New Restaurants in Indian River County – May 2022
If you are just joining us on this 2-part article series, CLICK HERE to read part 1 first, then click on the link at the bottom of part 1 to come back here and read part 2.
Now let’s dive right into part 2 and check out these new places and see what I had to eat!
Kitty’s Cuisine – Vero Beach, FL
As the pandemic hit, one of its unfortunate restaurant victims was Kitty’s previous restaurant, Blue Star. From what I hear, it briefly re-opened, but then closed once again. Vero has been waiting for this chef to find a new home and open once again so they can taste her delectable cuisine. I heard a few weeks ago that she was back at a new location in Royal Palm Pointe. I stopped by one evening and had a hard time finding it because there was no signage. You could see lights on inside, so I pulled on the door handle, and it opened, so I went in. I spoke with the chef briefly after trying the dishes above, and she wants to focus on the restaurant and the food she is creating, and not worry so much about social media, websites, reservations, or even a phone number. She is bucking the trend and going old school. I visited on a Wednesday night, and for not having any of these things, the restaurant was busy. Only time will tell if not being digital helps or hurts this place.
Kitty Wagner’s
Address: 48 Royal Palm Pointe, Vero Beach, FL 32960
Hours: Tuesday – Saturday, 5pm – till ???
Sunset Island – Vero Beach, FL
A husband & wife team, George and Jelena decided to open Sunset Island so they could share their passion of serving healthy food to the local Vero Beach community. They are located off of 15th Place next to Hurricane Grill & Wings’s new location. I stopped by one afternoon to check out a few items and they were beyond fresh and quite tasty too! They first opened back in June of 2021 and business has been steadily growing. What else can you find here? They have build your own bowls, smoothies, crepes, and popsicles too!
Sunset Island
Address: 927 15th Pl, Vero Beach, FL 32960
Phone: (772) 217-8375
https://order.tapmango.com/merchant/bbc70ad9-bcc6-41a8-af0e-8a62212f3d7f/order/catalog
The Grill at CW Willis Family Farm – Vero Beach, FL
The Willis family got started about 20 years ago in the citrus industry, but as we all know, with the hurricanes and greening disease, it’s beginning to dwindle here in Florida. While they still do own a few citrus farms, they’ve shifted their focus to being more of a landscaping and maintenance company. As the business began to grow, they looked for a location to open a garden center, which now resides on 9th St SW (Oslo Road). With the families love of food and cooking, they decided to open a restaurant and try to source as many local ingredients as possible. With the addition of an upcoming open-air market / produce stand currently in the works, it will give them even more local products to serve their customers with these two new additions that are desperately needed on the SW side of town.
CW Willis Family Farms
Address: 3700 9th St SW, Vero Beach, FL 32968
Phone: (772) 770-5970
https://www.cwwillisfamilyfarms.com/grill-home
The Oar – Vero Beach, FL
If the name Chef Chris Lawrance sounds familiar, it’s because he was the previous owner of Smokehouse BBQ off of US Hwy 1, where Cafe 66 now resides. At the time he opened that restaurant almost 7 years ago, BBQ was the hot trend of the time, but he never forgot about his passion for fine dining. He had been eyeing the old Bistro Fourchette location for about the past 2 years and decided to officially take the leap and open in August 2021. The space has been nicely renovated and feels quite comfortable. The menu has plenty of wonderful options to choose from. So, what’s behind the name “The Oar”? Growing up in Cape Cod, he and his dad would sail the smaller lakes, where no motors were allowed, so they were always using an “Oar” to row the boat.
The Oar Restaurant
Address: 1309 19th Pl, Vero Beach, FL 32960
Phone: (772) 226-7155
https://theoarrestaurant.com/