Todd D.
Yelp
Third Culture Kitchen 1000 Cheney Hwy., Titusville, FL 32780
4 Stars
Knowing a thing or two about the culinary families of the tri-county area, I knew that the owners of my next visit, Third Culture Kitchen, were the same consortium who own Vine & Olive, another 4-Star Titusville restaurant. The same thing that kept Vine & Olive from 5 Stars is also present here. That would be cheap, low-grade ingredients. There is no mistake that these chefs understand flavor and execution. The food is outstandingly full of complex flavors all intertwined to present the palate with a dining experience seldom available in Titusville.
Chevelle is the waiter, and not only can this kid read people well, but he comes off as highly intelligent. When I ask a server if they want a 30% tip or a 10% tip, they always look at me funny. Like, what idiot would say 10%? They all want 30%, of course. "Great," I say, "I need you to box my food, please." This is inevitably met with, "Well, I can bring you some boxes..." "So," I reply, "10% then?" They then box my food. I actually gave Chevelle a 50% tip for being so quick on his feet. Kudos, dude!
I digress, back to the task at hand. I am always leery of a place that is "over-menu-ed". Thai? Tex-Mex? A newly expanded Greek section? American? Only one restaurant in the country can pull this off and this ain't it. As suspicious as I am of Greek food, as I know what a slippery slope that can be, I stuck with South East Asian fare. I asked Chevelle for one order of 3 Pork Belly Bao and one Creamy Coconut Shrimp Bowl.
To break the monotony a bit, I decided to review this in a widdershins way. To that end, I first dug into the Creamy Coconut Shrimp Bowl and then sampled the Pork Belly Bao. The Creamy Coconut Shrimp Bowl was a handful of frozen cocktail shrimp tossed in their house-made coconut sauce. I have to say, this coconut sauce is outstanding. The flavors pop on the palate. The Pork Belly Bao was unique in that it was made with the Latin-influenced escabeche along with some house-made pickles for a more traditional flavor. Again, this dish was magnificently flavored. If it wasn't for the frozen cocktail shrimp and Dandee Bao, this would be 5 Star all the way.
The Big Boy says, "Flavors and execution are spot on. Just wait for the Sysco truck to leave."