Salem's Gyros in Lakeland, FL

I had food from a restaurant from Salem's Gyros & Subs in Lakeland. This fast food restaurant looked like it was a former Miami Subs at some point. Gyros and subs were a big part of the menu, but gizzards and livers seemed to be another big seller here. There were three occupied table in the restaurant while I was inside and all three appeared to be eating fried gizzards. I decided to skip the offal (that I know of) and ordered a gyro combo.

 

The combo came with a gyro pita, fries, and a drink. It was somewhat pricey for fast food at almost $10. I declined the offer to add gizzards for an additional $2. The fries were definitely fresh. Very hot and nice and crispy.

 

The gyro consisted of sliced lamb, tomatoes, onions, and tzatziki, all wrapped in a pita. There was a whole lot of meat in the sandwich. It had nice flavor and the tzatziki kept the pita nice and moist.

Salem's made a good gyro. It was still a little overpriced, but I'll forgive them. I probably won't return any time in the near future, mostly since I don't live in Lakeland, but I might if I lived closer...

Luna Pizza in Longwood, FL

Luna Pizza is a small Italian restaurant in the back corner of a shopping center in Longwood. It's actually pretty easy to miss due to it's location, but yet they always seem to have customers.

On one visit, I ordered an eggplant parmesan sub. It was good, although it was very oily. The sandwich was huge and was also a few dollars cheaper than what other nearby Italian restaurants charge for a similar sandwich.

On another visit to Luna Pizza, I took home a Bianca Spinach Pizza. This sauceless pizza was topped with mozzarella, riccota, fresh spinach, and lots of garlic. I was really pleased with the pizza. It had plenty of flavor, even without sauce. In spots, the crust seemed like it could have been cooked a few minutes longer, but other than that, I have no complaints. Good pizza, and adding garlic knots into the pizza box only makes it better!

Little Caesars in Altamonte Springs, FL

According to Wikipedia:

The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martiae) is the name of March 15 in the Roman calendar. The term ides was used for the 15th day of the months of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th day of the other months.^[1] The Ides of March was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held. In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date that Julius Caesar was killed in 709 AUC or 44 B.C. Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus and 60 other co-conspirators.

After receiving a $10 gift card, I picked up a pizza from the Little Caesars in Altamonte Springs. It wasn't until after getting home that I realized that I was eating pizza from a fast food restaurant named after a Roman emperor on March 15, the Ides of March, or the anniversary of Caesar's death. Coincidence is pretty awesome sometimes.

I ordered a $9 Vegetarian Pizza. They said it would take about ten minutes to make, but the people in the back claimed the cashier never told them to make the pizza (she did), so it was a bit longer. They gave an order of their Crazy Bread as an apology...

This was my first time ever eating pizza from a Little Caesars. I tend to avoid the big pizza chains, so a Little Caesars isn't someplace I would normally visit without the incentive of using a gift card.

Comparing this pie to what the other pizza chains serve, Little Caesars was better than Pizza Hut, but not as good as Papa Johns. Haven't tried Dominos new recipe yet, so I can't compare to them.

The Vegetarian Pizza was topped with onions, green peppers, black olives, and sliced tomatoes.

The pizza was okay for what it was, but there is no comparing a chain pizza like this to a pie from an independent pizzeria serving good NY style pizza. I wasn't expecting much from the pizza, and it was slightly better than my low expectations. I don't think I'll be getting another pizza from Little Caesars again anytime soon unless they entice with more free gift cards...

Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy in Lakeland, FL

I had lunch at Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy in Lakeland. The interior of the restaurant was set up to look like an outdoor courtyard.

I had the Enchilada and Taco combination from the lunch menu. I had my choice of fillings in each and picked an avocado enchilada and chicken taco. The avocado in the enchilada was actually a really smooth guacamole. Sort of reminded me of the guacamole from Taco Bell, but it was still tasty. No complaints about the taco. The combination also came served with refried beans and rice.

Abuelo's was pretty good for a chain Mexican restaurant. I'd place them above other chains like Chevy's or Don Pablos.

Stavro's and Sons in Eustis, FL

I had a late dinner at Stavro's and Sons in Eustis, FL.

The meal started out with some garlic bread and a Greek salad with shredded lettuce, onions, ham, feta cheese, kalamata olives, and a pepperoncini. Ham doesn't typically come in Greek salads, so that was somewhat surprising.

For my meal, I ordered the Cannelloni Florentine. As described on the menu, this consisted of large tubular noodles filled with spinach, cheese, and veal. Differing from the menu, the cannelloni I received also had carrots mixed into the filling. I didn't see any of veal in the noodles, but the cannelloni was served in a meat sauce, so perhaps that's where the veal was. Even though the cannelloni was served slightly differently from how described, it was still really tasty. For $8.95, it wasn't a bad deal considering a plate of spaghetti with meatballs was $9.25 when cannelloni is definitely more labor intensive to make.

When paying, we spotted the dessert case filled with cannolis and decided to get one to go. The shell wasn't the typical crispy cannoli shell and was instead more light and flaky. The custard filling was topped with chocolate shavings on each end and was really good!

Jade Palace in Longwood, FL

Jade Palace recently opened in Longwood along 17-92. The restaurant was formerly a KFC, but Jade Palace did a good job renovating it. I guess since the restaurant is relatively new, it smelled somewhat like fresh paint, but I decided to overlook the smell and try Jade Palace anyway.

Hot tea was brought to the table first. I love my hot tea, so I really like it when Chinese restaurants do this and automatically serve you the tea. I really can't think of any other Chinese restaurants in the area that do this.

Wonton soup came next, filled with the Chinese dumplings, pork, and scallions.

I had the Chicken Broccoli combination for my main course, which came with rice and an egg roll. Almost every time I've ordered a meat with broccoli dish at a Chinese restaurant in the past, it is always served in a brown soy-based sauce. Jade Palace served the chicken and broccoli in a white sauce. I'm not sure what to call it, possibly Lobster Sauce. It was different, but was still tasty. For $7.95, Jade Palace gave plenty of food and I really had no complaints about the meal!

Bogard's in Orlando, FL

Bogard's is located on International Drive in Orlando. I came across Bogard's a while back when I was looking for the Amigo's that formerly sat at this location. Several months later, I decided to give Bogard's a try.

Actually, the main reason I wanted to eat here had to do with the very cool water spouts draining off the building's roof into an alligator filled pond below. I didn't know much else about the place, but decided to give it a try. Inside, the restaurant had a biker theme that wasn't obvious from the outside.

The tables all had an interesting table setting consisting of crossed knives and forks...

Really tasty jalapeno corn muffins were served as an appetizer.

I decided to order The Bonafide Shrimp Po'Boy. I was considering a few other menu items, but they were all pretty expensive for what you were getting. Some of the barbecue sounded good, but all the sides were sold separately. From the menu description, it sounded like all you got was meat and bread for twice the price of a complete meal elsewhere. Shrimp & Grits also sounded good, but $17 sounded a bit much for something I've had success cooking at home. So, I went with a $13 sandwich, served with fries.

The Po'Boy didn't have much flavor. The fried shrimp were very bland. The cole-slaw that topped the sandwich was way too soggy and messy and also didn't have much flavor. The sandwich was edible, but definitely not worth $13.

I liked the Amigo's that was here previously much better...

Asian Express in Altamonte Springs, FL

A new restaurant called Asian Express opened in Altamonte Springs in the building that was formerly occupied by Wonderful Chinese Express. For a fast food Chinese, I always thought Wonderful was pretty good, so I decided to give the new place a try.
I ordered a Kung Pao Chicken dinner combination which started with wonton soup. For whatever reason, I've noticed many local Chinese restaurants have stopped putting the strips of roast pork in their wonton soup. It used to be that the pork was standard in wonton soup, but now it seems I see it rarer and rarer in the soup. The soup at Asian Express had plenty of pork...

The soup was followed with the Kung Pao Chicken, brown rice, and an eventual egg roll that was initially forgotten. The chicken was chopped into small chunks, with green and red peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, scallions, and peanuts. The Kung Pao Chicken was tasty, and I'd gladly get it again!

Einstein Bros Bagels in Casselberry, FL

Einstein Bros Bagels was giving a coupon for a free bagel & shmear if you became their fan on Facebook. I gladly took them up on their offer and got my free sesame bagel with onion & chive cream cheese from the Einsteins in Casselberry, FL.


Bagels are good. Cream cheese is good. Free is good. What could possibly be bad?

China Star in Sanford, FL

There are several Chinese take-outs in the various strip malls that surround the Seminole Towne Center mall in Sanford, FL. Out of all of them, China Star is my favorite. They have the tastiest food for the most reasonable prices. On this visit, I ordered a shrimp with black bean sauce combination. It came with wonton soup, fried rice, an egg roll, and the shrimp.

The shrimp came in a brown sauce with black beans, carrots, onions, and huge mushrooms, maybe portobello? Mushrooms are one of the few foods I really dislike, so I could have done without them. Besides from picking out the mushrooms, I enjoyed my food!

Palace Pizza in Lakeland, FL

I was told that Palace Pizza has the best pizza in Lakeland. Apparently, this place normally has a huge variety of different types of pizzas available by the slice, and these specialty slices are the thing to get here. The night I visited, there wasn't much left behind the counter and whatever was there looked like it was sitting out far too long. So instead, we ordered a freshly made cheese pizza.

I wasn't impressed. Everything was very heavy handed on this pizza. Thick crust, too much sauce, and far too much cheese. There was so much sauce and cheese that by the time I got to my second slice, all crispness was gone from the thick crust and had become limp and waterlogged. Definitely not the NY Style pizza I was expecting after what I had heard about this place.

Now that you read through the post, go back and find the dog eating meatballs...