NY Food: Bagels (Pumpernickel Bagel, Zucker's Bagels & Smoked Fish, Russ & Daughters, and Liberty Bagels)

Since nobody can travel right now due to COVID-19, let's go back in time a few months and visit New York to eat. My last visit to the New York was in December for a few days. The last couple posts on this blog from New York had to do with the pizza and Indian food I ate on the trip. This post is about the Indian restaurants I visited while there. I ended up eating a lot of Indian food on my short trip.

Pumpernickel Bagel:

This was a random bagel shop I walked by in Long Island City when it was time for a bagel breakfast.

I had a whole wheat everything bagel, filled with lox cream cheese and onions.

 Zucker's Bagels and & Smoked Fish:

This bagel shop was located a few blocks away from Bryant Park. It was a chain. I ordered a sandwich called The Flatiron. This had everything seeded smoked salmon, avocado, and scallion cream cheese. I very much enjoyed this sandwich.

Russ & Daughters:

This place is a classic that I've visited before in the past. They have all sorts of delicious smoked fish here.

I had the Shteil. Smoked sable and goat cream cheese on an everything bagel.

Liberty Bagels:

This was my last bagel experience before heading back home. They were located close to the train station so I grabbed one last bagel before catching the train back to JFK. They had some interesting bagels that involved a lot of food coloring like their rainbow bagels.

They had some interesting cream cheeses as well. Can't say I've ever seen maple bacon or Oreo flavored cream cheese anywhere.

None of that matters though, because it ended up with me getting handed the wrong order. They confirmed what I ordered when I picked it up, but that's not what was in the bag. What they gave me was a sesame bagel stuffed with lox, avocado, tomato slices, onions, and capers. It wasn't a bad combination. It was almost a combination I would have enjoyed, except there was no cream cheese. Who in their right mind orders bagels with no cream cheese!? Unfortunately, I was already on the train to the airport when I opened the bag and saw I had the wrong order, so I ate it...

Farmer's Market Restaurant in Florida City, FL

I had dinner in Florida City at the Farmer's Market Restaurant. This was located in the State Farmer's Market. I've seen similar restaurants like this in industrial farmer's market complexes, but it seems unusual to actually see them open for business. This Farmer's Market Restaurant had the highest restaurant rating according to Google near my hotel and was also open at 8:00pm when I was looking for food.

I had their seafood combo special, which started with a cup of lentil soup:

The combo came with conch fritters, fish, and shrimp. The shrimp and conch fritters were both deep fried, but I had the fish blackened. The meal came with two sides. I picked mashed potatoes and brussel sprouts. Everything was tasty. Biggest complaint that some of the shrimp seemed a little overcooked and were beginning to be a little rubbery. Other than that, the fish and conch were both cooked well and were flavorful.

I enjoyed my meal!

Market Street Diner in Celebration, FL

It looks like the long time restaurant in downtown Celebration formerly known as Market Street Cafe has been rebranded to Market Street Diner. It's a subtle name change, but still a name change. It looks like the interior was renovated since the diner was known as cafe.

On my first time eating at the restaurant under the Market Street Diner name, I tried the Atlantic Fish Po' Boy. This was a huge filet of fried cod topped with lettuce, tomato, and tartar sauce, all served on a roll. The sandwich fillings overflowed off the bread, but still held together well. The fish was hot and crispy with a nice, flavorful batter. I had tater tots as my side.

The restaurant seems pretty consistent of how it was pre-name change. It's what you would expect from a diner type restaurant with food that seems slightly above average for this type of place.

Boteco in Orlando, FL

Boteco is a Brazilian restaurant along International Drive, located right across the street from Festival Bay. Their menu wasn't strictly Brazilian food, with many items that seemed more appropriate for an Italian restaurant. This was also the first Brazilian restaurant I've visited with a sushi bar. 

I ordered the Breaded Fish with Shrimp Sauce. The menu described this as fried breaded fish topped with shrimp tomato sauce and peas served with mashed potatoes and the vegetable of the day. When I got my food, the shrimp sauce was served separate from the fish in it's own bowl. It was more like a shrimp soup, with lots of shrimp floating with peas in a tomato based broth. I started by pouring some of this over the fish, but then ended up eating them separately. The huge piece of fish was nice and moist in a tasty breading. Mashed potatoes were good, and the vegetable of the day turned out to be slices of grilled zucchini and yellow squash. Everything I tried at Boteco was tasty and I'd return...

Bubba's Southern Cafeteria in Darien, GA

I was in the middle of a road trip heading north along I-95 when lunch time rolled around. We stopped to get gas in the town of Darien, GA and hoped there would be some food at the exit as well. The normal selection of fast food places were abundant here, but then a restaurant called Bubba's Southern Cafeteria advertising bar-b-que and award winning Brunswick stew caught my eye.

We entered the restaurant, and it really was set up cafeteria style. There was no menu. There was just a cafeteria line where you choose a meat and your sides. The three meat selections that were available were fried chicken, fried fish, or fried shrimp. There really wasn't any of the mentioned barbecue being served, but we ate there anyway. The Brunswick stew wasn't being served on the day I visited either.

I decided to try the fried fish. I was given three pieces of fish that was lightly fried. The fish still had skin, bones, and fins which would probably be a turnoff to some people. I was fine with picking around the inedible parts. I'm not sure what type of fish it was, nor did I ask, but it was pretty tasty. For my sides, I choose the collards, macaroni & cheese, and mashed potatoes. The collards were the best of the three sides that I tried. A roll and sweet tea were also included with my meal.

Overall, I enjoyed my meal at Bubba's Southern Cafeteria. It wasn't exactly the barbecue that I was expecting when I went into the restaurant, but I still liked it. There ended up being a whole lot of food served for the price and the people working here were super friendly.

Finnigan's Wake Irish Pub in Winston-Salem, NC

I took a detour along one of my road trips and ended up in Winston-Salem, NC for a festival. It was my first time exploring the city, and I ate while there. The restaurant I chose was an Irish pub called Finnigan's Wake. I had the fried cod sandwich. The fish was Guinness battered and fried, topped with lettuce, tomato, and sauce. I found the fried fish to be soggy rather than crispy. Not good to get soggy fried fish on a $9.00 sandwich. Mashed potatoes and a pickle were served on the side, both of which I liked.

This was my one and only food experience in Winston-Salem and I wasn't too impressed. Finnigan's Wake was on the expensive side (my sandwich was one of the cheapest items on the menu) and nobody I was with was happy with their food. Hopefully the other restaurants in Winston-Salem are better!

O'Leary's Tiki Bar in Sarasota, FL

I was in Sarasota for the day and decided to get some lunch at a restaurant called O'Leary's Tiki Bar. The restaurant was located in Island Park and had a very nice view of the bay.

I had the Blackened Fish Bun.The sandwich had to large filets of fish on a roll along with lettuce and tomato. Curly fries were served on the side. The fish sandwich was good, too big for the bun, but can't really complain about that. I liked the fries. They were the type that have enough flavor alone where they don't need to be dipped into anything. The curly shape was just an extra plus.

I'd come here again, but I discovered a nifty downtown section of Sarasota a few blocks away that I had never came across before as I was leaving with lots of restaurants to try. Think I'll be exploring the food in this section of town next time I'm in Sarasota...

Eau Gallie River Crab House in Melbourne, FL

I had lunch at the Eau Gallie River Crab House in Melbourne. Located in a repurposed Burger King building, this restaurant has a very nice view of the Eau Gallie River. They have plenty of outdoor seating overlooking the river, but it was very warm on the afternoon we choose to eat there, so our meal occurred in the air conditioning.

Although crabs may have been the thing to order here, I instead had the Blackened Mahi. Served with two sides, I choose the onion rings after seeing them be delivered to a nearby table and the steamed vegetables, which turned out to be broccoli. The fish had a nice spicy flavor and was nice and flaky. I don't know if it was meant to go with the fish or the onion rings, but I also liked the honey mustard dipping sauce that was served on the side.

I enjoyed the food here, but service was kind of lacking. There was one waiter for the entire restaurant. Although they were only about a quarter full, he definitely seemed overwhelmed. Taking drinks to be refilled and never returning them is never a good thing. Overall, food was good and hopefully the bad service was a fluke...

Egg at Davidson Cafe in Davidson, NC

Another meal in Davidson, NC was at the Egg at Davidson Cafe. We were told that apparently this place has really good breakfasts, but I decided to get lunch here instead. I ordered a blackened fish sandwich with a side of macaroni salad.

The sandwich was alright, but I personally would have preferred more toppings on it. Served with nothing but fish, tarter sauce, and bread, the sandwich was a little on the boring side. Lettuce and tomato at the least would have been nice. The macaroni salad was really tasty though with a strong peppery flavor.

Should have gotten some sort of breakfast...

Papi's Cuban & Caribbean Grill in Atlanta, GA

On my last evening in Atlanta before heading home, a collective decision was made that we should find some Georgia style barbecue for dinner. The problem was, nobody we asked could recommend anywhere that served smoked meat besides Shane's Rib Shack. A chain would defeat the purpose of having barbecue in Atlanta, so somewhere along the line we started looking for alternatives for dinner and came across Papi's Cuban & Caribbean Grill on Ponce De Leon Avenue.

The daily special at Papi's caught my eye. It came with a choice of steak, chicken, or fish with black beans, rice, plantains, salad, and bread. I ordered the fish which turned out to be tilapia. The fish was lightly fried and had great flavor. Beans & rice were tasty and the plantains were good as well. For $7 and change, this was a really good value for the amount of food that was included. I guess you don't need to be near Miami to find good Cuban food...

While the food was good, I should mention the horrible service at Papi's. The two specials at our table came out about ten minutes before the remaining sandwiches. No silverware was brought until after the sandwiches were served, so my food was getting cold by the time I could actually eat it. The drinks didn't come out until all the food was on the table which was kind of backwards.

Overall, Papi's had good food but bad service. Oh well...

Cracker Barrel

Today I'm talking about Cracker Barrel...

In my travels, I ate lunch at the Cracker Barrel right off of I-95 in Elkton, MD. It had been a long time since I had visited one of these restaurants, so I had somewhat forgotten what the menu was like. Breakfast is served all day and some of their breakfast items are quite affordable. The egg sandwich served on sourdough bread with a side of hashbrown casserole was only $4. The price was good, but when everyone at the table ordered these $4 breakfasts, the waitress got kind of nasty. I guess she did the math and figured the tip on a table of three worth $12 rather than a table spending $30 wasn't worth her time. Whenever she did return to the table, the waitress kept on making awkward religious statements. Thought it was a bit inappropriate in a chain restaurant and overall was just weird. Decent egg sandwich though!

During another recent visit to Cracker Barrel, this time closer to home, I had dinner at the restaurant in Sanford, FL. The restaurant had a half hour wait which is totally not worth it, but it allowed time to browse the attached gift shop and see the surprisingly large inventory of Sarah Palin audiobooks and overpriced junk covered in bible verses. Perhaps the religious comments made at the Cracker Barrel in Elkton make more sense after taking a look at what they sell. Eventually, we were seated and I ordered the Rainbow Trout. It came with biscuits and two sides. I picked the hashbrown casserole and turnip greens.

I really had no complaints about the food itself. Everything I tried during this meal was tasty, although the presentation of the trout could have been vastly improved. It's a big plate. There's no reason to put the side on top of the fish, leaving the rest of the plate empty.

On another visit to a Cracker Barrel somewhere, I tried their Chicken and Dumplings. The southern version of dumplings served with chicken and dumplings is interesting to me. When I think of dumplings, I think of them being filled with something, while these are just thick noodles. Is this typical of chicken and dumplings, or is this just how Cracker Barrel does it?

Cracker Barrel has better food than I remember. I still would consider it travel food, not only because all of the Cracker Barrels that I know of are located along an interstate, but also because it seems that's almost always when I end up at one. For travel food though, it's definitely a better choice than a Denny's or Waffle House!

Corky Bell's in East Palatka, FL

While in Palatka, I ate dinner at Corky Bell's Seafood & Steaks. The restaurant had a 10-15 minute wait when I arrived, so I filled the time by admiring the wonderful view of the St. Johns River.

Soon, the buzzer went off and it was time to be seated. My meal started out with a nice side-salad with oil & vinegar.

For my main course, I choose the two item seafood dinner. I went with the grilled shrimp and blackened fish. The type of fish wasn't identified on the menu, nor did I ask what type it was, but I was served a nice flaky white fish. The seafood came with a side of cheese grits and two hush puppies. Everything served with this meal was really tasty!

The service was a little strange at Corky Bell's, but the food was good and the restaurant's location on the river was great!

Fresh on the Fly in Lake Mary, FL

I ate dinner at a new seafood restaurant in Lake Mary called Fresh on the Fly. Their menu was somewhat limited with almost only sandwiches and salads. There was nothing that could be considered a seafood dinner, but I personally had no problems with the menu. The menu also shared that Fresh on the Fly only uses sustainable wild-caught fish, grass fed beef, and hormone free chicken.

I had the On the Fly Fish Tacos. The two tacos were filled with blackened mahi mahi, lettuce, pineapple salsa, and mango sour cream. These were very tasty tacos and only cost $5. Not bad, considering I've had similar tacos that weren't nearly as good at nearby restaurants for double the price.

One final thought about Fresh on the Fly. Their sign is really hard to read from Lake Mary Blvd. I had no problem seeing Fresh, but the rest of the sign is too small and jumbled to decipher from a distance. I probably would have eaten here sooner if I would have been able figure out what this place was from their sign.