake in the tapas. Apparently Lexi is connected to a nearby restaurant called Continental Flambe and they share a kitchen. The food was good here, so perhaps I'll eventually try Continental Flambe as well...

Since it was tapas, all of the portions were on the small side and everything was shared.  My pick for the dinner was the curry chicken crepe with rice. I was able to get a picture of this particular dish since I ordered it. Everything else I tasted was partially devoured before it came to me so I'll pass on posting half-eaten foods.

The curry chicken crepe was actually my least favorite dish of the night. I thought the chicken was kind of dry and bland without an actual strong curry flavor. My favorite was the prosciutto, fig, and stilton pizza. Can't go wrong with salty meat and cheese contrasting with the sweet fig flavor on a pizza. The brie stuffed crepe was good, sort of reminding me of a blintz. The lamb sausage was also very tasty, but was too small for the price. The lobster macaroni & cheese also was tasty, but I've never been a big fan of lobster mac & cheese for some reason.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Lexi. Tapas is always fun, and this was no exception...

Downtown Pizza/Off the Traxx in Melbourne, FL

Downtown Pizza is a restaurant in the historic section of Downtown Melbourne. This tiny shop doesn't exactly have an inside and pizza is ordered from a window on the street. The weird thing is, nobody knows what I'm talking about if I mention Downtown Pizza. Regardless of the signage outside and having their own storefront, people seem to refer to this place as Off the Traxx, which is the connected bar located next door. Perhaps if I went to Off the Traxx for drinks before pizza I'd be referring to this place this way too, but why do that when I'm coming for some really good pizza by the slice?

The slices from Downtown Pizza are good sized with a really thin, crispy crust. The sauce and cheese always seem to have a good ratio, and are overall cooked to perfection on my visits.

The white pizza is also really good, with no sauce and big pools of ricotta cheese.

This continues my trend of finding exceptional pizza in Melbourne. Still haven't figured out why this area of Florida seems to have a disproportionate amount of good, NY style pizzas as opposed to Orlando where pizza seems to be disappointing more often than not. Old Skool Pizza and now Downtown Pizza. I wonder what good pizza will be discussed on this blog next?

Old School Pizza in Melbourne, FL

Old School Pizza is located right next to the FIT campus in Melbourne. Because of this, the restaurant is always filled with students. It seems to be equivalent in popularity to Lazy Moon outside UCF. At Old School Pizza, the slices are about half the size of Lazy Moon's, but the taste is way better. Actually, Old School has some of the best pizza I've had in recent memory. Their pizza has a thin, crispy crust with a perfect ratio of cheese to sauce. The pizza was also more along the lines of true NY style pizza than what many other Italian restaurants serve that make that claim. To top it off, their is cheap at under $2 per slice...

On another occasion, I tried a stromboli from Old School, filled with pepperoni, onions, and black olives. I was initially disappointed. This looked like a calzone, minus the ricotta, instead of having the rolled up dough normally found in strombolis. Still, it was pretty tasty and ended up being a huge amount of food for five dollars and change...

For some reason Melbourne seems to have a disproportionate amount of Italian restaurants serving really good pizza. I have yet to try a bad independent pizza in the area, where in Orlando I'm disappointed with pizza more often than I would like. Is it overflow from the good pizza down near Miami that hasn't made it to the inwards of the state yet? Does it have to do with being near the coast? I'm not sure, but good pizza is never a bad thing...

King of the Gyro in Melbourne, FL

I got take-out from a middle eastern restaurant in Melbourne called King of the Gyro one afternoon. I decided to go against the restaurant's namesake and ordered a chicken wrap instead.

This pita was filled with chicken, garlic sauce, mayonnaise, and pickles. The pita was good for what it was, but I found it to be somewhat boring. There was too much chicken and not enough other sandwich fillings. The garlic flavor was nice, but more vegetables never hurt in my opinion.

King of the Gyro is located on the second floor of the same shopping center as Middle Eastern Aromas. While the food was alright at King of the Gyro, Middle Eastern Aromas is definitely the winner of the two middle eastern restaurants in the shopping center...

Middle Eastern Aromas in Melbourne, FL

I picked up take-out a couple of times from a Lebanese restaurant in Melbourne called Middle Eastern Aromas. It's located in a somewhat dilapidated looking strip-mall and is half restaurant, half Middle Eastern market. I've picked up cans of stuffed grape leaves from the market on each of my visits!

I tried their falafel pita sandwich, filled with falafel, lettuce, tomato, parsley, pickled cucumber, and tahini. The falafel had plenty of flavor and the pickles were interesting. In other Lebanese restaurants, pickled turnips seem to be more common on sandwiches.

On another visit, I had the Chicken Shawarma Pita. This sandwich contained chicken, french fries, lettuce, tomato, pickled cucumber, and garlic sauce. The fries didn't seem to fit in with the rest of the pita in my opinion, although that garlic sauce was wonderful. I must have stunk for days afterward, but it's really good stuff.

Big Jims Bar-B-Q Food Truck in Melbourne, FL

I tried a food truck in Melbourne called Big Jims Bar-B-Q. Big Jims seems to be set up in a semi-permanent location along 192 in an empty lot occupied with the main trailer, a couple of smokers, and some picnic tables. I decided to get the pulled pork sandwich combo, served with two sides.

I tried the collard greens and cornbread for my two sides. I liked the collards, but the cornbread was very dry and could have used some butter for some extra flavor.

The sandwich was good, with loads of pork drenched in a vinegary barbecue sauce. Only complaint was that the sauce soaked down to the lower bun and made the bread very soggy. Regardless, the sandwich tasted good and was a whole lot of food for $7...

Zushi Asia in Melborne, FL

I had dinner at Zushi Asia in Downtown Melbourne. It seemed they did mostly sushi and Thai food...

I ordered the Green Curry Rice Dish with Chicken. The chicken was mixed with bamboo shoots, squash, bell pepper, and peas. The sauce was a mix of green curry and coconut milk. The coconut milk was the dominate flavor over the curry, making the dish more sweet than spicy. Since this was called a rice dish, I was expecting the chicken and other ingredients to be mixed together with the rice. Instead, the rice and chicken were served completely separate on the plate. Overall, the food was okay, but I was hoping for something with a bit more spice when I ordered something with curry...