The Sun Shoppe Cafe

Friday lunch, I joined the boys. For probably close to three years now, Friday lunches at various places in Melbourne have been a "thing" which started off mainly focused around Mustard's Last Stand (yes, I LOVE the pun!). They've expanded, and I've been many times. This week, the fare was The Sun Shoppe Cafe, which has a false reputation as being a coffee shop, even though they have breakfast-all-day and lunch menus as well. They're in downtown, across the street from Salsas (which sucks). There were seven of us, and at least three or four ordered the spicy tuna melt (myself included). It's a good sandwich, although I sub out the grilled rye for grilled pumpernickel and skip the sprouts (I'll never understand why people think they go with tuna!). The interesting things about the meals are that a) they serve you a sliver of pickle instead of a spear, so you get something similar to a Vlasic Stacker (LoL), and you get tortilla chips instead of potato chips (which are awkward to eat by themselves). Everyone enjoyed their meals, and we all tried a piece of Bryan's blueberry scone, which is one of the best I've had (too bad they don't have more flavors!).

Olive Garden

So the new Olive Garden commercials have been calling my name, and since BK, Tori, and I are all fans of the place, we met at the one in Vero on Wednesday night for dinner.

We actually all arrived within five minutes, which is pretty good. We spent rather an obscene amount of time deciding what to order (and by 'we' I mean them, since I was ordering the commercial's entree, LoL). The wine that they offer you to try was actually decent (I usually dislike their choices). I should have paid more attention, but I know it was a Zinfandel of some sort, and that Tori did not care for it.

They had the salad, but as I had salad for the bulk of last week, I opted for the chicken and gnocchi soup, which I've been meaning to try. I enjoyed it quite a bit, and would recommend it. The breadsticks were about par, and the entrees took a fair bit of time to arrive. However, when they came out, the server mentioned that BK's chicken was too small and that the chef was preparing another piece (he had ordered the stuffed chicken marsala with mashed potatoes). Tori got the chicken parmigiana, which came with the least amount of sauce ever, so she had to ask for more. She enjoyed the chicken quite a bit, tho. My lasagna rollatini with chicken was excellent. I was a bit hungry so I wanted to dive into it too fast, and of course burned by tongue in the process. But I enjoyed it and took home some. However, I don't understand the pricing. It was about $14, but to get it with sausage instead of chicken, it would have been $10. I'm not sure why chicken is so much more than sausage these days, but it's not the biggest deal. Olive Garden has raised their prices in general over the past year, which is kinda sad, since it makes Carrabba's much more appealing, LoL.

While we were finishing up nibbling on our dinners, the server came out with an entire new entree for BK. So apparently it ended up being a BOGO situation, and he would have dinner for the next night as well, LoL.

Auntie Anne's

My best friend and I were spending the day in Orlando.This included trying out the newest thing at Auntie Anne's. In case you haven't been lately, they now have a Pepperoni Pretzel, which is a typical pretzel covered in cheese and pepperoni slices. It's a hair more expensive than the other varieties ($3.09 before tax), but worth it. It tastes just like you'd imagine, LoL.

Al Capone

I was in Florida by myself for a couple weeks, so I was able to see some friends and go some neat places. Tori, BK, and I went to Kissimmee to see Al Capone's Dinner & Show. We were originally planning to see something different, but with 50% off coupons, this show won out. It wasn't ideally managed, but it was a darn good time. When you purchase your tickets, you're told that when you go to enter, you need to knock three times and give a password (which actually varies slightly from group to group, since I'm an eavesdropper...). After doing so, a little window in the door was slid open, and a woman peeked through (we're set in Prohibition-era Chicago, by the way), taking our ticket. The door opened, and mug shots were taken before we were led to our table (from which we had an excellent view of the stage). Weasel, our server, took our drink orders (soft drinks, coffee, wine, beer, and several cocktails are included in ticket price) and let us know about the buffet set-up. The buffet was vast, and I'd recommend the lasagna and the breadsticks. Steer clear of the pasta salad and the fettuccine, as I didn't like the alfredo and Tori didn't like the marinara. The ham was sweet, the turkey was dry, the pot roast was good with the mashed potatoes, and the macaroni and cheese was decent. The lemon cake that was served later was average. The show itself was pretty entertaining. The cast was four females and two males, and the first act was far more humorous than the second. The jokes are pretty much your standard for dinner theatre, although there is a good bit of improv in the second act. I won't spoil the plot for you, but I will say that the resolution is a bit cheesy.

Palace Cafe

I headed toward Arnaud's Remoulade for lunch (recommended by two sources for lunch) but ran into the person I sat next to in the panel that I abandoned. Turns out that the chair did show up during the second paper, so I could have stayed. She was presenting at the next session, so wanted to eat at a nearby place for lunch (Palace Cafe), and was enjoying a pecan-crusted fish. I joined her, and ordered the Pasta St. Charles, which was shrimp and andouille sausage with penne, Creole-mustard cream sauce, with a crawfish and cheeses on top. It was a little heavy, but since I was flying later I decided to go ahead with it. It was fantastic, and I couldn't finish it.

Arby's for a Quick Bite

It was a couple hours after I presented, and I just wanted to veg, so I grabbed Arby's and headed to the hotel. I did stray from my usual, and went with the roasted chicken club (pretty good, needs honey mustard tho) and the mandarin peach tea (which was too sweet, I nursed it for about four hours and never finished it).

Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar

Another day, I went to Felix's Restaurant and Oyster Bar for lunch, which was recommended in the paper I got from the last session on Wednesday night. I felt bad taking a 4-person table, but all the 2-person tables were full, and I didn't want to sit at the counter. The server was friendly and prompt. I ordered a half shrimp po'boy and jambalaya. The jambalaya was about average, nothing too special. The po'boy was fairly standard as well. Problematically, the tartar was clumpy in a container on the table, so I didn't use any. This left my sandwich rather dry (since I got it "no mayo"), but still good. It was a hair expensive for lunch (it ran $14 with tip), but it's a famous place that I hadn't been to, so I deemed it worth it.