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.