Reunion Cafe in Davenport, FL

During a return drive from Tampa to Orlando, I made a pit stop for lunch at a restaurant called Reunion Cafe. Technically, I guess the restaurant is located within Reunion based on the name, but I was always under the impression that Reunion was more of a golf resort than an actual town. Wikipedia says Reunion is located within Four Corners (another non-town?), so I suppose it's not an actual city? I'm still not sure, besides the fact that I had a tasty lunch at a restaurant with Reunion in the name.

Reunion Cafe sold all sorts of Middle Eastern food. I went for their Gyro Combo, which included a gyro pita, French fries, and a beverage. The pita was filled with lots of lamb. It was slightly spicy and had lots of flavor. Lettuce, tomato, onions, green peppers, and a creamy mayonnaise-like sauce finished it off. The fries were okay, but nothing to write home about. A pickle was also served on the side.

Reunion Cafe had a tasty gyro. They are far from home for me, so I don't think I'd return soon, but might stop in again on a drive to or from Tampa.

Space Coast State Fair

During the first weekend in November, I found myself at the Space Coast State Fair in Cocoa. If you're reading about a fair here, it means I consumed some fair food while I was there!

I had some freshly cut french fries. There was a scary amount of oil dripping off these...

For something a bit less greasy, I also had an ear of hot roasted corn! I love how they grill these still in the husk.

I also came across a taco truck in a camper called Authenticos Tacos Mexicanos. These fairs generally don't have taco trucks serving stuff like tongue tacos...

Miami Subs Plus in Longwood, FL

Miami Subs used to be a fast food chain that had locations all over the Orlando area. As time passed, all of the stores closed up, leaving just a single location right off I-4 in Longwood. It had been a very long time since I had been to Miami Subs, so when I managed to win a $5 gift certificate from BurgerBeast.com, I decided it was time to return.

I had a turkey sub combo, served with fries and a drink. The six-inch sandwich was filled with turkey, lettuce, onions, and mayonnaise. The sandwich tasted good, although the mushy, white bread roll could have used some improvement. The fries were a little cold, but I really liked the seasoning on them. They are way better than most other fast food fries!

Interestingly enough, it seems Miami Subs has moved into the pizza market. This particular location doesn't sell pizza, but I'm assuming their other locations do based on the advertisements on the paper that lined the trays. I wonder if Miami Subs pizza is any good?

Patsio's Diner in Casselberry, FL

I ate at this Greek diner called Patsio's in Casselberry. Being that Greek diners are rare to almost non-existent in Central Florida, I was interested to see how their food was...

I ordered the Chicken Soulvlakia Sandwich which was really tasty. The chicken had great flavor, wrapped in a pita with peppers and onions. The sandwich was served with a pickle, fries, and a side of tzatziki. I'd gladly get this again...

Celebration Town Tavern

I was on the touristy section of 192 and decided to head to Celebration for dinner. On this visit to the planned, disnified community, I ate at the Celebration Town Tavern. They seemed to specialize in seafood, so I ordered the Blackened Pacific Mahi Sandwich. The fish had a nice spicy flavor to it, but I found it to be sort of boring for a sandwich. The sandwich needed something else going on, something more than the meat and bread. At the very least, the standard sandwich vegetables would have been nice. The sandwich came served with fries and baked beans. I liked the beans, but the fries were kind of soggy, as if they were sitting out for a bit too long. Overall, the food from Celebration Town Tavern was pretty average. Nothing horrible, but it's definitely not going to have me rushing back any time soon. A little on the expensive side too...

Devil McDonald's in Orlando, FL

Late one night, I found myself in the Sand Turkey District of Orlando. I was sort of hungry, and the person I was with suggested Mcdonald's. As we pulled up, I recognized the location as the devil Mcdonald's pointed out on the Tasty Chomps blog. I'm fascinated by pareidolia, or the tendency of the human brain to see faces in inanimate objects, so I enjoyed the outside of this McDonald's building. Looking at the front of the building, I see eyes, a big grin, and red glowing devil horns. Perfect for Halloween, but could it be foreshadowing at how the food might taste?

This is a Bistro Gourmet McDonald's, meaning they serve much better tasting food than your average McDonald's. The only problem with the Bistro Gourmet McDonald's is that the Bistro Gourmet part of the kitchen is almost always closed whenever I'm at one of these locations. That leaves your standard McDonald's menu as the only choice.

Person I was with ordered some fries. I had a few, tasted okay, like fast food French fries should.

I decided to try a BBQ Grilled Chicken Snack Wrap. It consisted of chicken, lettuce, cheese, and barbecue sauce wrapped in a tortilla. They were really heavy with the sauce, leaving a puddle of the spicy sauce in the lower half of the wrap. The grilled chicken had a strange consistency, reminded me of boiled chicken from Chinese restaurants. It definitely didn't seem grilled to me. Overall, the wrap wasn't horrible. It was far better than some of the other sandwiches I've eaten from McDonald's. I would have preferred something off of the Bistro Gourmet menu though...

Lottawatta Lodge at Blizzard Beach

I don't like water parks all that much. For the most part, they consist of waiting far too long on narrow, shadeless staircases, all leading up to a ride experience that provides an adrenaline rush lasting only a few seconds. And in regards to the content of this blog, I've found that water parks also have horrible food in most cases.

With that said, I ended up going along to Blizzard Beach at Walt Disney World for someone's birthday. Once at the park, we went around the park’s lazy river a few times and rode several of the slides on Blizzard Beach’s purple and red slopes. All of the slides I went on were fun and most had a pretty short wait. Soon, everyone started getting hungry so we ate at the biggest restaurant in Blizzard Beach called the Lottawatta Lodge.

I had a Chicken wrap with French fries. Disney food is generally good, and I liked this wrap. It wasn't the greatest thing in the world, but when compared to the much worse foods that I’ve had at water parks in the past, it wasn't that bad. It was filled with grilled chicken, cheese, lettuce, and tomato. The fries were good, but I made them even better by doing the British thing and poured several packages of malt vinegar all over them.

 Burgers and fruit salads were also purchased here, none of which I tried.

I still don’t like water parks all that much. I’d much rather spend money on other types of theme park experiences rather than water slides, but I did have a good time at Blizzard Beach. As far as water parks go, you can’t beat Blizzard Beach with it’s whole ski resort theme. And the whole day, not one person understood my joke that you have to be careful at these water parks so you don’t get sick from ingesting dihydrogen monoxide. Figures…

Happy 4th of July!

What better way to celebrate July 4th than to visit Coney Island for Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest?

I visited Coney Island back in 2007, back before this blog existed, and enjoyed some of the very varied food that is for sale on the boardwalk. I started out at Nathan's in honor of today's hot dog eating contest. I'm not a big fan of hot dogs, but this place is classic. I wish I knew they had frogs legs, lobster rolls, and clam chowder before I ordered from the outdoor window that only served hot dogs.





Besides from Nathan's, Coney Island had all sorts of other interesting food.









Ralph's Italian Ices had a stand set up on the boardwalk.

Over the past few years, Coney Island has been going through some controversial redevelopment. A company named Thor Development has been buying up property and evicting the occupants in order to build mostly condos and a few new rides. In 2008, Coney Island's Astroland park had it's last season. This food stand from the park has since been removed. The famous rocket on the roof was once an early simulator ride and has apparently been bought by a Coney Island history museum.



And what visit to Coney Island is complete without a ride on the historic Cyclone Roller Coaster after eating the boardwalk's food?

Krystal in Lake Mary, FL

When a visiting relative was craving a White Castle Hamburger, we decided to try Krystal. The only White Castle in Lake Mary, FL that I knew of is seen in the picture below, but that house isn't serving hamburgers, so Krystal the next closest thing.

I ordered a combo that came with a chicken sandwich (known as Chiks), fries, and a soda. After about a ten minute wait in the fast food restaurant (we were the only customers), the food finally came, and I was surprised to see that my combo actually came with three chicken sandwiches. That's more fried chicken than anyone should be eating in one sitting. One sandwich and the fries would have been enough fried food for me. The sandwiches weren't horrible, but they were kind of salty. They reminded me of the sandwiches from the Chick-fil-A next door.


The final verdict with the miniature hamburgers was that Krystal doesn't come close to the awesomeness that is White Castle (although I can't say personally. I've never tried a White Castle).

Fish Tacos from Market Street Cafe in Celebration, FL

I ate Fish Tacos from the Market Street Cafe in Celebration, FL. Celebration was the planned community created by Disney and the Market Street Cafe is one of the original restaurants in the city. The restaurant has the whole classic diner look going on (as seen by the picture below), and they seem to try to have the appropriate food. I really don't know how appropriate tacos are for diner food, but they were still good.


My fish tacos were good. They consisted of fried cod, lettuce, and salsa wrapped in tortillas, and were served with an avocado tarter sauce and fries. My only complaint was that the French fries were kind of soggy, and didn't exactly seem freshly cooked. Otherwise, my Market Street Cafe Fish Tacos were tasty.


It also snowed in Celebration while I was there. They had soap machines that blew out bubbles that simulated snow on the lampposts downtown. Every hour, everyone would get completely covered with oily soap. It was fun...



Here's a video of the fake snow in Downtown Celebration followed by a house with Christmas lights synchronized to music from Epcot's Illuminations.


As for something else food related in Celebration, I took a picture of this large ginger bread house in a store window.


Of course, that little ginger bread house is nothing compared to some of Disney's larger ginger bread creations: