Places to grab a bite: 10 new restaurants worth checking out in Volusia, Flagler counties
The Volusia-Flagler area saw a bevy of new restaurants open in 2021. Here are 10 worth checking out.
Spellbound Cafe: Enchanting mix of fanciful dishes, themed events
Michelle Predko is a hospitality industry veteran with more than 25 years experience in the food-and-beverage field. Five years ago, she branched out by launching a wedding and event planning business as well as becoming a professional tarot card reader.
In April, she finally combined all three of her passions by opening Spellbound Cafe at 208 W. Howry Ave. in DeLand.
"I did not choose DeLand. DeLand choose me," she said, explaining that she jumped at the opportunity after learning a former employer’s restaurant, situated in a 1936 house, would be closing.
"I got the call from them to see if I wanted supplies. At the time I was running my kitchen out of someone else's wine bar. I went to see the cafe and was approved to take over the lease," she said. "I wanted to do something that could bridge together my interests."
Signature dishes include its seared lamb lollipops ($20), pan-seared scallops ($22), and Mediterranean chicken skewers ($15). Its brunch menu offerings include Tally Me Banana French Toast ($12), Fix Your Head Flatbread ($13), quiches and omelets, and something called a Basic Witch: your choice of a house-made pastry or biscotti, small salad and seasonal fruit ($8). Spellbound also offers specialty coffees and teas as well as craft beers and boutique wines.
Spellbound offers a poetry night every third Thursday of the month from 6 to 8 p.m., and themed food-and-wine pairing events.
Predko also offers tarot card readings as well as event planning and catering services.
Spellbound is open Wednesdays and Thursdays, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 4 to 9 p.m.; Fridays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and 4 to 10 p.m.; Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sundays 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 to 8 p.m.
Tomahawk Tavern: Steaks, burgers and axe-throwing
One of Flagler County's newest restaurants has been earning rave reviews on social media for hitting the mark: literally.
In addition to its menu that includes steaks and burgers, Tomahawk Tavern at 2535 N. State St. in Bunnell offers six lanes where customers can learn, hone and show off their skills at throwing an axe.
"It's becoming a thing, like cornhole and darts," said co-owner Jeremy Pombier, who teamed up with business partners David Kimble and Tony Russo to open Tomahawk Tavern in October.
"We wanted to provide something for families to do and enjoy in Bunnell," Pombier said. While there are other places that also offer axe-throwing, "what sets ours apart is that we offer projector screens over the targets so people can play games such as tic-tac-toe or Connect Four or Zombie Heads in addition to throwing at a standard target."
Tomahawk Tavern also provides axe coaches to teach customers how to properly throw an axe as well as monitor how they are doing to ensure safety. Customers must be over 14 years of age in order to throw axes. The cost for axe-throwing sessions per person is $10 for 30 minutes or $15 for an hour. Only four customers are allowed per session to share a lane.
The restaurant also offers live entertainment on some Friday and Saturday nights as well as karaoke every Wednesday from 6 to 10 p.m.
Menu offerings include burgers, tacos and pasta dishes, all in the $15 to $16 range, as well as steaks which run in price from $30 to $75. The latter is for a 32-ounce Tomahawk steak, a bone-in ribeye that comes with three sides. "It's typically a shareable item although we have had some customers order it just for themselves," Pombier said.
The restaurant also offers a kids' menu as well as desserts.
Tomahawk Tavern is open Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday, from 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays, from 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Bay Street Dawgs: 'Bringing the North to the South'
Connecticut native Gary Tolla opened Bay Street Dawgs at 108 Bay St. in downtown Daytona Beach in May. "I wanted to bring the North to the South," he said of his new eatery, which offers 10-inch Hummel Bros. hot dogs shipped in from New Haven, Connecticut, as well as split buns shipped in from Massachusetts. "Everything comes from either New York, Massachusetts or Connecticut," he said. "Everything is also homemade, from the chili to the sauerkraut and relishes."
Menu items include Bay Street Dawgs where customers can pick their toppings ($4.90); a "Reuben" hot dog that comes with sauerkraut, Swiss cheese and Thousand Island Dressing ($5.50); The Jack, a hot dog named in honor of the nearby Jackie Robinson Ballpark that comes with chili and pepper jack cheese ($5.50); and burgers that range in price from $5.25 to $8.25. and a seafood roll that includes lobster, pollock, whiting fish and crab meat covered with butter on a split top bun ($14.95).
Bay Street Dawgs is open Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. It is closed on Sundays.
Options abound: Five places in Volusia County to get a hot dog
Burntwood Tavern: Artisan dishes, drinks in rustic setting
Burntwood Tavern is an Ohio-based restaurant chain that opened its first Volusia-Flagler area location in August at The Trails Shopping Center in Ormond Beach. The chain is known for its rustic look, thanks to its interiors made from reclaimed wood from old Amish barns in Ohio and Pennsylvania, as well as hand-blown glass chandeliers.
The chain's signature "artisan" dishes include cedar-plank salmon ($21), fish and chips ($19), a chicken-and-waffle dish that consists of Nashville hot chicken and waffles topped with bourbon maple syrup ($18), and a "Tavern Dip" sandwich made with house-roasted prime rib ($15). Burntwood also offers an array of burgers and sandwiches as well as soups, salads, appetizers and desserts.
The restaurant also offers an array of BWT Signature beverages that include infused vodka and bourbon drinks as well as a selection of craft beers and wines. It offers a daily happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m., as well as a brunch of Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. that include a Build-Your-Own Bloody Mary Bar and bottomless mimosas.
Burntwood is open Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. It is located at 250 N. Nova Road, Ormond Beach.
More dining choices: Ormond's Trails Shopping Center adds new restaurants
Farm to Fit: Locally sourced meals that are good for you
Veteran chefs Brady Privat and Kevin Alexander have worked together for years, including stints at 31 Supper Club in Ormond Beach, and more recently the Hard Rock Hotel in Daytona Beach.
In August, they finally fulfilled their long-time dream of owning a restaurant of their own when they opened Farm to Fit Scratch Kitchen in downtown Daytona Beach.
The restaurant at 168 N. Beach St. offers both dine-in seating, as well as grab-and-go dishes and a meal preparation service where customers can place orders in advance for meals that can be delivered to their homes.
As its name suggests, Farm to Fit gets most of the ingredients it uses from area farms, ranches and farmers markets. Its menu offerings include seasonal dishes that vary from week to week. A chalk board inside the eatery notes the names of some of the local farms it uses.
Menu items include its black and blue pizza made with flank steak on a cauliflower crust, Cajun mahi-mahi, chicken enchilada bowl, shrimp fried rice and a farm house salad. Meals range in price from $9 to $14.
"We make sure each meal we make is 30% carbohydrates, 40% protein and 30% healthy fats so that it's a healthy meal for the average person," said Kevin Alexander. The restaurant also offers meals that can be custom-made to match customers' individual dietary needs and/or preferences.
Farm to Fit is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
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NY Bagel & Deli: Bagels with a 'New York vibe'
Michelle Bryant Hollitz is a former educator who worked for many years in New York City before returning to Florida where she grew up. Looking to make a career change, she opened NY Bagel & Deli DeLand in downtown DeLand in April.
The eatery at 218 N. Woodland Blvd. in downtown DeLand offers "authentic New York bagels" that are hand-rolled in New York City and shipped in twice a week where Hollitz and her crew bake them fresh daily.
"We've got a whole New York vibe going," said Hollitz who notes that the interior of her restaurant is adorned with murals of subway cars and the subway platform at the Brooklyn Bridge as well as a map of New York City's subway system.
Signature dishes include the Nova lox bagel sandwich ($9.99) which consists of smoked salmon on a bagel with a thin layer of cream cheese, onions and capers, served open face. It also offers a Jersey pork roll served on a Kaiser roll with butter, egg and a slice of American cheese, as well as hot pastrami and Reuben sandwiches.
"We also offer 11 regular flavors of cream cheese that we make in-house and four seasonal flavors, all made fresh daily," she said.
NY Bagel & Deli DeLand also offers breakfast sandwiches, a full espresso bar and desserts, including cheesecakes and cupcakes from Junior's Restaurant & Deli in Brooklyn, as well as Italian cookies, and Dr. Brown's Sodas and Olde Brooklyn Sodas that are also shipped in from the Big Apple.
The restaurant is family-owned. Its staff includes Hollitz's sister, Tobi Bryant Myers-Browning, who serves as general manager, and Myers-Browning's daughters, Kayla Myers and Emilee Browning. "My mom [Vera Bryant] pops in to help out from time to time, too," she said.
NY Bagel & Deli DeLand is open Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to 2 pm., and Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
River Deck NSB: Ocean Deck owners add riverfront eatery
After four years of repairs to their aging riverfront building at 107 N. Riverside Drive in downtown New Smyrna Beach, the owners of Daytona Beach's popular Ocean Deck restaurant finally opened their newest eatery: The River Deck New Smyrna Beach.
The long wait was more than worth it to customers Steve and Debbie Sather of New Smyrna Beach who were excited to see that the menu offered a "Sea Harvest Fish Sandwich," a popular item that used to be offered at that location by a previous restaurant that had closed more than a decade earlier.
"Fabulous," said Sather as he took his first bite. "It's just as good as it was at the old Sea Harvest Restaurant. It's the best fish sandwich in the world."
Signature dishes include the Sea Harvest Fish Sandwich ($11) which consists of breaded white fish stacked up high and served with coleslaw and tartar sauce; wild-caught mahi mahi ($14), spicy Rasta chicken ($11), New England clam "chowda" ($4 for a cup, $6 for a bowl and $7 for a bread bowl), oysters served either baked, raw or steamed for market price, calamari rings ($11) and steamed-in-the-shell Gulf shrimp ($12 for a half pound).
The restaurant also offers salads, burgers, flatbreads, Buffalo wings and homemade desserts.
River Deck NSB is located behind the River Deck Marina, just north of Canal Street. It is open Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. to midnight, and Sundays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Stoked Poke: Dishes with a Hawaiian surfer flair
A restaurant that specializes in Hawaiian-style poke bowls opened its doors in late October at One Daytona, the entertainment/retail complex across the street from Daytona International Speedway.
Surfing enthusiast Eric Jackson became a fan of the cuisine while visiting the Hawaiian island Oahu's North Shore, a popular surfing spot.
Poke bowls typically consist of a base of rice and a protein such as either sushi-grade raw tuna, salmon or tofu topped with vegetables and a savory sauce.
"I came back here and found there was nowhere to get a good poke bowl like in Hawaii," Jackson said of his decision to start Stoked Poke, which began in 2018 as a food truck. He opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant under the same name in Port Orange where he lives in November 2020. The growing popularity of that eatery led to an invitation by NASCAR, the developer of One Daytona, to add a location there.
Customers can either build their own bowls or choose a dish on Stoked Poke's menu which include names such as The Pipeline Bowl, The Inlet Bowl, and The Big Veggie Bowl. For those who prefer their meat to be cooked, the restaurant offers protein options such as teriyaki chicken and pulled pork. It also offers Acai bowls, such are essentially fruit smoothies in a bowl that consist of Acai berries and other fruits covered with your choice of toppings that can include granola, shaved almonds or coconut, Nutella, honey and/or graham cracker dust.
The eatery also offers "Stoked" street tacos and "Stoked" libations.
Menu item prices vary from $8.59 for a Little Grom BYOB Bowl to $13.99 for a The Lowers Bowl.
"We keep it affordable," said Jackson.
Stoked Poke is at 260 Daytona Blvd., Daytona Beach, across the street from the CMX movie theater. The restaurant is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
To Better Days Wine Bar & Bistro offers respite from uncertain times
To Better Days Wine Bar & Bistro opened its doors at 197 N. Yonge St. in Ormond Beach in late January.
Its owners are familiar faces in the area: Carlos Soldevilla and his wife Angie Slattery. The couple previously owned La's Bistro, a longtime restaurant across town on Nova Road that closed in 2020 during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The concept behind the aptly named To Better Days Wine Bar & Bistro, given these still uncertain times because of the ongoing pandemic, is to provide customers with a place to "sip, savor and swirl the moment," said Soldevilla. The restaurant includes regular dining tables on one side and a lounge on the other that has sofas, an assortment of board games and a see-through "cork wall" where customers are invited to autograph and deposit the corks of wine bottles they purchase and finish off.
To Better Days offers a brunch menu on weekends that includes omelets, pancakes and other breakfast fare, all priced from $6 to $8, as well as a pancake charcuterie board for $15 that features eight pancakes, four strips of bacon, four sausage patties, and a variety of pancake toppings. On weekdays, the evening menu includes various tapas dishes as well as "handhelds" (a fancy name for sandwiches and wraps that come with a choice of a side such as soup, salad or potato salad). Prices range from $5 to $8.
To Better Days offers an extensive selection of wines as well as craft beers. It also hosts wine tastings and other evening events such as "wino bingo" and trivia nights.
The wine bar/bistro is open Tuesday through Friday from 4 to 9 p.m. and on Fridays and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Buc-ee's: Texas-style BBQ, cinnamon rolls and more
There are no places to sit and eat inside the massive Buc-ee's travel convenience center that opened in March in Daytona Beach, but food is without question the main attraction.
Namely its fresh out-of-the-smoker Texas-style barbecue brisket as well as its pulled pork and smoked turkey sandwiches, sausages and tacos.
Buc-ee's also offers a wide array of fresh baked goods and desserts including cinnamon rolls, homemade fudge and ice cream.
In addition, Buc-ee's offers a large selection of coffees and soft drinks as well as entire walls of various snack foods such as potato chips, nuts and popcorn. And it has not one, but two, walls of jerky.
Buc-ee's primer: Here's what you can find at Florida's largest travel convenience center
The Daytona Beach Buc-ee's shares bragging rights with the Buc-ee's that opened in February next to World Golf Village in St. Augustine of being the largest gas station in Florida with 104 fuel pumps.
Buc-ee's is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: New restaurants in Daytona, DeLand, New Smyrna Beach worth visiting
