The Chop Shop in Lakeland, FL

I found myself in Downtown Lakeland last Saint Patrick's Day. Roads were closed and there was a street party going on. Lots of people were getting drunk on beers dyed green with food coloring, but I was looking for dinner rather than alcohol. There was an Irish pub downtown called Molly McHugh's that would have been appropriate for the holiday, but they didn't serve food. Instead, I ended up across the street at 50s themed restaurant specializing in burgers called The Chop Shop.

Since it was Saint Patrick's Day, I decided to go with their special and ordered the corned beef and cabbage sandwich. This large sandwich consisted of a large hoagie roll filled with corned beef, cabbage, and mayonnaise. The corned beef was thinly sliced, nice and tender, and had a good, somewhat salty taste. The cabbage seemed a bit more like sauerkraut than I was expecting, but that was fine with me. I like sauerkraut! Fries were served on the side.

I enjoyed my slightly Irish inspired combination of flavors in my sandwich. Apparently corned beef and cabbage is an American invention and isn't actually a thing in Ireland (it's derived from the Irish bacon and cabbage dish). Does this make me, a person with no Irish heritage, eating corned beef on a sandwich with fries at a burger place as bad as all the non-Irish people using Saint Patrick's Day as an excuse to get drunk?

Salem's Gyros in Lakeland, FL

I had food from a restaurant from Salem's Gyros & Subs in Lakeland. This fast food restaurant looked like it was a former Miami Subs at some point. Gyros and subs were a big part of the menu, but gizzards and livers seemed to be another big seller here. There were three occupied table in the restaurant while I was inside and all three appeared to be eating fried gizzards. I decided to skip the offal (that I know of) and ordered a gyro combo.

 

The combo came with a gyro pita, fries, and a drink. It was somewhat pricey for fast food at almost $10. I declined the offer to add gizzards for an additional $2. The fries were definitely fresh. Very hot and nice and crispy.

 

The gyro consisted of sliced lamb, tomatoes, onions, and tzatziki, all wrapped in a pita. There was a whole lot of meat in the sandwich. It had nice flavor and the tzatziki kept the pita nice and moist.

Salem's made a good gyro. It was still a little overpriced, but I'll forgive them. I probably won't return any time in the near future, mostly since I don't live in Lakeland, but I might if I lived closer...

Il Forno in Lakeland, FL

I ate dinner at Il Forno in Lakeland. Hidden in the back of a strip mall, Il Forno seemed a little hard to find without already being in the mall. Apparently the location isn't hurting them since the restaurant was pretty crowded when I visited.

We ordered a large cheese pizza. Florida is the land of mediocre pizzas, so I wasn't expecting anything great. Not expecting much made it even better when it turned out Il Forno makes a very nice NY style pie. The pizza had a thin crust with a good sauce to cheese ratio. Some people find this disgusting, but I like it when oil begins to pool on the surface of the cheese on a pizza. It happened here. Beside being well made, the pizza was also very tasty. The sauce had good flavor and the cheese was nice and salty. Unfortunately, my picture of the slice doesn't do the pizza justice. Everyone at the table ravenously grabbed their slices with the pizza fresh out of the oven. Since the cheese was still a bit molten, it made the slice look a bit messy. It looked better in real life!

So far I've had three different pizzas in Lakeland. Il Forno has my favorite so far!

Grass Root in Lakeland, FL

I had lunch at an organic vegan restaurant called Grass Root in Lakeland. Located in a little house off Florida Ave, I was interested to see how Lakeland did vegan food...

I ordered their burrito off the raw section of the menu. This burrito was filled with avocado, tomato, onions, and something that resembled a meat-free version of ground beef. It was all wrapped in a romaine lettuce leaf and topped with a vegan creamy sauce and fake parmesan cheese.

The burrito was tasty enough, but it wasn't the best value in my opinion. Many cheaper sandwiches on the menu came with sides, but yet this burrito that cost almost $10 was served looking lonely on a big plate. Perhaps I would have loved this place if I was vegan, but as an omnivore, I wasn't too impressed. There was too much focus on the menu about making non-meat food taste like and resemble meat. I've been to vegan restaurants that don't try to make their food something it's not, and some of them have awesome food. Unfortunately, Grass Root wasn't one of these. Food was okay for what it was, but not worth going out of my way to return for...

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?

Lakeland Farmers Market

After running a 10k race in Lakeland, I found myself wandering around downtown and came across the Lakeland Farmers Market.

They had a good selection of vendors. The food choices included at least three fruit stands, at least one selling locally grown organic fruits and vegetables. There was honey, bread, kettle corn, an ice cream truck, prepared Italian sandwiches, and more. The variety of edible items at this farmers market was really nice!

Here's a bread vendor:

One of multiple vendors selling fruits & vegetables:

They had plenty of non-food items too, including plants, clothes, jewelry, and more. Here's a plant vendor:

Overall, I enjoyed my visit to the Lakeland Farmers Market. It could compete with some of the better farmers markets in the Orlando area...

Race the Lakes 10k Food

On Saturday, May 24, I ran in the Race the Lakes 10k in Lakeland, FL. It was fun (although paying to run, even if part of the money goes to a good cause, seems so silly to me). The race started in front of Lake Mirror, proceeded through downtown, around Lake Morton, through some neighborhoods filled with lots of old historic mansions, around Lake Hollingsworth, and then returned to the start at Lake Mirror. After the run, it was time for the post-race food.

They had water bottles printed up specifically for the race. I wonder how much of the $20 registration fee went to printing custom waters? Behind the bottle is a view of Lake Mirror and Downtown Lakeland. The stone arches on the far side of the lake is main entrance to Lakeland's underground tunnels that run under downtown. I'd love to see inside these long closed tunnels...

I normally stick to water, but I picked up a bottle of orange Gatorade. I felt like I needed to brush my teeth after...

They had boxes of bananas, Fuji apples, and Gala apples.

Fuji apples are one of my favorites, and I'm normally fine with bananas. For some reason though, bananas always taste horrible after I run.

Bagels!

Cookies aren't exactly the healthy post-race food that I would expect, but these oatmeal raisin and lemon coconut cookies were pretty good.

Overall, Race the Lakes had better post-race food than some of the other races I've run in...

Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy in Lakeland, FL

I had lunch at Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy in Lakeland. The interior of the restaurant was set up to look like an outdoor courtyard.

I had the Enchilada and Taco combination from the lunch menu. I had my choice of fillings in each and picked an avocado enchilada and chicken taco. The avocado in the enchilada was actually a really smooth guacamole. Sort of reminded me of the guacamole from Taco Bell, but it was still tasty. No complaints about the taco. The combination also came served with refried beans and rice.

Abuelo's was pretty good for a chain Mexican restaurant. I'd place them above other chains like Chevy's or Don Pablos.

Pipo's Cafe in Lakeland, FL

I ate lunch at a Cuban restaurant in Downtown Lakeland called Pipo's Cafe.
I ordered their lunch special that included a half sandwich, rice and beans, plantain chips, and iced tea. For my sandwich, I chose a classic Cuban sandwich, or the Cuban "The Real Deal" as they called it. In addition to the normal roast pork and ham, there was salami and mortadella on this Cuban sandwich. The pork was topped with cheese, pickles, and mustard, and then pressed. The sandwich was a little dry, but was still pretty good.

I got the impression that Pipo's Cafe was part of a large, franchised chain from the way it looked on the inside. After checking for other locations on their website, it turned out they are a local chain and aren't that big with only four stores in the Tampa area. Interesting...

Wynee's Bistro @ FSC in Lakeland, FL

Wynee's Bistro is the cafeteria at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. While visiting some people that attend the school, I ate here a few times. Unlike larger colleges where you have a choice of food and countless restaurants, it seems like at FSC you get to eat whatever is being served that day if you want to eat on campus.

Hotdogs and the various sides that go along with them were being served on one of my visits. If you were a vegan, you would starve today...

They did have good desserts.

On another visit, they had a shrimp boil that was provided by Wynee's Bistro. It consisted of shrimp that were a huge pain to peel, some overcooked chicken breasts, potatoes, and pasta salad.

From what I hear about the food at Wynee's Bistro and what I tried, I don't think I'd be very happy eating here if I was a student a FSC. I don't like the "eat what we're serving today or starve" mentality that Wynee's Bistro seems to have. But I guess that happens at a college that has less students than the high school I attended...

Pizzeria Valdiano in Lakeland, FL

Pizzeria Valdiano is a local chain in Central Florida. I've been to their Winter Park and Baldwin Park stores on several occasions and recently gave their Lakeland store a try.

We started with garlic knots. Definitely not the best. They were those mushy, interconnected rolls that had some garlic salt on top. With garlic in the name, I want some actual garlic!

Pizza came next. Valdiano's has one of the best pizza's in Central Florida in my opinion. Definitely within the top 10. While this particular pie wasn't the all time best I've had from a Pizzeria Valdiano, it was still really tasty and better than most of the other pizzas around...

Palace Pizza in Lakeland, FL

I was told that Palace Pizza has the best pizza in Lakeland. Apparently, this place normally has a huge variety of different types of pizzas available by the slice, and these specialty slices are the thing to get here. The night I visited, there wasn't much left behind the counter and whatever was there looked like it was sitting out far too long. So instead, we ordered a freshly made cheese pizza.

I wasn't impressed. Everything was very heavy handed on this pizza. Thick crust, too much sauce, and far too much cheese. There was so much sauce and cheese that by the time I got to my second slice, all crispness was gone from the thick crust and had become limp and waterlogged. Definitely not the NY Style pizza I was expecting after what I had heard about this place.

Now that you read through the post, go back and find the dog eating meatballs...