Merritt Island Carrabba’s Italian Grill - Where Every Meal is a Celebration Carrabba’s, less than 8 miles from my home, is one of my favorite local restaurant. Not only is the food consistently good here but the friendly manager, Stacey, the wait staff, chefs, bartenders & hostesses will make this eatery become your favorite, too. I’ve been dining here regularly since is opened many years ago. There are so many choices on the menu. Our favorite Antipasti is Cozze in Bianco, $9. It is steamed Mussels in a delicate white wine, basil, lemon butter sauce-simply delicious. My two sisters don’t even like mussels but they freely dip their bread into this sauce. We found the recipe on the Internet & make it ourselves at home, sh-sh-sh, it‘s our little secret. We order the large size as an entrée sometimes. My other favorite is Calamari with Marinara Sauce, $7.90. If you like spicy, order it with Spicy Italian Peppers & Lemon Butter sauce. There are 6 other appetizers to try or order the Antipasti Plate and sample three together. There are homemade soups and several salad choices, too under the Cucina Casuale selections. Entrée selections are too numerous to list. There are wood-fired Pizzas (or build your own) and Paninis which for some reason I have never tried. The 13 Pasta Dishes are served with soup or salad. My favorite is Pasta Weesie, $15.70 - Fettuccine Alfredo with shrimp sautéed in a garlic, lemon butter white wine sauce with sautéed mushrooms & scallions. I like it serve al denti. My husband likes the Pasta Sostanza which can also be served with chicken or shrimp. If I’m ordering from the Wood-Burning Grill selections (8) as I did on this visit, it is usually Pollo Rossa Maria- chicken stuffed with fontina & prosciutto, topped with mushrooms & a basil lemon butter sauce. This is a Carrabba’s Favorite, by the way. My husband and son love the Marsala selections (4) -Sirloin , $16.90 or Pork Chops, 16.50 especially. When I can’t make up my mind, I’ll order from the Classics & Combination (5.) When I skip an appetizer, I will order the Chicken Trio - Bryan (another Carrabba‘s Favorite), Marsala & Rosa Maria, $19.50. There are several seafood choices, grilled Salmon, Tilapia or Spiedino Di Mare (shrimp, scallops or both) and ribs, veal, steak, too. Grill, Marsala & Combination selections are served with homemade soup or salad & a choice of mashed potatoes, vegetable or the delicious Cavatappi Amatriciana, which I love & always order. My favorite Side Salad is the Italian one, served chilled on a chilled plate with lots of delicious olives, tomatoes, onions & carrots on mixed greens. The warm bread served with meals and the special herbs & EVOL served along with it is wonderful. We always request a second helping of it. On rare occasions, I’ll order from the dessert, Dolci menu (6) usually when I have a coupon. Tiramisu or Cannoli are my favorites. Very popular are the mini-desserts made fresh daily for only $2.50 each. Bring the Kids here. The Bambini Menu for Kids 10 & Under, beverage included is: Grilled Chicken Breast, Spaghetti & Meatball, Cheese or Pepperoni Pizza, Cheese Ravioli & Tomato Sauce, Chicken Fingers & Bambini Sundae. Although the restaurant is always busy, just call ahead & let them know you are on your way and how many are in your party. They will add your name to the list and save you waiting time. Carrabba’s has some unique offerings & one is Wine Wednesday (every Wednesday) - get $10 off any bottle of wine, $5 for a glass of Sangria and $10 off pitchers. They also have a daily Happy Hour up ‘til 7PM. Join the Amici Club (complementary) and get cooking tips, special offers for complementary menu items, “By Invitation Only” events and other benefits. We used a coupon for $10 off any entree with the purchase of an entrée for this visit. The Internet coupons (3) come out twice a year when you join the Amici Club. Come back another time for a free pasta dish with the purchase of another entrée or receive a free dessert or appetizer with an entrée purchase. Buy a Personal Gift Card and design it yourself using your favorite photo & add you own personal message. It makes giving a gift card pretty neat. It arrives with a personalized Greeting Card, too & it costs $4.50 above the gift card value. The ambiance of this location is lovely and inviting. Everyone is so welcoming and tries to please. It is fun to sit by or nearby the open kitchen & watch the chefs working their masterpieces. The bar is very popular & busy. We often order Take-Out from this location. Order Online, park in the designated Take-Out parking area & have it delivered right to you car door. Or, dine alfresco at this location. Some locations but not this one yet, allow you to make an online reservation. Contact information for the restaurant located at 60 Palmetto Ave. Merritt Island, FL 32953 is (321) 453-7045. Visit the Website at www.carrabbas.com/ for local daily specials, ordering online or new menu items. Other nearby locations to this one are in Melbourne & Palm Bay. Hours are: Mon -Thursday: 4:00 PM-10:00 PM, Fri: 4:00 PM-11:00 PM, Sat: 12:00 PM-11:00 PM, Sun: 11:00 AM- 9:00 PM. Be sure to tell Stacey the manager that I sent you. She’ll treat you like family.

Amici Restaurant - Your Home Away From Home One Monday night, we headed down to Melbourne to dine at Amici’s Italian Restaurant. Amici is Italian for friends & you will feel right at home in the family-owned & operated restaurant. We had a bit of trouble locating the restaurant hidden in a back mall off Wickham Rd. even using our GPS. It was well past 6:30 when we arrived. There was a wait which surprised us as it was a Monday night. Next time we will be sure to call for a reservation. It was fun watching the hand-tossed, fire-roasted pizzas coming out of the ovens located at the front of the restaurant to the left of the reception desk. After 20 minutes, we were shown to a large, comfortable booth. It was just barely within the Happy Hour parameters so we each ordered wine. Delicious, warm bread arrived fairly quickly along with oil and herbs - good thing as we were really hungry by then. We had a coupon from Living Social for $20 of food for $10 so we figured we could order whatever our hearts desired. We introduced ourselves to Valentina, the chef/owner’s wife who was very personable. She is from Yugoslavia. Despite a crowded restaurant, she made the time to chat with us for several minutes. Chef David Dashi came out from his kitchen to greet us later. He is from Trieste, Italy, moved to NY when he was 16, then worked in a restaurant in the Italian section of the Bronx - Arthur Ave. My husband grew up in this area & they had a lot to talk about. He later opened a restaurant called Amici’s Family Restaurant & Pizzeria Route 59 in Nyack, NY (it is still there) eventually moving to FL & opened one here- Amici‘s Italian Restaurant. We are glad that they did. We spent some time perusing the menu. The are 14 items listed under Antipasti - many are typical ones you’d expect in an Italian restaurant such as Bruschetta ($7.95,) Mozzarella Sticks ($6.95,) Roasted Peppers & Fresh Mozzarella ($9.95,) Cold Antipasto ($9.95,) & Zucchini Sticks ($6.95.) If you enjoy seafood there is Clams Oreganato ($8.95,) Clams Posillippo ($9.95,) Shrimp Cocktail ($10.75) and Fried Calamari ($9.95.) I was very tempted by the Appetizer ala Amici which is a big plate of Shrimp, Eggplant Rollatini, Clams, Mussels & Stuffed Mushrooms. I was hungry enough to eat it before I started on the delicious bread. Diners at the large table next to us ordered the Cold Antipasto ($8.95) & it looked fresh, delightfully arranged and visually appealing. My husband wants to order the Mussels next time. It comes as Marinara, Fra Diavolo or Bianca (which is what he likes. ) We’ll have to return for lunch some day soon. Entrees run around $9-$21.95 on the regular Menu. There is something here in every price range. With close to 35 selections, it was difficult to made a choice. On the Specials Menu (5 Entrees) only one Entrée was priced higher - Angus Steak for $23.95. My husband finally decided on the Veal Saltimbocca & I ordered Veal Amici. Both our meals were huge & we each took half home with us. Our entrées included Soup or Salad & Pasta or substitute Vegetables for $2.95. My husband & I both requested a salad with our meal. His was nicely chilled with Italian Dressing; mine was served with Blue Cheese Dressing. The olives perked up the flavor of the variety of greens & cucumbers; the cherry tomatoes & carrots brought color to the large portion. My main dish consisted of 2 good -sized pieces of Veal sautéed in a Sherry Wine Sauce topped with Prosciutto and Eggplant, then layered with Ham & Mozzarella. It was served over a generous portion of Spaghetti. The dish was very delicately prepared, simply delicious and brought to the table piping hot. The spaghetti was cooked exactly right. The Veal Saltibocca was similarly prepared - Veal topped with Proscuitto, Mushrooms & Mozzarella, sautéed with Sherry Sauce, served over Spaghetti. My husband enjoyed his meal immensely. If you like Grilled Salmon, $20.95 & it is on the Specials Menu consider ordering it as it came highly recommended by fellow diners. There is a selection of 5 meals per Bambini: Ravioli, Chicken Fingers with French Fries, Baked Ziti, Fettuccine Alfredo and a variety of pastas & sauces (meatball, too) all priced at a reasonable $5.95-$6.95. Everything is cooked -to-order so expect to wait for your meal to arrive. Our waiter, Tyler, stopped by several times to ask if we needed anything & replenished our water glasses as needed. Although this was our first visit, many others seemed to know one another & the wait staff. The place attracts locals & regulars. Some stopped to chat with the wait staff or owner before or after eating. Considering how busy the restaurant was, the service was friendly and not rushed. The restaurant is located in a small shopping center along with a couple of insurance offices, a quilting store and a Martini Bar among other stores. There is plenty of parking available. The inside of the restaurant is nicely appointed with lovely tiled floors, interesting framed art and high dark ceilings with fan. You almost feel that you are back in Italy. There is a very inviting bar where you can sit while waiting for your table to be readied. It was busy the night we dined here. Chairs are thoughtfully provided in front of the reception desk and a bench is outside. I checked out the second room of the restaurant which is used on Friday & Saturday nights and it too has its own bar. It would be great for a private party. Be sure to visit the bakery/deli which has its own entrance or can be reached from the restaurant. There are so many delectable pastries & cookies to choose from that it was hard to make our selections. The wait staff comes around with a platter filled with tempting desserts after you dinner is finished. The restaurant does a busy Take-Out business & we did take home a Calzone to try. The Restaurant is located at 7720 North Wickham Road # 120 Melbourne, FL 32940 (321) 255-5377. Hours are: Monday-Thursday, 11 AM to 10 PM, Friday & Saturday, 11AM- 11PM & Sunday 4PM-9PM. Visit the Website www.amicis-suntree.com for special events or more information. How we missed trying this delightful restaurant, I don’t know but we are glad that we found it now. We hope to become one of the friendly locals.