Hot Krust Panini Kitchen in Orlando, FL

I was invited to try Hot Krust Panini Kitchen for a Social Media Menu Tasting. Hot Krust is located in the Whole Foods shopping center at the intersection of Sand Lake and Turkey Lake Roads. Before trying any of the food, what initially impressed me was all meats are roasted fresh at the restaurant. Hot Krust doesn't use any processed meats or cold cuts in the sandwiches, unlike the majority of the other sandwich shops out there. 

When I arrived at Hot Krust, the meal started with two bowls of soup to try. The first was their soup of the day, a tomato cream soup (left). The second was Hot Krust's signature soup, their Chili Cactus Soup. It was made with cactus, ground beef, diced tomatos, onions, corn, northern beans, and spinach in a spicy broth. The soup had a flavor similar to a chili, but with a consistency more similar to most soups. It was very tasty and the uniqueness of adding cactus to the recipe made it even better.

After the soup, I was able to try two of Hot Krust's sandwiches. The first was the Meat Lover's Paradise. This panini was filled with roasted chicken, turkey, freshly roasted steak, bacon, pesto, tomatoes, red onions, melted jack cheese, and chipotle ranch sauce. It was a good sandwich, but I personally found it to be somewhat of a meat overload.

I also tried the Buffalo Bill Chicken Panini. This had freshly roasted chicken, buffalo sauce, onions, jalapeno peppers, lettuce, provolone cheese, and blue cheese crumbles. This was my favorite of the two sandwiches. Unlike other buffalo chicken sandwiches that I've had elsewhere, this one was actually nice and spicy. The jalapenos added a lot of flavor to the sandwich, and Hot Krust seemed very generous with the rest of the sandwich fillings as well.

The sandwiches were served with waffle fries, although fries may not be the best word since these were baked rather than fried. If I wasn't told that these were baked, I honestly don't think I would have noticed that they weren't fried. I tried the sweet potato and regular potato fries, and I personally preferred the regular fries (I'm not a big fan of sweet potatoes).

Hot Krust had some tasty sandwiches. The ingredients that they use seem to be good quality and they appear to care about their food. I'd gladly return to try some more of their paninis next time I'm in the area!

Menchie's Frozen Yogurt in Orlando, FL

Menchie's Frozen Yogurt is a self-serve yogurt shop on Sand Lake Road in Orlando. You get a cup, fill it up with yogurt and toppings, and then pay $0.44/oz for your creation.

I had a swirl of Very Bosenberry and Mango Tango Sorbet, topped with blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and kiwi. It was really good, and after this visit I've decided I really do enjoy the self-serve aspect of these new yogurt shops that are opening all over Orlando. The problem is that there seems to be too many yogurt shops opening too quick. It's only a matter of time before the market gets saturated...

As far as I could tell, all of the flavors at Menchie's were kosher. It's not surprising from a yogurt shop with a name based on a Yiddish word (meaning 'good person'), but somehow frozen yogurt isn't the first food that comes to mind when thinking of Kosher food...

Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza in Orlando, FL

I've read plenty of good reviews of Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza in the Whole Foods Shopping Center in Orlando's Sand Turkey District. Anthony's slogan is "Pizza Well Done." When the waitress came over, she gave us a speech that broke down to "We burn our pizza. Warning you now so you won't send it back when the crust is black." It seemed like a funny gimmick to me, to specialize in burnt pizza, but I gave it a try anyway.

The cheese pie was served, and the crust was indeed black around the edges. I gave it a try, and it was a really tasty pizza. The crust was thin and didn't really have the burnt taste I was expecting, the coal oven actually gave it a really nice flavor. I did find it a bit strange having black hands from all of the charcoal after picking up the slice, but I guess that's part of the novelty of coal oven pizza. The cheese wasn't overloaded, the pie had a good amount of the salty mozzarella. The sauce was slightly spicy and really tasty. Anthony's makes little pools of their sauce rather than spreading it evenly around the whole pizza. I guess this makes the pizza look more gourmet, but I know a few people that have issues with pies like this. I personally don't mind the sauce puddles, as long as the sauce tastes good.

I was really quite surprised with the pizza. My hopes really weren't all that high, but it was really tasty. It wasn't necessary the best around, but it was still pretty good. I'd eat here again! Although there is one complaint I had. I know Anthony's is sandwiched between the tourist attractions and some of Orlando's most expensive restaurants, but that is no excuse not to give free refills on drinks. People expect free refills...

Devil McDonald's in Orlando, FL

Late one night, I found myself in the Sand Turkey District of Orlando. I was sort of hungry, and the person I was with suggested Mcdonald's. As we pulled up, I recognized the location as the devil Mcdonald's pointed out on the Tasty Chomps blog. I'm fascinated by pareidolia, or the tendency of the human brain to see faces in inanimate objects, so I enjoyed the outside of this McDonald's building. Looking at the front of the building, I see eyes, a big grin, and red glowing devil horns. Perfect for Halloween, but could it be foreshadowing at how the food might taste?

This is a Bistro Gourmet McDonald's, meaning they serve much better tasting food than your average McDonald's. The only problem with the Bistro Gourmet McDonald's is that the Bistro Gourmet part of the kitchen is almost always closed whenever I'm at one of these locations. That leaves your standard McDonald's menu as the only choice.

Person I was with ordered some fries. I had a few, tasted okay, like fast food French fries should.

I decided to try a BBQ Grilled Chicken Snack Wrap. It consisted of chicken, lettuce, cheese, and barbecue sauce wrapped in a tortilla. They were really heavy with the sauce, leaving a puddle of the spicy sauce in the lower half of the wrap. The grilled chicken had a strange consistency, reminded me of boiled chicken from Chinese restaurants. It definitely didn't seem grilled to me. Overall, the wrap wasn't horrible. It was far better than some of the other sandwiches I've eaten from McDonald's. I would have preferred something off of the Bistro Gourmet menu though...