Backlot Express at Hollywood Studios

I ate at Backlot Express at Hollywood Studios. I have distinct memories of eating here as a kid, way back in the MGM Studios days of the park. I remember tuna salad sandwiches on hot dog buns. I'm sure menus have changed and that hasn't been an option for a really long time. On this visit, I had  the Teriyaki Chicken Bowl. The menu describes it as Seasoned Jasmine Rice, Teriyaki Chicken, Yuzu-pickled Edamame, Carrots, Cucumber, and Onions drizzled with House-made Lemon-Tahini-Chipotle Vinaigrette and Sesame Seeds. It was pretty good. Proportion wise, I would have preferred a little more of the toppings to go with the rice, but otherwise everything was tasty.
 

Fragaria New Zealand Style Ice Cream in Orlando, FL

I found Fragaria New Zealand Style Ice Cream at the Orlando Fringe Festival. This ice cream truck was new to me, as was New Zealand style ice cream. They basically took scoops of vanilla ice cream, put it into a machine with various types of fruit, mixed the ingredients and spit it out in soft serve form. 

I ordered the Berry Pistachio Crunch. This was blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries swirled with vanilla ice cream, topped with roasted pistachios and chocolate. I very much enjoyed the flavor combination!

Sticky Rice Lao Street Food in Orlando, FL

I enjoyed dinner at Sticky Rice in Orlando, located on Colonial Drive, where they specialize in Lao street food. I ordered the Pork Belly Laab, which consisted of really flavorful pork belly accompanied by lettuce, cucumber, and sticky rice. Initially uncertain about the best way to enjoy the dish, I was a little unsure how to eat the dish, whether I was supposed to make lettuce wraps or use the rice to pick everything up. I did a combination of both, and it worked.

 

Tin & Taco in Downtown Orlando

I ate at Tin & Taco in Downtown Orlando.

We walked in, and the guy behind the counter announced that they had no tortillas and could only make bowls. Fine, who wanted the food item in the restaurant's namesake anyway? With that in mind, I ordered a Buffalo Soldier Bowl. This was basically a buffalo chicken rice bowl. That's when I was further informed that the chicken was still cooking. They could give it to me, but the chicken might not be done. Rather than risk foodborne illness from undercooked chicken, I decided to try the Mac Attack. This was ground beef, macaroni & cheese, bacon, and green onion. 

This was the best macaroni & cheese, beef, bacon, and rice bowl I've ever eaten. I can say that because it's the only rice bowl of that combination that I've eaten. Rice topped with cheesy noodles didn't quite go, in my opinion, but I did eat it. Definitely wouldn't get it again, but I ate it. With everything, from the lack of tortillas at a taco restaurant to the offer to be served chicken that was still cooking, I don't think I'm rushing back to a Tin & Taco anytime soon.

Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers in Orlando, FL

I decided to get lunch at the much hyped Raising Cane's Chicken Fingers location which opened recently in Orlando along Daryl Carter Parkway. Similar to when White Castle and Portillo's opened in the same shopping center, the lines to try Raising Cane's were insane at first. Now that there's no longer police directing traffic due to their drive-thru overflow, I decided to give Raising Cane's a try.

I ordered The Box Combo. Came with 4 chicken fingers, fries, Cane's sauce, Texas toast, coleslaw, and a drink. This was some of the worst fast food I can remember attempting to eat in recent memory. The batter on the chicken fingers lacked any crunch or crispyness. The batter basically wiped off the chicken under my fingers when I picked up a piece of chicken. The fries were cold and soggy, as was the Texas toast. Thankfully, the coleslaw was actually pretty tasty. 

I ended up throwing out most of the meal. I know my fast food expectations should be low, but I should at least expect to eat the food. My meal left me with no reason to go back to Raising Cane's...
 

HHN32 Food

Here's some of the specialty seasonal foods that I tried at Halloween Horror Nights at Universal Orlando this year:

Walking Taco: Fritos topped with taco beef, shredded mozzarella, black beans, queso fresco, pico de gallo, shredded lettuce, sour cream, and cilantro. 

 Lakeside "Meat" Stew: Beef Cheek stew with fingerling potatoes, wood ear mushrooms, tempura fried enoki mushrooms, and white rice

Cordyceps Corndog: Korean cheese dog with cordyceps, crispy potato sticks, trufle cream sauce, and diakon spouts

Magic Kingdom Food (Casey's Corner and Sunshine Tree Terrace)

It's been a while since I've had food at the Magic Kingdom. Since the last post on this blog was about Disneyland, why not write about the similar castle park in Florida.

Casey's Corner:

I've lived in Orlando most of my life and have been to the Magic Kingdom countless times, but somehow I had never been to Casey's Corner on Main Street. I've heard the restaurant hyped up quite often, so on my last visit to Magic Kingdom I finally had lunch there. I ordered the Chipotle Barbecue All-Beef Foot-long Hot Dog. It was a hot dog topped with pulled pork, coleslaw, and barbeque sauce. Good for Disney serving more than plain hot dogs. Toppings always make them more interesting.  This was fine. Not anything great that I'd go back for again though. As I write this, I'm realizing that this had very similar ingredients to the Ronto Wrap at Galaxy's Edge. Slightly different forms of the ingredients, but it was essentially the same thing.

Sunshine Tree Terrace:

I had the I Lava You Float. Orange Dole Whip topped with strawberry Fanta, passionfruit syrup, and Pop Rocks. This was a good dessert.

7 Seas Food Festival at SeaWorld Orlando

I ate some food from the 7 Seas Food Festival at SeaWorld Orlando. Here's a selection of the dishes I tried:

Cajun Shrimp & Grits from the Gulf Coast Market.

Moroccan Grilled Lamb Chop from the Mediterranean Market.

Korean Corn Dog from the Asian Market.

Lobster Mac & Cheese and Crispy Brussel Sprouts from the American Market.

Palermo Fontina Cheese Meatballs from the Italian Market.

Bratwurst and Chocolate Pretzel on a Stick from the German Market.

Lobster Roll and Prince Edward Island Shrimp Fritters from the North Atlantic Market.

Corned Beef Hash from the Irish Market.

Tabla in Orlando, FL

Tabla Indian Restaurant was interesting. They were located inside of a motel next to the former site of Mystery Fun House across from Universal. I've never had Indian food in a motel before. All of the open parking spots near the restaurant entrance were reserved for hotel rewards members. I chanced parking in the reserved spot and nobody checked. The inside of Tabla was well decorated, more upscale than I'd expect in a motel restaurant. Regardless, we had hesitations about what we'd be getting because of the strangeness of the motel and parking. Thankfully, the food was good!

Started with Mixed Pakora Appetizer. This was a big plate of deep fried cauliflower, potato, paneer, and onions served with dipping sauces.

Chicken Tikka Masala was served on a sizzling skillet. I've had many versions of chicken tikka masala in my life, but this is the first time I've ever seen it served on a steaming platter. I enjoyed the show.

Also tried the Butter Chicken. 

I enjoyed my meal here. The food exceeded expectations set by the sketchy location. Everything was good and portions were huge compared to most Indian restaurants in the area. It's rare that I eat in an Indian restaurant and have leftovers. This was the case at Tabla. I'd go back.
 

Kathi Rolls in Orlando, FL

On my last trip to New York, pre-pandemic, I came across a restaurant serving a type of Indian street food called kati rolls. I very much enjoyed these rolled up sandwiches and was unaware of any other restaurants serving this food. That is, until I stumbled on a restaurant called Kathi Rolls in Orlando. Different spelling of a very similar food item...

I tried both the Chicken Tikka and the Lamb Tikka Kathi Rolls. Each was filled with the meat, onions, peppers, cilantro, and an added egg.  Lots and lots of flavor in both rolls. Of the two, I think I preferred the chicken slightly more.

Kathi Rolls also has naan pizza on their menu which sounds interesting. I may have to try one of those on my next visit. I'm glad I found a restaurant serving a kathi rolls in Orlando so I don't need to take a trip to New York in order to eat one...
 

White Castle in Orlando, FL

The wait is finally over! On May 3, 2021, the first White Castle ever in Orlando is having its grand opening. I was invited to try White Castle a few days before they open their doors to the masses.

It appears White Castle is expecting quite the crowd when they open on May 3. They had a few large tents set up in the parking lot to accommodate a large queue line. 

White Castle's lobby:

It has been a very long time since I've been to a White Castle. So long that I asked the employee taking my order to recommend the quintessential White Castle food. He told me to have the Cheese Slider Combo. The menu describes these sliders as "made with 100% beef, steam grilled on a bed of onions topped with a slice of American cheese."

The combo came with a side of crispy, crinkle cut fries.

The cashier also recommended that I try the 1921 Slider. This sandwich was topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and cheddar. 

After sampling some of what White Castle had to offer inside the restaurant, I was asked if I would like to experience the drive-thru. Of course I would!

I tried the Chicken & Waffles Slider. Fried chicken, bacon, and cheese between two waffles. This was my favorite of all the sliders I sampled at White Castle.

I also had a side of Onion Chips. Crispy, breaded, deep fried onions.

Vanilla shake for dessert. 

Here's a video from White Castle. This is one of the few times on this blog where you can actually watch me eat...


White Castle is located at 11595 Daryl Carter Parkway. That's between all the theme parks near the intersection of Palm Parkway and Daryl Carter Parkway. Go tomorrow and see what White Castle is all about!

MOD Pizza in Orlando, FL

MOD Pizza. Another fast food pizza chain in Orlando near the attractions. I ended up eating here 4 or 5 times since they opened. 

  Here's two of the nicer looking pies I got from MOD Pizza:

I enjoyed MOD Pizza when they were new, but I liked them a little less on each visit. It seemed like the employees stopped caring about the pizzas as time went on. On my last two visits, the pizzas were sloppily thrown together as quickly as possible resulting in pies that weren't as good as my initial visits here. Don't know if I got unlucky with my pizza maker or...? 

Blaze Pizza in Disney Springs

Blaze Pizza has been around for a while now in the Orlando area, but they never made it onto this blog. I've eaten at a few of the Blaze Pizza locations in Florida, but these pies are all from their location in Disney Springs. 

Of the pizza chains where you pick what you want on your pie as it's being made, Blaze seems to be the most consistent. The proportions of crust, cheese, sauce, and toppings always seems to be just about what I'd expect from a pizza at Blaze. That's some good corporate fast food consistency...

SeaWorld Christmas Celebration Food

Ended up at SeaWorld a few times this past season during their Christmas Celebration. They had booths selling specialty holiday food items all over the park. Here's the foods I tried.

Bacon & Blue Cheese Mac & Cheese: Bacon bits and blue cheese crumbles over macaroni and cheese.

Lobster Mac & Cheese: Lobster, shredded cheese, breadcrumbs, and parsley over macaroni and cheese. The better of the two mac & cheeses that I tried.

 Tachos: Nacho equivalent with tater tots instead of tortilla chips. Topped with pork, cheese, jalapenos, salsa, and sour cream.

Beef Slider:

Ginther's Swirls Ice Cream in Orlando, FL

Today is apparently National Ice Cream Day. Hurray for made up food holidays! To celebrate, here's a Dole Whip from Ginther's Swirls located on International Drive near Sea World. Pineapple soft serve ice cream floating on a pool of pineapple juice. It's was just like getting the must overhyped Dole Whips at Disney without dealing with the Disney crowds!

PR's Taco Palace in College Park, FL

I visited PR's Taco Palace in College Park for lunch recently. This restaurant used to have a few locations, including one in Winter Park which was around forever and another in Longwood which was much shorter lived. As far as I know, their College Park location is the only PR's remaining.

I had the Lunch Combination, where you got to pick three items off the menu. I picked a tamale, something called a Truck Stop, and rice & beans. The Truck Stop was almost similar to a quesadilla, filled with cheese and beef pressed (and possibly fried) in a tortilla. The Tamale was smothered in cheese. Rice and beans were pretty standard. It was interesting that the normal sides counted as an item for the combination. I had the option of picking something which would be considered more of an entree in place of the rice and beans.

Pretty standard of what I'd expect from a Tex-Mex lunch special. Everything was good, but nothing ground breaking. It's good to know that there is still a PR's Taco Palace still around in Orlando...

Kelly's Homemade Ice Cream in Orlando, FL

I stopped for ice cream at Kelly's Homemade Ice Cream in Audubon Park. I had a waffle cone with two scoops: peach and pistachio. I enjoyed the pistachio most of the two flavors, although it was interesting that it wasn't the typical green color of pistachio ice cream. I'd return for more ice cream!

Tijuana Flats Cheeseburger Tacos

Tijuana Flats invited me to one of their Orlando locations to sample some of their new menu items, specifically the new Cheeseburger Tacos and fries.

Tortilla chips, salsa, guacamole, and queso are always on the menu at Tijuana Flats.

The seasoned fries were good. They were crispy with a peppery flavor. Once they were dipped in queso, I'm sure the fries became healthier...

The Cheeseburger Taco was a tortilla filled with ground beef, cheese, lettuce, tomatoes plus pickles, ketchup and mustard. You get two tacos with seasoned fries for $7.89.

The Cheeseburger Tacos and fries are available at Tijuana Flats through the end of August. Go try them while you can!