Thanksgiving at Perkins in Altamonte Springs, FL

 Wondering what a Thanksgiving meal looks like at a Perkins? I ended up at the Perkins in Altamonte Springs on Thanksgiving since they were one of the few places open. I was going to order breakfast since I did the meaty Thanksgiving thing already, but the talkative regulars at the next table had great things to say about the holiday meal on the menu. Taking the recommendation, this came with several slices of turkey, stuffing, green beans with bacon, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce.

A slice of pie was also included. I had the lemon meringue.

Not the best Thanksgiving turkey ever, but the meal was totally passable for a late night breakfast chain.

Anthony's Pizza in Altamonte Springs, FL

Restaurants named Anthony's that serve pizza in the Orlando area can get confusing. From what I can determine, there's three Anthony's in the area, each with multiple locations. There's Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza (which is easy because of the coal), there's the Anthony's that has various locations around Orlando, and then there's the Anthony's in Altamonte Springs which is being talked about today. I believe this is the second location for this particular Anthony's, with the first located in Casselberry. This Anthony's opened recently in the same shopping center that's home to the new Whole Foods. I ordered two slices here. I tried their plain cheese slice and a vegetable slice. The cheese slice was good with a very nice balance of crust/cheese/sauce. It held together well as the slice was eaten. Cheese was good but the sauce was a bit bland.

The vegetable slice looked messy but was the better of the two slices. It was topped with spinach and a chunky tomato sauce. This slice had a very strong garlic flavor that wasn't there in the cheese slice. Again, the pizza held together well. With the toppings, it had much more character than the cheese slice.

With my two slices I tried at Anthony's, I'd say their pizza is pretty tasty!

Whole Foods Market in Altamonte Springs, FL

A brand new Whole Foods Market just opened in Altamonte Springs on January 20, 2016. The store is located in Renaissance Centre, near the Altamonte Mall. The new store is 40,000 square feet of shopping space and is the third Whole Foods Market in the Orlando area. I was invited to tour the store a couple days before the grand opening. The following pictures are some highlights from this tour:

The Produce Department is one of the first sights encountered upon entering the store. This particular Whole Foods location features tropical and international produce program which will have a ever-changing rotation of fruits and vegetable found in Latin, Asian, and Indian cuisine. Seeing the mountains of perfectly stacked fruits and vegetables untouched by customer hands were very satisfying.

Whole Foods also has a Juice Bar near the entrance of the store. I sampled a Green Dream Smoothie, made with pineapple, kale, spinach, and apple juice.

Natalie's Orchid Island Juice Company was also at Whole Foods giving out very generous samples of their juices. I was able to try a bottle of the orange, grapefruit, orange-beet, lemonade, strawberry lemonade, and tomato juice.

The Fromagerie is where you find the cheese. I sampled the Robusto 9 month aged Gouda and Piedras de Chocolate almonds covered in dark chocolate. Whole Foods also has a very nice olive bar in this section.

Visiting the Butcher section of the store, I sampled a Amsterdam Gouda Sausage.

Moving through the store, the Fishmonger came next. I tried some shrimp and salmon.

Wok Street was where you can order various Asian foods including noodles, rices, curries, and sushi.

This Whole Foods features an gourmet toast bar where you can order all sorts of fancy toasts. Here's a Stammer Max and Avocado Cuke Pepita.

Whole Foods had a very nice cookie case, filled with all sorts of deliciousness.

Whole Foods is now open. Go shop for some food at the fancy new store. They will be open 8 AM to 10 PM daily.

Carmel Cafe in Altamonte Springs, FL

I had lunch at Carmel Cafe in Altamonte. Carmel is a chain with several restaurants throughout Florida. They have had locations in the Orlando area for a while now, but this was my first experience with them. This location took over a space formerly occupied by a Friendly's. Carmel put much effort into leaving no trace of which restaurant this building once housed. When you are seated in the restaurant, they bring an iPad to your table which stays there during the duration of your meal. You can use the iPad to see photos of all the menu items. If you're afraid of social interactions with real life humans, you can also order your food on the iPad to avoid talking to your server if you wish. I can't say I'm a big fan of restaurants that push electronics at your table. Much like Chili's and certain Outback Steakhouses, these get annoying. They flash advertisements at you while you're eating and minimize the need for actual servers.

I ordered one of Carmel's Lunch Combos which came with a flatbread and a salad. I tried the Black Olive Caesar as the salad. This was a typical caesar salad, topped with olives and tomatoes.

I picked the Grilled Lemon Chicken and Artichoke Flatbread. Parmesan and arugula also topped the pizza. The chicken had a nice, strong lemon flavor. The artichokes were few and far between. I did enjoy the warm arugula over the flatbread. It gave the pizza a bit more character. I was also getting hints of cinnamon with certain bites. I was not expecting this, but I did enjoy the random bursts of flavor.

Carmel Cafe was an okay eating experience. Not the best, not the worst. I'd be willing to give them another try eventually.

World Gourmet in Altamonte Springs, FL

It was suggested that we try a relatively new Chinese buffet in Altamonte Springs called World Gourmet. It was dinner time and the parking lot didn't seem to have enough cars. That isn't a good try for a buffet, but we went in anyway. It looked like World Gourmet put lots of work converting the restaurant from its former occupant to a buffet. There were big wooden boats that doubled as buffet tables. There were nice fish tanks filled with fancy gold fish. All that work, but I got the feeling that most of the diners in here were friends/family of the owners.

On my first trip to the buffet, I tried some California rolls, beef with broccoli, fried rice, krab rangoon, spare rib, and a sesame ball. Not the best food, nor the worst. It was pretty standard Chinese buffet fare.

Plate #2 had a very monochromatic color scheme. There was an egg roll, some sort of custard, another sesame ball filled with red bean paste, then some orange slices and cookies for dessert.

Overall, this was a very middle of the road Chinese buffet. Not the best and not the worst I've visited (and I've seen a couple very scary Chinese buffets). I felt kind of bad for the owners of the restaurant because they seemed to be trying and yet the customers weren't there. I doubt they were making money on the evening I visited...

iSpice in Altamonte Springs, FL

iSpice is a fast food Indian restaurant in the Altamonte Mall Food Court. I've considered eating there at dinner time in the past but I always worried about the turnover on the food. iSpice never seems to have the volume of customers that their neighbors have and I always wondered if the food had been sitting there since the morning. Not saying it works that way, but that thought always stopped me from eating there. I was recently at the mall at lunch time when the food would ideally be fresher and decided to finally give them a try.

I ordered the platter which came with a choice of one meat dish, one vegetable dish, rice, naan, and rice pudding. I had the chicken korma for my meat. The chicken was nice and tender and the sauce was very tasty. I had some of the sauce over the rice as well. For the vegetable, I chose the spinach dal, which consisted of lentil and spinach in a very soupy sauce. The naan worked well for soaking up all of the extra sauce. The portion of rice pudding was small but good.

Overall, I did enjoy my food at iSpice. It was cheaper than a sit-down Indian restaurant and the platter ended up being plenty of food. Everything tasted good, and iSpice was definitely a much better choice than some of the other more corporate options in the mall's food court. I'll try them again!

Triple Eight Café in Altamonte Springs, FL

Triple Eight Cafe is the third consecutive Chinese restaurant that has filled this particular location. First there was Wonderful Chinese, followed by Asian Express, and now there's Triple Eight Cafe. What sets Triple Eight apart is that although the menu is mostly Chinese, they also have a section of Italian food and sandwiches. Triple Eight is also a full service restaurant as opposed to it's predecessors who were fast food. On my first visit to the restaurant, I had a combination dinner that started with a bowl of wonton soup and egg roll. The soup's broth was a bit plain tasting, but I did enjoy all the extra vegetables that don't normally come in wonton soup. There was cabbage, carrots, snow peas, water chestnuts, and large pieces of sliced pork. It definitely made the wonton soup more interesting than most.

For the main course, I had the chicken with black bean sauce. The large portion of chicken was cooked with green peppers and onions alongside brown rice. I have a pretty high salt tolerance, but I found the black bean sauce to be overly salty. The chicken definitely had to be mixed with the rice to take away some of the saltiness. 

I returned to Triple Eight Cafe a second time and ordered wonton soup for take out. Again, the broth was very plain tasting, but I enjoyed everything else in the soup. I'm not entirely sure if I like this place...

Ancho Burrito Company in Altamonte Springs, FL

I tried Ancho Burrito Company in the Altamonte Mall food court. This place followed the Chipotle's model where you tell the person behind the counter how you want your burrito filled. I went with a chicken burrito, filled with rice, black beans, lettuce, onions, jalapenos, sauce, and other fillings. The burrito was pretty tasty, although it was really moist. So much so that all the liquid in the burrito soaked through the tortilla and started to fall apart. I think they needed to drain their beans a bit more before putting them in the burrito. Chips and salsa were served on the side.

Viet-House in Altamonte Springs, FL

Orlando has a really nice selection of Vietnamese restaurants in the Mills 50 District. That's good since Vietnamese food is generally really tasty. Once outside Mills 50, Vietnamese food gets a bit harder to find. I can only think of a couple Vietnamese restaurants in Seminole county, so I was happy when I saw that a new restaurant had opened in Altamonte Springs called Viet-House.

The tiny restaurant is located in a building behind a gas station at the intersection of 436 and 427. You order at the window and eat at some nearby picnic tables. There isn't an inside here. Viet-House seems to specialize in banh mi but also offer soups and appetizers. I found out the hard way on my first visit that they close at 4:30. When I returned on another day to give them a try, I had their combination banh mi.

The sandwich consisted of various types of sliced pork products (I'm going to hide my ignorance of Vietnamese meats by leaving it at that), pate, pickled vegetables, lettuce, tomato, and cilantro on a French baguette. The banh mi was good and was very filling for under $5.

I also shared these summer rolls, filled with shrimp, pork, noodles, bean sprouts, cucumber, and basil. They were somewhat messy to eat, but tasty.

Eating Vietnamese food in a gas station parking lot is definitely a different experience than eating in one of the nicer Vietnamese restaurants in Orlando, but the food was good regardless. A banh mi sandwich does seem like a perfect type of street food, so perhaps this is actually an ideal location for the food!