La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant in Longwood, FL

I recently tried La Fiesta Mexican Restaurant in Longwood. I had been to the Chinese buffet that was in this location formerly, but for some reason I never got to La Fiesta until recently.

I ordered the Traditional Combination #1, served with a taco, enchilada, refried beans, and rice. The taco came in a crispy corn tortilla filled with chicken, lettuce, and cheese. The enchilada was stuffed with chicken and was topped with melted cheese and a somewhat spicy red sauce.

On a return visit with a coupon from La Fiesta's Facebook page, I tried the Enchiladas de Mole. While there are many different types of mole, the standard mole served in Mexican restaurants in the United States is specifically called Mole Poblano. This mole is made with chocolate, chilies, and other good stuff. The Enchiladas de Mole consisted of three chicken enchiladas topped with this awesome sauce. It's spicy, smoky, and chocolately all at the same time. My tongue couldn't decide whether I was eating dinner or dessert with the great mix of flavors in the sauce!
I liked La Fiesta's food! Everything I tried had nice flavors, and I'd gladly return. They also offer a lunch buffet. I've never been to a Mexican buffet before, so I'm going to check it out next time I'm in the area for lunch. One word of warning though: Karaoke night happens every Tuesday. Reminded me of this, whether that's a good or bad thing...

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.

Mariachis Mexican Restaurant in Manning, SC

After a day of driving north along I-95 from Florida, everyone started getting hungry. Rather than stopping at the normal travel restaurants like Waffle House, Cracker Barrel, Denny's, or some sort of fast food, we decided to try a Mexican restaurant called Mariachis that was advertised on a billboard.

It was located right off of the exit in Manning, SC and was really busy. The hostess' question of "Smoking or non?" caught me off guard at first since it's been so long since I've heard that in most places I eat. After sitting, tortilla chips and salsa were served.

After reading over the large menu, I changed my mind at the last minute and ordered the Enchiladas Supreme. It came with four enchiladas, each one stuffed with something different. There was refried beans, beef, cheese, and chicken. I liked my enchiladas and sitting in the restaurant was a nice break from driving in the car all day!

Golden China Buffet in Lake Mary

I ate at the Golden China Buffet in Lake Mary, FL. The food tasted okay for the most part. I thought their dim sum pork rolls were really tasty (especially from a Chinese buffet), and those deep fried sesame balls are strangely delicious. This place always used to be packed, but on this visit we were one of the few occupied tables in the restaurant. If a buffet doesn't have enough customers, that means they probably don't have a very good turnover on the food. I try to avoid empty buffets...

Sonny's Bar-B-Q in Sanford

I ate at the Sonny's Bar-B-Q in Sanford, FL. I had a pulled pork sandwich on garlic bread with a side of beans. It was on par with other pulled pork sandwiches that I've eaten in the past leaving me with no complaints about the food.

Although the food was good, I can't say the same for the service. When we entered the restaurant, we stood there for several minutes while we were passed from employee to employee, each saying "Someone will be right with you." Eventually we were seated and our waitress acted like we were bothering her by eating at the restaurant. Our food came long after tables with other servers that ordered after us. The service at Sonny's was equivalent to the service that you generally get at a place like Denny's.

Taco Mayo

In Oklahoma City and the surrounding areas, there seemed to be a chain of Mexican fast food restaurants that were all over the place called Taco Mayo. They were more prevalent than the bigger chains like Taco Bell and Qdoba, so I decided to give them a try one afternoon at a restaurant in Yukon, OK. I ordered a Verde Queso Double Smothered Burrito. It consisted of chicken, cheese, and rice wrapped in a tortilla. The burrito was then covered with a green sauce and more cheese. The cheese covered burrito was served with refried beans, pico de gallo, and sour cream.


As far as Mexican fast food goes, this was definitely a step above Taco Bell. It was a huge amount of food for $5.29, and it all tasted pretty good. I wonder how long before Taco Mayos start showing up in other parts of the country, specifically Florida?

Cajun Cabin in New Orleans

While traveling on a twenty hour road trip from Central Florida to Oklahoma, there was two choices for lunch. Option 1 was to stop at a fast food restaurant and eat the food in the car. Option 2 was to stop in New Orleans and find some authentic Cajun food to get to-go and eat in the car. I obviously decided to go with option 2.

After finding a parking spot in the French Quarter, I made my way to Bourbon Street and went on a very quick (15 minute) tour of the area, and then settled on a restaurant called the Cajun Cabin. They had fake trees in the dining room and alligators on the walls. The back of the restaurant was complete with a faux cabin filled with tables.

I ordered a dish called A Taste of New Orleans. It came with a cup of jambalaya, Red Beans & Rice, and some sort of gumbo. The jambalaya was the prettiest dish with it's bright yellow rice topped with a pepperoncini, but it tasted kind of bland. Regardless, it was still pretty good. I'm not normally a big fan of red beans & rice, but Cajun Cabin's beans were really good. I would say they were some of the best I've eaten. The gumbo was also really good. I'm not exactly sure what was in it, but it was much better than I was expecting.

More Trouble at Pollo Tropical

I ate at the Pollo Tropical in Kissimmee, FL. As far as fast food goes, Pollo Tropical is one of my favorites. Every time I visit a Pollo Tropical though, it seems I have some sort of problem. The last time I tried going to the Pollo Tropical in Sanford, they were closed at 9:45 when they were supposed to be open to midnight. The last time I ate at the Altamonte Springs location, they forgot to give me chicken. And the latest visit to this location was no different.

I tried ordering their fajitas, but they told me they couldn't make them for some reason. I quickly read over the menu and ordered Chicken, White Rice, and Beans. After wondering why the bill came out to so much money, it turned out they charged for two $8 chicken dinners that were never ordered. It took about twenty minutes for the money to be refunded, and in the process the entire order was made three times.

My chicken, rice, and beans was good, but it could have used some vegetables. It was kind of boring...

Apopka's King Buffet

I ventured into the scary world of Chinese Buffets and ate at King Buffet in Apopka, FL. As far as Chinese buffets go, this place was average. Lots of food, most of it a bit overcooked with the same overall taste.

Here's a plate of chicken & broccoli, lo mein, shrimp, and beans...

Habanero's Mexican Grill

I ate at Habanero's Mexican Grill in Casselberry, FL. The meal started with chips and salsa. I liked how they gave everyone their own individual bowl of salsa with a pitcher of salsa on the table for refills. This way, each person at the table could double dip to their hearts content.

For my dinner, I ordered the Enchiladas Supreme. This included four enchiladas, each with a different filling. One was filled with refried beans, another was cheese, the third was beef, and the final enchilada was filled with shredded chicken and peppers. The four enchiladas were topped with sauce, lettuce, tomato, and sour cream. I could have done without the beef enchilada, but I liked the other three.

My only complaint was that it would have been nice if they served the enchiladas with a side of rice or beans like other Mexican restaurants often do.

Mexican Pizza from Taco Bell

I tried something that I haven't eaten in years. A Mexican Pizza from Taco Bell. I probably shouldn't have ordered a Mexican Pizza though, because I remembered this to be a whole lot better than it actually was.

The Mexican Pizza's crust was made from refried beans sandwiched between two hard tortilla shells. The pizza's sauce was Taco Bell's hot sauce, which was covered in melted cheese. It has been a very long time since the last time I've eaten one of these, and memories really aren't that reliable, but I remember these having more toppings. For some reason I remember scallions and peppers on the pizza, but apparently Taco Bell decided that they don't need anything green on the Mexican Pizza.

Smoked Turkey from Butler Seafood House

I ate at the Butler Seafood House in Lake Butler, FL. It would seem from the name that the restaurant would specialize in seafood, but their seafood selection really didn't impress me. It was mostly deep-fried and the pictures that were on the menu really didn't look to appetizing. It seemed instead that the Butler Seafood House seems better at serving barbecue that seafood. It seemed like that was what everyone was eating there, and the outside of the restaurant had the smell of smoked food.

Because of this, I ordered the Smoked Turkey dinner special. It consisted of smoked turkey, potato salad, collard greens, baked beans, garlic bread, and hush puppies. Thanks to a mix up in the kitchen, I also received a second bowl of collard greens and French fries. It was pretty good...

Red Noodle Beans...

I ate some home grown red noodle beans from my garden for lunch today...

Subway & Beans...

I ate a turkey sandwich from the Subway Restaurant on Weldon Blvd. in Sanford, Florida. Besides from turkey, it was topped with provolone cheese, lettuce, cucumber, onion, pickles, olives, banana peppers, mayo, mustard, and oil & vinegar. You got to get your money's worth with the toppings!

Later on, I ate some home-grown Yard-Long Asparagus beans and Nickel beans, cooked with red bell peppers and lots of garlic, all topped with a ginger sauce...

Beans Fresh From the Garden

I picked a large bundle of beans from the garden today. Lots of Yard-Long Asparagus Beans were ripe, as well as a few Violet Podded Pole Beans. They were cooked with butter, garlic, and ginger salad dressing.

Tasty...

Fuji Sushi

I ate at Fuji Sushi in Lake Mary, Florida. I ordered a Black Widow Roll and miso soup. They gave a bean sprout appetizer, followed by the soup, followed by the roll. The roll was filled with soft shell crab, flying fish eggs, eel sauce, and scallions. It was tasty and presented nicely, but the roll was a bit boring and didn't have enough variety in it. Still good regardless...

Red Beans and Rice

I made myself some red beans & rice. I used a can of beans, some brown rice, and a little olive oil and chili powder. It was tasty...