Croissant Gourmet in Winter Park, FL

SunRail has officially started service in Orlando as of this week. In order to try out the new train, I decided to ride to Winter Park to get some lunch. You can read all about my experience riding SunRail on a new blog that I started called FloridaTrainAdventures.com. After I got off the train, I walked over to a French restaurant called Croissant Gourmet.

Croissant Gourmet is a French bakery, serving all sorts of delicious looking croissants, pastries, crepes, and sandwiches.

I ordered a sandwich called the Croque Monsieur topped with an egg. I've heard this sandwich also described as a croque madame if egg is involved, but according to the menu this was a croque monsieur. The sandwich consisted of two slices of bread, ham, melted cheese, and a fried egg over the top. Once the yolk was broken, the runny egg was absorbed into the bread giving the sandwich an extra burst of flavor. A salad was served on the side.

I shared a cinnamon raisin roll for dessert. It had a nice, flaky, almost croissant-like texture that I enjoyed. The roll was topped with powdered sugar and was tasty.

I enjoyed my meal at Croissant Gourmet. The food was good, and although it wasn't the cheapest restaurant around, it was more affordable than a couple other similar French bakeries that I've visited. After my meal, I returned to the train station and rode home...

Las Margaritas Mexican Restaurant in Gainesville, FL

I was driving through Gainesville and decided to stop to get dinner. Mexican food sounded good and after finding out the first restaurant choice right off the I-75 exit was closed on Sundays, we ended up at a restaurant called Las Margaritas. The restaurant name was ignored and I didn't have any of their margaritas. Instead, the meal began with chips and salsa.

I ordered the Enchiladas Mexicanas. This dish came with three enchiladas, each with a different filling and sauce. There was a cheese enchilada topped with tomatillo sauce. There was a chicken enchilada with cheese sauce, and a beef enchilada topped with a red sauce. My favorite of the three was the chicken in the cheese sauce. The sauce was almost like a creamy alfredo sauce (but not quite), rather than the typical melted cheese that I've encountered more often in Mexican restaurants. My second favorite was the cheese enchilada with the tomatillo sauce. I do enjoy a tasty tomatillo sauce, and this was indeed tasty. My least favorite was the beef enchilada. This seemed the most boring of the three. Not much was going on when it came to flavor with the ground beef or the red sauce. A salad made from lettuce, pico de gallo, sour cream, and guacamole accompanied the enchiladas. 

I enjoyed my meal at Las Margaritas. After a day of driving, eating here was a nice break before the final stretch home. The food was tasty and the prices were affordable. If I lived closer to Gainesville, I'd return to this restaurant!

G&G Jamaican Delights in Ocoee, FL

I recently visited the West Oaks Mall in Ocoee. The slowly dying mall is mostly devoid of stores, including in the food court. That said, some of the occupied restaurants here were a bit more interesting than standard food court food. There was a place serving boba tea. There was another, which I had lunch from, called G&G Jamaican Delights.

I had the curry chicken. This came with several pieces of chicken, rice, plantains, and cabbage. The chicken was nice and tender. The curry flavoring was tasty and the leftover sauce added extra flavor to the rice. Like meats served from many Jamaican restaurants, careful of little pieces of bone. Much better than a standard food court chain!

Olive Garden New Menu in Orlando, FL

Olive Garden recently introduced a new menu and I was invited to sample some of their new dishes. This menu tasting happened at the Olive Garden on International Drive in Orlando. It had been quite a while since I had dined at an Olive Garden, so I was looking forward to trying what Olive Garden deemed to be their best new items that they wanted to share with the media...

The event started with a basket of breadsticks. There wasn't anything new about the bread. They were the same Olive Garden breadsticks that people seem to either love or hate.

The first new item was the Polenta Shrimp alla Greca. This consisted of shrimp over polenta topped with olives, capers, and tomato sauce.

Spicy Calabrian Wings came next. These wings were served with a gorgonzola dipping sauce and a freshly made spicy sauce made from chili paste and oil. The wings were slightly spicy, but still weren't overpowered by the flavoring.

Crispy Risotto Bites:

Two new salads came next. Both of these salads seemed like the same base salads that Olive Garden always served, only covered in toppings. The first was the Antipasti Italian Meats & Cheeses. The salad was topped with sliced salami, pepperoni, and mozzarella. For some reason this salad was very poorly tossed with certain bites soaked in dressing, while other bites were completely dry. The other new salad was the Roasted Tomato Caprese. This one was topped with roasted tomatoes, kale, and balls of fresh mozzarella. I preferred this salad out of the two, with the exception of the kale. There was far too many chewy kale stems and not enough of the parts of the leaves that were a bit more tender.

The Smashed Chicken Meatball Sandwich was described on the menu as: Focaccia bun with roasted bell peppers and mozzarella. Served in a spicy diavolo tomato sauce. With parmesan garlic fries.

The next two dishes were part of Olive Garden's Cucina Mia section of the menu where you get to pick your own pasta and toppings. Based on what we were served, I'd avoid this section of Olive Garden's menu. The Large Paccheri with Creamy Sun-Dried Tomato lacked any hint of sun-dried tomato. The paccheri noodles were either way undercooked or were sitting out way too long. Pasta shouldn't be bent and then hold whatever position you bend it into. The meatballs were the same that was used in the smashed chicken meatball sandwich, but here they were forgettable without the flavors that the sandwich's sauces provided.

The second Cucina Mia dish was the Vegetable Penne Primavera. The penne was topped with marinara with zucchini, red peppers, onions, and tomatoes. Those vegetables must have been chopped up really finely in the sauce, because all I detected was tomatoes. This was a pasta dish like something I would cook at home when I'm feeling lazy. Make some pasta and pour a jar of tomato sauce over the top.

Chicken Abruzzi consisted of grilled chicken, cannellini beans, kale, and other vegetables in a broth. Out of everything served, this was one of my favorite dishes. The chicken itself was a bit dry, but I liked everything else here. The broth was nice and flavorful. The beans were hearty and the vegetables were nice and tender.

Pappardelle Pescatore was another disappointing pasta dish. This contained sautéed shrimp, bay scallops and clams tossed with pappardelle pasta, fresh asparagus and tomatoes in a creamy, red pepper seafood sauce. I did enjoy the red pepper sauce. It was spicy and really flavorful. As for the rest of the dish, it contained two shrimp, two chewy clams, and one tiny scallop. The fresh asparagus only consisted of the lower stems and none of the tender asparagus heads. I'd be unhappy with this dish if I ordered it, especially when compared to how it appears on Olive Garden's menu.

The Chicken Primavera with Giant Fusilli was my favorite of all the pasta dishes. Two pieces of chicken breasts were served over the pasta. There were lots of vegetables mixed in with the slightly spicy sauce. This is what a primavera pasta should look like, unlike the Cucina Mia version of the Vegetable Penne Primavera seen above.

For dessert, we sampled the Wild Berry Layer Cake. I enjoyed all of the tart berries that topped the cake.

Overall, I don't think Olive Garden's new menu is going to change anyone's mind about the restaurant. If you were already a fan of the restaurant, you'll probably still like them. If you weren't, the new menu items probably aren't going to win you over.

LA Boiling Crab in Orlando, FL

I had lunch at LA Boiling Crab in the Mills-50 District of Orlando. Surrounded by Vietnamese and Chinese restaurants, this place specialized in New Orleans style po boy sandwiches, crawfish, crabs, and other types of seafood. 

I ordered the soft shell crab po boy. This sandwich was filled with fried soft shell crab, lettuce, tomato, onion, and mayonnaise. It was served on a French baguette with a nice, crispy crust. The crab was very tender and the batter that it was fried in had plenty of flavor.

I shared an order of beignets for dessert. These four fried fritters were topped with plenty of powdered sugar. They were light and airy on the inside. They may be a type of doughnut, but beignets aren't just any doughnut. Beignets are the official state doughnut of Louisiana! An appropriate end to a meal at a restaurant with LA in the name.

I had fun at LA Boiling Crab. It had been a while since I've eaten Cajun food, so having a po boy and beignets was enjoyable. At some point I want to return here and try some of their crawfish and crabs which smelled delicious as I was eating.

Junior Colombian Burgers in Orlando, FL

I've heard people rave about how good the food is at Junior Colombian Burgers on Kirkman Road for a long time. Being that I'm not a huge fan of hamburgers, I was always a little hesitant to try this place. Finally, I decided that it was about time. Would I find their burgers be dry, boring tasting pieces of beef like so many other places that supposedly have good burgers, or would a Colombian burger dress up the beef into something much better?

I've visited the Kirkman location of Junior twice now. My first visit was late at night and I didn't actually try one of their burgers. I had a Hawaiian Empanada. I like empanadas. Dumplings of any sort are normally good, and I think empanadas fall into the dumpling category. In this particular case though, I did not enjoy the empanada. It was filled with cheese, pineapple, and ham. The cheese and the ham worked fine together, but the moisture from the pineapple made the empanada very soggy. I've had Hawaiian pizzas with the same problem. Tasted okay, but soggy empanadas are no fun...

I also tried something called Salchipapa. This was completely new to me, and consisted of fried potato balls with pieces of hot dog cut into fancy shapes. The potato balls were very moist and tasty. Dipping them in the garlic sauce that Junior had made them better...

On my second visit to the restaurant, I decided to actually try one of their burgers. I ordered their Combo #2 which came with the cheeseburger, fries, and a drink.

The burger consisted of a hamburger patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, onions, potato chips, garlic sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, pink sauce, and pineapple sauce. Did this burger pass the test of not being boring? Yes it did. The beef was very moist and had flavor. All the sauces were very tasty and blended together well, without one overpowering the others. The potato chips were interesting. They started out crunchy, but as they sat on the burger they started forming a mush that sort of reminded me of mashed potatoes.

I liked my first experience eating a Colombian burger. The sandwich was nowhere as boring as most American style hamburgers that tend to leave me with a bad taste towards burgers. I'd return to Junior Colombian Burger!

Rocky's Pizzeria in Orlando, FL

I had lunch one afternoon at a restaurant called Rocky's Pizzeria located along Turkey Lake Road in a shopping center next to Wal-Mart. Pizza by the slice in Central Florida's strip malls sometimes seems like a questionable food adventure to me, just because I'm afraid of the turnover of the pies. If the pizza available for slices seemed past it's prime, I was prepared to order a sandwich instead. Rocky's had lots of customers when I walked in around 2:45, so I figured I wouldn't be eating a slice from the same pie that was made earlier that morning and was siting around all day long and decided to order their lunch combo.

The lunch combo included two slices of pizza and a canned beverage. I'm glad I did go with the pizza rather than a sandwich because these were very good slices. This New York style pizza had a thin, slightly crispy crust. The cheese and sauce had nice, evenly spaced proportions. Nothing was dripping off the crust, nor was there a lack of crust coverage. The cheese was slightly salty and although the sauce wasn't a standout flavor, it added nicely to the overall pizza flavor. The outside crust was brushed with a garlic sauce which was a nice surprise when I got an extra bit of flavor that I wasn't initially expecting.

Based on my first experience at Rocky's Pizza, I think they may be near the top of my list of good New York style pizzas near International Drive.

The Chop Shop in Lakeland, FL

I found myself in Downtown Lakeland last Saint Patrick's Day. Roads were closed and there was a street party going on. Lots of people were getting drunk on beers dyed green with food coloring, but I was looking for dinner rather than alcohol. There was an Irish pub downtown called Molly McHugh's that would have been appropriate for the holiday, but they didn't serve food. Instead, I ended up across the street at 50s themed restaurant specializing in burgers called The Chop Shop.

Since it was Saint Patrick's Day, I decided to go with their special and ordered the corned beef and cabbage sandwich. This large sandwich consisted of a large hoagie roll filled with corned beef, cabbage, and mayonnaise. The corned beef was thinly sliced, nice and tender, and had a good, somewhat salty taste. The cabbage seemed a bit more like sauerkraut than I was expecting, but that was fine with me. I like sauerkraut! Fries were served on the side.

I enjoyed my slightly Irish inspired combination of flavors in my sandwich. Apparently corned beef and cabbage is an American invention and isn't actually a thing in Ireland (it's derived from the Irish bacon and cabbage dish). Does this make me, a person with no Irish heritage, eating corned beef on a sandwich with fries at a burger place as bad as all the non-Irish people using Saint Patrick's Day as an excuse to get drunk?

Wood Grill Buffet in Orlando, FL

I ended up eating dinner at a very touristy buffet called Wood Grill Buffet along the sparsely occupied section of International Drive between Sea World and Disney. According to the host, Wood Grill Buffet was a completely independent, one of a kind, non-chain restaurant. Once we were eating, I did notice that the signs on the inside of the restaurant called itself Western Sizzlin's Wood Grill Buffet. According to their website, this was Western Sizzlin's only Wood Grill Buffet location, but they are definitely not as independent as the host said.

I made two trips up to the buffet. On my first plate, I sampled a sundried tomato and sausage pasta, ribs, wings, fried okra, green beans, an onion ring and corn bread. The two standouts here were the ribs and the cornbread. The ribs were fresh (brought out a fresh batch as I was approaching the buffet) and the meat was nice and tender. The cornbread was surprisingly moist. Everything else on the plate was average.

My second plate consisted of far too many carbs. I tried the macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, cheesy potato casserole, brussel sprouts, and a biscuit. The macaroni and mashed potatoes tasted like they were very mass-produced and seemed instant/microwaved. The grilled brussel sprouts were the highlight on this plate, and seemed unusual to be found on a touristy buffet.

Wood Grill Buffet was a step above some of the other buffets on International Drive. It was definitely way better than a Ponderosa or a Sizzler, but I'd rank it below the touristy buffets at Disney.

JC's Lobster Pot in Deland, FL

I had dinner at JC's Lobster Pot in Deland. This seafood restaurant is located on 44, not far from the St. Johns River.

When I entered the restaurant, I noticed they had a rock shrimp special. It had been a while since I've eaten rock shrimp, so I decided to give that a try. The meal began with clam chowder and a side salad.

For the main course, I received a plate of just over a dozen large rock shrimp, butter dipping sauce, french fries, and hush puppies. The shrimp were very tasty, as shrimp dipped in butter should be. The hush puppies were good and the fries were okay but weren't a standout of the meal.

I never knew JC's Lobster Pot existed until I found it accidentally when my dinner plans at a nearby restaurant fell through. I'm glad I know about it now because I did enjoy my meal here!

Burger 21 in Orlando, FL

I had dinner one night at a restaurant called Burger 21 near Millenia Mall in Orlando. This is a chain with a few locations in the Orlando area. I started out the meal by sharing an order of Half & Half Fries. This was a basket of half regular fries and half sweet potato fries. The fries by themselves were okay. Nothing exceptional, but the fun part was dipping them in all of the sauces that were available at their sauce bar. My favorites were the Chipotle Mayo, Cajun Mayo, and totally unexpectedly, the Toasted Marshmallow.

I saw they had seafood burgers on the menu and that caught my attention. Seafood burgers seem to be a bit more unusual than then normal alternatives to beef burgers (turkey, veggie, etc). I decided to try the Spicy Thai Shrimp Burger. This is how the menu described the burger: Lightly-fried shrimp burger, lettuce, tomato, Sriracha aïoli, hot chili slaw, pure Sriracha, toasted sesame bun. The way the menu described the burger made it sound good, but the reality was very bland. The shrimp burger patty itself was deep fried on the outside. The interior of the patty appeared almost completely homogeneous and I had trouble telling what was shrimp and what was breading/filler. All that sriracha and hot chili slaw that topped the burger seemed to lack the normal spiciness of sriracha. The entire sandwich was very indistinct and flavorless. The sauce bar came to the rescue to add some taste to the burger...

The person I ate here with ordered a plain cheeseburger and wasn't all too happy either. He ordered it medium-well, but it was served very pink. Apparently this was a theme because I noticed a couple more people sending their food undercooked food back.

Overall, Burger 21 seemed to have potential but they didn't do a very good job to meet that potential. Fries and a sauce bar shouldn't be better than your burgers if burger is in your name. This area has other places around that serve much better burgers/sandwiches. I don't think I'll be rushing back to Burger 21...