Fireside Pizza in Sanford, FL

Fireside Pizza is an Italian restaurant located in a Wal-Mart shopping center in Sanford. This restaurant was previously home to a RedBrick Pizza, which I wasn't a big fan of their food. I never tried this particular location when it was a RedBrick Pizza, but their Altamonte location wasn't really worth visiting again. I was a little hesitant to visit Fireside, just because it used to be a RedBrick and was a bit disappointed to see a very similar menu to what I remember RedBrick having.

We ordered the Greek Pizza, topped with ham, peppers, spinach, onions, kalamata olives, and feta. There did seem to be a definite improvement over RedBrick. I liked the crust much more over what I remember. It was thin and crispy. There were plenty of toppings, and overall had less of the frozen pizza feel that RedBrick gave off and had more of the character that a freshly made pizza should have. This wasn't the best pizza around and there are several other restaurants in Sanford that I would choose over Fireside when it comes to pizza, but at least it's an improvement over RedBrick Pizza. It wouldn't be my first choice, but I'd be willing to visit Fireside again...

Country Kitchen in Longwood, FL

Country Kitchen is a little breakfast place in Longwood that's been around as long as I can remember. Country Kitchen is located very close to where I live and has always been in the current shopping center, although not in the same storefront. After years of passing by Country Kitchen, I finally decided to give them a try and stopped in for breakfast one morning.

I ordered one of their daily specials and had the bacon, egg, and cheese croissant sandwich. The eggs were scrambled with chopped pieces of bacon mixed in. Hashed browns were served on the side. As far as breakfast sandwiches go, this was perfectly acceptable. For $3 and change, I was happy with my meal and would return to Country Kitchen for breakfast again!

Pinkberry in South Beach, FL

I was enjoying the day in Miami Beach and as I was walking along Ocean Drive, I came across a Pinkberry. Pinkberry isn't new on this blog, but it turned out this particular Pinkberry was new and having their grand opening. That meant free frozen yogurt!

There were a huge amount of employees in here, all running around each other while putting together cups of frozen yogurt.

I ordered key lime frozen yogurt, topped with all the fruit they had. This included blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, mango, pineapple, and kiwi. I also had a waffle cone type cookie in the yogurt as well.

Grease in West Palm Beach, FL

I was in West Palm Beach and had dinner at a restaurant called Grease. They had a sports bar vibe in the restaurant, only much more upscale than the typical sports bars that I've visited. I didn't know this before visiting the restaurant, but Grease has the same owners as Rocco's Tacos across the street.

I ordered the Seared Rare Tuna Sliders, topped with wasabi-mayo, pickled ginger, and cilantro. These three sandwiches were very tasty, except they weren't served rare as advertized on the menu. I was actually debating whether I should trust seafood that isn't fully cooked from a burger place before ordering, so I was perfectly fine with tuna burgers that were served well-done. If you're going to call something a seared rare tuna slider though, I would expect the tuna burger to still be pink on the inside. Regardless, these sliders were still really good and I did enjoy them.

I did enjoy the sliders, but just like Rocco's across the street, everything here was a bit pricy. For the prices they charged, including fries with their sandwiches would have been nice. Overall, Grease was alright, but nothing worth going out of my way to visit again.

The After Party Food Truck in Orlando, FL

It seems like I've been on a bit of a kick of trying the International Drive food trucks lately. Not long after I tried the Kosher on Wheels truck, I visited The After Party.

The After Party parks in a strip mall at the intersection of International and Carrier Drive, not far from Magical Midway. As implied by the name, The After Party opens in the evenings and serves food until the early morning hours. This truck apparently serves Brazilian style hamburgers and other sandwiches. Their logo on the side of the truck featured a picture of a burger and the tagline Best Sandwiches in Town. I was about to find out if that was true.

I ordered a sandwich called the Chicken Xtravaganza. This consisted of a huge variety of ingredients, including shredded chicken, ham, sausage, cheese, fried egg, lettuce, tomato, onions, corn, peas, and potato sticks. I could be forgetting some of the components of this sandwich too. With everything on this sandwich, it definitely lived up to the xtravaganza name. More importantly, it was very tasty as well. I would never think to put peas or corn on a sandwich but it definitely worked. I will definitely return to The After Party at some point to try some more of their sandwiches...

My visit to The After Party reminded me once again how much fun dining at random food trucks at the side of the road can be. Food truck events are one thing, but when there's just one truck, all by its self, the experience is very different and very enjoyable...

Pizzeria Del-Dio in Orlando, FL

I recently met with TastyChomps to go try some Italian food at Pizzeria Del-Dio in Orlando. Del-Dio was once located in Fern Park and I have some vague memories of trying them back then, but that location changed ownership. In the early days of this blog, I actually wrote about the Fern Park Del-Dio while they had the second owners. Their pizza wasn't the best with some issues with the crust/sauce/cheese ratios and they eventually closed. Del-Dio's original owners reopened in the back corner of a strip mall off of Colonial Drive in Orlando, facing the Executive Airport.

When I arrived at Pizzeria Del-Dio, our meal started with a meatball appetizer. This consisted of two large meatballs in sauce. These were nice and flavorful. The garlic flavor was very strong here.

Next, we split a pizza. We ordered half pepperoni and onion and half sausage and spinach.

This was a very good pie. The crust/sauce/cheese/topping ratios were done right and there seemed to be just the right amount of everything. The pepperoni & onion slices were good, but I preferred the sausage & spinach. The spinach was sauteed with garlic and the sausage was sliced as opposed to crumbled (better that way).

Our meal ended with a cannoli for dessert.

I enjoyed my meal at Pizzeria Del-Dio. They served some pretty tasty pizza. Now that I know where they're hidden, I'll be stopping here again for more pizza at some point...

BurgerFi in Lake Mary, FL

BurgerFi is a chain that is spreading throughout the Central Florida area. I first heard of Burgerfi when I tried one of their South Florida locations in Delray Beach. Since that initial exposure to the chain, they have opened locations in Winter Park, Lake Mary, and there are plans for a third location in Altamonte Springs. This post is specifically talking about their Lake Mary location.

We ended up here one afternoon for lunch because I was dining with a dog owner. Not many places along Lake Mary Boulevard seem to be dog friendly, but this BurgerFi seems to welcome dogs with water bowls spread throughout the outdoor dining area.

On this visit, I tried their B.A.D. Burger. This stood for Breakfast All Day and consisted of the burger, American cheese, hickory bacon drizzled with maple syrup, fried egg, hash browns, grilled diced onions, and ketchup. I've never been a huge fan of burgers for some reason but I wanted to try one of BurgerFi's much hyped burgers to see if they were really exceptional. Honestly, it didn't do much for me. The beef was dry and bland. I couldn't detect the flavor of the egg or the hashed browns. The bacon and cheese were tasty, but the overall strongest flavor on the sandwich was ketchup. There was definitely far too much ketchup on this burger. 

We also shared the Cry & Fries. This consisted of three huge onion rings over a basket of fries. The onion rings here are good. The fries are forgettable.

I suppose BurgerFi is alright for what it is when it comes to fast food burger places. I'd pick BurgerFi over Burger King or McDonalds any day, but burgers just don't do much for me...

Kings Bowl in Orlando, FL

I was invited to the Media Preview of Kings Bowl. This is a fancy new bowling alley that took over a space formerly occupied by a Gooding's Supermarket on International Drive. They have all the normal stuff that most bowling alleys have, i.e.- lots of bowling lanes (which were very nicely illuminated) and pool tables. Alongside the norm, Kings Bowl also has all sorts of edible things that most bowling alleys do not. Since this is a food blog, the edible is what I'm focusing on. Why not start out with a fancy drink from one of their many bars?

If you're more of a beer person, Kings Bowl has a couple of these nifty booths with computerized, self-serve beer taps built into the tables. I haven't come across these elsewhere.

For the food, the menu ranged from pretty standard bowling alley fare to very unusual foods to be eating while bowling. It seems like most bowling alleys I've visited serve pizza. So did Kings Bowl. I sampled the Spicy Hawaiian Pizza, topped with fresh serrano peppers, bacon, grilled pineapple, grilled chicken, seasoned oil, and jack cheese.

The Buffalo Wontons were surprisingly tasty. I've never had fried wontons filled with buffalo sauce flavored cream cheese, but that is a delicious combination.

The Southwestern Spring Rolls, filled with roasted chicken, corn, black beans, peppers, onions, and cheese were one of my least favorite items that I tried at Kings. I found them to be very bland and flavorless, definitely lacking the spicy kick that southwestern often implies. They were also very soggy, as if the ingredients weren't properly drained before being put into the spring roll wrapper. I hope I just got a bad batch, but then again, bad batches of menu items should probably be avoided at media events.

Fried Mac & Cheese Bites, served in marinara sauce.

 Sesame Ginger Wings consisted of fried chicken with a tasty chili soy sauce.

 

 Cheeseburger Sliders, topped with cheddar and caramelized onions.

I enjoyed the BBQ Pulled Pork Sliders, topped with coleslaw.

House Smoked Baby Back Ribs, normally served with fries, coleslaw, and cornbread. Being as messy as these ribs were to eat, I probably wouldn't recommend bowling in between bites of ribs.

Kings Famous Steak Tips, served with mashed potatoes & green beans.

Brazilian Fish Stew, filled with fresh grouper, shrimp, tomatoes, green & red peppers, and cilantro served with white rice and grilled bread. This was definitely not a stereotypical bowling alley food and was actually one of my favorite dishes that I tried.

You have to finish every bowling alley meal with dessert. Here's the Chocolate, Banana & Coconut Spring Roll Sundae that I sampled.

I enjoyed the food at Kings for the most part based on what I was able to try at the media event. A couple of weeks later, I had a hankering to actually go bowling. I returned to Kings and shared a Bacon Chicken Ranch Pizza on this visit. I preferred this pizza to the Spicy Hawaiian Pizza that was mentioned earlier, but it was a bit messy with shredded lettuce that fell all over...

Kings Bowl had pretty good food for a bowling alley! I would totally consider coming back here again next time I want to go bowling...