Patsio's Diner in Casselberry, FL

I ate at this Greek diner called Patsio's in Casselberry. Being that Greek diners are rare to almost non-existent in Central Florida, I was interested to see how their food was...

I ordered the Chicken Soulvlakia Sandwich which was really tasty. The chicken had great flavor, wrapped in a pita with peppers and onions. The sandwich was served with a pickle, fries, and a side of tzatziki. I'd gladly get this again...

Chick-fil-a Express at UCF

The very second post here on Watch Me Eat consisted of my thoughts on a Chick-fil-a Chicken Sandwich. Since then, a few people have posted comments and I've received several emails of people pointing out how to improve this sandwich or what I should order at Chick-fil-a instead. I received a coupon for another free Chick-fil-a Chicken Sandwich, so I decided to give them another try. I went to the Chick-fil-a Express at UCF and this time got some sauces to go with the sandwich. Adding sauces to the somewhat dry fried chicken on a bun with a pickle was somewhat of an improvement, but the sandwich still does nothing for me. If it wasn't free, I definitely would be ordering something else from Chick-fil-a. I've been told the grilled chicken sandwich is a whole lot better than this.

Still, I really don't get the appeal of Chick-fil-a. It seems every Chick-fil-a I pass is always crowded, but I have tried nothing there that I like. Except for their waffle fries. Chick-fil-a does make good waffle fries.

Weekend Trip: Greek Salad from Stop 20 Diner

I ate at Stop 20 Diner in Elmont, NY. I was with a very large group of people so that resulted in the service being a bit sub-par, but regardless, this eating experience was better than my last visit here.

The meal started out with a basket of really good challah and assorted crackers.

The plates of coleslaw and half sour pickles came out next.

For the main course, I ordered a Greek Salad. This was a good example of what I want in a Greek Salad, complete with stuffed grape leaves and anchovies. The only thing that was missing was kalamata olives. Besides from the olives, I had no complaints.

Stop 20 got it's name from the days when trolleys/streetcars ran along Hempstead Turnpike. The trains were eventually replaced by buses, but throughout the changes in transportation, stop 20 along these routes has been on the corner in front of the diner, hence the name...

Weekend Trip: Greek Wrap at the Silver Star Diner

After having Greek food for lunch, we visited the Silver Star Diner in Franklin Square, NY at about 10:30 at night for dinner. I ate here on a previous trip to the area, so this was a return visit. To continue the Greek theme that was started with my lunch earlier in the day, I ordered a Greek Wrap with Homefries.

I wasn't expecting it, but a plate of cole slaw and half sour pickles was served as an appetizer. I love it when places give pickle appetizers.

The Greek Wrap was filled with lots of chicken, almost too much chicken actually, along with feta cheese, lettuce, tomato, and what I think was Italian dressing. I found the chicken to be somewhat dry, but the wrap was half decent. I was expecting better from a Greek diner though.

Ben's Deli in Boca Raton

I visited Ben's Deli in Boca Raton, FL and ate with all of the old Jewish retirees.

A bowl of pickles and coleslaw were automatically brought out as an appetizer. I normally prefer dill or garlic pickles, but those half sour pickles (light green) were really good. No complaints about the coleslaw either.

I ordered a turkey sandwich and a spinach knish. The knish was good, filled with spinach and potato in a thin flaky crust. It was nice and moist so it didn't need any mustard.

I didn't find the turkey sandwich very impressive. It was overpriced ($9) and came with nothing. It was just a whole lot of turkey between two slices of rye bread. The bread wasn't that great either. I ended up putting some mustard and some of the coleslaw on the sandwich to make it a bit less boring.

Overall, I wasn't too impressed with Ben's Deli. I could think of several other places that have better sandwiches for half the price. Perhaps Ben's justifies the high price by serving Kosher meat, but I don't follow any dietary restrictions based on what's written in an ancient text, so whether it's Kosher or not doesn't matter to me. The sandwich was pretty typical of what these New York Style Kosher Delis serve, so I guess I can't complain too much. Compared to other Kosher Delis though, I've been to much better.

Cuban Sandwich from Adita's Cuban Bakery

I ate a Cuban sandwich from Adita's Cuban Bakery in UCF. This particular location seemed to be connected with a Chick-Fil-A, but I think there may be another Adita's Cuban Bakery just outside of the college on University Blvd. My first and only time eating a Cuban sandwich down in Key Biscayne wasn't a good experience, so I was hesitant to try another Cuban Sandwich.

I'm glad I did though, because this sandwich was really tasty. They used really tender pulled pork, ham, pickles, mustard, and cheese, all on a roll. The whole thing was grilled on a press, and was really good. I think I'll need to go find their other location and see if their sandwiches are just as good there.

Falafel Cafe

I picked up some take out from Falafel Cafe across the street from the University of Central Florida in Orlando. I've heard only good things about this place, so I decided to finally give it a try. For some reason I thought it was fast food, so I was surprised to see that Falafel Cafe was a sit down restaurant.

I had a Falafel Sandwich which came with a choice of soups. The lentil soup that I choose was interesting. It was very smooth, very similar to split pea soup, only with lentils instead. I've never come across lentil soup with this consistency. It was good, but I prefer the chunkier lentil soup that is more commonly found. The falafel sandwich was really good. There were nice sized falafels wrapped in Lebanese bread, along with lettuce, tomato, onions, parsley, and tahini. This was one of the better falafel sandwiches that I've eaten in the Central Florida area.

On the way out, I'm pretty sure I saw someone eating a plate of pickled turnips. I've only seen them in Lebanese restaurants, and it's been a very long time since I've eaten these. I definitely need to return to get myself some of these wonderful pickled root vegetables!

B.B. King's Blues Club at Pointe Orlando

B.B. King's Blues Club is one of the newer restaurants in the Pointe Orlando Mall on International Drive in Orlando, FL. When someone mentioned that they wanted to give the restaurant a try, I pulled out a coupon book that I recently acquired and found this:

We made our way into the touristy section of Orlando and reached the mall, and then followed the signs and paintings of Blues musicians into the restaurant.



When we walked in, the restaurant was mostly empty at about 5:45 on a Saturday night. I ordered a Catfish Po Boy as well as the free fried pickle appetizer. Not long after ordering, a band started playing up on stage.

The pickles were soon served, and the portion was enormous. If I were to estimate, they probably used at least three average sized cucumbers to make all of these fried pickles. This was my first experience eating fried pickles, and I don't know what to think of them. I love pickles, but deep frying them is just weird. They tasted okay, but I'll take normal un-fried pickles over these any day. I suppose the weirdness of deep fried pickles is probably similar to deep fried pizza.

My Catfish Po Boy followed not long after the pickles. The sandwich consisted of fried catfish, lettuce, tomato, tar tar sauce (how they spelled it), and French fries. It all tasted okay, but was nothing all that great. Overall, the entire meal consisted of way too much fried food. Everything was fried, starting with the appetizer to the sandwich. I'm not used to eating like that.

While paying, there was some issues with the check, and nobody seemed to be able to explain the problem, so make sure you look twice on what you're paying while eating here.

On a trip that took me to Memphis, TN a few years ago, I encountered another B.B. King's Blues Club (I didn't eat there). At that location, they had someone outside of the restaurant who was probably the dining equivalent of a sideshow barker. The Orlando location could probably use someone like this to lure in customers. Although the restaurant started to fill up later on, it still didn't seem like enough people. Perhaps it's better crowd later on in the night.

Krystal in Lake Mary, FL

When a visiting relative was craving a White Castle Hamburger, we decided to try Krystal. The only White Castle in Lake Mary, FL that I knew of is seen in the picture below, but that house isn't serving hamburgers, so Krystal the next closest thing.

I ordered a combo that came with a chicken sandwich (known as Chiks), fries, and a soda. After about a ten minute wait in the fast food restaurant (we were the only customers), the food finally came, and I was surprised to see that my combo actually came with three chicken sandwiches. That's more fried chicken than anyone should be eating in one sitting. One sandwich and the fries would have been enough fried food for me. The sandwiches weren't horrible, but they were kind of salty. They reminded me of the sandwiches from the Chick-fil-A next door.


The final verdict with the miniature hamburgers was that Krystal doesn't come close to the awesomeness that is White Castle (although I can't say personally. I've never tried a White Castle).

Ralph's Barbecue...

Continuing yesterday's trip up I-95, today I ate lunch at Ralph's Barbecue in Weldon, North Carolina. It was a buffet, filled with mostly older people, giving the place somewhat of a retirement home look. The food was tasty enough though and had some unique items on the buffet. Some hush puppies were placed on the table to start...

From the buffet, I started out by trying a plate of pulled pork with a vinegar based barbecue sauce, cabbage, black-eyed-peas, salad, and a roll. The pulled pork was the best thing on this plate...

I tried a second plate of cole slaw, macaroni and cheese, mashed potatoes, beans, and a bit more pork...

I ate a plate of banana pudding, a slice of a beet, and some pickled watermelon rinds for dessert. I have never heard of pickled watermelon rinds before, but they are a very interesting food. They are sweet, but also have a tart vinegar taste. They are translucent and look like jello, but are much more solid. They were very interesting. They tasted good too...

Subway & Beans...

I ate a turkey sandwich from the Subway Restaurant on Weldon Blvd. in Sanford, Florida. Besides from turkey, it was topped with provolone cheese, lettuce, cucumber, onion, pickles, olives, banana peppers, mayo, mustard, and oil & vinegar. You got to get your money's worth with the toppings!

Later on, I ate some home-grown Yard-Long Asparagus beans and Nickel beans, cooked with red bell peppers and lots of garlic, all topped with a ginger sauce...