Chases on the Beach
3401 S. Atlantic Ave.
386/423-8787
If you were any closer to the ocean, you'd need a life preserver while indulging outside or inside as you watch the surfers. A monument to the first surfers in Florida in the 1960s is north a few hundred conch shells -- it was put up by the New Smyrna Surfari Club. Lunch on curried chicken salad, Greek gatherings with grilled shrimp or chicken or one of the 16 wraps and sandwiches including a half-pound Chaseburger ($5.95 to $9.95). There's a budget-stretching 4 to 6 p.m. sunset menu and the regular offerings ($10.95 to $17.95) featuring cashew-crusted mahi-mahi, orange roughy rollantini, ribs and sirloins, best launched with some she-crab soup. Lunch and dinner are served daily.
The Garlic
556 Third Ave.
386/424-6660
Master designer Jeff Gehris followed up his architectural triumph of PJ's with this Tuscan-inspired tour de force with unique outdoor garden dining and inviting indoor rooms loaded with strands and strings of garlic everywhere, for sight not smell and for using with great conscience in the puttanesca sauce, in the olive oil drizzled over the penne pasta with goat cheese and pine nuts, the rack of lamb or the seafood Italiano. Best of the starters are the lamb lollipops and mussels in a fennel-sambucca broth. In charge of the menu are the talented John Bauer, veteran of Gehris' ski lodges in Vermont, and Bryan Gudelis. Dinner, with entrees $13.95 to $24.95, is served daily.
Gilly's Pub 44
1889 State Road 44
386/428-6523
Casual Tiki hut family feeder with a full-blown menu of wings, shrimp, crab and steaks, Southwestern specialties, plus what they promote as "Our World Famous Gilly Burger," the best burger in town. Lunch and dinner, with entrees $5 to $17, are served Sunday through Thursday.
JB's Famous Fishing Camp and Restaurant
859 Pompano Ave.
386/427-5747
Of course it's on the water and of course it's all-out casual, proud to proclaim: "Our river produces the sweetest seafood anywhere." The back room is equally proud to proclaim that it is preparing "Southern seafood with an attitude." That means grouper, flounder, swordfish and pompano -- what else with that address? -- along with gator tail, crabulous sandwiches and local oysters from their own private leases. Lunch and dinner, with entrees $10 to $20.95, are served daily.
Kelsey's Riverview Restaurant
101 Flagler Ave. (Riverview Hotel)
386/428-1865
Sporting a spacious deck overlooking the marina and inside tables by walls of windows for watching the always-fascinating boat parade, this well-served wonderment has great noontime salads, priced from $2.95 to $7.95. Later in the day, start with oysters Rockefeller, some prize-winning clam chowder or chilled jumbo shrimp with Roquefort stuffing and then sail into beef tips with sweet peppers, onions and wild mushrooms hiding in a fine French pastry; or pan-seared Ahi tuna with teriyaki sauce spiked with Florentine horseradish, ginger or garlic. Lunch and dinner, with entrees $8 to $25, are served daily. There's a jazz brunch on Sundays.
Mon Délice
105 Flagler Ave.
386/427-0153
A petite offshoot from the French patisserie of the same name at 730 Third Ave. and a perfect little hideaway for indulging in breakfast croissants or mid-afternoon butter cream temptations in the little courtyard a few feet off Flagler between Pine and Cooper streets. Open Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
New Smyrna Steakhouse
723 E. Third Ave.
386/424-9696
Reliable server of wood- and mesquite-fired chicken, shrimp, steaks and chops with siblings in Ormond Beach and Port Orange. The best ribs in town -- "Piggy Back Ribs: Much bigger than Baby Backs, but just as tender" -- as the menu promises and then delivers. Lunch and dinner, with entrees $10 to $25, are served daily.
Norwood's Restaurant & Wine Shop
South Causeway (Beachside)
386/428-4621
Earl Norwood first served his own fresh-harvested oysters, shrimp and fish in 1946 in this converted 1929 Pan Am gas station and general store, and he built up a fine reputation as the best place to eat in sleepy ol' New Smyrna. Don Simmons took over the management in 1986 and expanded the menu substantially, adding landlocked fare to all that seafood and installing a splendid wine cellar. Seafood is the specialty, but the steaks are also special. Lunch and dinner, with entrees $10 to $25, are served daily.
PJ's Sea Shack
491 E. Third Ave.
386/428-8850
A remarkably designed surprise with an open-air panorama of the Indian River Lagoon out back just past the wood-burning stone oven and bar, where you can sit and wonder why other places are sealed off from such great views. Munch and lunch on rollups, crabcakes, cheese steaks and burgers ($5.95 to $7.95) or get serious at dinner with coconut-crusted shrimp and Thai sauce, beer-battered fried fish platters, slabs of salmon, grouper and mahi-mahi, plus lotsa pasta -- and pizzas after 8:30 p.m. Lunch and dinner are served daily, with entrees $12.95 to $19.95.
Victor's Backstreet Cuisine
103 S. Pine St.
386/426-5000
For nine years, chef-owner Victor Detec has been hiding in this nine-table old house off Flagler, pleasing seekers of the unusual and unique, adding wild berry sauces to platters of Ahi tuna, crowning chicken breasts with sauteed mushrooms or developing special barbecue, Mediterranean and South of the Border menus, using bleu cheese with abandon and softening the peppercorn-pistachio au poivre with brandy cream sauce. Dinner entrees range from $9.50 to $25 and are served Tuesday through Sunday.
Restaurants Around the State
SOUTHEAST
Jensen Beach
Conchy Joe's Seafood
3945 N.E. Indian River Drive
772/334-1130
Fred Ayres is the owner-operator of this casual winner, serving plenty of shrimp in a variety of ways and all kinds of Bahamian-inspired fin fare. For more of the same, sail to Conchy Joe's in Melbourne at 1477 Pineapple Ave. (321/253-3131). Lunch, $7 to $14, and dinner, $13 to $20.
SOUTHWEST/TAMPA BAY
Tampa
Cafe Paradiso
4205 S. MacDill Ave.
813/835-6622
Family-run storefront find that takes all the extra steps front and back to be "tutto Italiano," with the extra-friendly service and food -- osso buco is a beaut. Dinner, $13 to $26.
CENTRAL
Orlando
Louis' Downtown
116 W. Church St.
407/648-4688
Chef-proprietor Louis Chatham, who put Chatham's Place on the gastronomic Grand Tour several years ago, has been downtown since 1999, serving Southern specialties with Cajun accents: Andouille-stuffed quail, double-thick pork chops, lots of collard greens and soul. Dinner, $18 to $36.
NORTHEAST
Ponte Vedra Beach
Restaurant Medure
818 N. A1A
904/543-3797
Star chef Matthew Medure expanded his empire with this delight near Sawgrass, setting new standards and breaking old barriers. Dinner, $16 to $28.
NORTHWEST
Havana
Nicholson Farmhouse Restaurant
200 Coca-Cola Ave.
850/539-5931
An authentically old-timey hideaway that chargrills its steaks with great care, offering seafood and chicken as alternatives for the fans who appreciate the down-home basics. Dinner, $10 to $26.