The Daily Poutine at Disney Springs in Orlando, FL

The Daily Poutine is one of the newish restaurants which opened in the new section of Disney Springs. They are fast food with some nearby outdoor seating. I was a big fan of trying the different versions of poutine when I was in Quebec last year, so I was excited to try some Floridian theme park poutine.

I am not a poutine expert, but I wonder how many of the menu items here would be considered true poutine by connoisseurs of the food? When does a variation of the dish become something else? Looking at something like the restaurant's Latin Poutine where potato fries are replaced with yucca and there isn't gravy or cheese curds, would this still be considered poutine?

I have visited The Daily Poutine twice. The first time I was with someone who had never tried poutine, so we split the Classic. This consisted of french fries, beef gravy, and cheddar cheese curds. It didn't live up to some of the poutines I sampled while in Quebec, but I suppose was good enough for a theme park version of the dish. I've heard that the way to tell if you're having high quality poutine is if the cheese curds make a squeaky noise as you bite into them. The cheese curds here did not squeak...

The second time I dined at The Daily Poutine was when I was intrigued by their All-Day Breakfast Poutine. I'm not sure if this is a daily special or a temporary menu item, but it was advertised on signs sitting on the counter. It was described as fried potato puffs, sausage gravy, and cheddar curds topped with a fried egg. Again, this was veering away from what I think of poutine with tater tots instead of fries and white sausage gravy instead of brown gravy. Regardless, this breakfast poutine was actually really tasty. The gravy had a lot more flavor compared to what I normally think of when it comes to white gravy. I've been liking foods topped with fried eggs lately, so that topping made me like the poutine more.

The Disney version of poutine didn't quite make me feel like I was eating true French-Canadian junk food, but the food was decent enough. Definitely better than normal french fries topped with ketchup...

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!

Bagel Wit a Schmear in Boca Raton, FL

The missing H in the name of Bagel Wit A Schmear in Boca Raton bothers me. As I'm writing this, I'm finding it very unsettling to write the word "wit" rather than "with." To prevent myself from dwelling to long on restaurants with funky spellings in their names, I'll talk about food now...

I got a bacon, egg, & cheese sandwich on an everything bagel when I stopped into Bagel Wit A Schmear for breakfast. As far as everything bagels go, this particular specimen could have used some more seeds. They did put a whole lot of cheese and bacon on the sandwich though, so that definitely overpowered the lack of seeds. Overall, this was a good, cheap sandwich coming in at about $3. I'd come back, regardless of the lack of H in the name...

Marti's Deli & Cafe in Boca Raton, FL

During an early morning visit to Boca Raton, I stopped for breakfast at Marti's Deli & Cafe (or as the sign reads from the road: Bagel & Deli). I ordered an egg & cheese sandwich on an everything bagel. The sandwich had a nice portion of egg with plenty of melted cheddar. The bagel was nicely toasted, although it could have used some more seeds on top.

Overall, this was a satisfying breakfast sandwich for a good price. No major complaints here!

Denny's in Sanford, FL

I ate at the Denny's on Rt 46 in Sanford, right off of I-4. I've been to this Denny's on a few occasions, mostly late at night when everything else in the area is closed. The service here is typically always bad, as it is in most Denny's. There's also always interesting people in here as well. For example, imagine you're eating dinner and a homeless man enters the restaurant, specifically targets your table, approaches, and starts mumbling incomprehensible babble until an employee escorts him out. Ten minutes later, you're being mumbled at again...

On this visit, I didn't get mumbled at. We were ignored by all of the other people in the Denny's, including the waitress for the most part. When our order was finally taken, I ordered the Southwestern Sizzlin' Skillet. I think they were trying to make a breakfast version of a fajita, and came up with this. After too long of a wait, the food was served. The skillet consisted of scrambled eggs, hash browns, green peppers, onions, bacon, and sausage. It didn't come sizzling like the name implied. Unlike actual fajitas, this skillet was cool enough to touch comfortably. When I had finished about 75% of the food, the waitress brought out some tortillas to go with my food that was almost gone. Typical Denny's service...

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.

Happy Teriyaki in Longwood, FL

I had dinner at Happy Teriyaki in Longwood, FL. This place has been here for a really long time, as long as I have lived in the area. They never seem busy, but must be doing something right to still be around after all this time. Their menu is mostly Japanese/Sushi with some Chinese items mixed in.

I had a bowl of Udon Soup. This huge bowl of soup came filled with chicken, shrimp, fish cakes, a fried egg, assorted vegetables, and udon noodles, all in a clear broth. It was really tasty and was way too much food! The egg was a bit too runny for my liking, but otherwise I had no complaints!

Starbucks in Ashland, VA

On a long drive home from New York, my fellow travelers decided that they needed to stop at a Starbucks to refuel on caffeine. I instead opted to get actual food and tried their Spinach and Feta breakfast wrap. It consisted of egg whites, spinach, feta, and some sort of tomato based sauce. It was better than I was expecting, but I really would prefer if they used whole eggs rather than just the whites. Egg whites may be healthier, but without the yolks they are tasteless with a consistency that I really don't like. Otherwise it was a good wrap from a coffee chain that isn't known for their food.

Yesterday's Diner in New Hyde Park, NY

Yesterday's Diner isn't the best name for a restaurant in my opinion. It makes me imagine that all of the food is leftovers from the previous day. It doesn't help that the menu titles each section with yesterday, for example, you could order "Yesterday's Sandwiches." It just doesn't sound right to me, but I ended up eating a late breakfast at Yesterday's Diner regardless of the name.

I ordered a Spinach Florentine Omelet. I'm not normally an egg person, especially in restaurants, unless there's enough additional ingredients mixed in to add extra flavor. I was hesitant to get my omelet, but I decided to give it a try. Luckily for me, I enjoyed the Spinach Florentine. The omelet was filled with fresh spinach and plenty of feta cheese and didn't really taste egg-like at all. I liked it! The omelet was served with a side of homefries and two slices of whole wheat toast.

Free IKEA Breakfast

Every so often, the IKEA store in Orlando puts advertisements in the mail or newspaper for a free weekend breakfast at their restaurant. On one of these occasions, I decided to go get my free breakfast. It consisted of a plate of scrambled eggs, hash browns, and a cup of coffee. They advertised bacon as part of their free breakfasts, but apparently that wasn't happening on the day I visited.

Little did I know, free IKEA breakfasts are nothing new. They actually give out free breakfast Monday thru Friday and normally charge on weekends. Perhaps a visit during the week would come with bacon.

On the way out of the store, I stopped off and ate one of IKEA's cinnamon rolls. No complaints here.

Comfort Suites Breakfast

I ate the included breakfast provided by the Comfort Suites that I stayed at in Marshall, TX. I had scrambled eggs, eggs with some sort of meat, a biscuit, and a waffle. These hotels don't seem to do much fruit in the breakfasts.

Toojay's Western Skillet

I ate at the Toojays in Altamonte Springs, FL for breakfast. I ordered a Western Skillet, which consisted of potato pancakes topped with scrambled eggs, tomatoes, and scallions. The Western Skillet normally comes with ham, but I wasn't in a porky mood that day. From how this dish was described on the menu, I was expecting a lot more potato pancake and less egg. Regardless, I ate it all and enjoyed it.

The Western Skillet also came with two slices of Toojay's wonderful rye toast. Even when compared to more authentic Jewish Deli style restaurants, Toojay's definitely makes the best rye bread that I've tasted in the area.

Town House Restaurant

I ate at The Town House Restaurant in downtown Oviedo, FL. Apparently they had the Best Breakfast in Orlando in 2005, judging by the sign in the window.

I ate the Greek Village Omelet, which consisted of three eggs (presumably from the Oviedo Chickens), feta cheese, gyro lamb, onions, and black olives. I'm not normally an egg person and was actually planning on getting something from the lunch menu. I found out when I got to the Town House that only breakfast is served on Sunday. Because of this technical difficulty, I ended up with the omelet. As far as omelets go, it was good and had plenty of flavor. The feta was good, but I think the omelet could have definitely used some spinach.

The omelet came with some very good homefries and a tasty biscuit.

McDonald's & Maurice's

While traveling south to Florida, a stop was made in Franklin, VA. The hotel didn't serve any sort of icky continental breakfast or anything, so the breakfast choice was narrowed down to the McDonalds across the street.

I ordered a egg and cheese biscuit combo, so it came with orange juice and hash browns. The whole experience in the fast food restaurant took about fifteen minutes, and probably would have taken longer if the manager didn't come in and all of the employees suddenly started scrambling to make the food faster. Once the food was ready, I took it and ate in the car.


I can't remember the last time that I ate in a standard McDonalds, but I was reminded why I don't eat the food off of the normal McDonalds menu. As I was eating the breakfast it tasted fine. For hours afterwards though, something in the food irritated the back of my throat. Drinking lots of water didn't really help, and it wasn't until a sneeze where a bit of mucus came up that the sore throat went away. This happens to me with breakfast from Burger King as well. Yummy...


On to better food, later in the day I ate at Maurice's Barbecue in Santee, South Carolina. Right off of I-95, this little fast food barbecue restaurant has some good food. You are greeted by this giant pork sandwich in the sky...




I ate a Jr. Pig Dinner, which consisted of pulled pork in a mustard barbecue sauce, fries, a roll, cole-slaw, hush puppies, and something called Carolina hash which was served over rice. The pork was very tasty, and I made my own pulled pork sandwich with the meat and the roll. I'm not exactly sure what was in the Carolina hash, but that was also very tasty. It was a whole lot to eat too.

And here is a portrait of Maurice hanging up in the restaurant. You know you are in the south when a restaurant owner is pictured in front of a Confederate flag...



With all of the meat and fried food that I ate today, I'm really in the mood to go eat vegan food again...