Belleayre Mountain Food (Discovery Lodge and Waffle Cabin)

I went skiing in Upstate New York at a place called Belleayre Mountain. I ate lunch on their property. First meal was at the cafeteria in their main lodge.

I had the Maple Pho. Interesting combination, since I don't think of pho as generally being sweet. The broth had the maple flavor. Noodles, brisket, bok choy, mushrooms, jalapeno slices, and scallions filled the pho. Tasted about what I expected from a ski resort cafeteria. It was totally acceptable, but not a meal I'll be craving any time soon.

 I had a snack before leaving Belleayre at the end of the day from a place called Waffle Cabin. This is apparently a chain that has locations mostly at ski resorts. 

I had a chocolate covered waffle. 

And a hot chocolate.

Anh Hong in Orlando, FL

Anh Hong is a Vietnamese restaurant on the corner of Mills and 50. They have apparently won various awards, plus I had heard people I know personally say good things about the place. Hearing all this, I figured it was about time to give Anh Hong a try...

I wasn't impressed the first time I was here. I ordered the Meatball Pho and the broth was very bland. The beef broth in pho is normally really flavorful, but in this case I had to add lots of condiments to give it some more taste. The meatballs weren't much better, tasting much better after being dipped in some hoisin or sriracha. For a restaurant that claimed to be award winning, I was disappointed.

A few months later, I decided to give Anh Hong another try. I forget the exact name of the dish that I ordered, but according to some of the online menus I found, I had the Cho Lon Combo. This was a big bowl of egg noodles, topped with shrimp, squid, crab meat, roast pork, assorted greens, jalapenos, and lime slices. A bowl of broth was served on the side. I'm not sure the proper eating technique of getting the broth on the side like this, but I ended up pouring it over everything in my larger bowl. Unlike my first soupy experience at Anh Hong, the food tasted much better this time around. The broth had lots of flavor, the meats were cooked to perfection, and was overall good.

My first meal at Anh Hong left room for improvement, but they redeemed themselves on my second visit. I'll go back...

Pho Vinh in Orlando, FL

Pho Vinh is a Vietnamese restaurant in Orlando. Chinese food was served in this building the last time I was here, and although I was aware it became a Vietnamese restaurant somewhere along the line, I never thought of eating here. That is, until the December Foodspotting Eatup happened at Pho Vinh. Figured this was as good of a reason as any to try a new Vietnamese restaurant.

Food bloggers were well represented during the meal with Droolius, Tasty Chomps, Eat Local Orlando, and The Daily City all there, along with other foodies that came to eat. As everyone started to order, it seemed like one of the favorites at the table was the Thap Cam (#100). This soup had a combination of shrimp, pork, krab, fried wontons, egg noodles, and assorted vegetables floating in a big bowl of broth. Unlike a couple of other nearby Vietnamese restaurants that have really bland tasting soups in my opinion, Pho Vinh's soup had a delicious broth.

 

I of course added all of the garnishes served along with the soup to my bowl. Thai basil, cilantro, bean sprouts, jalapenos, and lime juice only made it better!

It was my first time at Pho Vinh, but I think I'll definitely be returning. The food was good, prices were affordable and they are friendly to food photography!

Pho Mac in Staten Island, NY

Staten Island, NY. It's a place that everyone seems to drive through without ever leaving the highway while either coming or going to other parts of New York and New Jersey. Still, I figured being one of the five boroughs of New York City, chances are there was some good stuff hidden on the island. That's why on my last trip up to New York, I made a point to actually stop in Staten Island for the first time ever and found some good Vietnamese food at a restaurant called Pho Mac...

I ordered the Pho Thit Heo Nuong, or #17 on the menu. This bowl of pho was described as combination rice noodles beef soup with grilled pork. The thinly sliced pork came served on the side which was a bit different, but once added into the bowl of soup, all the flavors came together into a very tasty dinner!

Little Saigon in Orlando, FL

I ate dinner at Little Saigon in Orlando's Mills 50 District (or Colonialtown, Viettown, Little Vietnam, or whatever else the neighborhood is known as). Little Saigon has won all sorts of awards, including best Vietnamese in this year's Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards. As the sign in front of Little Saigon said, they are "One of America's Top Rated Restaurants."

The meal started with a Summer Roll appetizer. These rolls filled with pork, shrimp, vegetables, and noodles were tasty, but they were also very skinny compared to the Summer Rolls from the neighboring restaurants.

I had the Hu Tieu Thap Cam. It was a soup filled with roasted pork, shrimp, krab, scallions, cilantro, and clear rice noodles in a broth. A plate of bean sprouts, jalapeno slices, basil, and lime was served on the side to be added to the soup. It was really tasty and was a whole lot of food, all for $6.50!

Of the Vietnamese restaurants I've visited in Orlando, Little Saigon appeared to be the fanciest. The restaurant itself had the nicest interior, but as far as the food goes, Little Saigon wouldn't get my pick as the best in Orlando. The food was good, but little things like the skinny summer rolls and a somewhat stingy portion of vegetables for the soup make me think of some of the neighboring restaurants that serve equally tasty food and are pretty generous with the portions. Good, but not the best...

Lotus Blossom Cafe at Epcot

During a visit to Epcot, I had lunch at the Lotus Blossom Cafe in the park's China pavilion.

It was a fast food restaurant serving mostly Americanized versions of Chinese dishes such as sesame and orange chicken.

I ordered the one thing on the menu that I don't see in every Chinese restaurant I visit, that being Beef Noodle Soup. The menu described it as shredded beef, onion, and fresh vegetables over noodles in broth. I'm picky when it comes to beef, I don't like the taste of burgers and find steak disgusting, but beef in Chinese restaurants I normally don't mind. This soup was no exception and was really tasty. There was plenty of beef and noodles and lots of a leafy green vegetable (possibly malabar spinach?). The portion was huge and was reminiscent of Vietnamese pho or Japanese Udon soup. I don't know if this soup was more of an authentic Chinese dish than Orange Chicken, but it was really tasty regardless.

As I ate, I had a nice view of pavilion's recreation of the Temple of Heaven.

Just as I was finishing my meal, a Chinese Acrobatic troupe was starting their show...



(This post is part of the Disney Blog Carnival)

Phở 88

I have my favorite restaurants in Orlando's Little Vietnam, but on my last trip to the neighborhood, I decided to try something new. I ate at Phở 88, famous for the graffiti murals on the side of the building. I didn't know this at the time, but phở is actually the name for a type of Vietnamese soup consisting of meat and noodles. Perhaps if I knew this beforehand, I would have made a point to order a soup dish, but now I know for next time.

The meal started out with a Summer Roll appetizer. The two rolls were filled with shrimp, cucumbers, cilantro, and vermicelli noodles. A bowl of peanut sauce accompanied the rolls. These summer rolls were okay, but I've had much better elsewhere. The outside wrappers seemed thicker than what is normally served and they were quite gummy. The fillings could have used more variety as well. There was too much vermicelli and not enough vegetables.


For the main course, I had Grilled Shrimp served over vermicelli. It came with plenty of noodles with the shrimp and assorted vegetables on top. A vinegar based sauce came on the side. It was very tasty, although I remember getting a similar dish at Viet Garden in the past that came with probably double the amount of vegetables. But this wasn't Viet Garden, it was Pho 88 so I have no complaints...