Melody Inn: Worth the drive, even from Miami
When people drive up to Vero from Miami just to visit a favorite restaurant, you’d have to guess it must be mighty good.
And you would be guessing right in the case of the Melody Inn, an attractive Old Europe restaurant located off the quaint Seminole Courtyard in downtown Vero.
Since relocating here in 2004 from Coral Gables, where it had been serving classic French Swiss dishes for a quarter of a century, the Melody Inn has only gotten better – and over the years, a number of its South Florida fans have made the trek north for a nostalgic dinner.
For beachside residents, it’s much easier to pay a visit, as we most recently did on a Thursday evening in early December.
For starters on this visit, my husband went with a long-time favorite, the escargots bourguignon ($8.75), while I enjoyed the evening’s special salad and our companion had Margaret’s Young Spinach Salad ($7.75).
The Melody Inn’s escargots are a classic rendition of this dish, flambéed with cognac, baked in herb-wine butter, served out of the shell, tender, and well-seasoned with garlic. You will enjoy mopping every last drop out of the escargot crockery.
The special salad, as one might expect, was extremely tasty, and Margaret’s Young Spinach Salad is a delicious light salad with poppy seed dressing, bacon, currants (tiny black seedless grapes), and sliced onions.
We were also glad to see that a special entrée which we had sampled on a previous visit appears to have won a regular spot.
This dish, also served in baby escargot crockery, consists of small mushroom caps, each of which holds a nice chunk of Florida lobster, baked with a seasoned cream cheese topping sprinkled with parmesan. A very rich – and very tasty – combination.
For entrees on this visit, I ordered the veal filet medallion with morels ($30.75). My husband had one of the evening’s specials, a filet mignon au poivre. Our companion had the breast of chicken Caprino ($19.75).
The veal medallions were pan sautéed in butter and topped with a morel mushroom flambé with Cognac in a Champagne sauce. It doesn’t get any better than this. The filet (two filets, actually) was perfectly prepared medium rare and served in a delicious au poivre sauce. The chicken Caprino, broiled chicken breast that then is baked with sundried tomatoes and goat cheese with a white wine butter sauce, also got raves.
All entrees come with a choice of vegetables. These include rosti potatoes, spatzli, red cabbage, and cold beets prepared in a vinaigrette. The beets alone are worth the trip.
For main courses on previous visits, we have enjoyed the Melody Inn’s special veal chop, pan-sautéed in butter, topped with morel mushrooms and flambéed in the same sauce as the veal medallions; the veal Zurich ”Zuri Gschnazlets” ($25.75), finely sliced veal in a white wine, cream and mushroom sauce; the roast lamb loin fillet “Provencal” ($26.75), a lamb fillet served in a crust of herbed crumbs, mustard and savory sauce; and the Holstein Schnitzel ($26.75), a lightly breaded veal cutlet pan fried in butter and topped with a fried egg, anchovies and capers.
I have also enjoyed the yellowtail snapper, which currently is being pan seared with hazelnut butter, lemon and fine herbs.
For dessert on this occasion, we shared a deep-dish apple crisp served a la mode (very tasty), but the Melody Inn’s excellent homemade key lime pie is one of the best around.
The dessert menu also offers a variety of enticing chocolate confections. If you manage to resist these, you still will get your chocolate fix, as the Melody Inn bestows truffles on the ladies to ease their departure. Another Melody Inn special lets you sample some of the pricier bottles in its wine collection at half price on Tuesdays.
Even without the half-price wine feature, dinner for two accompanied by a nice bottle of wine runs approximately $120 before tax and tip.
If you have read this and are starting to feel hungry, we should note that the Melody Inn will not be serving dinner on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. But if you haven’t yet tried it, the week between Christmas and New Year’s would be a great time to get acquainted with this restaurant gem.
I welcome your comments, and encourage you to send feedback to me at tina@verobeach32963.com.
The reviewer is a beachside resident who dines anonymously at restaurants at the expense of Vero Beach 32963.
Hours
Dinner: Tuesday through Saturday, 5 pm to 9 pm
Bar
Beer and wine bar
Address (MAP)
1309 19th Place, Vero Beach, FL, Telephone: (772) 770-2071
Online
www.themelodyinn.com
