Hungry Howie's in Deland, FL

Way back in the day, I listed Hungry Howie's Pizza pretty high on the pizza chain hierarchy. Of the big chains, Papa John's was near the top. Domino's was near the bottom of the list. Hungry Howie's was second or third on the list. Then all the nearby Hungry Howie's near me closed.

I was out in Volusia County and ended up at the Hungry Howie's in Deland. The pizza was very different than I remembered Hungry Howie's serving. The crust was thick and puffy. I remember it being much thinner than this pizza was. The flavor of the cheese and sauce were fine. It seemed like they drenched the entire pie in a disgusting amount of some sort of butter sauce. I very much did enjoy the sesame seeds on the crust.

Hungry Howie's (or at least this Hungry Howie's location) was not what I remembered at all. It was worse. If this was a good representation of the chain's pizzas, they have moved way down in my hierarchy of pizza chains.

Something else that bothered me: I ordered this pie in the days of COVID-19, but before Deland's mandatory mask order - not that it would probably make a difference since people aren't following the rule in Seminole or Orange County). Not a single person working in this store who I saw, both front of house and who I could see in the kitchen, was wearing a mask. Seems like a standard safety thing that all restaurants should be following. If Hungry Howie's ignores masks, I can imagine there's other food safety things that might be ignored. Not saying they were violating any other rules, but that seems like a logical next step...

MidiCi in Kissimmee, FL

I was invited to try a new restaurant in Kissimmee called MidiCi. Located in a shopping center near the intersection of Osceola Parkway and 441, MidiCi is a quick service style restaurant. Neapolitan pizza seems to be the star here, with the entire kitchen centered around a wood-fired oven. You can either choose to order of the menu, or customize your pizzas by selecting what you want on your pizzas. I wanted to leave the flavor combinations to the experts, so everything I tried came straight off the menu. 

We started out our visit with the House Cheese Board. This consisted of a selection of house cheeses: black truffle cheese (sottocenere al tartufo), smoked mozzarella, goat cheese, gorgonzola, and parmigiano-reggiano. The cheeses were accompanied with fresh pears, king walnuts, organic honey, and wood fire-toasted ciabatta bread

House Meat Board: This was similar to the cheese board, featuring a selection of cured meats. There was black truffle salami (tartufo), prosciutto di San Daniele, spicy Italian salami (calabrese), Neapolitan salami, and rosemary ham (cotto). The meats were served with gourmet pickles, two mustards, and wood fire-toasted ciabatta bread

Burrata with Melon & Prosciutto di San Daniele: Fresh soft burrata cheese, fresh melon, prosciutto di San Daniele (imported from Italy and aged 24 months).

The Devil's Pizza: Crushed Italian peeled tomatoes (sauce), fresh whole mozzarella, housemade all natural spicy sausage, spicy Italian salami (calabrese), all natural Fresno chilis, all natural Italian chilis, parmigiano-reggiano, organic non-gmo extra virgin olive oil, and fresh organic sweet basil. The pizza had a fair amount of spice for what is essentially a fast food restaurant.

Pizza Bianca e Prosciutto: Fresh whole mozzarella, oregano, fresh garlic, parmigiano-reggiano, organic non-gmo extra virgin olive oil, topped with prosciutto di San Daniele and baby arugula after bake. Of the two pizzas I sampled, this was my favorite.

Nutella Calzone with Fresh Berries: Our signature Neapolitan dough, light, thin, soft and chewy, baked fresh with Nutella, blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, and strawberries. Topped with a hint of balsamic reduction and shaved coconut. I've had similar desserts at other fast food Italian chains. This was better.

The Drowning Gelato (Affogato): Italian vanilla gelato by Italian Master Gelatiers Leo Leo Gelato, drowning in espresso. I'm not a big coffee person so the espresso flavor was a bit strong for my liking.

Everything I tried at MidiCi was delicious. The pizzas were done really nicely. All the appetizers and desserts were quality. I look forward to returning to MidiCi in the future!

Little Five Points Pizza in Atlanta, GA

It was 1:00 AM and I was looking for a late dinner in Atlanta. I thought about going to Majestic Diner, but I've done that and was looking for someplace new to try in my food travel adventures. That someplace ended up being a restaurant called Little Five Points Pizza in the neighborhood that shared the same name.

I ordered a slice of plain cheese and a slice of their white pizza. Both slices were quite large and I probably would have been full with just one. The cheese slice actually reminded me of Lazy Moon in Orlando. Large, but messy and could have been left in the oven a little longer to have the cheese a little more melted. The white slice was interesting. Most white pizzas don't have tomato sauce, but this one did. It seemed like a normal slice topped with ricotta, more mozzarella, and an insane amount of garlic. The white slice was my favorite of the two.

The pizza here was alright. Nothing wonderful, but it worked for dinner at 1 AM. It seemed like they catered to the people stumbling in from the nearby bars, so perhaps large slices of messy pizza works. This is my third experience with pizza in Atlanta, and I can't say I was really impressed with any of my slices in the city. Does Atlanta do good pizza?


 

Dunkin Donuts in Atlanta, GA

I was in Atlanta and wanted to get a very quick breakfast within walking distance from my destination for the day. The two choices ended up being either Ihop or Dunkin Donuts, and I chose the latter. I know Dunkin Donuts is nothing exotic. Just about every location is the same and normally a quick breakfast at a Dunkin Donuts wouldn't be worthy of a blog post, but I decided to write about this visit for two reasons. The first being: SNOW! There was snow on the ground leftover from the big snowstorm that hit Atlanta a couple days earlier and as a Florida based food blogger, I think snow is wonderful...

The second reason I decided to write this blog post was because what I ordered at this particular Dunkin Donuts annoyed me. I wanted to get a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel sandwich. I also wanted some hot tea. They had a combo that included the sandwich and a coffee, but I like tea way more than coffee. I asked if I could get the tea instead of coffee with the combo and I was told it couldn't be done. Tea was cheaper than coffee on the menu, but yet buying them separately ended up costing a dollar and change more than the combo which included the more expensive coffee.

The bagel sandwich was perfectly acceptable, but the drinks annoyed me. I'm sure there was some reason like cash register restrictions or messing up inventory why a more expensive cup of coffee couldn't be switched out with a cheaper cup of tea, but it still annoyed me. Regardless, once I got back outside, the cold weather and snow made me forget all about Dunkin Donuts. Especially when I found enough snow to make a snowman right across the street. Polar vortexes are fun. Too bad it was all melted when the temperatures warmed up later in the afternoon...

 

Country Kitchen in Longwood, FL

Country Kitchen is a little breakfast place in Longwood that's been around as long as I can remember. Country Kitchen is located very close to where I live and has always been in the current shopping center, although not in the same storefront. After years of passing by Country Kitchen, I finally decided to give them a try and stopped in for breakfast one morning.

I ordered one of their daily specials and had the bacon, egg, and cheese croissant sandwich. The eggs were scrambled with chopped pieces of bacon mixed in. Hashed browns were served on the side. As far as breakfast sandwiches go, this was perfectly acceptable. For $3 and change, I was happy with my meal and would return to Country Kitchen for breakfast again!

Gastro-Truck

Gastro-Truck is one of the newest food trucks to start serving in the Orlando area. Everything that Gastro-Truck serves involves cheese in some shape or form. To put it simply, they specialize in really good variations of grilled cheeses.

I sampled the food from Gastro-Truck when they parked in Downtown Lake Mary for a press event.

I started by trying a Butterkase Slider. This sandwich was filled with butterkase cheese, prosciutto, and a cranberry-jalapeno spread.


Next up was the Mozzarella, Tomato, Basil and Marinated Portabello Mushroom Grilled Cheese. This vegetarian sandwich was one of my favorites out of everything I tried.


That's a Gouda Burger Slider was a stuffed burgers with lots of gouda hidden inside the meat. The sandwich was finished off with tomato, onion, avocado, smoked turkey, cheddar, and a siracha mayo.

The Pork Belly Grilled Cheese with fontina, cheddar and tapenade:

The Cuban Done Right Slider had roasted pork, ham, meunster cheese, pickles, and mojo mayo. Those thickly sliced pickles were really good!

The Mac & Cheese from Gastro-Truck was baked, giving it a nice crispy top while staying nice and creamy on the inside.


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Dominics II in Boca Raton, FL

I have eaten at Dominics II in Boca Raton many times in the past. I've mentioned them here on Watch Me Eat in the past, but I've never discussed their pizza. Their other food is good, but Dominics' pizza is amazing...

I've never had a bad pizza here. This NY style pizza is consistently good. The crust is nice and thin. The sauce has a great flavor and the cheese is tasty. There's always a perfect proportion between the crust, cheese, and sauce, and right out of the oven, the pie stays together. There isn't any of the cheese pulling off of the slice or sauce dripping onto the plate like sometimes happens with other pizzas.

This is quite possibly the best pizza I've had in Florida. Definitely very near the top of my top-ten pizzas in the state. I have often heard the excuse that you can't get good NY style pizza in Florida due to differences in water, atmosphere, or a number of other reasons. Whenever I hear this, I think of a pizza like this pie from Dominics and know that this isn't the case...

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...

Bagel Talk Inc. in Elmont, NY

One morning I got breakfast from Bagel Talk Inc. in Elmont, NY. This little store is located in the back corner of a shopping center, right next to an Italian restaurant. Both stores seemed so small and close together that at first I thought they might be connected. Turned out they weren't.

I had an egg and cheese sandwich on a sesame bagel. I was initially considering getting a bagel and cream cheese, but then decided that since the temperature outside was just pushing 30°F, I'd go with something warm. The freshly scrambled eggs did the trick. No complaints here.

Harmoni Market in College Park, FL

I ate lunch at Harmoni Market in Orlando's College Park neighborhood during an unexpected detour caused from an I-4 closure. The service was a bit weird when we entered, the group of employees standing at the bar ignored us for a few minutes until someone finally told us to sit anywhere. This awkwardness was followed by a drink being served in a cup covered in lipstick stains, but after the initial weirdness, the food and service were good.

I ordered the Rockin Goat Flatbread. It consisted of rock shrimp, arugula, goat cheese, homemade mozzarella, and tomato sauce all on a whole wheat flatbread (baked by the Olde Hearth Bread Company). Although they called it a flatbread, it was technically a variation of a pizza. Seafood and pizza combinations always seem strange to me, but I liked this a lot. I'd gladly get it again! My only real complaint was that Harmoni was really stingy with the goat cheese. For a flatbread with goat in the name, I was expecting less mozzarella and more goat cheese crumbles.

When looking over Harmoni Market's menu, it seemed to be somewhat overpriced (especially on the sandwiches). Since I shared the flatbread and there were plenty of rock shrimp on it, what I ordered wasn't too bad. It came out to about $5 a person and filled me up.

Don Pablo's in Sanford, FL

I ate at the Don Pablo's in Sanford, FL next to the mall. The meal started out with some chips and salsa:

I ordered the San Angelo combo for my meal. It consisted of a chicken taco, a pork tamale, a cheese relleno, black beans, and rice. I ordered this not being too familiar with what tamales and rellenos tasted like exactly, but I enjoyed it. The tamale was basically a fried corn tortilla filled with pork and the relleno was a stuffed bell pepper.

The only problem I had was the temperature of the restaurant. I ate there about 3:00 on a sunny day and it was kind of hot. The air conditioning was definitely on, but with the building resembled a warehouse with high ceilings and not much insulation on the ceiling, so it didn't seem very effective.

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?

Umbertos in Deerfield Beach

I'm a big fan of the various Umberto's Pizza up in New York (although my last visit was disappointing). About a year ago, I was driving through Deerfield Beach, FL and spotted a place called Umberto's of Long Island. I really wanted to give the place a try based on the name alone, but I had already eaten for the night. Fast forward a bit, and I am in Deerfield Beach once again, and this time I know exactly where I was going to get food.

I stopped by the restaurant and the initial feeling wasn't the same as a visit to one of the actual Umberto's Pizzas in Long Island. No one was speaking Italian. There wasn't a huge selection of pizza choices either. The choices consisted of the standard pie or Grandma pizza. I ordered a slice of cheese pizza, and it turned out I got the last slice. My dining companion also wanted a plain slice, but the options were to wait for a new pie to be made or make another selection. We didn't have much time left in the parking meter, so a slice of pepperoni was selected.


After being reheated, we received our slices and ate them as we walked back towards the car. My cheese slice wasn't as attractive as I would have liked (too many collapsed bubbles in the center of the slice), nor did it compare to a slice of pizza from an Umberto's up north. It tasted acceptable, but not exceptional. The same was said about the pepperoni slice. It was good, but nothing great. The pizza definitely wouldn't be worth making another special trip to get, but if at the beach, I could see myself getting another slice. The one thing that the Long Island Umberto's can't compete with is being able to cross the street to eat pizza on the beach...