Hard Rock Cafe World Burger Tour (Orlando, FL)

I was invited to the Hard Rock Cafe in Orlando to sample some new burgers from their World Burger Tour menu. As they described it, World Burger Tour is a limited-time offering of Hard Rock Local Legendary Burgers, inspired by the taste and flavors from cafe locations around the world. The World Burger Tour is available at participating Hard Rock Cafe locations around the world now through June 25, 2017.

The burgers being sampled from the World Burger Tour included the:

Seminole Cattlemen Burger (Florida, United States) – pay tribute to the tribe! This Legendary burger is a combination of zippy swamp cabbage, also known as hearts of palm, fresh tomato and tupelo breaded gator tail atop a seasoned Seminole beef patty and smothered in Seminole wing sauce

English Breakfast Burger (London, England) – a Certified Angus Beef patty topped with sliced ham, a sausage patty, a fried egg, a Portobello mushroom, arugula and garlic aioli and served with a side of baked beans

Kimchi Burger (Seoul, South Korea) – a tradition years in the making, Certified Angus Beef patty topped with Sriracha-seasoned kimchi, bulgogi sauce, fresh tomato and lettuce and Sriracha mayo

Jambalaya Burger (Louisiana, United States) – this big easy burger features spiced up Certified Angus Beef fixed with Cajun mayo, pickles, andouille sausage, pepper jack cheese and a jammin’ jambalaya rice cake.

The Jambalaya Burger was my personal favorite of the burgers sampled. The jambalaya rice cake was an interesting touch which I've never seen before. It looked like an onion ring from the outside, but was filled with jambalaya deliciousness inside.

White Castle in West Hempstead, NY

White Castle is a fast food chain in the northeast United States seems to be really popular. Over and over, I have heard how great White Castle's food is. Apparently Krystal, the southern equivalent of White Castle, can't compare according to some of the White Castle aficionados that I know. I had never eaten at a White Castle, so I couldn't really comment on their food. That changed on my last visit to Long Island when I tried the White Castle in West Hempstead...

I had a coupon for some free burgers, so I gave them a try. Burgers are perhaps one of my least favorite types of sandwiches, so I may not be a good authority on if this was any good or not. Regardless, here's what I thought: I wasn't impressed. The thin meat patty had the consistency of cardboard with no flavor. The only thing that really had a distinct flavor on this burger was the ketchup and the pickle. I really don't get what the big deal is with White Castle burgers.


I also tried White Castle's Pulled Pork Sandwich. The sandwich had pork drenched in barbeque sauce on a hamburger bun. While not the best pulled pork sandwich out there, it was actually pretty tasty being that it is from a fast food chain. I thought it was way better than the White Castle burger...


White Castle Fries...

My overall opinion of White Castle was that it didn't live up to the hype. Taking it for what it was, White Castle was pretty cheap and I would be willing to get another pulled pork sandwich. With the abundance of nearby restaurants though, I wouldn't be any huge rush to return. I find very few fast food chains are worth rushing back to...

Wynee's Bistro @ FSC in Lakeland, FL

Wynee's Bistro is the cafeteria at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. While visiting some people that attend the school, I ate here a few times. Unlike larger colleges where you have a choice of food and countless restaurants, it seems like at FSC you get to eat whatever is being served that day if you want to eat on campus.

Hotdogs and the various sides that go along with them were being served on one of my visits. If you were a vegan, you would starve today...

They did have good desserts.

On another visit, they had a shrimp boil that was provided by Wynee's Bistro. It consisted of shrimp that were a huge pain to peel, some overcooked chicken breasts, potatoes, and pasta salad.

From what I hear about the food at Wynee's Bistro and what I tried, I don't think I'd be very happy eating here if I was a student a FSC. I don't like the "eat what we're serving today or starve" mentality that Wynee's Bistro seems to have. But I guess that happens at a college that has less students than the high school I attended...

Hamburger Mary's in Orlando, FL

I ate at the Hamburger Mary's on Church Street in Downtown Orlando. The restaurant is one of the few open businesses in the sad and mostly abandoned shell of the former tourist district known as Church Street Station. Besides from Amura, it seems most restaurants in this area of downtown don't last very long when they open (or reopen for a second time), so I wonder how long Hamburger Mary's is going to hold out.

The meal started with an order of Mary-Mac & Cheese Balls. Deep fried macaroni and cheese is just wrong in my opinion. To me, these should be relegated to the disgusting carny food at the fair. Pasta is definitely not meant to be breaded and deep fried.

I had a Bird of Paradise sandwich. It consisted of turkey, bacon, avocado, tomato, cheese, and mayonnaise on wheat bread. I was initially surprised to see that the sandwich had actual roasted turkey rather than the normal sliced cold-cut deli turkey that restaurants normally serve on sandwiches. It was a very tasty sandwich, served with a side of fries.

Somebody I ate here with who has pretty conservative world viewpoints was very disappointed that there were no shows going on at Hamburger Mary's on the night we went. Interesting...

Krystal in Lake Mary, FL

When a visiting relative was craving a White Castle Hamburger, we decided to try Krystal. The only White Castle in Lake Mary, FL that I knew of is seen in the picture below, but that house isn't serving hamburgers, so Krystal the next closest thing.

I ordered a combo that came with a chicken sandwich (known as Chiks), fries, and a soda. After about a ten minute wait in the fast food restaurant (we were the only customers), the food finally came, and I was surprised to see that my combo actually came with three chicken sandwiches. That's more fried chicken than anyone should be eating in one sitting. One sandwich and the fries would have been enough fried food for me. The sandwiches weren't horrible, but they were kind of salty. They reminded me of the sandwiches from the Chick-fil-A next door.


The final verdict with the miniature hamburgers was that Krystal doesn't come close to the awesomeness that is White Castle (although I can't say personally. I've never tried a White Castle).