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Fond Memories:

Experience a taste of Europe

by Maria Sonnenberg: Florida Today

It looks like the Ardovinis are in the papers again! For crying out loud Enzo, I never thought that Wii video of yours would reach the papers! We must give a big thank you to Maria for writing about it, and thank all the supporters of The Depot Café without whom Enzo's Wii video would not have been possible.

Florida Today

Chef Q & A: Experience a taste of Europe at Depot Café

BY MARIA SONNENBERG FOR FLORIDA TODAY
September 24, 2009 06:06 AM

Foodie Fran Baker wrote recently to introduce me to Depot Café on Merritt Island.

"I have a foodie friend on Merritt Island who had her friend's 40th there, and she's most particular," Baker wrote. "She raved and raved for days."

Baker herself waxed poetic about her dining experience at the café.

"Our three meals have each been outstanding, so I can testify for the food," Baker added.
I'm so glad Baker suggested I stop there, because it gave me the opportunity to meet Enzo and Sue Ardovini, the couple responsible for the Depot Café's popularity.

Any good restaurateur will tell you good food, although an important ingredient in the recipe for a restaurant's success, needs to be liberally sprinkled with bonhomie.

The Ardovinis have charm to spare, as you will see if you visit depotcafeonline.com, where the couple show you how to prepare beef lasagna rollata and other favorite dishes. You also can catch a glimpse of Enzo doing the Wii hoola-hoop, or if you tune in to WMMB-AM (1240) between 3 and 4 p.m. you to hear can hear the Ardovinis chat about food and other important stuff.

Catch up with all the talk from Space Coast

Since Enzo and Sue moved to Italy, they no longer have a radio show in Florida. However, they continue to maintain their interest in the Space Coast and listen avidly to Bill Mick and Frank Ziliatis LIVE every week day on WMMB via their iHeart Radio App (you can get one of those too - over there on the right).

It will give you an inkling of the delightful treat in store for diners at The Depot.

Here is a bit more on Enzo and Sue.

I notice a couple of accents here. Where are you from?

Enzo: I'm from Rome and Susan is from the U.K. We met in Orlando. It was 2004. I had come here to do some volunteer work after the hurricanes, and I was heading home to New York.

On the way home, I decided to visit Disney, where I'd never been. I kept passing this sign for an open house, and since in my previous life I was an architect, I decided to go in. That's where I met Sue.

I had my own construction company in New York, and after 9/11, I went to see if I could help with the towers. A lot of people who went to help were in construction.

While working at the towers, I fell a story and broke my shoulder and hurt my legs, spending quite a few months in the hospital.

I still wasn't feeling much better, but my doctors kept telling me it was PTSD. I would forget words, forget faces, pass my house without realizing it. Seems the toxic fumes at the World Trade Center affected my short-term memory.

Sue: I'm from Bath in England, the Roman city, so I think it was right that the two of us got together.

Restaurants always have been my trade. I've had several in England. In 2001, I decided to give it all up and buy a farmhouse in France. I had chickens, geese, turkeys. In 2004, I was taking some months off, seeing America.

Enzo: We got married in the Brevard courthouse, but had the ceremony on one of the hills of Rome.
We had made up our mind that were going to live in Europe, so we were going to drive up A1A from Miami Beach to New York and then leave. We got as far as Merritt Island.

We had the idea of bringing a little flavor of Europe to Brevard.

Sue: I got my university degree in remote sensing and geographic information systems, and I was originally supposed to go work for NASA, so I love this area.

booksales

Recipes from The Depot Café can be found in Enzo and Sue's book Cooking at the Café as well as an assortment of funny (and true) stories that still have the couple rolling about laughing.

Glenn Beck receives his copy of Cooking at the Café

What makes your place unique?

Sue: It's not your typical café. You can sit here all day if you want. The idea is to give people a sense of what it's like to be in Europe, where you never overstay your welcome.

It's not about making money. It's about getting up everyday and having memories to share down the road.

Enzo: I love to talk to people, and people love to talk to me. People that come into the café are the people we want to cook for. Many days, I'll sit and talk with the customers and end up having several breakfasts with them.

Signature dish?

Enzo: Just give us a country, we'll give you a dish.

Sue: We do a lot of comfort food. We can't make enough of our bread and butter pudding, our meatballs and our stuffed shells. People come from miles away for our sausage and gravy.

Americans are drawn to robust flavors, which is our favorite.

Famous person you would like to invite over?

Sue: Julia Child. She entered cooking with the right spirit.

	Catch up with Enzo and Sue today ...