Vintage 56
Rockledge restaurant is casual, contemporary, class
The signs that Brevard’s diners-out want to be treated with the respect they are due and the sophistication they deserve have popped up throughout the area in the form of restaurants that are stylish and satisfying. Vintage 56 is filling the bill in Rockledge.
Located in a quiet little shopping plaza off increasingly improving Barton Boulevard, Vintage 56 has been described as a bistro, tapas and wine bar and gastro-pub. The décor is shiny and contemporary, with indoor and outdoor dining, cloth napkins and modern art, with music that is fun but not intrusive.
The bar offers 56 martinis and a good-sized wine list, and the menu, which is seasonal, offers everything from appetizer-sized portions to full-sized entrees, with lots of “small plates” (tapas-style), cheese plates, “artisan” sandwiches, and flatbread pizzas, featuring a touch of Mediterranean flair and a little Asian spice.
“The menu is a combination of my and the owner’s tastes. We try to keep up with food trends and incorporate the (foods) that people want when they go to a good restaurant,” says general manager and executive chef Joshua Carlson-Yoho. “If one of us has gone to a restaurant and had something we really like, we’ll try to do our version of it, with our own little touches.”
The soups are noteworthy, and Vintage 56’s version of lobster bisque is rich and exquisitely creamy, served with sherry crème fraiche.
Carlson-Yoho says his personal favorite is Drunken Thai Shrimp, in which shrimp are sautéed with shallots and garlic, hit with a little sake and finished with the restaurant’s homemade Thai chili sauce. Like gazpacho, the Thai Shrimptini and a few other dishes, it is delivered in a large martini glass, garnished with fresh wonton and chive.
Small plates include an Italian eggplant stack that includes grilled eggplant, marinated portabella and roasted red peppers topped with fresh mozzarella. Burgers come on fresh focaccia with fries fresh-cut from sweet potatoes accompanied by a fruity dipping sauce, or sea-salty/cracked peppery kettle chips.
Full-sized meals are creatively done as well: chicken breast is encrusted with pistachios and served with a cherry sauce; a pork chop is described as “porterhouse” because it is: 12 ounces of thick, bone-in meat, prepared with fig and pear chutney; penne comes with bay scallops and pancetta, or andouille. Duck breast is boneless, seared to order and topped with Jezebel sauce, a popular Southern specialty made with apple jelly, pineapple and apricot preserves, pepper, dry mustard and sometimes, horseradish. In this case, a touch of ginger is added for some extra zip.
And that is what Vintage 56 offers as a whole: a touch of zip to a dining scene that is coming into its own and welcomes substance as well as style.
Says Carlson-Yoho, “I try to focus on what I do well, rather than try to reinvent the wheel, and what I do well is a combination of Mediterranean and Thai cooking styles. I’m glad people have received it so well.
Vintage 56
Address: 200 Barton Boulevard, Rockledge
Phone: (321) 639-4048
Web site: http://www.vintage56.com/
Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Bar may stay open to 2 a.m. Mondays through Saturdays.
Other: Full bar; wine list; indoor and outdoor dining; specialty cocktails.
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