Chases on the Beach, New Smyrna Beach, FL

Chases on the Beach
3401 South Atlantic Avenue
New Smyrna Beach, FL
386-423-8787

A Real Change of Attitude and Right on the Ocean

www.chasesonthebeach.com

I can't help humming Jimmy Buffet's legendary song, "Changes in latitude, changes in attitude..." This is one of the best on the beach restaurants and watering holes I have found on my myriad journeys. There is live music twice a day. There are 2/1 drink specials and half-price appetizers at Happy Hour every day. I had the Calamari for $8.99. ($4.50 during Happy Hour.) This is hand cut and battered calamari tubes and tentacles served with a marinara dipping sauce. They were excellent! I had two Yuengling drafts both brought ice cold at the same time for $3.00. I had the Coconut Chicken Wrap Sandwich for $8.99-also excellent. It was crispy chicken fingers in an herb tortilla wrap with lettuce, pineapple, shredded coconut, roasted cashews and provolone cheese. Yummy! And the live music is classic--beach favorites from the Beach Boys to Buffet and beyond. Fire up the blender, Mama! The view is the best one in the Universe--waves rolling up onto the sand with a gentle swish, swish, swish... What more could you ask for? Oh--and if you dare, you can wear your bikini or bathing suit right into the restaurant or even swim in their pool right there in the restaurant. This is beach living at its best!

Coastal Waters Inn, New Smyrna Beach, FL

Coastal Waters Inn
3509 S. Atlantic Ave
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169
386-428-3800, 800-321-7882

Coastal Waters Inn would be lovely if they had more rooms with a view of the ocean and if they had an elevator and luggage carts. The rickety, old-style wood beach steps up the sides of the buildings are dangerous especially if you are elderly or even slightly handicapped in any way. It was raining the day I left and I had to carry my luggage one step at a time down the 17 very slippery and rickety steps from my room on the second floor to my car. When I expressed my dismay at check-in that there were such steep steps up to the room, the tiny check-in attendant offered to help carry my suitcases up the steps for me. She was tinier than the 50-60 pound suitcase that I take on long journeys. I ended up leaving the suitcase in the trunk and bringing up one set of clothing a day rather than make the dangerous trek even more dangerous with 50 pounds of luggage. I didn’t care for this hotel and I would not recommend it to anyone. There was a fully equipped kitchen in my unit, but how do you cook when you have no easy way to get the groceries up the steps to the unit? I guess if I was still in my 20s or 30s, it wouldn’t be such a problem, but I noticed that most of the guests were older than I am. The reservations were made through a company called All One Vacations who do time share tours in the New Smyrna Beach area. I toured a timeshare resort named Coconut Palms while I was there, but I was very unimpressed by the resort and the tour. I will discuss in depth the lack of customer service by All in One Vacations in another post devoted to just that company. There was no restaurant at Coastal Waters Inn. I would not return here in the future.

Shiki at the Beach

Shiki at the Beach
3192 South Atlantic Avenue
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169
386-427-4930

I loved this incredible Chinese-Japanese fusion restaurant. The location is nothing special. It is in a strip mall on the non-ocean side of A1A with Food Lion and some other shops. The decor is very nice and the food is excellent. I had the Gyoza appetizer for $6.50. The Gyoza is 6 pan fried beef dumplings served with sauce. I also had two different types of rolls featured by this restaurant: the Park Avenue rolls for $5.25 which are made up of sushi rice, tempura shrimp, avocado, cucumber, flying fish roe, and mayo. I also had the Florida roll for $6.00. These are sushi rice, fried salmon (or white fish), mayo, lettuce, and avocado. All of the food was incredible and the Soda was inexpensive at $1.75. I heartily recommend this restaurant to everyone.

JB's Fish Camp, New Smyrna Beach, FL

JB's Fish Camp
859 Pompano Avenue
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169
386-427-5747
I loved the rustic look and feel of JB's Fish Camp. Their Oyster Sandwich with fries for $7.50 was piled high with succulent fried oysters. These are the kind of oysters that oyster lovers dream about. I can only imagine that the rest of the seafood was equally divine. This restaurant is open from 11:30 AM to 9:30 PM daily. There is live entertainment on Saturday and Sundays during the summer season, weather permitting. If you love seafood, a laid back atmosphere and great music with your beer, then you will love JB's Fish Camp. I can't wait to go back. http://www.jbsfishcamp.com/

Barnacles Restaurant

Barnacles Restaurant
869 South Atlantic Avenue
Ormond Beach, FL 32176
386-673-1070

4/02/2009 and 4/03/2009

“Barnacles” became my favorite restaurant on Ormond Beach this April 2009. I was very unhappy that the dining room did not have a view of the ocean, but the food almost made up for this. (Who would go to all the expense of having an ocean front property and then not put windows that actually faced the ocean so you could hear and watch the surf while you dine?) “Barnacles” is rustic and seaside looking. The huge salad bar, all you can eat crab specials and the oceanfront location are the biggest stars here. The Stuffed Shrimp Appetizer is incredible. It is actually 4 large shrimp, each topped with a big chunk of first quality crab cake and drizzled with a lobster sauce that was heavenly. I ate here twice while I was at the beach and ordered this appetizer both times. A word to the wise: watch for the coupons specials in the various coupon books for Barnacles. The night I had the Rib-eye steak with my Stuffed shrimp, I met the $25 minimum and received two glasses of free wine with my meal. “Barnacles” also has a two for one Happy Hour and a huge salad bar worth the extra $3. The second night I dined at Barnacles, I tried the Shrimp Pasta Arasgosta which is shrimp and linguine topped with their incredible lobster sauce. This was a bit of a disappointment as they were a bit skimpy on the shrimp and the lobster sauce for my taste.

http://www.barnaclesonline.com/Home_Page.html

Seasons 52 Restaurant, 7700 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL

Seasons 52 Restaurant
7700 Sand Lake Road
Orlando, FL 32819
407-354-5212

Reservations Suggested

A Wonderful Restaurant for Any Reason

Seasons 52 Restaurant is sparkling clean and simply beautiful. The decor is earthy and pleasant: wood, stone, fountains, hanging lanterns, artwork everywhere you turned, and an incredible view of the lake. Everything is spotless in the restrooms as well. The outside of the building is fantastically landscaped in wood, stone, lots of plants, trees, flowers and fountains. This is a very impressive restaurant to see both inside and out.

The food at Seasons 52 was incredible. It more than lived up to its reputation of using only the freshest ingredients. I have rarely had such a wonderful meal as the one I completely enjoyed at Seasons 52. I chose an appetizer of stuffed mushrooms. These were served on a special plate designed for stuffed mushrooms. The tender morsels of mushroomy goodness were stuffed with crabmeat, cheese, and baby shrimp and then sprinkled with more cheese. My next course was a steak salad. The salad was actually a fresh assortment of spring greens, roasted yellow and red peppers, warm, smoky mushrooms and freshly shredded Asiago cheese topped with a freshly made Caesar dressing. This was then topped with a tender, warm pink in the middle, steak cut into bite size cubes and liberally sprinkled on the top of the salad. The entire presentation was hearty and elegant and claimed to be fewer than 500 calories per serving. The finishing coup was the Mango cheesecake. This has to be one of the best desserts I have ever eaten. The Mango puree was heavenly; the cheesecake light and fluffy; creamy and rich; and the tiny cup was just enough to conquer my sweet tooth without blowing my healthy eating plan for the rest of the month. The freshly made Cappuccino was the perfect beginning and end to an amazing meal.

My only question is why don’t we have a Seasons 52 here in Lynchburg, Virginia?