The Chop Shop in Lakeland, FL

I found myself in Downtown Lakeland last Saint Patrick's Day. Roads were closed and there was a street party going on. Lots of people were getting drunk on beers dyed green with food coloring, but I was looking for dinner rather than alcohol. There was an Irish pub downtown called Molly McHugh's that would have been appropriate for the holiday, but they didn't serve food. Instead, I ended up across the street at 50s themed restaurant specializing in burgers called The Chop Shop.

Since it was Saint Patrick's Day, I decided to go with their special and ordered the corned beef and cabbage sandwich. This large sandwich consisted of a large hoagie roll filled with corned beef, cabbage, and mayonnaise. The corned beef was thinly sliced, nice and tender, and had a good, somewhat salty taste. The cabbage seemed a bit more like sauerkraut than I was expecting, but that was fine with me. I like sauerkraut! Fries were served on the side.

I enjoyed my slightly Irish inspired combination of flavors in my sandwich. Apparently corned beef and cabbage is an American invention and isn't actually a thing in Ireland (it's derived from the Irish bacon and cabbage dish). Does this make me, a person with no Irish heritage, eating corned beef on a sandwich with fries at a burger place as bad as all the non-Irish people using Saint Patrick's Day as an excuse to get drunk?

Polonia in Longwood, FL

I ate at Polonia in Longwood, FL. Polonia is a Polish restaurant located on 17-92 in a former fast food restaurant building that has housed many different restaurants. The building started out as a Captain D's, and then became several different restaurants serving various types of Asian food. I would say my most interesting experience eating in one of these incarnations was when the building housed a fast food Chinese restaurant. As I was eating my meal, two Red-Eared Sliders walked out of the kitchen and across the dining room. I've seen some interesting animals in restaurants (rats!), but this was the only time I've ever seen turtles wandering around a restaurant. Knowing that turtles and salmonella go together, I never returned to the restaurant, or the future restaurants in the building.

That is, until Polonia opened. When they opened in this location, the local Orlando newspapers all started to write good reviews of the place, so I gave it a try. Polonia broke the chain of fast food Asian restaurants by setting up a sit-down Polish restaurant, and there were no reptiles, amphibians, or rodents in sight. I've since returned to Polonia a few times, and it's generally pretty good. This visit started out with a basket of some good rye bread.

For the main course, I ordered the Big Polish Platter, which came with stuffed cabbage (in tomato sauce), three pierogies, a fresh kielbasa, and sauerkraut. The stuffed cabbage was okay, but I found it to taste a bit too much like plain meatloaf. There was some rice mixed in with the ground beef, but not enough. The sauce was good though. For the pierogies, I had the choice of meat, sauerkraut and cheese, or potato & cheese. I went with the potato & cheese, and I have no complaints about them. It's amazing how much better fresh pierogies are compared to those frozen pierogies from the supermarket. The kielbasa was good and tasted like a Polish sausage should. The sauerkraut was interesting. It wasn't as tart and was very finely chopped when compared to most sauerkraut that I've eaten, but it was still good.

Overall, the food was pretty good for the most part. All that meat and the lack of vegetables was a little more than I'm used to eating in one sitting, but I guess that's the way they eat in Poland.

I wanted to get some poppy seed cake for dessert, but they didn't have any on the day I ate at the restaurant. They had apple strudel instead, but I'm not a big fan of cooked apples. Poppy cake or rolls are much better...