Z-Best Ethiopian Food in Orlando, FL

I ventured down to Lake Eola Park on Earth Day. Earth Day in the park was interesting because the March for Science was happening at the same time as the Central Florida Earth Day celebrations. The two events contrasted a bit with one promoting science alongside another that was promoting a whole lot of pseudoscience. Besides the tents telling me the the horrors of chemtrails, the Earth Day celebrations also had some food vendors which aren't normally in the park. I tried Z-Best Ethiopian Food.

I had their three item combo. I picked a lentil-filled sambusa, collards, and chickpeas. The sambusa was good, similar to a samosa in an Indian restaurant but with a flakier crust. The lentil filling had a nice bit of spice to it. Chickpeas were also good, cooked in a flavorful tomato based sauce. The collards were just okay, with not much standout flavor.

Z-Best was my first time eating Ethiopian food in Orlando. I know there are a couple other Ethiopian restaurants in town that I need to try, but so far I only have one data point. I guess that means Z-Best lives up to their name for now in Orlando.

Rosie's Smokin Hot Bar-B-Que in Kissimmee, FL

I tried Rosie's Smokin Hot Bar-B-Que in Kissimmee for dinner. This restaurant is located along 192 and has the same owners as Wildside BBQ. While the Wildside locations are full service sit down restaurants, Rosie's is cafeteria style and resembles 4 Rivers (a whole lot).

I ordered the sliced pork platter. Just like at 4 Rivers, it was served on a tray covered in a sheet of paper.  The pork looked good, chopped into larger pieces rather than the typical pulled/shredded pork often found at BBQ places. Unfortunately, the pork was sort of chewy, was very bland tasting, and was room temperature. It was made a bit better with barbecue sauce, but it definitely looked better than it tasted. One of my sides was macaroni and cheese. It was okay, but was also room temperature. My other side was collard greens. These were the best part of the platter. They were really flavorful and contained bits of pork. The sad part was that the pork in the collards was much better than the main dish pork. The collard pork was nice and tender and had plenty of flavor on its own, not requiring barbecue sauce. While the collards were good, their temperature didn't seem to be where it should have been either.

I suppose the Wildside people thought they would be able to follow the 4 Rivers formula to make a successful barbecue restaurant, but it wasn't working. I don't think I'd bother trying Rosie's again. I'm not sure why but it seems like I've been having bad luck with Central Florida barbecue lately. Smokey Joe's in Sanford had a similar problem with room temperature meats. I've also been to the 4 Rivers in Winter Garden twice since then and have seen quality issues there as well. Hopefully I'll have better luck next time.

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.