Entertainment
Jimmy Hula’s: The stars are the tacos, but there’s much more to like here | Review
Confession: I like certain fast- and fast-casual chain restaurants, where you pretty much know what you’ll get, whether you order in Ocala or Oshkosh. Besides, once a year or so, you have to tease your palate with a Big Mac and Mickey D’s fries. It’s not Beef Wellington from Ember & Oak, but it’s good.
Jimmy Hula’s is better.
It’s the perfect fast-casual restaurant for this part of Florida, its décor having lots of emphasis on surfing and the tropical lifestyle and its menu reflective of that with Tex-Mex thrown in. It’s bright, clean and cheerful, with remarkably jolly employees and a bar overhung with TVs (the better for Olympics viewing on our outing).
You can dine inside or on the patio, though the latter can be a bit challenging in the late-summer heat. The dining room, on the other hand, is fairly noisy, which may be its greatest drawback.
The stars are the tacos, though burgers, bowls, other sandwiches and salads also are there, along with “Munchies” like empanadas, cracked corn and fire-roasted avocado.
Those with which we started on our last visit were a crisply fried, bigger-than-usual empanada ($4.95) with a pretty ordinary filling of ground beef and cheese.
We also went with zucchini fries ($7) served with Lava Sauce, which is Hula’s way of describing a sweet, tangy mayonnaise concoction. The fries were hot, crunchy on the outside and soft within, but best of all, you couldn’t miss the fact that they were cut from zucchini.
We selected a Paseo and a Jimichurri taco (tacos are $6.35 each); and a Baja Bowl ($13.25), as well as an order of sweet potato fries ($4.75) and a side of guacamole ($4.75, with drink). Tacos are served with chips.
The Baja Bowl was huge, with a larger-than-average serving of carnitas, as well as jasmine rice, pico, black beans, cotija and cilantro, dressed with crema, and she who ordered it spoke of its deliciousness all the way home.
The Paseo is the taco of the month, a fat thing stuffed full of chunks of pork marinated in a Caribbean mixture, as well as caramelized onions, romaine, cilantro and jalapenos, drizzled with that delightful crema.
Among the many joys of Jimmy Hula’s (soft) tacos is that they appear to be re-grilled when being made, which adds texture as well as flavor.
The Jimichurri was a little less interesting, having been made with cubes of marinated steak, chimichurri sauce, shreds of various cabbages, cotija, crema and cilantro. Like the Paseo, it was of larger-than-average size, with a decent amount of meat. The problem — and it was minor — was that said meat probably could have used a little more time in its marinade, as it was a touch chewy.
The shared sweet potato fries were, like their zucchinian cousins, very good: served sizzling, with a bit of crunch and lots of sweet potato taste.
A generous friend ordered desserts for the table on our first visit: Island Crisps ($5) and Cookie Dough Flautas ($6). The crisps were the same chips Jimmy Hula’s serves with tacos, but cleverly sprinkled with powdered sugar and served with caramel sauce. Some of our fellow diners wished they’d been coated in cinnamon sugar to add a touch of spice, but when dipped in the caramel, they were fine.
The flautas, which are wrappers rolled around melted cookie dough, were as sugary a dessert as you are likely to find anywhere. Some were thrilled by them. Some found them way over the top. Your mileage may vary.
Where else could Jimmy Hula’s have improved? Well, there was that noise, which a different ceiling material would fix, but one suspects it does aid in the flipping of tables, as they say. And it would have been grand had a salsa or pico been served with those chips, as it is. We hear grousing from diners having been charged for it.
Still, this does not represent the usual fast-casual place, but creativity, thought and good humor. Congrats for that, Jimmy Hula’s.
As it is, we should have stayed a little longer; Simone Biles’ turn was about to happen. Oh well, we’ll wait for the wrap-up. See you for track and field.
Lyn Dowling is a freelance food and lifestyles writer based in Melbourne.
Jimmy Hula’s at Pineda Crossing
Three and a half stars
Address: 2515 Roberts Road, Melbourne
Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. through 10 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays
Call: 321-421-7546
Online: www.jimmyhulas.com
Also: Bar with mixed drinks available; children’s menu
About our reviews
Restaurants are rated on a five-star system by FLORIDA TODAY’s reviewer. The reviews are the opinion of the reviewer and take into account quality of the restaurant’s food, ambiance and service. Ratings reflect the quality of what a diner can reasonably expect to find. To receive a rating of less than three stars, a restaurant must be tried twice and prove unimpressive on each visit. Each reviewer visit is unannounced and paid for by FLORIDA TODAY.
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