Latin Cafe 2000 in Miami, FL

After a day of exploring Miami, I wanted to get a good Cuban Sandwich for dinner. I ended up at a restaurant called Latin Cafe 2000 on Biscayne Blvd, just north of Downtown. They had a takeout window selling the desired sandwiches that looked like it was doing lots of business, so the Cuban sandwich prospects looked good.

Once seated, we were served a basket of pressed and buttered bread by the very attentive waiters.

I'm not much of a coffee drinker, but since this was at a Cuban restaurant, I'm including a picture of the Cortidito that someone else at the table ordered. It was a really small cup of strong coffee with foamy milk on the top. It looked sort of like espresso to me, but I'm no coffee expert.

I walked into Latin Cafe 2000 thinking I was going to get a Cuban Sandwich. I sort of got distracted once I started reading the menu by all the other tasty sounding food. When I finally made my decision, I ordered the mystery meal at my table and got the Sopon Marinero. The English translation was kind of vague and said Big Seafood Soup. The waitress wasn't much more help at explaining what type of seafood was in the soup, but she said it was good, so I gave it a try.

The soup came in a huge bowl and had a tomato based broth. The seafood consisted of calamari rings, mussels, clams, shrimp, and a type of white fish. With some fresh squeezed lime added to the soup, it was really tasty. The clams were kind of chewy, but otherwise I had no complaints. I'd gladly get this again!

I didn't get my Cuban sandwich, but that could wait until my next trip to Miami. I really enjoyed my meal and it reminded me that Cuban food can be really good. I definitely need to start trying more Cuban restaurants...

Pizza Rustica in South Beach, FL (Lincoln Road)

I ate lunch at Pizza Rustica on Lincoln Road in Miami's South Beach. Pizza Rustica had a huge selection of rectangular pies behind the glass, all being sold by the slice. They called these Roman style pizzas, and were similar to a Sicilian slice with a slightly thinner crust and lots of toppings. There were so many varieties that it was actually kind of hard to choose what to get.

Pizza Rustica was busy and had a bit of a line to order, so I had time to make my decision. I ended up going with Pizza Rustica's special, which included a slice of pizza, salad, and drink for $9.50. It was kind of overpriced for what it was, but Pizza Rustica was in the middle of the main drag of South Beach's touristy area, so the high price was kind of expected. My slice of pizza was reheated in the oven for a few minutes, and then I went outside to find a place to sit with my food.

My salad was pretty good. I really liked the dressing...

I picked the Potato & Goat Cheese pizza. The large rectangular slice (then further cut into 6 smaller pieces) was topped with sliced potatoes, goat and mozzarella cheeses, kalamata olives, red onions, and tomatoes. Nobody ever seems to think potato goes good on pizza, but I've tried it on a few occasions (as well as making my own) and it's always been really good. This slice continued the trend of good potato pizzas.

I also did some trading among dining companions and got to try the special pie of the day. It was topped with chicken, Canadian bacon, corn, cheese, and tomato sauce. It was tasty, but I preferred my potato pizza.

I'd gladly go back and give Pizza Rustica another try! I love it when a pizzeria has a huge pizza selection like this place did!

Dominics II in Boca Raton, FL

I have eaten at Dominics II in Boca Raton many times in the past. I've mentioned them here on Watch Me Eat in the past, but I've never discussed their pizza. Their other food is good, but Dominics' pizza is amazing...

I've never had a bad pizza here. This NY style pizza is consistently good. The crust is nice and thin. The sauce has a great flavor and the cheese is tasty. There's always a perfect proportion between the crust, cheese, and sauce, and right out of the oven, the pie stays together. There isn't any of the cheese pulling off of the slice or sauce dripping onto the plate like sometimes happens with other pizzas.

This is quite possibly the best pizza I've had in Florida. Definitely very near the top of my top-ten pizzas in the state. I have often heard the excuse that you can't get good NY style pizza in Florida due to differences in water, atmosphere, or a number of other reasons. Whenever I hear this, I think of a pizza like this pie from Dominics and know that this isn't the case...

May Sum in Orlando, FL

I ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant called May Sum in Orlando near the airport.

May Sum had a lunch buffet going on for $5.95, so that's what I decided to get.

They were running low on several items on the buffet, so the employees were nice enough to ask if we wanted anything else. They then went and made fresh food for the buffet, pretty much based on our requests.

I had no complaints, it was all okay for a Chinese buffet. Nothing to write home about, but not bad either.

Ginza Steak & Sushi in Orlando, FL

I ate lunch at a new Japanese restaurant called Ginza Steak & Sushi located in Orlando's Mills-50 District. The restaurant is split into half hibachi and half sushi. I went with the hibachi.

I had the chicken and shrimp lunch special for $8.95. The meal started with soup and salad, then the chef started cooking and fried rice, stir-fried vegetables, shrimp, and chicken followed. It was the standard show that goes on at these type restaurants, and the standard food for the most part. Noodles were the only thing that was missing that most other hibachi restaurants serve, but perhaps you get them with dinner.

For the price, this was a whole lot of food. I didn't notice much of a difference in quality or portion size between what I ate at Ginza compared to what Kobe serves for almost triple the price. I'd gladly return.

Patsio's Diner in Casselberry, FL

I ate at this Greek diner called Patsio's in Casselberry. Being that Greek diners are rare to almost non-existent in Central Florida, I was interested to see how their food was...

I ordered the Chicken Soulvlakia Sandwich which was really tasty. The chicken had great flavor, wrapped in a pita with peppers and onions. The sandwich was served with a pickle, fries, and a side of tzatziki. I'd gladly get this again...

Tangierine Cafe at Epcot

I ended my day at Epcot with a visit to the Morocco Pavilion to get some dinner. There's the Restaurant Marrakesh at the back of the pavilion that I have yet to try, but not for this meal.

I got my food from the Tangierine Cafe. It's a fast food restaurant serving Moroccan food.

I ordered a Falafel Wrap, served with lentils and couscous. There it is being prepared behind the counter:


The couscous had some raisins mixed in and was nice and sweet. The lentils were a bit tart and were really tasty. I sat down to eat on the restaurant's patio just as the Illuminations fireworks show was starting. It was a pretty good view of Epcot exploding into a giant fireball...

Once I finished the lentils and couscous which both required forks, I ditched the plate and tray and walked closer to the lake with my falafel. Street vendors in major cities sell falafel for a reason. It's easy to eat on the go. The wrap was filled with the deep fried chickpea balls, lettuce, tomato, onions, and tzatziki.

As far as theme parks go, Epcot is pretty awesome when it comes to food. What other amusement park is there where you can have good Chinese noodle soup for lunch, get free soda, and then end the day by eating falafel while simultaneously watching fireworks?



(This post is listed at the Disney Blog Carnival)

Brick & Fire Pizza & Pasta Parlor in Winter Park, FL

I had dinner at the Brick & Fire Pizza & Pasta Parlor in Winter Park. I had heard good things about the restaurant, so I was looking forward to giving them a try. The meal started with a Parmesan Flatbread appetizer.


A half meatball/half cheese pizza came next. It was an okay pizza. Not the best, but not the worst either. There was a bit too much cheese on the pie for my personal taste, but it didn't have the messy look that pizza with a lot of cheese sometimes gets. The pizza seemed well made, just very cheese heavy. Their crust had a lighter, more airy consistency compared to most other pizzas and was really good. I'm not sure what they did differently with this crust to make it light and fluffy like this, but I liked it...


If I return to Brick & Fire, I think I'm going to have to try a pizza other than plain cheese. On their website, they have pictures of their specialty pies that look really good. Based on those pictures, I'd try either a Greek Pizza or a Goat Cheese Pizza.

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...