Nathan's in Coney Island, NY

Everyone knows Nathan's in Coney Island for their hot dogs. I've been there. I've tried their hot dogs. Hot dogs are boring. There's Nathan's franchises all over the country where you can pretty much get the same hot dogs. When I found myself at the Nathan's in Coney Island yet again, I decided to try something that couldn't be found in other locations, that being the seafood.

I started out with an order of the frog legs. The cashier said that they had never tried them and looked a bit disgusted about the thought of eating frog. Regardless, I split an order of them. The large frog legs were deep fried in an almost funnel cake-like batter. It was a bit different from the times I've tried the frog legs on Chinese buffets. The batter was the best and tastiest part. The meat tasted fine, but the veins and tendons in the meat got a bit chewy after the first leg. As of right now, amphibian isn't going to become a regular part of my diet. This was served with fries, cornbread, and coleslaw. Nathan's coleslaw was interesting. Instead of using normal cabbage, they made it from their sauerkraut. I really liked sauerkraut coleslaw. Frog legs being served at this Nathan's is interesting. I can't imagine they are a huge seller, but yet they are on the menu. I'm guessing they are a hold out from another time. Perhaps frog legs were a more accepted food for Americans in the past? Or were they a novelty food item then, and they have stuck around, still being a novelty food item for this Nathan's.

I also tried the Lobster Salad Sandwich. I had a choice between the plain lobster roll and the lobster salad. The lobster roll was served on a hamburger bun with no mayonnaise. The lobster salad sandwich came on a hot dog bun with mayonnaise and lettuce. I like foods with mayonnaise, so I went with the salad. It was pretty good. There was enough lobster in the salad where you could still see the pieces and taste the shellfish, but had a nice creamy flavor from the rest of the salad. Would have been better if it was served on a nicer bread than a hot dog bun.

Lone Cabbage Fish Camp in Cocoa, FL

I ate lunch at the Lone Cabbage Fish Camp, located on 520 between Cocoa and Orlando. It's one of those places that reeks of classic Florida, located right along the St. Johns River with a constant flow of airboat traffic going by.

 As I was exiting the car, I spotted this concrete gator:

Then I walked down to the river and saw this gator peeking out of the water. Is it strange that while looking at this guy in the river, I decided I wanted some alligator for lunch?

Once inside, I started looking over the menu and decided to do one better than just alligator. I ordered the combo which consisted of not just one, but three river dwelling creatures. The combo came with alligator, frogs legs, catfish, hush puppies, cole slaw, and fries.

Everything on the plate was deep fried (except the cole slaw). It was far too much fried food and I ended up leaving some of it over. The gator was the best meat on the plate, with the catfish being tasteless and the frog legs being far too slimy for me to eat more than one. I would even say the frog legs were undercooked based on the consistency. I've only eaten the meat a couple other times though so I'm no expert.

Overall, the food was actually pretty bad here. The gator meat was the only thing that had any flavor in my plate. Normally with fried foods, the flavor is in the batter, but this wasn't the case here. Really though, you don't come to a place like the Lone Cabbage Fish Camp for the food. You come for the riverside dining environment. You come for views like this:

Lings Buffet in Lakeland, FL

I ate dinner at Lings Buffet in Lakeland. Lings is a good sized Chinese buffet and was very busy, which is good since that means there's a good turnover on the food.

I started with a plate of the typical Chinese buffet food to test the waters. Lo mein, a couple of variations on chicken, beans, etc...

Lings actually had a really nice selection of sushi for a buffet, and there were actually lots of people eating it. I had various rolls, edamame, and a nice radish salad.

I had to try their hibachi too. I had them stir-fry noodles, shrimp, egg, and various vegetables in a ginger sauce. Pretty good...

Finally, I ended my meal with the fun foods that scare people. The tofu wasn't all that great at Lings, but I personally prefer a firmer tofu. The salt & pepper frog leg that I picked off the buffet table was actually my first time ever eating frog. It was good and actually tasted like fried chicken. The amphibious black veins running through the meat were a little strange, but I got over them quickly. I'd get frog again! For my dessert, I had a sesame ball filled with red bean paste...

Overall, Lings was a pretty good Chinese buffet. It was a little on the expensive side at $13.95, but they had a nice selection of food. How many other buffets out there have frog legs?