Fuel Barbecue in Sanford, FL

 

Ate lunch at Fuel Barbecue in downtown Sanford. I ordered a sandwich called The Bus Stop and a side of collard greens. The Bus Stop was described on the menu as a kaiser roll loaded with brisket, pulled pork, and slaw. It was interesting that they served the slaw on the side rather than as described. Of the two meats, the brisket was the standout. Pretty good barbecue, although it would have been better if I didn't have to assemble my own sandwich. 

Sweet & Salty Island Grindz Food Truck

I recently tried a food truck called Sweet & Salty Island Grindz who specialized in Hawaiian BBQ. I ordered their Kalbi Beef. The beef ribs were served over rice, with macaroni salad and a Hawaiian roll. Beef was flavorful in some sort of teriyaki-like sauce.

 

4R Cantina Food Truck at Disney Springs

4R Cantina Food Truck recently opened at Disney Springs. Similar to the other 4 Rivers locations, smoked meats were served here but with a Mexican twist. They had standard items including tacos, quesadillas, and nachos, but the one item everyone was talking about was the taco cone.

I had the Brisket Barbacoa Taco Cone. The cone was made from a deep fried tortilla spiraled into a cone shape. This was filled with shredded brisket, lettuce, guacamole, sour cream, pico de gallo, queso, cilantro, jalapeno, and lime. It was all very tasty and the cone shape made it mobile with the food truck's lack of seating. My complaint about the whole thing was the shape of cone and getting to the bottom. There was plenty of good stuff like guacamole and sour cream at the top, but it was hard to mix up those ingredients to the bottom since the cone got narrower and narrower. Regardless, I very much enjoyed my taco cone!

Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa, FL

A few months ago I was asked by a group of people visiting Florida where they can eat alligator ribs. I didn't have an answer for them. All I ever see on menus is gator tail, but no other part of the alligator. They said they saw alligator ribs on a food show, and some Googling brought me to this clip from Man Vs Food visiting Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa:



A few months later, I found myself in Tampa a few miles away from Skipper's Smokehouse at lunchtime. The restaurant looks very haphazard from the outside, with all sorts of random buildings all put together to make up a compound that includes the restaurant, bar, and concert venue.

I already knew what I was ordering. The alligator ribs came with two sides (I had beans & rice and steamed vegetables) and hush puppies. The ribs had a tasty barbecue sauce on them. In terms of consistency and taste, I'm not sure if I would have known they were alligator on a blind taste test. With the sauce and smoked meat flavor, they tasted like pork ribs to me. The consistency was a little tougher, almost like pork ribs that weren't smoked for long enough. The bones in the ribs gave away that I was eating a different animal, appearing much skinnier than a typical rib.

I can now cross reptile ribs off of my food list. These alligator ribs are probably the closest I've tried to a Florida style BBQ, because you can't get much more Florida than alligator. They were good, but if I returned to Skipper's Smokehouse, I think I'd try some smoked fish next time. I'm a big fan of smoked fish and their smoked mullet was calling out to me as I was reading the menu!

Just Smokin' BBQ Food Truck in Tampa, FL

I was over in Downtown Tampa for an event a few weeks ago and found some food trucks parked outside. I decided to have lunch from a truck called Just Smokin' BBQ. Looks like they specialize in Memphis style barbeque.

I had the BBQ Nachos. This was pulled pork with nacho cheese, BBQ sauce, and jalapenos served over tortilla chips. They normally do sweet barbecue sauce on the nachos. I saw they had mustard based sauce which I like better, so I had them switch it out. The nachos were pretty tasty overall. They weren't the most creative version of nachos I've ever had, but they did the trick. I'd probably have this again.

Porkie's Original BBQ in Apopka, FL

I had lunch at Porkie's Original BBQ in Apopka on a couple occasions recently.  On my first visit, I tried a sandwich called the Sloppy Cow. This consisted of shredded pieces of brisket, topped with grilled onions and a horseradish sauce served on a round hamburger-like bun. I ordered collards and Brunswick stew as my sides. The sandwich was unique compared to what I see at most barbecue places. The brisket was nice and tender, had good flavor, and the horseradish added to the meat's flavor. I enjoyed the Brunswick stew, mostly because it isn't a food I see often in Florida's barbecue restaurants. The collards were good but forgettable.

I had the Pig Dip on another visit. Unlike the Sloppy Cow, I wasn't a big fan of this sandwich. Two pieces of pressed bread were filled with thickly sliced pork. An au jus for moistening up the sandwich was served on the side. The thick slices of pork were a bit chewy, had a little too much fat, and lacked flavor for my liking. The au jus didn't really help with flavor. It just made the bread soggy. I used more of the barbecue sauce on the table compared to the au jus. I ordered collards and Jim's Dirty Taters as my sides this time. I mentioned the collards were good but forgettable. I had forgotten I ordered them last time I was here. Still tasty enough on this visit. The potatoes were the best part of the meal on this visit. They were cut sort of like home fries and topped with all sorts of delicious seasonings.

My conclusions from eating at Porkie's a couple times now. Get the Sloppy Pig but skip the Pig Dip. Interesting that I liked brisket much better than pork at a restaurant named Porkie's...

Austin Food #2: Mellizoz Tacos, Home Slice Pizza, and Stubb's Bar-B-Q

Continuing with food from my trip to Austin...

Mellizoz Tacos:

This taco truck was located in another one of Austin's food truck parks. This was a few doors down from where I ate at the Torchy's Tacos food truck the day before.

I had two breakfast tacos from Mellizoz. One was the Bac-Spin. This taco was filled with egg, bacon, and spinach. The other was The '04, filled with egg, bacon, beans, avocado, and cotija. Both were good!

Home Slice Pizza:

I ate at Home Slice Pizza in Austin's SoCo neighborhood. I ate in their fancier dining room, not realizing they had a smaller storefront next door for pizza by the slice until after I had finished eating.

Their pizza was very good. I had a slice of cheese and margarita. Both had nice, thin and crispy crusts. There was good proportions of sauce and cheese. The margarita slice had the addition of chopped tomato and basil. I was very pleased with my pizza in a state that I don't typically think of being known for pizza.

Stubb's Bar-B-Q:

Somebody told me that all barbecue in Austin is delicious because any bad barbecue wouldn't survive with all of the competition in the city. Stubb's BBQ proved that wrong. Like Torchy's Tacos, Stubb's was another restaurant in Austin which I had heard of in the past. Not sure where, perhaps I knew the name from the barbecue sauce that they sell in Publix. The place was half restaurant and half music venue. There were no concerts happening when I was eating there.

I ordered the Stubb's Minor, which came with two meats and two sides. I had the brisket and the pork spare ribs for the meats. Unlike the delicious brisket which I had had previously in Austin at Terry Blacks, this was not so delicious. Both meats were very dry and rubbery. They lacked the smokey flavor generally found in barbecue. They just tasted very bland, even with their peppery rubs on the meats. The barbecue sauce didn't help either. It just tasted like plain ketchup to me. For the sides, I had mac & cheese and serrano cheese spinach. Like the meats, the mac & cheese lacked flavor and was very bland. The serrano cheese spinach was one of the few things I enjoyed. It was a very spicy creamed spinach. White bread, pickles, and onions were served on the plate with everything else.

I was not a fan of Stubb's Bar-B-Q at all. Perhaps they are more well known for their live music than their food...

Austin Food #1: Torchy's Tacos, Terry Black's Barbecue, and Voodoo Doughnuts

I recently went on a trip to Texas. Most of my time in the state was in Austin, but I did make a couple excursions to other nearby cities.

I was told that the two foods I had to try in Austin were breakfast tacos and barbecue. When I questioned what restaurants were good for these two foods, I was told it didn't matter because the standards for these foods were set so high in the city. Anything subpar apparently doesn't survive in Austin when it comes to these two foods. With that in mind, my first food adventure in Texas was to find some breakfast tacos...



Torchy's Tacos (University of Texas and Barton Springs Food Truck Park):

This is a local Austin chain. Somehow I have a T-shirt from Torchy's Tacos. I don't remember exactly where I got the shirt, but I recognized the name because of it and stopped into the Torchy's Tacos just outside UT on my first morning in Austin. I had The Wrangler, filled with scrambled eggs and potatoes with smoked beef brisket and jack cheese. I also had the Monk Special, with eggs, bacon, green chilies, and cheese. As my first introduction to Austin's breakfast tacos, I was impressed. These had a whole lot of flavor happening inside the tortillas and were overflowing with the fillings. I think I preferred The Wrangler a little over the Monk Special, but both were good.

I also happened upon another Torchy's Tacos for lunch during the trip. This Torchy's was in food truck form, located in the Barton Springs Trailer Park. I came across several of these food truck parks around the city and they definitely are an improvement on Orlando's food truck scene. The trucks are centered around actual structure, with tables, air conditioning, and bathrooms. That way you're not standing in a hot parking lot trying to eat your food. Food truck prices in Austin didn't seem to be horribly inflated like Orlando's are either.

I tried the Republican and the Crossroads tacos. The Republican was a flour tortilla filled with grilled jalepeno sausage, shredded cheese, and pico de gallo. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the hot dog-like sausage in the tortilla threw me off a little. It was okay, but I don't think I'd get The Republican again. Crossroads was filled with smoked beef brisket, grilled onions, jalepenos, cilantro, jack cheese, and a slice of avocado. This was the much better of the two tacos.

Terry Black's Barbecue:

To cross my barbecue in Austin off my list, I had dinner at Terry Black's Barbecue. Someone told me this was the second best barbecue in Austin. The number one barbecue choice involved lining up way early in the morning and waiting hours to get in, so I decided to pass on them. Second best was good enough for me because Terry Black's had some delicious smoked meat!

Terry Black's had an interesting setup. All the sides were buffet style where you served yourself, then your meat would be added onto the plate by an employee. I decided to try the brisket with macaroni & cheese and beans as my sides. I've sampled barbecue brisket in Florida here and there, but none compared this brisket. It was tender, almost creamy. The meat had a thick, peppery crust. It had a very nice smokey flavor. I don't like using superlatives, but I think I'm going to rate this as the best brisket I've ever had! Rather than the baked beans in barbecue restaurants that I'm used to seeing, here they served pinto beans. Pretty tasty. The macaroni and cheese was okay, but nothing noteworthy.

Voodoo Doughnuts:

When I was in Denver last year, I was told I needed to try Voodoo Doughnuts. I never got there, but when I passed by another Voodoo Doughnuts location in Austin, I decided to give them a try. There was a really long line almost out the door. With that many people wanting doughnuts, I was expecting something amazing.

I had one of their Voodoo Doughnuts. It was vaguely person shaped, covered in chocolate icing then topped with an icing eye and mouth. Inside, the doughnut was jelly filled so the blood oozed out as you  took a bite. Overall, I liked the concept but the doughnut was nothing exceptional taste-wise. It was a generic jelly doughnut with way too much icing. I wouldn't wait in that line again.

I-95 Travel Food (Willie Jewell's Old School Bar-B-Q, Southern Image Buffet & Eatery, Smokin' Pig, and Huddle House)

Over the past several months, I've done some traveling. Much of that travel consisted of driving along I-95 up the east coast. I figured I'd write a post about some of the restaurant highlights.

Willie Jewell's Old School Bar-B-Q in Kingsland, GA:

I ended up here when I decided I wanted to sample Brunswick Stew in Brunswick, GA. After getting off the interstate and driving through Brunswick along with consulting the internet, I came to the conclusion that you can't actually get Brunswick Stew in Brunswick. Willie Jewell's in Kingsland, GA was a barbecue restaurant serving Brunswick Stew that I didn't find too long afterwards. This restaurant was located a little ways off I-95. Willie Jewell's is a small chain with a few locations what looks like Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina according to their website.

I ordered the Bo-Hawg sandwich. This was BBQ pork, topped with cheddar cheese and a smoked sausage link. It was served on a hamburger bun. Cheese is unusual on a pulled pork sandwich and I've never had sausage on a barbecue sandwich like this. Willie Jewell's did served mustard based barbecue sauce, which I am a big fan of. Since Brunswick stew was the food item that caused me to seek out a barbecue restaurant, that's what I had for my side.

I liked Willie Jewell's Old School Bar-B-Q. The pork/sausage/cheese combination on a sandwich along with mustard sauce made them a bit unique when so many restaurants serving barbecue have an almost identical menu...




Southern Image Buffet & Eatery in Richmond Hill, GA:

Southern Image was a buffet just of I-95. As implied by the name, they specialized in southern foods. Imagine Golden Corral, only with foods on the buffet that the typical Golden Corral diner wouldn't dare eat.

I sampled some of the meats served on the buffet along with a couple sides on my first plate. Fried chicken, fried fish, and baked chicken were all tasty. I didn't leave enough room in my stomach for the fun stuff like the liver. Should have gone for that first...

Plate two consisted of lots of side items. Beans, potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and onion straws were all tasty.

Dessert:

Smokin' Pig in Richmond Hill, GA:

I ended up at Smokin' Pig on a return trip to Florida along I-95. This restaurant is located almost across the street from Southern Image Buffet in a building connected to a gas station. I tried a pulled pork sandwich with a side of Brunswick stew. The sandwich wasn't nearly as exciting as the one at Willie Jewell's, with only pork and sauce on a bun. Still, it fulfilled the purpose of being a pulled pork sandwich!




Huddle House in Santee, SC:

I had never eaten at a Huddle House. I've past by these restaurants in my travels and always assumed these were Waffle House knock-offs. This was pretty much confirmed after trying a Huddle House in Santee, SC. I had a Western Omelet with toast and hash browns. The omelet was filled with ham, green peppers, and tomatoes. Even with the fillings, it was pretty bland. I added some hot sauce for extra flavor. The hash browns were nice and crispy and the toast was toast. Being that this was South Carolina, smoking was allowed in the restaurant. It wasn't exactly pleasant having a woman who looked like she was about to die of lung cancer come in right after us, sit a few tables away, and chain smoke the entire duration of the meal...

Rosie's Smokin Hot Bar-B-Que in Kissimmee, FL

I tried Rosie's Smokin Hot Bar-B-Que in Kissimmee for dinner. This restaurant is located along 192 and has the same owners as Wildside BBQ. While the Wildside locations are full service sit down restaurants, Rosie's is cafeteria style and resembles 4 Rivers (a whole lot).

I ordered the sliced pork platter. Just like at 4 Rivers, it was served on a tray covered in a sheet of paper.  The pork looked good, chopped into larger pieces rather than the typical pulled/shredded pork often found at BBQ places. Unfortunately, the pork was sort of chewy, was very bland tasting, and was room temperature. It was made a bit better with barbecue sauce, but it definitely looked better than it tasted. One of my sides was macaroni and cheese. It was okay, but was also room temperature. My other side was collard greens. These were the best part of the platter. They were really flavorful and contained bits of pork. The sad part was that the pork in the collards was much better than the main dish pork. The collard pork was nice and tender and had plenty of flavor on its own, not requiring barbecue sauce. While the collards were good, their temperature didn't seem to be where it should have been either.

I suppose the Wildside people thought they would be able to follow the 4 Rivers formula to make a successful barbecue restaurant, but it wasn't working. I don't think I'd bother trying Rosie's again. I'm not sure why but it seems like I've been having bad luck with Central Florida barbecue lately. Smokey Joe's in Sanford had a similar problem with room temperature meats. I've also been to the 4 Rivers in Winter Garden twice since then and have seen quality issues there as well. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time.

Pleasant's Bar-B-Q in Ocean Springs, MS

While driving home to Florida after my trip to New Orleans, I stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Pleasant's Bar-B-Q in Ocean Springs, MS. Barbecue styles seem to vary in different areas of the south, so I was interested to see how smoked meat is served in Mississippi.

I had their pulled pork sandwich served with collard greens and baked beans. The pork was served on a  standard white bread hamburger bun. It was finely shredded and was drenched in sauce. The sauce was tasty, but I couldn't really discern any unique Mississippi BBQ style in here. I've had many similar pulled pork sandwiches in Florida. The beans were alright, but the collards were really good. They were nice and tender without being cooked to a mush. I liked.

Smokey Joe's BBQ in Sanford, FL

I had lunch at Smokey Joe's BBQ in Sanford (not to be confused with Smokey Bones right up the street). This restaurant took over the space formerly occupied by Boston's Fish House. I wasn't a big fan of Boston's when they first opened but their food did seem to improve over time. I guess everyone's bad experiences when they first opened stuck in people's minds because they eventually closed. Now it is Smokey Joe's turn to try their luck at running a restaurant in this location. Normally barbeque restaurants are have pretty standard fare, and Smokey Joe's was no exception. They had plates where a meat and sides were chosen. There were sandwiches. Pretty much what you would expect on the menu for a place serving barbecue in this area.

I had the Pulled Pork Plate. This came with meat, two sides, and Texas toast. I picked the mac & cheese and fried okra as my sides. Everything looked good, but I was less than pleased after tasting the food. With the exception of the okra, none of the items on the plate were hot. In fact, just about everything was about room temperature. This made me a bit wary, especially when it came to the pork. It tasted alright, but was nothing noteworthy. The mac & cheese was served at a similar temperature and lacked flavor. The cheese part of the mac & cheese was barely noticeable. The fried okra was the only thing which was hot, hopefully because it was freshly made. Unfortunately, the batter was far to salty (and I like salty foods). The Texas toast was also forgettable.

There was nothing about Smokey Joe's that gave me any reason to go back. There are far too many other good barbecue restaurants in the area to deal with forgettable and cold food. Hopefully this place will be like Boston's Fish House and will improve their food. If not, I see them being open for less time than Boston's was...

Bono's Bar-B-Q in Gainesville, FL

I was doing some traveling and stopped right off I-75 in Gainesville for gas and lunch. It was decided that we would partake in some barbecue at a restaurant called Bono's Bar-B-Q. We went to their drive through and I ordered the Slawpy Pig Sandwich. The menu described it as a heaping pile of pulled pork topped with coleslaw. The combination reminded me of the Messy Pig at 4 Rivers back in the Orlando area, which I like.

This sandwich was served dry with sauce on the side. It allowed me to taste the pork a bit more than if the meat was drenched in sauce. The shredded pork was nice and tender with a smokey flavor. There were none of the unpleasant chewy bits of pig that sometimes find their way into pulled pork which is always good. The coleslaw was very generic, but did the job of providing moisture and vegetables to an otherwise meaty and dry sandwich. I picked macaroni and cheese as my side. It was very creamy. Overall, Bono's ended up being a much better choice than the standard interstate fast food selections...

Lone Star Barbecue & Mercantile in Santee, SC

Driving back towards Florida along I-95, I stopped for lunch at a restaurant called Lone Star Barbecue & Mercantile in Santee, SC. This place was located in a complex of several old wooden houses right outside of Santee State Park.

Lone Star offered both a menu to order from as well as a buffet. I decided to try their buffet.

My first plate of food samplings included pulled pork, collards, black eyed peas, macaroni & cheese, tomato pie, and corn fritters. Most of the food on the plate was tasty. The pork was nice and tender. The corn fritters were on the dry side. The tomato pie was an interesting food that I had never tried before. It was basically layers of bread and slice tomatoes, baked together in a creamy sauce. It was interesting, but not something I'd go out of my way to order.

Second plate included fried chicken, rice topped with some sort of pork stew, lima beans, cole slaw, and hush puppies. Chicken had good batter. The hush puppies were definitely better than the other corn fritters that I tried on my previous plate.

For dessert, I tried some blueberry cobbler, banana pudding, and chocolate pudding. The blueberry cobbler was definitely the best of the three.

I do enjoy trying these little independent places on my trips. Lone Star Barbecue was only about a mile off I-95 and was a far superior choice to stopping into a Subway in a truck stop for some travel food...