Country Restaurants

Country Restaurants to me can be a restaurant that tries to represent the food of a particular country. An example, Pepe's Cantina, a new Mexican dining place located on Church Street, in the old Church Street Station buildings.

I went there last week with my friend Gaylen Drape before a Magic home game. This place use to be a Pittsburgh establishment, serving sandwiches with the fries stuck in the middle for a messy ordeal. They also had amny flavors of pierogies. My nephew Brandon and I stopped there a few times. Now it is a Mexican place, serving beef chimichanga with beans & rice (Gaylen's choice)...

Or a shredded chicken burrito with two sauces (BJ's choice)...

The seating was kind of strange, they have curbside tables on Church Street (that were full) and an inside area near the bar with both low and high tables. But the hostess walked us right through the place out the back door where there were more tables set up, right next to the public bathrooms. We were brought chips and salsa and asked our drink order. I got some Mexican water (Corona Light) and Gaylen got a Dos Equis draft, served with a lime...

They did bring us water and a waitress stopped by fairly quickly for our order. I am giving the place a 2.5 (Good to Excellent). I think if we had been sat inside, I would have gone up a half point because I though the food was excellent. My burrito was full of shredded chicken, beans, rice, guacamole, and a few other vegetables. I will probably try it again but sit inside at the bar.

OR...a country restaurant be a country restaurant. That would be Hurricane Creek in downtown Melbourne.
A view of the menu...

Now if that ain't some country food (Viddles), I don't know what is. They do have a large bar with TV showing lots of sports, especially baseball, our country's pastime.

There were lots of funny signs on the walls and other decor...

They have a large dining room area and in the back, a very large dancefloor. The bartender told me they have line dancing on the weekends. 

I sat at the bar and they said there had stopped taking kitchen orders due to a backup. I thought maybe it was because it had started to rain at the Art Festival going on, and everyone came in at once. I would be wrong on that. The good news is she could serve me a beer, which I ordered and asked to see a menu. I was reminded that I could not order yet but I would be one of the first when the kitchen was taking new orders. I am sorry, but they lost a whole point because of this weird situation. Here is my bartender at the cash register...

Finally, after two beers and the third being order, they said I could order food. I asked for the Signature Grilled cheese, and wanted the Stagecoach. I got my choice of cheese (from five) and a choice of meat (from four). Pepper jack cheese and pot roast for the meat. It came with one side from a choice of six. I picked the side salad with ranch dressing.

The sald was very nice and it was a great ranch dressing. The sandwich was very delicious and not too messy. They gained some on their score but I still am going to give the place a 2.0 (Good). Would have been a half point higher if the beers were sold in a glass and not plastic cup. But it is a Country Saloon and I did see the Blues Brothers, so maybe plastic is just safer on the weekends. Of course, after three beers I got to visit the bathroom where the urinals were unique...

A close-up of the sign over the keg...

Only in a country restaurant! As I was walking out, the owner apologized for the inconvenience. I asked what had happen and he said they had received a take-out order for 16 people just as it started raining.

These two new places gets my yearly total to 5, and I should be at seven. There is a new Mexican restaurant on Eau Gallie Causeway and a new Irish pub opening in downtown Eau Gallie. Good Eating!