Palm Tree Grille in Mount Dora, FL

I ate dinner at a restaurant called Palm Tree Grille in Downtown Mount Dora. Although the name wouldn't imply this, the restaurant had a menu featuring mostly Italian food. There were also some typical sandwiches (burgers, turkey, etc) that didn't seem very Italian on the menu.

Since the menu was mostly Italian, I figured ordering some sort of pasta dish would be a wise choice. I picked the Farfalle de Pesto, which was bowtie pasta tossed with a pesto sauce made from roasted ground garlic, fresh basil, served in an alfredo sauce with Romano cheese. This wasn't the typical basil pesto that I would expect from something with pesto in the name. Instead, the sauce had a much stronger alfredo flavor as opposed to the basil. It wasn't bad, just different. The portion was very large for the price and was also served with a side salad.

I'd return to Palm Tree Grille again. I don't know if I'd order the same farfalle de pesto again, just because it was a lot of the same. Regardless, this was an unexpected restaurant find in Mount Dora!

Operation Deep Freeze in Mount Dora, FL

I was in Mount Dora and decided to get some dessert from a ice cream shop called Operation Deep Freeze. The store is located downtown in a storefront that is covered in fake books. I'm assuming there was a bookstore here sometime in the past.

Inside, the place was decorated with lots and lots of pictures of Antarctica. Apparently the owner of Operation Deep Freeze lived in Antarctica on a military base before retiring and opening an ice cream shop in Mount Dora.

Operation Deep Freeze does four flavors of homemade ice cream daily. It seemed like vanilla and chocolate were standard while the other two flavors changed. I went with one of the changing flavors and had a cone of pistachio ice cream. There were plenty of nuts and had a great nutty flavor. This was honestly one of the best pistachio ice creams I can remember having in a while!

Athens N.Y. Style Diner in Mount Dora, FL

I always enjoy my visits to the Greek Diners up in New York and New Jersey. They seem to be a mostly regional thing and rarely are seen elsewhere. While the quality varies greatly from diner to diner, I seem to always end up at a Greek diner at least once whenever I'm up north.

While in Mount Dora one afternoon, I decided to try Athens N.Y. Style Diner to see how they compare to the Greek diners that I've eaten at actually located in New York.

Athens is located in a strip mall. No classic diner building here. The interior of Athens seemed very dated...

A basket of rolls was brought out first. They were okay, but where was the challah and assorted crackers that you get in Greek diners in New York? And how about the appetizer plate of celery, carrots, and radishes that you get from New York Greek diners at dinner time?

I ordered a Chicken Souvlaki Pita. Rather than getting the normal side of fries, I substituted a side Greek Salad. It consisted of lettuce, onions, cucumber, olives, and feta cheese.

My pita soon followed the salad. It was filled with chicken, lettuce, onions, and tzatziki. While there was nothing exactly wrong with the pita, it all tasted very bland. Even with the tzatziki drenching the interior of the pita, there really wasn't much of any flavor that stood out. Athens needs to put more seasoning on their chicken or maybe add more spice to the tzatziki...

I've had some pretty tasteless souvlaki pitas in true NY Greek diners, so maybe it was authentic. Overall, Athens NY Style Diner had pretty average food. Nothing worth going out of my way to return to...