Fire on the Bayou in Orange City, FL

In honor of Fat Tuesday, today we visit a cajun restaurant in Orange City called Fire on the Bayou. I found this restaurant when they showed up on the top of the listings for Orange City restaurants on my phone. It was new to me.

They had all the standards you would expect, ranging from poboys, seafood boils, gumbos, and more. I ordered the Taste of Nawlins, served with Jambalaya, gumbo, red beans and rice, and andouille sausage. The portion size of this dish was huge, with just one of the bowls being enough for a meal. The jambalaya contained chicken and sausage and had a good kick to it. It was much more stew-like compared to many other versions of the dish, but I enjoyed it. Of the three, the jambalaya was my favorite. Gumbo was my second favorite, topped with three large shrimp. The red beans and rices were good, but seemed pretty ordinary compared to the gumbo and jambalaya. The andouille sausage topped the red beans & rice. Slices of French bread were served on the side, perfect for soaking up the stews...

I enjoyed my meal at Fire on the Bayou. I would gladly return.

Goodfella's Pizzeria in Orange City, FL

I had dinner one evening at Goodfella's Pizzeria in Orange City. I had heard good things for a very long time about their other location in Orlando, but never got a chance to give them a try. This newly opened location in Orange City seemed to be very popular. There was a half hour wait to eat when I arrived on a weeknight.

I split a pizza at Goodfella's. My half was topped with spinach and sausage while the other half was topped with meatball. Another pizza was ordered at the table that was half Hawaiian and half cheese. The overall consensus at the table was that the pizzas had potential, but were undercooked and were too heavy on the cheese. My toppings also made my half of the pie a bit soggy as well.

Being that I had heard good things about Goodfella's in the past, I'd consider giving their pizza another try. Perhaps after this location has been open a bit longer and on a day when they don't have a wait so pizzas aren't being rushed out of the oven. The pizza definitely did have potential, but the sogginess and overly doughy crust didn't quite meet that potential...

China Star in Orange City, FL

I was in Orange City and stopped to pick up some Chinese take out from a restaurant called China Star. This is apparently a very prevalent name when it comes to these type of restaurants. This particular restaurant was in a somewhat run down looking strip mall located just off 17-92 and I was the only customer at the time. I ordered vegetable lo mein and wonton soup. The lo mein was filled with cabbage, snow peas, carrots, scallions, and broccoli in a tasty brown sauce.

The soup had a nice broth with plenty of dumplings floating around. It had scallions but no pork.

For a Chinese take out place, the food that I tried here was pretty tasty. I'd come to China Star again.