Yeoman's Cask & Lion in Kissimmee, FL

I had lunch in the new Sunset Walk shopping center at Margaritaville in Kissimmee. I ate at Yeoman's Cask & Lion. This British themed restaurant sits beneath a replica of Big Ben. Big Ben fits perfectly for a resort complex with a tropical theme! The menu here seemed to be mostly burgers and sandwiches. There was a small portion of the menu which served stereotypical British food.

I ordered a sandwich called the Brie Castle. It was a fancy grilled cheese made from brie and muenster. Besides the cheese, there was pot roast, arugula, apple slices, and caramelized onions. Overall, the sandwich was mostly good. All the components made it much more interesting than a basic grilled cheese. A corner of the sandwich did have some pot roast that was fatty and inedible, but the rest of the sandwich was covered in nice and tender pot roast. Fries were served as a side.

Besides the little bit of chewy pot roast, I enjoyed my lunch here. I'd return to give them another try.

Las Vegas Food #2: In-N-Out Burger

This post is going to be controversial. I'm going to talk about my first visit to an In-N-Out Hamburgers. I'm going to say I wasn't impressed with everyone's much hyped burger chain...

I decided I had to try the In-N-Out Burger I spotted along the Las Vegas Strip. I've been hearing about the wondrous food miracles that In-N-Out does with their burgers for years. With all that hype, I'm sure I was setting myself up for disappointment. I know In-N-Out is known for their secret menu, but I figured I'd order some of their published menu standards since it was my first visit.

I ordered the Double-Double (left). The person I ate there with had a Cheeseburger (right) with only meat and cheese (super picky eater). Fries came as a side for both. My Double-Double had two beef patties, cheese, onions, lettuce, tomato, and sauce. It was adequate. It tasted like a mediocre fast food burger to me, above the monstrosity level of Burger King, but about even with a McDonald's burger. The Double-Double wasn't the worst thing I've had, but not something I'll be craving from Florida for years to come. Don't get me started on the fries though. They were bad. They were soggy, had no character of their own and desperately demanded to be drenched in condiments to make them somewhat okay.

Since my visit to In-N-Out, I've discussed my thoughts with fans of the restaurant. I've been told I would have enjoyed it so much more if I had ordered off the secret menu. In my mindset though, my first experience with the restaurant should be with the regular menu. If I was that impressed, I'd go rushing back to try the secret menu items. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. In-N-Out, you did not live up to your legendary hype...

Las Vegas Food #1: Buffets (Le Village Buffet, Flavors, Spice Market, & Paradise Garden)

I found some very cheap flights and went on a very short trip to Las Vegas. Of the many eating options in the city, Las Vegas does have a reputation for buffets. Upon arriving, I saw advertised that there was a deal where you got unlimited 24-hour access to five buffets in various casinos in the Harrah's chain for $49.99. I was only going to be in the city for about 36 hours total, so this seemed like a good way to go. Timing wise, I was able to get four meals out of this deal, working out to under $13 per buffet before tax and tip. 

Le Village Buffet in Paris:

I arrived in Las Vegas early in the morning. This meant it was time to have breakfast. I stayed in Paris, so after arriving at the hotel, I bought into the buffet deal for a late breakfast at Le Village Buffet. This was the only highly themed buffet I dined at. It was set in a Paris street, with a cloud filled sky up above. The restaurant would have fit right in at Epcot.

Le Village Buffet was somewhat themed foodwise. There was all the standard breakfast items you would expect, along with more French breakfast items such as crepes (which I did not sample because of huge lines), quiches (which I did sample, both the meat and vegetarian versions, both of which were good), and smoked fish (smoked salmon and smoked trout- I enjoy smoked fish).

One major disappointment. There was no French toast on the buffet. I wanted very much to say I ate French Toast (which isn't French) in a casino buffet pretending to be Paris in the Nevada desert. Besides the lack of French Toast, this was actually the best of the buffets I sampled in Vegas. Read on...

Flavors in Harrah's:

This was buffet #2 for lunch. Of all the four buffets I sampled, this was the most unappealing, heading towards the Golden Corral level of food. The cigarette stench from the casino floor also drifted into the buffet, which is a bit disgusting. Wonder how long it will be for all these casinos in Las Vegas to go smoke free?

The buffet was vaguely internationally themed, with various world cuisines. Everything I tasted here was really mediocre. Not impressed. Flavors lacked the flavors...

Spice Market in Planet Hollywood:

Spice Market was buffet #3 for dinner. Similar to Flavors, Spice Market was also internationally themed. The food on this buffet seemed better quality with a better variety. I'm not sure if this is the difference between lunch options and dinner options on buffets owned by Harrah's.

First plate of food included a trip to the Mexican section of the buffet, with quesadillas, rice, beans, and guacamole.  From the American section of the buffet, I had some BBQ ribs (meat wasn't very tender).

Plate #2 mostly consisted of the Mediterranean section of the buffet. This seemed to be what they were pushing in all of the buffet's advertisements. There was lamb skewers, tabouli, roasted vegetables, stuffed grape leaves, and large cubes of feta. Just like the ribs, the lamb was a bit too chewy.

Paradise Garden in The Flamingo:

My final buffet in my 24 hours was at Paradise Garden in The Flamingo. This was my second breakfast buffet in Las Vegas. They had pretty standard breakfast items, although I preferred Le Village Buffet for breakfast. I found it interesting that they had French toast on the buffet in this restaurant, but the French themed buffet did not.

I had a strawberry filled crepe here as well.

Desserts were interesting, especially for breakfast. They were very colorful tarts. The weirdest one was the fruit tart which came with a syringe of raspberry syrup.

Overall, this was a good deal for food for my short time in Las Vegas. Breakfast buffets seemed to definitely be done better compared to the lunch and dinner buffets I tried, which were sort of hit or miss. After this trip, I can cross the Las Vegas buffet thing off my list...