Try a new restaurant and retry some favorites

I am keeping pace with an average of one new restaurant during each week of 2016. Sometimes though I like to go back to some of the ones that I liked the first time. There is no bucket list goal for this, other than I want to stay alive, and I figure I need to eat food to do that. I do like to cook, and probably should do a post on that someday, but today I want to present the latest new restaurant and a revisit to two previous establishments.

The new place that I went to is a Thai-Japanese restaurant located in the Avenues, a shopping plaza in Viera.  The sign on the outside is hard to read, but the place is called Thai Hana. It was actually easier to read the name on the table. The place was a little fancier than I thought it would be, and it was crowded although it was after 1 PM on a Thursday.

Tabletop in Thai Hana Restaurant

Thai Hana Sign

They seated me in a large booth for six even though I was alone. People kept coming into the place and I felt bad that some people had to wait for a table.  I guess I could have sat at the sushi bar but I normally do not do that on a first visit. I like to see how the waitstaff perform, you can tell a lot about a place. Here, they were very nice and very quick. I guess they were use to large lunch crowds.

I saw that they had Bento Box meals on the lunch menu so I ordered Bento Box A. This came with a choice of soup or salad and I selected the salad. It was a typical sushi restaurant salad with a slice of tomato, cucumber, Julienne carrots and lots of mixed greens, covered generously with a ginger dressing.

Salad

Bento Box A came with a choice of three sushi rolls, three pieces of nigiri, three pieces of sashimi, and a choice from about eight different lunch entrees.  I choose the tuna roll and my entree was chicken pad thai. I forgot to ask for any spice for the pad thai but it was very flavorful without the heat. Next time I will probably get it spiced up some.

Bento Box A with sushi, sashimi, and chicken pad thai

The lunch was very fresh and filling. I thought it was a great deal served in a nice environment. I give the place a 3 (Great) and definitely will go back.  I checked out the online menu and they have some wonderful pictures of the special sushi rolls they make. I have included a screen capture of the Happy Hour Deal....

Menu from Thai Hana website

After enjoying a new restaurant, I decided that I should retry some of the ones I liked the first time. My friend Mac Monroe wanted to go back to Ocean 302 in Melbourne Beach. I had recently gone back to buy a gift certificate for a friend's 50th Birthday. I knew he and his wife would love it. They loved it so much that they took the kids there for Mother day's brunch. I told Jose and Nancie they can take me there anytime.

It was a Tuesday and the place was not crowded. We sat at the bar because we also had an interest in the beers. They gave us the food menu, which is unique to say the least, but also handed us a chef specials menu.
There were some interesting things on the menu that I wanted to try. One was a Floribbean Chowder that I ordered. It was delicious and gone before I took a photo.

Since I have been eating somewhat healthy, I decided to order from the FORKS section of the main menu.

FORKS Section of 302 Ocean Menu

I decided to order the Greens302. The ingredients looked good and I wanted some greens. Again, no photo, but it was a much larger plate than I thought it would be, and it too was delicious. Two for two so far.
One of the other items they serve are nine inch pizzas cooked in a brick oven that sits in the corner near the bar and dining room. I have included the regular menu choice here...

From the Bricks Menu from 302 Ocean

These are good because I had some of them my first trip here. But there were two pizzas on the chef's special menu. The first was a Truffle Pizza, and that is what Mac ordered.

Truffle Pizza that Mac ordered at 302 Ocean

The other was a Cuban Pizza and that is what I ordered. It had pulled pork on it. They say nine inches but they seemed bigger. They are thin crust and mine was cooked perfectly. Of course, Mac and I traded a slice so we could try both. Mac ended up taking two slices home with him.

Cuban Pizza ordered by BJ

If I were to score the place again, I would give it a 4 (Excellent). I am already to go again. Mac and I may do it on a future Tuesday since we found it not to be crowded.

The second place I retried was actually a place I have been four or five times. It is Hemingway's Tavern at The Oaks Plaza in Melbourne.  Of course, if you read my blog, you know I was there for the Ernest Hemingway Look-alike contest.  But I did get some food before the festivities started. Here is another view of my mug I purchased for the evening for $1,

22 oz mug

I tried the Bahamian Conch chowder. This was the cup size, they also have a bowl. Sorry, I had eaten half of it before I took the photo.

Bahamian Conch Chowder

After the soup, I was not really hungry so I ordered the truffle fries. I had heard they were good. I heard right. They were very tasty and a nice snack before the real drinking began.

Truffle Fries at Hemingway's Tavern

I like this place and I am always willing to go back. let me know if you want to try it out.
Retirement has been great after two years of practice. I should become a professional retiree in a few years. Yeah, I may actually pay myself....but that is another future post!