NORTH INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — Easter Sunday is traditionally a day to celebrate the end of Lent by feasting, but unlike Thanksgiving or Christmas, it’s more common for families to eat early in the day and to eat at a restaurant after church services.
Going from west to east, Marsh Landing in Fellsmere is featuring a 10-ounce cut of its popular slow-roasted prime rib on Easter Sunday for $18.95 including mashed potatoes, fresh-snapped green beans and cornbread.
Other delicacies on the menu of homemade entrees are brown-sugar glazed ham, pecan-crusted mahi and rosemary rack of lamb.
All entrees are served with soup or salad, plus a glass of house wine.
Sunday hours are 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and reservations, though generally not required, are suggested for Easter.
Marsh Landing mother-daughter team Fran and Susan Adams are also serving up their regular menu of Florida favorites and its delectable desserts that you’d swear were made by your own grandmother.
Call (772) 571-8622.
Loyal patrons of Mo-Bay Grill’s breakfast and brunch offerings will find the doors to the Sebastian location closed on Easter Sunday. But Chef Wesley Campbell invites customers to take a leisurely drive up the riverfront to try out his new place at 1390 South U.S. 1 just south of Malabar Road in Palm Bay.
Campbell will be serving from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., with breakfast available until 2 p.m. and will have a special lobster pot pie that day.
Campbell said the lobster pot pie is not a traditional Jamaican dish, but a tasty seafood twist on the much-loved comfort food.
“The lobster is in a sauce with a puff pastry, it’s one of my creations, one of those things that’s unique and different,” Campbell said.
The cost is $19.99 for the entrée plus a salad.
The Palm Bay location is larger than the Sebastian Mo-Bay Grill, but Campbell said he’s been getting some groups and large families in to dine, so reservations are suggested. Call (321) 768-6288.
Capt. Hiram’s recently started serving breakfast on the scenic Indian River Lagoon at the Sandbar, but both the Easter and Mother’s Day brunch buffets have been a popular choice for some time.
The Easter brunch buffet upstairs in the Tiffany Room will consist of a carving station with leg of lamb, roast beef and honey-glazed ham, plus peel-and-eat spiced, chilled shrimp.
Side dishes include roasted asparagus and vegetable bean medley, potatoes O’Brien, wild rice pilaf, garden salad, Caesar salad, spinach salad and assorted breads.
The buffet will also offer scrambled eggs, fisherman’s eggs, eggs Chesapeake and Benedict, applewood smoked bacon, maple sausage links, seasonal fruits, Belgium waffles and toppings.
Selections from the desert table plus coffee, tea and juice are also included.
Two seatings at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. are available and the cost is $21.99 per person for adults, $13 per child under 12. Children younger than 3 years old eat free. An 18 percent gratuity plus 7 percent sales tax will be added to the buffet charge.
For those who want to come for breakfast after a sunrise service instead, Hiram’s begins serving at 7:30 a.m. in the main dining room and at 8 a.m. at the Sandbar. Call (772) 589-4345 for reservations.
Last but certainly not least, Disney’s Vero Beach Resort on Wabasso Beach just over the causeway is laying out a very special Easter Sunday spread for its resort guests and area diners can also indulge if they are able to secure a reservation.
“We are pretty booked up, but still have some seating left. We use both Shutters and Sonya’s restaurants for our buffet. We will also have the White Rabbit here doing meet and greets from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.,” said Food and Beverage Manager Ryan Schwamberger.
The buffet will be served from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., with breakfast offerings available until 3 p.m. and entrees available after 3 p.m.
Where to start with Disney’s buffet is the only tough part, but we’ll begin with the soup, the freshly made Southern crab bisque served with buttermilk croutons. Continuing with the seafood theme, guests will savor the snow crab claws with drawn butter, peel-and-eat shrimp, whole poached salmon and oven-roasted sides of wild salmon, green-lip mussels with vinaigrette and seafood salad with green papaya slaw.
Options on the cold buffet include made-to-order Caesar Salad, poached Brussels sprouts tossed with crispy bacon, onion and Arugula; grilled vegetables and golden cous cous with citrus-mint dressing; sweet potato salad with citrus and spinach; tomato and mozzarella with a honey-balsamic white truffle glaze, assorted deviled eggs, sliced artisan meats and cheeses with grilled flatbreads.
Speaking of breads, a variety of freshly baked breads and muffins will also be on the buffet.
The breakfast choices range from a chef-attended omelet station to eggs Benedict and Mickey waffles with toppings.
Side dishes include squash ratatouille, green bean almandine, roasted cauliflower chive smash and honey-roasted sweet potato.
Those sides accompany a carving station with honey-citrus glazed turkey, herb-crusted strip loin, various chef-created pasta dishes, crab-stuffed grouper, grilled pork loin, grilled chicken breast with lemon-caper reduction and stuffed eggplant gratin.
Kids can opt for macaroni and cheese, mini corn dogs or roasted chicken drumsticks if they don’t want to venture out into new culinary territory.
If, by chance, anyone has room for dessert, Disney will tempt diners with pecan and Dutch apple pie, peach cobbler, cookies, brownies, lemon and pink lady cupcakes, mini desserts, petit fours, chocolate éclairs, chocolate-covered strawberries, key lime pie, carrot cake, red velvet cake, coconut cream cake, flourless chocolate cake. To top that all off, there will be a soft-serve ice cream and topping bar.
The cost is $34.99 for ages 10 and up, or $17.99 Ages 3 to 9. Guests can make reservations by calling (772) 234-2180.
