News-Journal staffer Valerie Whitney and her daughter Amina recently visited Bertie's Luncheonette in Bellair Plaza to try a special dinner program menu available only on Thursday and Friday nights.

Isn't this a luncheonette?

Yes, but since April the owner and chef has been serving dinners on Thursdays and Fridays from 5 to 8:30 p.m. These twice-weekly prix fixe menus apparently have developed quite a following, according to our waitress. She pointed out several tables of regulars.

This is going to be a bit different then the usual fare offered in this space. Motorsports Editor Godwin Kelly and his wife, Diane, have been to KoKoRo Sushi Bar & Japanese Bistro several times and are enchanted by the menu, food and presentation. This is more like a love story.

A love story? You mean the way you love to stuff your face?

Of course, but there's more to KoKoRo than just a brilliant menu served by an energetic wait staff in comfortable, clean surroundings. This is also about the couple who own this culinary oasis.

OK, I'll bite. Can you tell me more?

Tomohiro Inoue was working at a Daytona Beach sushi restaurant where he met his future wife, Siri, who was a server at the same establishment. Tomohiro, 41, is from Ehima, Japan, while Siri, 33, hails from Bangkok, Thailand. After they married, they started their own place in Palm Coast.

This wooden hut, situated near the heart of Ormond Beach's north-end biker heaven, appears to be for the serious barbecue fan. The trophies decorating SmokeShack's walls told a tale of serious barbecue competitors. And a visit to the table from one of the owners, asking News-Journal Staff Writer Audrey Parente and her friend Laurence Bennett to test out a new hot sauce, was definitely a tell-tale sign of earnest intent to make this nothing but the authentic stuff. For lovers of pulled pork, slathered ribs, beans, brisket and smoked turkey, this might be just the stop to include on a list of favorites.
 
What was the place like?
     
The building is on U.S. 1, but entrance and parking lot are around back. Order at the counter and take your seat. Your food will show up promptly.
 
What did you order?
 
I can never decide right away, so I ordered a sampler that had pork, brisket and ribs, which was a la carte, so that meant another decision. Sides. They were a la carte, too. Settled on greens and water.
     
Bennett chose a pork and brisket combo. His combo came with choice of two sides included, not a la carte. He selected greens and a baked potato, but then added an extra side: mac and cheese -- just because it sounded tempting. He had tea; I had bottled water. But beer, wine and wine coolers were $2.50, and beer buckets were $10.
     
What else did you order?
     
The desserts weren't on the menu, but the owner said peach and blackberry cobbler were cooked right in the smoker. Now who can resist that? Not me. They were rich and real, not canned.
 
Anything else?
 
Have you ever heard of smoked rice? That was on the menu. And pork nachos. Those all will have to wait for next time. Full. Lots of leftovers went home with Bennett. He heated up some of the pulled pork and put it over a salad for lunch the next day and delivered one to me at The News-Journal. Wow, that was a yummy idea.
     
How much did it cost?
     
Moto-Bar Sampler $12.99, add greens $1.50; Pork and Brisket Combo with two sides, $14.99, add mac and cheese $1.50. Water $1.50; tea $1.99; desserts $2.50 each. Total with tax and tip: $46.97.
     
WHERE: SmokeShack BBQ, 1105 N. U.S. 1, Ormond Beach.
HOURS: Open Monday-Thursday 11 a.m.-8 p.m.; Friday and Saturday 11 a.m.-9 p.m.; Sunday noon-6 p.m.
CONTACT: 386-673- 7427; thesmokeshackbbq.com. 
OTHER INFO: Plenty of parking, handicap accessible. Major credit cards accepted.
 

Southeast Volusia residents were surprised in late 2007 when local icon Sea Harvest Seafood abruptly closed its doors after more than 20 years. The owner traced the move back to damage from the 2004 hurricanes.
 
This restaurant and retail market, a favorite place for locals to eat fried fish and fried oyster sandwiches and maybe drink a beer or two while sitting outside on the Indian River, sat vacant and forlorn for more than a year.
 
Now the good times are back. Remodeled and renamed the Dolphin View Seafood Restaurant, the establishment reopened this past December with a new twist: grilled and blackened fish and shrimp along with the fried standbys.
     
News-Journal Senior Night Metro Editor Barry Gear and his wife, Marie, decided to meet for lunch recently to try a couple of the grilled offerings.

Due to a calendar mix-up, copy editor David Money was the only one of the bunch who showed up for lunch recently at Coach Valrie's Cafe in DeLand recently. The new cafe features Southern cuisine, the cuisine I grew up on, except at Mammaw's house in Southeast Texas it was called country cooking.

Anyway, I was ready for some down-home cooking.

OK, so what did the lone luncher order?

I went for the fried chicken ($7.99). If a restaurant is going to offer Southern cooking, it had better have some darn good chicken on the menu. And Coach Valrie's does. The coating was a golden brown and the chicken inside was flavorful and juicy.

For my sides (you get two "fixins" with your meat order), I asked for fried okra and was tempted by the fried green beans. But, not wanting a total fry-fest for lunch, I opted for the black-eyed peas. And I was glad I did. The peas were creamy and a tasty accompaniment to the corn bread. The okra was too heavily coated for my taste, but still yummy.

Meaty temptations such as smothered pork chops, meatloaf, salmon croquettes and other Southern favorites fill the menu. And the menu offers 26 side items ranging from collard greens to candied yams to pinto and white beans.

With smooth jazz riffs from Pat Metheny's guitar and mellow vocals of Diana Krull filling the dining room, News-Journal Staff Writer Audrey Parente and her friend Laurence Bennett had lunch recently at DeVinci's Italian Restaurant and Pizza in Ormond Beach.

Only three other tables were seated during their visit, so the superlative wait-staff attention might just have been because the restaurant wasn't very busy.

But Audrey said the unusual abundant baskets, stuffed with oil-glazed bread and pizza strips, were served to each of the diners' tables, so maybe everybody gets great treatment.

On the edge of the St. Johns River in Volusia County, right next to the Astor Bridge, is Castaways Restaurant.

It's part of the Port of Call Yacht Club property that includes a marina, the restaurant and lodging. News-Journal staffers Karen Gallagher and daughter Stephanie Wilson stopped in on a recent Sunday afternoon to partake of the food, beverages and riverfront view.

What was your visual impression of the place?

Castaways is cozy, comfortable and casual, with inside seating and a bar, along with a small deck that overhangs the river where a few diners can sit outside.
What kind of entrees did you order?

On a recent Saturday evening, editorial assistant Kathy Page and her husband, Robert, along with their son Mike, found themselves craving something more than the usual chain-restaurant fare. Reaching way back in their memory banks, Martin's Restaurant and Lounge in Flagler Beach popped up. It had been more than 20 years since they had enjoyed dinner with friends at Martin's. Was it still open? Would it still be as good as it was back in the day?

Can you give us a little history?

The Flagler Beach landmark, famous for its seafood and prime rib, has been owned by the Martin family for the past 23 years. Tom manages the restaurant. In the kitchen you'll find Kevin and Craig doing the cooking along with two other long-timers who've been working for the family for the past 20 years. Their dad, Thomas, comes in every morning and hand cuts all the meat.

The only thing better than getting together with a friend is meeting her for lunch -- and along the river, no less. News-Journal staffer Karen Gallagher and News-Journal retiree Barbara Taylor recently caught up with each other while taking in the scenery at Blackwater Inn along the St. Johns River in Astor.

We arrived on a Saturday morning, just as the staff was opening its doors at 11:30, so we were immediately greeted and seated.

What's the restaurant like?

Blackwater Inn is roomy, casual and comfortable. In the downstairs dining room, we sat near a wall of windows, where we could watch boats coming and going throughout our meal. It was comfortable there in the air-conditioning, since it was a blistering day, too hot to enjoy the open-air view from upstairs at Williams Landing, where food and drinks also are served. Upstairs is just that -- not handicapped accessible -- but equally roomy and friendly.

A three-hour cruise along the Halifax River on the StarLite Princess paddle-wheel boat was a fun excursion for Staff Writer Audrey Parente and former News-Journal copy editor Laurence Bennett. Dinner on the cruise was ala carte and cost for the meal was not part of the resident-discounted $18.29 per person fare for the boat ride.

What was the place like?

The wooden dance floor, a guitar and lounge singer act, the shoreline scenery rolling by from the air-conditioned dining room of the boat made for a very pleasant little cruise. It rained for a part of the time, but when the rain quit, strolling the upper deck and promenade provided an interesting evening view of Daytona Beach, Port Orange, Daytona Beach Shores and all those mansions and condos along the way.