I’ve saved the best from our trip to Titusville, Florida, for last: Dixie Crossroads. We ate there the first and last nights of our visit.

From the outside (which I didn’t photograph because it would have required standing in the highway), it’s not much: just a large restaurant along Garden Street in downtown Titusville (Highway 406) with a big orange sign spelling out its name.

We began our first visit in the “gazebo,” otherwise known as the bar, which had just opened for the season that February night. Our waitress busied herself cleaning, but we managed to chat about snow in the South before we were summoned to our table.

The restaurant was full that Friday, so the hostess tucked us into a little room in the back with a waitress named Patti. She brought us beer, a Villa Maria chardonnay from New Zealand, which was soft and medium-bodied, and corn fritters. I ate far too many of those sweet little devils.

I loved this square, substantial, paper napkin (it’s on top of the menu). Both menus were made from paper (online, the entrees are divided into “seafood” and “not seafood”). The waitress, who definitely knew her stuff, suggested the large Royal Red shrimp, which live 1,200 feet down and are fished by only a few intrepid captains. I ordered the Royal Red dinner, broiled, and Todd ordered the “Shellfish”: breaded rock shrimp, scallops, and more shrimp of a variety I can’t recall.

We could have ordered the Best of the Cape [Canaveral] Shrimp Special, featuring 1 dozen each of rock, Royal Red, brown, and white shrimp. Never having encountered “brown” or “white” shrimp before, we were intrigued but didn’t think we could eat 25 shrimp each.

I’ve had a lot of shrimp in my life, but never before have I bitten into one and said, “That is beautiful.” The Royal Red were the most tender, flavorful shrimp I’ve ever had.

Todd’s rock shrimp were decent, but the scallops (on the right) were small. I much preferred the meal he had on our second visit: shrimp and grits flavored with bacon. I had Royal Red and Villa Maria chardonnay both times (as well as a much drier Placido pinot grigio), and finished my 5-day visit to Florida with key lime pie, which, frankly, didn’t taste any better than key lime pie I’ve had in the Denver area. Of course, the limes weren’t in season.

If you visit Titusville, you might as well go to Dixie Crossroads and try the Best of the Cape Special. Let me know how it was, OK?

The night after the launch of space shuttle Endeavour, Todd and I had dinner at El Leoncito, a Mexican and Cuban restaurant on the Washington side of Highway 1 (northbound) in Titusville. The parking lot was full when we arrived at 7 pm.

Todd and I ordered mojitos, which were sweeter than he would have made them, and a tad watery. The old-school waiter brought black bean soup as an appetizer. I misunderstood him when he asked if I wanted onion and cheese on it; I thought he was suggesting it for the picadillo. He spoke softly and not very clearly.

Of the 8 Cuban dishes on the menu, I ordered picadillo, which like shepherd’s pie features ground beef and potatoes but adds raisins and a sofrito base (onion, garlic, tomato, peppers). Unlike the salty picadillo I had at Cuba Cuba in Denver, this dish was warm and spicy and made me want to keep eating it. And I didn’t need to hunt for the raisins.

Todd ordered palomilla, or top sirloin served Old Havana style (half an inch thick). It was a bit tough and not as flavorful as the picadillo.

El Leoncito also lists churrasco under the Cuban dishes; it is an Argentinian-style steak marinated in mojo de ajo, topped with chimichurri paste, and served on a sizzling pan.

The plantains were dark and moist, the best I’ve ever had. The Cuban bread looked like smashed bread-biscuits. I didn’t care for it.

By the end of the meal I was annoyed with our waiter. A young man, he was courtly to me but handed the check to Todd and was always calling him “senor.” These days he could at least put the check in the middle of the table and let us decide.

El Leoncito had quite the hall of celebrities by the bathrooms, including signed pictures by Andy Garcia and Tiger Woods.

No question that Caffe Chocolat was a find in downtown Titusville. Every city needs a coffeeshop/sweet shop/cafe with a choco-cam, especially if you’re dealing with the frustration of major roadwork all the way through downtown.

At first it wasn’t easy to find. During our fabulous shrimp dinner Friday night at Dixie Crossroads, I was yearning for a chocolate shop I’d never even visited, and when we finally found it after driving up and down Washington and Hopkins, I was unhappy to learn that it wasn’t open until 10 pm after all.

On Saturday, Todd thought I was going to have a fit when the first door I tried was locked. The store was open; I just had to find the entrance. And once I did, I ordered a caramel latte and 8 chocolates (from left to right, caramel, rum meltaway, key lime, and champagne in the lower-left corner). I was planning to share those chocolates with a friend from college and his family, but by the time we met up with them at 5 pm in Cocoa Beach, I had eaten them all, with a little help from Todd.

I’ll bet this gull would have helped too, but that’s another story.

We didn’t get back to Caffe Chocolat until Monday, after we had watched the space shuttle launch and slept through morning and lunchtime. Luckily, they are open until 7. We arrived about 2 pm for a late lunch.

Of the gyro and Greek salad I ordered, the salad with its tangy Aegean dressing was my favorite. The gyro was fine, but I prefer the ingredients in a crisp pita that’s been slit open, rather than a soft pita wrapped around them.

Todd had a roast beef sandwich, which he liked because it was “basic and had fresh stuff on top.” I liked his creamy potato salad but wasn’t as excited about the French onion soup—the broth tasted thin.

That afternoon, I returned Todd to the hotel and went to the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge for a little birding. It was a good thing I did, because his lunch haunted him all afternoon.

And then, after the painted bunting and the wood stork hunting along Black Point Wildlife Drive (2 new life birds for me), I had to visit Caffe Chocolat again. Their dark chocolate truffles are the best of the 5 truffles I tried. The wafer-thin sugar-free peppermint patties aren’t bad either; they have a slight aftertaste.

Caffe Chocolat, which has been in business for 6 or 7 years, is one of three coffeeshops within a few blocks. This interior shot shows the main room; there are large rooms on either side. Sunrise Bread Company, across the parking lot on the Hopkins side of Highway 1, offers coffee and smoothies and bagels and bread, but no sandwiches. (I was turned off by Sunrise’s notice about 24-hour video surveillance, but my smoothie was good.) The Coffee Shoppe is located up the road on Washington. I didn’t go there.

There’s an establishment called Medical Weight Loss Solutions across Washington from Caffe Chocolat. I’m glad to see downtown Titusville has all its bases covered.