First Watch in Longwood, FL

It's been a very long time since I've been to a First Watch. Last time I was at one of these restaurants, I was very unimpressed with their breakfasts. It's been a few years, but I finally returned to the First Watch in Longwood to give them another try.

I had the Avocado, Bacon, and Tomato Sensational Skillet. This large plate of potatoes was covered in the mentioned toppings, along with two scrambled eggs and cheese. Turned out that this was very tasty. It could have used more avocado and less bacon in my opinion, but it was still good regardless. A fruit salad and English muffin were served on the side. While I generally don't eat out for breakfast all that often, I think I'd return to First Watch again!

Delmonico's Italian Steakhouse in Orlando, FL

I had dinner at Delmonico's Italian Steakhouse on International Drive near Sea World. This restaurant is apparently a small chain with a few locations in upstate New York and one lone restaurant here in Orlando.

The meal started out with some cheese covered garlic bread with a side of marinara for dipping:

I had the Chicken Riggies for my meal. This large plate of rigatoni was mixed with chicken, onions, olives, peppers, and mushrooms in a cream sauce. According to the vast knowledge of Wikipedia, chicken riggies originated in the Utica area of upstate New York. I wonder if chicken riggies was on the menu when I ate in Syracuse's Little Italy last fall?

The Original Pancake House in Boca Raton, FL

I had breakfast/lunch at The Original Pancake House in Boca Raton on a few occasions now. I was under the impression that this is a local South Florida chain, but they are much bigger than that with stores all over the country.

On one visit, I ordered the Greek Omelet filled with spinach and feta. This huge omelet was different from most, with the egg surrounding the fillings being very thick and dough-like. Pancakes were served on the side.


I've had crepes on other visits. I tried both the broccoli & cheddar as well as the spinach & feta. Both were served with hashed browns. Although I had no issues with the fillings, the crepe itself wasn't the best. Both times it was thicker than the normal crepes served in restaurants and was made from a sweet batter. With savory fillings, the sweet batter didn't make the best combination of flavors...


While it is a big breakfast chain and the food isn't the greatest in the world, it's still several steps above Denny's or IHOP. It wouldn't be my first choice, but I would return to The Original Pancake House...

Tahini Mediterranean Grill in Oviedo, FL

I had lunch at Tahini Mediterranean Grill near UCF in Oviedo. This fast food restaurant/coffee shop makes some good middle eastern foods...

I had the Falafel Pita Platter. This came with the sandwich, two sides, and a few slices of pita bread. I choose the Greek salad and baba gnoush as the two sides, both of which were really good.

The falafel pita was also really tasty. The chickpea balls were nice and moist with plenty of flavor. The other sandwich fillings included lettuce, tomato, and onions (although no pickles as mentioned on other food blogs).

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Tahini and would gladly return! (Except Tahini has since gone out of business and become a Dunkin Donuts)

Peace-A-Pizza in Boca Raton, FL

I had lunch at a restaurant called Peace-A-Pizza in Boca Raton. This was a chain that utilized a conveyor belt oven. Normally, conveyor belt pizza ovens equal horrible food, but in this case the pizza here was surprisingly good. Peace-A-Pizza had a huge selection of pizza by the slice, much like what is common up north but almost non-existent in Central Florida. With all the choices, I had finally narrowed it down to two different types of pie...

First up was the Mediterranean Salad Pizza. This slice was very topping heavy with spinach, tomatoes, artichokes, onions, feta cheese, roasted red peppers, and kalamata olives. It was good, but wasn't my favorite of the two slices I tried.

The Pesto, Fresh Mozzarella, Plum Tomatoes and Basil slice was my personal favorite. It had pesto rather than the normal tomato sauce and lots of fresh mozzarella. The crust was thin and crispy, and overall had really good flavors...

I generally don't frequent chain pizza restaurants all that often, but I personally wouldn't mind if a Peace-A-Pizza opened somewhere in the Orlando area. That is, if they could keep their pizza quality up to what was served in their Boca store...

O'Boys Real Smoked Bar-B-Q in Baldwin Park, FL

This is the Smoked Turkey Lunch Platter from O'Boys Real Smoked Bar-B-Q in Baldwin Park. After a morning of exploring Cady Way Trail and the pathways surrounding Lake Baldwin, this huge portion of thinly sliced turkey, fries, baked beans, cole slaw, and garlic bread was very tasty. With the addition of the spicy barbecue sauce, the already good food tasted even better. The food here was definitely a step above some of the other bigger local BBQ chains.

(Restaurant has closed since the time of writing this post.)

Gastro-Truck

Gastro-Truck is one of the newest food trucks to start serving in the Orlando area. Everything that Gastro-Truck serves involves cheese in some shape or form. To put it simply, they specialize in really good variations of grilled cheeses.

I sampled the food from Gastro-Truck when they parked in Downtown Lake Mary for a press event.

I started by trying a Butterkase Slider. This sandwich was filled with butterkase cheese, prosciutto, and a cranberry-jalapeno spread.


Next up was the Mozzarella, Tomato, Basil and Marinated Portabello Mushroom Grilled Cheese. This vegetarian sandwich was one of my favorites out of everything I tried.


That's a Gouda Burger Slider was a stuffed burgers with lots of gouda hidden inside the meat. The sandwich was finished off with tomato, onion, avocado, smoked turkey, cheddar, and a siracha mayo.

The Pork Belly Grilled Cheese with fontina, cheddar and tapenade:

The Cuban Done Right Slider had roasted pork, ham, meunster cheese, pickles, and mojo mayo. Those thickly sliced pickles were really good!

The Mac & Cheese from Gastro-Truck was baked, giving it a nice crispy top while staying nice and creamy on the inside.


Keep track of Gastro-Truck on their:
Website
Facebook
Twitter

CK Jerk Shack Gourmet Island BBQ Food Truck in Orlando, FL

I tried CK Jerk Shack Island BBQ at one of the Orlando Food Truck Bazaars.

I had some of their Jerk Shrimp served over rice. The shrimp was nice and spicy while the rice was sort of sweet. It was a nice contrast of flavors and was a good portion of food. My only complaint was the shrimp still had their shells. Peeling shrimp isn't the easiest thing to do while walking around and eating street food...

Bagel Wit a Schmear in Boca Raton, FL

The missing H in the name of Bagel Wit A Schmear in Boca Raton bothers me. As I'm writing this, I'm finding it very unsettling to write the word "wit" rather than "with." To prevent myself from dwelling to long on restaurants with funky spellings in their names, I'll talk about food now...

I got a bacon, egg, & cheese sandwich on an everything bagel when I stopped into Bagel Wit A Schmear for breakfast. As far as everything bagels go, this particular specimen could have used some more seeds. They did put a whole lot of cheese and bacon on the sandwich though, so that definitely overpowered the lack of seeds. Overall, this was a good, cheap sandwich coming in at about $3. I'd come back, regardless of the lack of H in the name...

RiverGrille on the Tomoka in Ormond Beach, FL

On July 4th, I ate dinner at the RiverGrille on the Tomoka while on my way to the beach to watch fireworks.

The restaurant is situated at the top of a steep hill overlooking the Tomoka River. With such a scenic location, we decided to sit outside on the patio.

If I remember correctly, I had the Atlantic Seafood Pasta (I tried double checking the name on their online menu, but the PDF file is so large it crashes my internet). This penne pasta was topped with shrimp, scallops, mussels, clams, sundried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts in a cream sauce. Garlic bread was served on the side. Unlike other seafood restaurants, RiverGrille did a really nice job with their pasta. I would order this again in a heartbeat, with my only complaint being that one of the mussels was served closed, thus inedible.

As I ate my pasta, I got to enjoy the view of the Tomoka. There was lots of alligators and big catfish swimming by...

Ikea in Sunrise, FL

 What visit to Ikea is complete without buying some sort of food? On this visit to the Ikea in Sunrise, I had the Swedish Meatball Combo, served with the standard mashed potatoes and lingonberry sauce. This came with a side salad and fountain drink (lingonberry soda, of course).

Winter Garden Pizza Company

I had lunch at The Winter Garden Pizza Company. This Italian restaurant in Downtown Winter Garden seemed to be a happening place when I was there. The large restaurant was pretty crowded, both with customers getting food as well as people stopping into the attached ice cream shop.

I had a sausage roll. I'm hesitant to order sausage at Italian restaurants because it's sometimes a mystery as to what will be served. Sometimes flavorless ground beef passes as sausage, while if done properly, actual sausage will be served. The sausage roll at Winter Garden Pizza Company was done right, filled with slices of tasty Italian sausage along with green peppers, onions, and mozzarella.