Joella's Hot Chicken in Viera, FL

I had Joella's Hot Chicken highly recommended to me. Specifically, I was told to try the restaurant's Pimento Cheese Chicken Sandwich. I stopped in when I was in the area, and was a little surprised that it was a regular fast food restaurant. I had Joella's described as a chain of gourmet hipster chicken restaurants, but that was inaccurate. The building was similar to a Zaxby's.

As for the Pimento Cheese Chicken Sandwich, think a Chick-Fil-A sandwich (fried chicken and pickles) with added pimento cheese. It didn't look great, but the sandwich did have much more flavor than the Chick-Fil-A equivalent. I had macaroni and cheese as a side.

Joella's Hot Chicken was okay. It was a bit over hyped when I had it recommended to me. Good for Joella's for creating that hype though.

The Halal Guys in Orlando, FL

There is a food thing in New York City known as Halal Carts. These carts mostly serve middle eastern rice bowls and sandwiches. Of the New York Halal Carts, the most famous is perhaps The Halal Guys. The Halal Guys have a reputation of being really good, but my one attempt to see what they are all about was deterred by the line going up the block. Their countless competitors all serve variations of the same menu with no waiting, so I never actually tried The Halal Guys. Until now. Apparently they have expanded beyond street food and a location was opened in Waterford Lakes.

I tried their combo platter which consisted of yellow rice topped with beef gyro, chicken, lettuce, tomato, white and hot sauces, and several slices of pita. Was it worth the hype? It was okay, but I would be disappointed if I waited in a line spanning a NY city block. Both meats were very plain tasting to me. The gyro reminded me of a hamburger and the chicken lacked seasoning. Not necessary bad, but I normally expect a bit more flavor from middle eastern food.

I wonder if the food from a brick and mortar location of this chain in the suburbs of Orlando is equivalent to a cart serving food on a city street corner? Since their a chain, I would expect so...

Earls Kitchen + Bar in Orlando, FL

I had lunch at a newish restaurant called Earls Kitchen + Bar in the Mall at Millenia. They are one of the strange outer restaurants that are in the main mall building, but aren't accessible from inside the mall itself. I'm not sure what Earls replaced. I had never eaten at whatever it was.

I had the Chicken Pibil Tacos. The two tacos were served on corn tortillas with nicely marinated chicken, topped with cheese, radish slices, pickled onions, and cilantro. The tacos came with a side and I choose the caesar salad.

The tacos were pretty tasty, but a bit pricey at $14. I've been to plenty of other actual Mexican restaurants in town where I can equivalent, if not better tacos for under $3 each. The caesar salad didn't make up the value difference. I guess they have to make that money for expensive mall rent somehow...

Leaning Palms at Typhoon Lagoon

I visited Typhoon Lagoon at Disney recently. In terms of Orlando water parks, Typhoon Lagoon is the park that I've been to the least. I believe this was the second time I've been there and it has been years since my last visit. Being that it was so long, I was surprisingly pleased with the quality of the oldest water park in Orlando.

While there, I had dinner at a restaurant called Leaning Palms. The menu was typical water park food, mostly consisting of burgers, hot dogs, etc. I ordered the one thing which seemed unique.

The Mojo Chicken was shredded chicken, served with rice, black beans, and plantains. The chicken appeared plain, but was really flavorful. The black beans had sausage mixed in, and the rice and plantains were as expected. I was pleased with my meal.

Food inside of Disney theme parks has been disappointing to me on my more recent visits to the parks. I'm glad this Mojo Chicken changed the trend!

Thai Thani in Celebration, FL

I had dinner at Thai Thani in Celebration. Located in a space which was once one of the last few holdouts of Gooding's Supermarkets, Thai Thani has no resemblance to once being a food store. The restaurant was about half full when I ate there, yet all the servers were acting flustered and apologizing about how overwhelmed they were. It was strange to see all the servers act like this, when in all actuality, the service was fine besides all the apologizing.

I had the Chicken Red Curry. This was a coconut milk based curry with string beans, eggplant, basil, bell peppers, peas, and bamboo shoots. Steamed rice was served on the side. It was pretty standard for a Thai restaurant curry dish, which is good. Only complaint was that I ordered the dish with medium spice and it had no heat at all. Still tasty though. I'd eat here again.

Oh My Gyro in Longwood, FL

I tried a new restaurant in Longwood called Oh My Gyro. They are in a location that has had an endless cycle of restaurants opening, lasting a few months, and closing again. Because of this, I wish them the best of luck, especially since it seems like they did major renovations on the space since the last time I was in the building. Oh My Gyro touts themselves as having authentic New York Halal cart food. Having frequented halal carts in New York on my visits and comparing the menu here, this seemed to be about right. The menu was simple where you had your choice of platters with gyro, chicken, or falafel or sandwiches with the same fillings.

I tried the combo platter. This came with gyro (lamb and beef), shredded chicken, salad, lots of yellow rice, and pita. Most everything was topped with the famous halal cart white sauce and hot sauce was served on the side. The portion of food was very generous and tasted comparable to actual New York halal cart food.

I enjoyed my food here. As noted with the history of past restaurants not surviving very long in this location, I hope they do well (but try them while you can).

Quebec City Shish-Taouk (Fistons and Mechoui Marrakech)

While poutine is perhaps the most famous must-eat food in Quebec, another food that I had read about before visiting and came across over and over again in the city was shish-taouk. Shish-taouk seems to be the French Canadian version of chicken shawarma. There were restaurants that specialized exclusively in shish-taouk, and I ended up sampling the dish twice while in Quebec.

Fistons (Limoilou)

My first shish-taouk experience was at a restaurant in Quebec's Limoilou neighborhood. They specialized in pizza and shish taouk. Since shish-taouk was on their sign, I decided I must try the Sandwich Shish Taouk. The shish-taouk here was served inside a pita. Accompanying the chicken was lettuce, tomato, pickled turnips, and some sort of creamy sauce. I was a little disappointed with this sandwich. For a food that Quebec is apparently famous for, this chicken was very bland. There wasn't much flavor besides the taste of chicken. The turnips inside the pita were a nice touch, but they didn't make up for the lack of other flavors in the sandwich. Cubed, home fries style potatoes were served on the side. Again, not much flavor on these either. Salt and mayonnaise improved both the sandwich and potatoes.

While I wasn't a huge fan of my dish here, the person I ate here with ordered the Poutine à la Joue de Boeuf. Fistons' poutine topped with beef cheeks was awesome. It used sweet potato fries rather than normal potatoes. The beef cheeks were melt in your mouth tender and were bursting with flavor.


Restaurant Mechoui Marrakech Cusine Marocaine (Downtown Quebec City)

This Moroccan restaurant was located in Downtown Quebec. According to Wikipedia's article on shish-taouk, the dish is more of a Lebanese origin, but this Moroccan restaurant served it as well.

Rather than just trying the shish-taouk, I ordered the combo dinner. This was a sampling of shish-taouk, kefta, merguez, and gyro. The meats were served over rice with sides of taboule, garlic sauce, and salad.

The shish-taouk tasted like very flavorful chicken, much better than my previous shish-taouk experience. The kefta was a little bland, basically tasting like ground beef. The merguez was new to me. I had never had a sausage from a middle eastern restaurant in the past. The rice and taboule were nice and flavorful, and the garlic sauce was wonderful. The pickled turnips on the salad were also a nice touch.

The shish-taouk was good, but the combination of everything else made this one of my favorite meals of my trip.

Taj Punjabi in Orlando, FL

I had dinner at an Indian restaurant in a shopping center along International Drive called Taj Punjabi. I wasn't sure what to expect in an area occupied with far too many overpriced tourist restaurants, but Taj Punjabi was recommended. They had a dinner buffet available when I visited, but everyone I dined here with chose to order off the menu so I did the same.

I ordered the Chicken Do-Piaj (#35 on their menu). I don't think I've ever ordered this particular dish at an Indian restaurant before. The menu described the Chicken Do-Piaj as boneless pieces of chicken cooked in a curry sauce, diced onion, bell pepper and tomatoes, garnished with fried onion and cilantro.  Cucumber slices, onions, and a plate of rice were served alongside the main dish. I choose to get the food prepared with medium spice, which ended up being just the right amount of spiciness. The chicken was good, although there were two pieces in the dish which were just about all tendons/fat. Besides these, I had no major complaints. The curry sauce was delicious. Even after the chicken was all gone, I made sure not to waste any of the saucy goodness and poured the rest over my rice.

I'd return to Taj Punjabi!

The Coop in Winter Park, FL

The Coop is a restaurant in Winter Park specializing in Southern foods, specifically fried chicken as the name implies. The Coop is owned by the same people behind the very successful 4 Rivers Smokehouse.

I've been to The Coop a couple times now. On my first visit, I ordered the Generous Two Piece Fried Chicken Plate. This came with the chicken, three fixins (side items), and cornbread. The two pieces of chicken had a tasty breading which had a very nice peppery flavor. I've read some criticism of the The Coop's chicken saying it's bland, but it tasted good to me. My issue didn't have to do with the taste of the chicken. It was more the consistency. One of the pieces of chicken was so soggy that the breading was falling off the meat. The other piece was perfectly fine, but soggy fried chicken is not a good thing at a restaurant that claims to specialize in chicken. I liked the Fixins over the chicken. I tried the mac & cheese, southern collards, and stewed okra & tomato. The okra was the best of the three. It was really flavorful and all of the okra's potential sliminess disappeared into the stew.

I tried The Coop's Chicken Pot Pie on my second visit. I was unimpressed. The pie crust was good, but the pie fillings could have used a bit of improvement. There was plenty of chicken, but also lots and lots of corn. There was more corn in the pie than anything else. I found a few green beans as well, but they were hidden by all the corn in the pie. It tasted alright, but wasn't anything to write home about. I also had the macaroni and stewed okra for my sides once again. The macaroni was consistent with the my first visit to The Coop. Unfortunately the okra was really bland compared to my first experience.

The food I tried so far at The Coop isn't going to have me rushing back soon, but I have a feeling I'll be back eventually. Except for the soggy chicken, although not exceptional, most everything was tasty enough. They seem like they have consistency issues with the good/soggy fried chicken and flavorful/bland okra on different visits, so let's hope they work those out. There are several things left on The Coop's menu that I'm interested in trying (shrimp and grits, chicken and dumplings) so I think I'll be returning to The Coop to give these a try...

Pearl's Chinese Restaurant in Orlando, FL

I had lunch at Pearl's Chinese Restaurant in the Williamsburg neighborhood of Orlando. They are in a strip mall, located a few doors down from a Publix. I ordered their Curry Chicken lunch combo. The combo started with a bowl of wonton soup. It was pretty standard as far as wonton soup goes. It consisted of broth, dumplings, and scallions. Strips of pork which is sometimes found in wonton soup was absent.

The soup was followed by a plate of the curry chicken and a bowl of steamed rice. The curry sauce on the chicken was tasty with a little bit of heat. Bell peppers, onions, and carrots accompanied the chicken.

I enjoyed my meal at Pearl's. The food was tasty enough and I'd return!

Eats in Atlanta, GA

While in Atlanta, I had lunch at a restaurant called Eats. Eats had an interesting setup which was also a bit confusing. They had a few counters, each serving a different type of food. Above the counters, they had menus that weren't exactly clear what was available on the day I was there.

Once I figured out what was being served, I went with the Jerk Chicken with two sides. The chicken was very flavorful, covered in a slightly spicy jerk seasoning. I chose collards and broccoli casserole as my sides. The collards were good, although nothing exceptional. The broccoli casserole was mostly rice and cheese, with little bits of broccoli mixed in. I was expecting much more broccoli in a broccoli casserole. The meal also was served with a very moist piece of cornbread.

Overall, Eats served some pretty tasty eats. The portions were huge and the prices were good.

Miwa Hibachi & Sushi Express in Ocoee, FL

I recently had dinner at a fast food Japanese restaurant in Ocoee called Miwa Hibachi & Sushi Express. I ordered the shrimp teriyaki meal, served with fried rice and vegetables. They gave several good sized shrimp, and then asked if I wanted some extra teriyaki chicken from the last person's meal that they cooked. I took Miwa up on their offer and sampled their chicken as well. The meats were tasty, although typical for what is served in hibachi style restaurants like this. The vegetables mostly consisted of cabbage and broccoli. The rice was good as well.

Miwa's portion size was huge. I couldn't finish all the food. It was definitely a good value for the price. I don't get out to Ocoee all too often, but I'd return here again sometime in the future...

The After Party Food Truck in Orlando, FL

It seems like I've been on a bit of a kick of trying the International Drive food trucks lately. Not long after I tried the Kosher on Wheels truck, I visited The After Party.

The After Party parks in a strip mall at the intersection of International and Carrier Drive, not far from Magical Midway. As implied by the name, The After Party opens in the evenings and serves food until the early morning hours. This truck apparently serves Brazilian style hamburgers and other sandwiches. Their logo on the side of the truck featured a picture of a burger and the tagline Best Sandwiches in Town. I was about to find out if that was true.

I ordered a sandwich called the Chicken Xtravaganza. This consisted of a huge variety of ingredients, including shredded chicken, ham, sausage, cheese, fried egg, lettuce, tomato, onions, corn, peas, and potato sticks. I could be forgetting some of the components of this sandwich too. With everything on this sandwich, it definitely lived up to the xtravaganza name. More importantly, it was very tasty as well. I would never think to put peas or corn on a sandwich but it definitely worked. I will definitely return to The After Party at some point to try some more of their sandwiches...

My visit to The After Party reminded me once again how much fun dining at random food trucks at the side of the road can be. Food truck events are one thing, but when there's just one truck, all by its self, the experience is very different and very enjoyable...

Taj in East Village, NY

Another night in New York and I found myself looking for dinner again. This took me to the Little India section of the East Village where I ate at a restaurant called Taj.

 

They had musicians providing entertainment with sitar and drums near the entrance of the restaurant.

Taj offered a six course dinner for under $10, so that's what I went with. Course number one was a bowl of red lentil soup. The bright orange color of red lentils make soup look more enticing compared to their brown counterparts.

Course number two was a samosa appetizer. The vegetarian samosa contained potatoes and vegetables, wrapped up in a pastry-like shell.

The third, fourth, and fifth courses were all served simultaneously. These included a basket of naan and a big plate of rice for the table to share. The main course also came out at this point. This was the chicken tikka masala in my case. Cubes of chicken were served in an orange, yogurt based sauce and was very tasty. The vegetables that were also supposed to be in the dish were unfortunately nowhere to be found.

Course number six was rice pudding for dessert. I honestly wasn't counting how many courses we were served for the entire meal, so it was an unexpected nice surprise when dessert was served. It was an even nicer surprise when a second serving of rice pudding was brought to the table after we finished the first!

I enjoyed my meal at Taj. I really like these multi-course meals that all of the Indian restaurants in this neighborhood seem to all serve. They end up being a really good deal for the price, and I would much rather eat Indian food like this as opposed to the much more common Indian buffets.

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.

Medieval Times in Kissimmee, FL

Medieval Times recently introduced a brand new show and this blog was invited to the premiere. Medieval Times is one of oldest dinner shows in Orlando and is also a show that I had heard lots about but had never seen. I was looking forward to the show!

When we arrived, the evening started out in a large hall. This seemed like the preshow area and was honestly a little disappointing. Appetizers were served here and beside a repetitive knighting ceremony for the birthdays/anniversaries/etc, not much happened in here. All the bars and gift shops were open, but more needed to happen (court jester juggling or something?).

Since we had over an hour of waiting for the show to start, I suppose it was a good thing that they had a medieval village set up next to the main Medieval Times castle. This is the only Medieval Times that has a village and it was very cool! The village was filled with all sorts of authentic medieval and renaissance artifacts, everything from armor to torture devices to pottery. Here's a 700 year old manuscript...

Animals were also in the village. Here's a falcon.

Eventually it was time for the main show and dinner to begin. Several rows of seating surrounded the stage, separated into color-coded sections. We sat in the green section, and therefore cheered for the green knight.

Once everyone was seated, the first course of tomato bisque and garlic bread was served. The tomato bisque seemed like typical tomato soup to me, not exceptional but still tasty. The garlic bread was more interesting. It actually reminded me a bit of a garlic naan from an Indian restaurant rather that what I would expect at a dinner show.

While we were eating our bread and slurping our soup, the show began and horses did all sorts of nifty tricks in front of us. Knights soon followed with a fun competition of jousting, sword fighting, and other nifty stuff.

As the show was going on, the next courses were served. The chicken came next. Half chickens were served and we ripped them apart with our hands in a very medieval manner (unless you insist that they bring you silverware). The chicken was flavorful, although it was a little dry.

Soon after the chicken, a rib and herb-basted potatoes were served. The rib was good, but the potatoes were really dry and flavorless.

For dessert, we were served apple turnovers. According to one of the people working in the medieval village, the dessert is the only non-standard item on the menu and is always a surprise as to what will be served. The turnover was good with a flaky crust surrounding some apple jam. 

 Before I knew it, the show was over. I never saw the old show, so I can't compare, but I enjoyed it. Overall, the Medieval Times was like an indoor renaissance festival with air conditioning and better food. Don't take it too seriously and you'll have a good time!

Medieval Times had a great castle-shaped cake made by a company called Cupcake Kisses sitting in the lobby/preshow area for the premier. It almost looked too nice to eat, but to my surprise the cake was cut with a sword and was served after the show.

 This was definitely the most architectural cake I've ever eaten!

I had a good time at Medieval Times. Once the show got started, it was very entertaining. The food was all good (with the exception of the potatoes), and overall was fun night. 

If you've read this far into this blog post, it is your lucky day. I have a goodie bag from Medieval Times to give to one of my lucky readers. It contains two tickets to the show, fancy Medieval Times drinking cups, a Medieval Times hat and rain poncho, and some other extras. It can all be yours, all you have to do is like Watch Me Eat on Facebook and comment on the post mentioning the contest. Do this before August 7, 2012, you will be entered into a random drawing to win the prize. Good luck!