Third New Restaurant of 2017

Trying to catch up on my goal to eat at 26 new restaurants for the year, I updated an excel spreadsheet with all the restaurants I want to go for the year. There was a total of 41 new restaurants in the list, and I have not even completed the list yet. There were eight places that have closed down in 2016 before I got to go to them. Just to be complete, there were five I did go to in the last two years that have since closed. The restaurant business is volatile.

When creating this new list of places, I added a field called "reference" which signified who recommended the place. Most of them I get from the local paper which I subscribe, the Florida TODAY. One though was recommended by my good friends Nancie & Jose Marin. The place is called  Mi Balconcito Latin Grill and that is where I went today.
Painting inside the restaurant
It is a Puerto Rican Restaurant and that is where Jose is from. I wish he was there with me to answer some questions about the menu and the hot sauce. It is located on US1 in Palm Bay, just south of the Port Malabar Road. It has been many different things through the years.

The place was not too crowded but I sat at the bar. Here is my view of the Indian River from my bar seat. Of course, the sun blinded the photo but I want to mention that there is an inside dining area with a full bar, and there is a patio with tables that is open air, no screens.
View from my bar stool looking East
They do have a full liquor bar and assorted wines....
View of bar at Mi Balconcito
For you beer drinkers, they are a typical Budweiser bar with the regular taps seen at most bars. Florida Lager, Stella Artois, Goose Island IPA, Bud, Ultra and Bud light...
Beer Taps at Mi Balconcito
 Not sure what to order, there were many Puerto Rican dishes (help Jose), I decided to go with something simple, a grilled chicken breast. Then there were the choices, white or yellow rice (I choose yellow), red or black beans (I choose black) and one side which I choose the sweet plantains. Very nice....
Grilled chicken lunch at Mi Balconcito
 I wanted some hot sauce for the rice and beans and this is what they brought me....(ignore the beer)...
Hot sauce at Mi Balconcito
 I was not sure what to do with it. She brought me a long spoon so I opened the jar and spooned out some of the hot peppers. And let me tell you, some of them were very hot, others were just mildly hot. Still not sure if I was suppose to just use the juice, or to take the peppers. Any help Jose?

The lunch was only $8.95 (beers not included) and was more than enough food. The chicken was a little dry but all the sides were wonderful. I will give the place a 3.5 (good to excellent) on my scale, and I plan to try dinner here sometime.

 I took a photo from the deck as I was leaving...
View of Indian River from outside deck at Mi Balconcito
 There also were a few roosters roaming the deck. Actually, they were not real...
One of the roosters on the deck
 So, dinner in the future and definitely lunch again. I need Jose and Nancie to help with the menu....

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