Savannah, GA Food (Franklin's, Flying Monk Noodle Bar, and Leopold's Ice Cream)

I went on a trip to Savannah, GA. Here's where I ate:

Franklin's:

When I found out my hotel didn't serve complementary breakfast like their website promised when booking, that meant I had to go out on an adventure. That brought me to a coffee shop called Franklin's. I had the Breakfast Bowl, filled with bacon, grits, egg, potatoes, salsa, and toast. Had a latte to drink. It was good, but the food, coffee, and tip ended up being the most expensive meal on my trip.
 

Flying Monk Noodle Bar:

Dinner was at Flying Monk Noodle Bar. I had the Drunken Noodles. It was insane how quickly these were prepared and served. Pretty tasty.

Leopold's Ice Cream:

I saw the line for Leopold's Ice Cream and decided there was no way that it was worth the hype. I walked by again after dinner and the line was much more reasonable right before they closed. I had a scoop of Lemon Custard (hidden in the bottom of the cup) and a scoop of Peach, which was one of their specials. It was perfectly fine ice cream, but I'm glad I didn't wait an hour for the dessert.

Universal Studios Hollywood Food

 I visited Universal Studios Hollywood twice in the past year. The initial visit was to see the park for the first time (alongside Disneyland). A few months later, my schedule and budget allowed me to go a second time to see Hollywood's version of Halloween Horror Nights. 

First food in the park was from a hot dog cart in the upper lot. I ordered the Californian. This was a Nathan's hot dog topped with guacamole, diced tomatoes, cilantro, and Takis. Very topping heavy. They were really generous with the guacamole and cilantro, which I won't argue with. 

When I returned a few months later, I walked by this same hot dog stand. All of the interesting hot dog toppings were replaced with basically one option: A 22" Chili Cheese Dog. Nowhere as exciting...

French Street Bistro:

I tried a brownie from the French Street Bistro. 

City Snack Shop:

I had this during Halloween Horror Nights. I had a Strawberry Spiral Croissant. This round croissant was partially stuffed with whipped cream, with some strawberries topping the cream. Pretty tasty.

Magic Kingdom Food (Casey's Corner and Sunshine Tree Terrace)

It's been a while since I've had food at the Magic Kingdom. Since the last post on this blog was about Disneyland, why not write about the similar castle park in Florida.

Casey's Corner:

I've lived in Orlando most of my life and have been to the Magic Kingdom countless times, but somehow I had never been to Casey's Corner on Main Street. I've heard the restaurant hyped up quite often, so on my last visit to Magic Kingdom I finally had lunch there. I ordered the Chipotle Barbecue All-Beef Foot-long Hot Dog. It was a hot dog topped with pulled pork, coleslaw, and barbeque sauce. Good for Disney serving more than plain hot dogs. Toppings always make them more interesting.  This was fine. Not anything great that I'd go back for again though. As I write this, I'm realizing that this had very similar ingredients to the Ronto Wrap at Galaxy's Edge. Slightly different forms of the ingredients, but it was essentially the same thing.

Sunshine Tree Terrace:

I had the I Lava You Float. Orange Dole Whip topped with strawberry Fanta, passionfruit syrup, and Pop Rocks. This was a good dessert.

NewCity Coffee Co. in Lake Mary, FL

I had an Ube Latte from NewCity Coffee Co. in downtown Lake Mary.

 

Kelly's Homemade Ice Cream in Orlando, FL

I stopped for ice cream at Kelly's Homemade Ice Cream in Audubon Park. I had a waffle cone with two scoops: peach and pistachio. I enjoyed the pistachio most of the two flavors, although it was interesting that it wasn't the typical green color of pistachio ice cream. I'd return for more ice cream!

The Mason Jar in New Smyrna Beach, FL

Smoothies are a food which I am pretty opinionated about. To me, smoothies are something that I can make myself for much cheaper and usually better than what I can purchase out. That's why I was skeptical when someone took me along to get a smoothie bowl from The Mason Jar in New Smyrna Beach.

I ordered a smoothie bowl called Sunrise Pitaya. The whole concept of a smoothie bowl was a new concept for me. I know they've been a thing, but never anything I payed attention to. I'm assuming there was pitaya/dragon fruit in the smoothie itself, along with other ingredients which were tasty. It was topped with strawberries, bananas, and coconut. The whole bowl did taste really good and was a good portion. Still was a bit pricey though, costing more than a meal at some restaurants...

Keys Bite in Key Largo, FL

I was in Key Largo on New Years Eve and it was decided that key lime pie should be eaten while there. Restaurant choices were thin since it was a holiday. Based on what was open, we ended up at a restaurant called Keys Bite. They had a diner-like menu, and luckily they did have the pie we were seeking.

The key lime pie was served with whipped cream and a lime slice. It was creamy and tart. Everything that I would have expected a slice of key lime pie to be in the Keys!

Abracadabra Ice Cream in Kissimmee, FL

I tried a restaurant called Abracadabra Ice Cream in downtown Kissimmee. Unlike the standard ice cream shop, Abracadabra served ice cream made with liquid nitrogen. You picked your flavors, they added them in a bowl with some cream, and mixed everything with liquid nitrogen to freeze everything.

I choose mango and raspberry as my flavors. The consistency of the ice cream was interesting. It wasn't as smooth as standard ice cream. It sort of reminded me of Dippin' Dots, only with larger pieces of ice cream and a much better taste.

I very much enjoyed the novelty of seeing ice cream being formed before my eyes in a misty cloud. I'd return to Abracadabra!

San Antonio Food: Casa Rio and Mangonadas

After a few days in Austin, I headed south in Texas to San Antonio for a day. Everyone who I spoke to in Austin told me I'd be terribly disappointed with the city and not to waste my time with the two hour drive to San Antonio. I'm not sure why San Antonio has a horrible reputation among Austin residents, but I throughly enjoyed my day exploring the city. I toured Spanish missions, I rented a bike and rode along the San Antonio river. When it was dinner time, I found myself in the San Antonio River Walk section of downtown. I took the canal tour boat ride and had a restaurant called Casa Rio pointed out...

Casa Rio:

Casa Rio is the oldest restaurant along the San Antonio River Walk. That little factoid made me decide to have dinner there. I ate outside along the river where there were nice views of passing boats, people strolling, and a gang of attack ducks that were going up to tables then biting diners if they weren't fed. It was very entertaining.

I ordered the Deluxe Dinner. This came with a cheese enchilada, tamale, crispy beef taco, chili con carne, chili con queso, mexican rice, refried beans, and a guacamole salad. It sounds like a lot of food, but I didn't realize how much it actually was until food started being delivered to my table. I got a basket of chips and salsa first. This was soon followed by the guacamole salad. Their guacamole salad was shredded lettuce and chopped tomatoes topped with a big scoop of guacamole. Tortilla chips covered in queso also came out with the salad.

The plate with the rest of the food soon followed. Standout items on the plate were the the tamale and the chili con carne. As with many Mexican restaurants, everything else was pretty standard and tasty enough.

At $11.25, all this food was pretty reasonable. Nice environment and good food. I'd return to Casa Rio.




Cathedral of San Fernando Food Stand:
Later that evening I went to the Cathedral of San Fernando where they had a projection mapped light show on the outside of the building. In the park outside the cathedral, there were a few food trucks and a couple permanent food stands feeding the tourists.

One of the permanent food stands had an interesting menu. They had corn in a cup, mangonadas, and funnel cakes. I had never heard of a mangonada before, so I decided to give it a try.

It turned out a mangonada was basically a Mexican version of an Italian ice. I had a mix of strawberry and lime. It was served in a large cup. The mangonada was sweet and refreshing!

Austin Food #4: (Kolache Shoppe, Naegelin's Bakery, and Der Lindenbaum)

This is the last of the foods I tried in the Austin area on this trip. You can read about some of my previous Austin food adventures here. Today's blog post is pretty much about German/Eastern European foods. I didn't realize before my visit, but Texas was settled by a lot of German immigrants that brought foods over from Europe. This blog post is talking about some of these foods. We are starting at Kolache Shoppe...

Kolache Shoppe (Austin, TX):

I became aware of a kolache when I was at a Four Rivers and noticed they had kolaches available on their menu on Saturday mornings at breakfast time. I never got around to visiting a Four Rivers early enough to try a kolache, but I found out that they are a sweet or savory pastry popular in parts of Texas.  When I went to Austin, I put trying a kolache on my list of regional foods to eat. Google told me the closest place to where I was staying with the highest reviews was called Kolache Shoppe. They were located in a old looking strip mall in the suburbs of the city.

I decided to try a sweet and savory kolache and ordered a blueberry and a jalepeno sausage. The kolaches were interesting, but not exactly what I was expecting. The bread that made up most of the kolache reminded me a whole lot of a King's Hawaiian Roll. It was mushy, slightly sweet white bread. The blueberry kolache had a pool of blueberry jam baked into an indentation on the top of the bread.

The jalepeno sausage kolache was sort of like a pig in a blanket. The sausage was baked into the bread. For some reason this one caught me off guard. I wasn't expecting to see a whole sausage in the kolache. I was thinking crumbled sausage for some reason.

I was a bit disappointed with my first kolache experience. I was expecting some sort of delicious pastry and ended up with dinner rolls...


Naegelin's Bakery (New Braunfels, TX):

I ventured a bit outside of Austin and found myself in the town of New Braunfels, TX. This town was founded by German immigrants and still had lots of German influences around the city. There were German restaurants, a beer garden, and German desserts from the oldest bakery in Texas. I went into Naegelin's Bakery and saw they also served kolaches. Since I wasn't impressed with my first kolache experience in the state, I figured I'd see how a place that had been around since 1868 made them.

Naegelin's Bakery had several varieties available. Not nearly as many as Kolache Shoppe had, but still plenty to choose from. I asked the woman taking my order what her favorites were and she recommended the bratwurst and the breakfast sausage.

These kolaches were different from what Kolache Shoppe served. These were also similar to pigs in blankets, but the bread was much denser with a yellowish dough. Out of my two kolache experiences, these were far superior to the mushy white bread that I had the first time, but I still can't say I'm sold on kolaches. These were tasty enough, but I think I would have much rather have had some other sort of German desserts which Naegelin's Bakery sold.

I've since been told I should have also tried a chain called Kolache Factory for good kolaches. They initially came up on my first search for nearby kolaches in Austin, but they had an average 1.5 star review so I passed. Next time I'm in Texas, perhaps I should attempt to find a Kolache Factory for a third kolache data point. I wonder if their kolaches would be different from what I tried as well?





Der Lindenbaum (Fredericksburg, TX):

Fredericksburg, TX was another town nearby Austin that I visited during my trip. Like New Braunfels, there was also a whole lot of German influence here. Because of this, I decided I should have German food for dinner. I ended up at a restaurant called Der Lindenbaum.

I ordered the Currywurst. I don't think I had ever tried currywurst. It came with two sausage links with a large bowl of curry sauce. Mashed potatoes and sauerkraut came as sides. The thick, slightly sweet and slighty spicy curry sauce was delicious. It was definitely better than the sausages themselves and made its way onto the potatoes as to topping. The sauerkraut was really good too. It had fennel seeds, along with other flavors tasting like dill and lemon. I would have eaten a whole plate of the sauerkraut alone!

Austin Food #3: Brunch Haus, Threadgills, and Amy's Ice Cream

Continuing with food from my trip to Austin, we have some more restaurants which I tried. There's no breakfast tacos or barbecue in this post...

Brunch Haus:

I had breakfast one morning during my trip to Austin at a food truck park called Barton Spring Picnic. There were several trucks here, all centered around a central covered seating area. Of the trucks here, not too many were open for breakfast. There was a large number of people sitting here though, who apparently got there a couple hours early to wait for trucks to open for lunch. I noticed people like waiting for food in Austin.

The truck I ended up trying was called Brunch Haus. It didn't seem busy, but it took a good half hour to get my food. More of people not minding the waits for food in Austin.

I had their Stuffed French Toast. I hardly ever eat French toast, but they made this toast sound tasty. It was a thick slice of challah bread served in a cardamom-infused heavy cream stuffed with a strawberry jam, basil, and mint mascarpone filling. The whole thing was topped with syrup, powdered sugar, and sliced strawberries. The toast was really sweet, more like a dessert than a breakfast, but I enjoyed it!

Threadgill's:

I ended up at Threadgill's for dinner one evening. I liked this place. They served southern food and like Stubb's Bar-B-Que talked about previously, are known for live music. Apparently Janis Joplin played at Threadgill's frequently. I had their blackened catfish, served with scalloped potatoes and stewed okra & tomatoes. The catfish had nice spice in the blackening and both sides were delicious. I was there with a large group of people and they handled the crowd very nicely.

Amy's Ice Cream:

This is a chain of ice cream shops that I saw all over Austin. I visited their location in SoCo. I had two scoops, one coconut and one Mexican vanilla. It was okay. Nothing worth going out of my way to get again. I still don't know the difference between their Mexican vanilla and regular vanilla. The person taking my order couldn't answer what differentiated the two...

Polar Parlor at Sea World Orlando

I found myself at Sea World one evening and decided to get some ice cream. I was going to get the ice cream from a location in the back of the park but they didn't have waffle cones. I made my way up to Polar Parlor near the park entrance, and found that their waffle cones were cheaper than the regular cones elsewhere in the park. Weird.

I had strawberry and mint chocolate chip in a waffle cone. The portion of ice cream was huge, overflowing over the edges of the large waffle cone. Out of the two flavors, I preferred the mint chocolate chip. The strawberry flavor wasn't as pronounced as it should have been, while the mint chocolate chip tasted like I expected.

Boston Desserts (Omni Parker House Hotel and Modern Pastry)

During my adventures in exploring Boston, I had desserts on a couple occasions. This blog post chronicles these desserts...

Omni Parker House's Boston Cream Pie:

I took a guided tour along parts of the Freedom Trail. One of the stops on the tour was the Omni Parker House Hotel. Our tour guide spouted out all kinds of interesting facts about this historic hotel, ranging from the presidents and celebrities who have stayed here to the hotel's ghost stories. The one fact that made my food blogger radar perk up was that the dessert known as a Boston Cream Pie was invented in one of the hotel's restaurants.

I decided I needed to try a Boston Cream Pie from the place it was created. I later returned to the hotel and found out their coffee/gift shop sold the pies without having to go into the pricy Parker's Restaurant. The price almost scared me away. Eight dollars and change for a small dessert that was three inches in diameter. Still, I had walked across town to try the pie, so I splurged.

I think I may have had Boston Cream Pies and Boston Cream Doughnuts mixed up in my head. I was expecting much more cream in here. Instead, the pie consisted of two layers of cake with a thin layer of cream sandwiched in between. It was topped with chocolate icing. After the initial surprise that this was more of a cake than a cream filled pie, I enjoyed the dessert. The cake was moist. The small layer of cream provided a little change in flavor to mix things up. Although it was tasty, the Boston Cream Pie definitely wasn't worth the price and I wouldn't spend that money again. Still, I can say I've tried the original Boston Cream Pie!


 

Modern Pastry:

During the same tour where I found out about the Boston Cream Pies, the guide also recommended checking out Little Italy. I took up that advise and found myself getting dessert at a bakery called Modern Pastry. For a place with modern in the name, they had a very retro neon sign.

The place was filled with cases and cases of delicious looking pastries, cakes, cookies, pies, and other sweets.

I had a sfogliatelle. This flaky lobster tail-like pastry was filled with a delicious cheesy filling. I ate the sfogliatelle in a nearby park where a flock of sparrows really enjoyed eating all the crumbs that fell from the flaky crust...