Labor Day Weekend 2008 - Eating Out in Flagler County

Friday Night - Late night meal at Blue at the Topaz Hotel

We were here during the Memorial Day weekend and we liked it well enough to return tonight for a late night snack. (Plus it was convenient since we were staying on property) All we wanted was an appetizer or two and a glass of wine.

The appetizer specials that night included the Escargot in olive oil and garlic and the Stuffed Shrimp Oscar with asparagus in Hollandaise sauce.

We ordered one of each and enjoyed them with a glass of the house chardonnay. The appetizers were both delicious and the wine was very nice.

We felt like we could eat a little more so we ordered a bowl of the Black Bean Tequila Lime Soup topped with shredded cheddar and Monterrey jack cheeses, red onions and sour cream and a bowl of the Creamy, Rich, Lobster Bisque with a hint of Tarragon and Brandy flavors. The Black Bean soup was good but not as good as we make it at home. The Lobster Bisque on the other hand was very good, although a few pieces of lobster would have enhanced the texture.

Blue is a great restaurant in the sleepy beach town resort of Flagler Beach. We are glad to have found it.

We give this visit at Blue..........................................................3.5-Forks

Saturday Morning - Brunch at La Piazza Cafe

This restaurant is located at the European Village Resort in Palm Coast, Florida just 8 miles north from Flagler Beach.

It is a small restaurant with only 6 tables indoors and 10 tables outside. It is simply yet handsomely decorated.

We liked it from the moment we walked in.

We ordered flavored champagne cocktails during our Brunch; First round we had an Apricot/Peach and a Mango; then we had the Blue berry/Pomegranate and another Apricot/Peach.

The drinks were trendy but good.

We ordered the Papa Frittata, with eggs, potatoes, sausage and Swiss cheese and the Eggs Florentine, with spinach in garlic and olive oil. We also enjoyed the fried Prosciutto ham, the crusty Italian bread and we shared an ordered of pancakes with syrup.

The food was delicious and the service was gracious, courteous and prompt.

We loved La Piazza Cafe and we give it...........................................................4-forks.

Saturday Night - Dinner at Flagler Fish Company

Flagler Fish Company is a very popular restaurant because of the delicious fresh fish that they serve. This was our second time there, because we liked it so well the first time.

It is simply decorated and fresh fish is visible on ice in refrigerated display coolers.

The place is casual, with about 12 tables very tightly packed in a small space, making your nearby diners more intimate than you would otherwise prefer.

As always there was a long wait to get a table at 8:00 PM. We were told that we would be seated in 45 minutes. Normally people wait outside on high-top tables having a glass of wine. These tables were also full.

We didn't want to wait sitting on the hood of our car with the evening's lingering humidity, so we decided to go next door to an Italian Restaurant named Giuseppe's.

We were seated, reviewed the menu, and decided that we would have appetizers here then go back to get our table next door at FFC in 45 minutes.

We ordered the Shrimp-ka-bobs and a glass of white wine. The shrimp and the wine were both good and the service was excellent and timely. At 8:45PM we went back next door and our table was made ready and we sat down to enjoy a great seafood dinner.

We give Giuseppe's............................................2.5-Forks

Back at FFC, we each ordered the Creamy Lobster Bisque for starters which was very good.

We also ate some of the complementary fish dip and home made potato chips although we felt it was not as delicious as it had been on our first visit.

For our entrees we had the Baked Mangrove Snapper with an olive oil, tomato and parsley sauce, and the Grilled Talapia with a Salsa Verde. These were accompanied by several sides including, sauteed spinach in olive oil and garlic, potato salad, and cole slaw.

The food was excellent once again although next time I will order my fish grilled or blackened and not baked.

The wine however was excellent. We had a bottle of the Louis Latour White Bordeaux 2002.

We had the same excellent server we had on our first visit so the total experience was again, very pleasant. I think we will eat here every time we find ourselves in Flagler Beach.

We give the Flagler Fish Company..........................................................3.75-Forks.

Sunday - Brunch at Barbara Jean's

This is another of the several restaurants that we have found at the European Village in Palm Coast, Florida and it had come highly recommended.

Barbara Jean's is a chain of restaurants specializing in Home Style cooking

The restaurant has a clean pleasant appearance and it appeared to be quite large (about 50 tables)

We ordered a couple of drinks to wet our whistle while perusing the menu; A Southern Icepick and A Summer Breeze.

For starters we ordered a bowl of the creamy spicy She Crab Soup and a bowl of the soup special, Cream of Squash.

The bread basket was delivered warm with an assortment of corn bread and pumpkin bread. Both were moist and delicious.

The soups were not very good. The She Crab soup was not spicy nor flavorful. It tasted like a bowl of liquid flour. I tried to give it some flavor with Tabasco and salt. You would be amazed how much Tabasco sauce it took, before the soup acquired any of the taste.

We traded soups so we could both try some of each and the Creamy Squash soup was marginally better. The main problem with this one though, was that is was NOT creamy. It was runny and the only flavor I could taste was the lemon juice and Tabasco sauce we put into the soup.

We thought perhaps they cooked blandly on purpose because of all of the elderly patrons who seem to patronize this establishment. But bland still implies flavor. These had none.

For our entrees we had ordered the Spicy Shrimp Creole Special of the Day with a side order of their signature Crab cake and the Coastal Platter which consisted of a Crab Cake, Buttermilk battered fried shrimp and a fried fish fillet, which by default turned out to be catfish. Excellent huh? NOT.

You know that there are at least 200 recipes for crab cakes and about 195 of them are not very good. You would think that a place that ships crab cakes all over the United States would have good crab cakes. Well, they don't. They crab cakes were fishy and bland. Terrible.

The Spicy Shrimp Creole was not spicy and it had 5 "normal" size shrimp on the top, about 1.5 inches long, but the rest of the shrimp (15) were one quarter inch long. I have served my Angel Fish bigger shrimp. The dish again was bland and flavorless. The buttermilk shrimp were OK. The catfish fillet was flavorless other than the taste of the grease used to fry it and it was about 1/4 inch thick with 1/2 inch of batter.

The entrees were served with a side of green beans sauteed in garlic and olive oil which were good and sweet potato.

We could not wait to get out of there. Although it was so bad, we couldn't stop laughing, so all was not lost.

This is the most disappointing meal we have had since we established our Blog. When they picked up our plates they knew we had not enjoyed it because the plates went back almost as full as they were when they were served. We must say though that they did offer to give us a gift certificate for future use at their restaurant but we opted against it. We do not want to relive that experience ever again.

We give Barbara Jean's .........................................................1-Fork.

Sunday Night - Dinner at Royale Restaurant and Grill

This is another of the several restaurants at the European Village. This is the most formal of the lot, with more expensive furnishings and trimmings. The place is lofty with tall ceilings and the decor is deliberate but understated.


This turns out to be a Portuguese restaurant. It was not crowded at all but it was Sunday night. Most of the patrons opted for an outside table but we prefer the comfort of air conditioning in Florida from May to November. Our server was the restaurant manager and brother-in-law of the owner. He was shy at first but we got him to open up and be friendlier and more informative.
For appetizers we ordered: a) the Escargot a la Bourguignone; tender jumbo snails in a garlic and parsley butter and the b) Tuna Tartar served in the most original and delicious way we have seen: Raw Tuna with onions and a teriyaki sauce topped with a compacted chilled avocado paste.

Both appetizers were excellent.

For our entrees we had the Beef Wellington Royal; a beef tenderloin coated with pate de foie gras and topped with duxelles mushrooms, which is wrapped in a puff pastry and baked; And the Steak Portuguese Style(I asked for the porterhouse cut grilled medium rare) served with prosciutto, a creamy beef-garlic sauce and topped with one pan fried egg with a side of garlic mashed potatoes. The Portuguese Steak was awesome. The Beef Wellington was very good but we preferred the meat grilled rather than baked.

The wine was a Kendall Jackson Cabernet Sauvignon and it was great with our meal.

For desert, we had a glass of 10 year old Porto wine.

We spoke to our server after dinner and he indicated that they also own another restaurant about 20 miles south called Top of Daytona. (We will let you know how we like it when we visit it soon.)

Dinner was very good. We loved The Royale Restaurant and it merits...............4-Forks.

Monday - Breakfast at The Piazza Cafe

We decided to try The Piazza Cafe for breakfast since we had enjoyed the food so well Saturday for Brunch. This time we had Mimosas with our breakfast and I had the Papa Frittata and Ken opted for the more traditional eggs, sausage, and potatoes, both served with crusty bread. Again we had a side order of the pancakes with syrup and a side order of fried prosciutto ham.

Breakfast was very good and the service was impeccable. We look forward to having dinner here one night since the evening menu looked so very good.

We give this visit to The Piazza Cafe................................................4-Forks.