Sassagoula Floatworks & Food Factory in Disney's Port Orleans

I ventured over to Disney's Port Orleans hotel for dinner on a recent evening. After wandering around the property looking at the different food options, I ended up at Sassagoula Floatworks & Food Factory in the French Quarter section of the hotel. The restaurant was set up food court style, with several different counters serving various menu options.

I tried the Jambalaya. It was served in a large bowl topped with a square of cornbread. As far as taste goes, the jambalaya was good, but it also sort of lacked something. It consisted of chicken, sausage, and rice, and that was about it. I'm used to seeing a little more in jambalaya too. Usually there's vegetables in there as well. Celery, green peppers, and onions seem pretty standard in the dish, but there was no trace of them here.

Someone else ordered the Shrimp and Grits. Definitely the better option. The large portion consisted of a large serving of grits topped with a freshly made serving of shrimp, various vegetables, and sauce. Sundried tomatoes aren't normally in here, but they were added upon request. It was really tasty and definitely outshined the relatively boring jambalaya.

Beignets were also ordered for dessert. Doughnuts topped with powdered sugar are always good, and these were better than other theme park beignets I've come across which are basically square funnel cakes. These were light and fluffy and had the proper beignet consistency.

Although my jambalaya was a little subpar, everything else I tried at Sassagoula Floatworks was good. I'd go back!

Charleston, SC Food (The Early Bird Diner and Southend Brewery & Smokehouse)

I made a stop in Charleston, SC while on a drive up the east coast. I visited Charleston previously so long ago that everything was pretty much new again. One of the foods that Charleston is known for is shrimp and grits. I found a list somewhere on the internet of the Best Shrimp & Grits in Charleston, and one of the restaurants listed was The Early Bird Diner.

The Early Bird Diner:

I liked the vibe of the diner. It had some of the standard diner features, but the walls were covered with all sorts of cool sci-fi art for sale.

The restaurant was featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. Guy Fieri ate chicken and waffles here.

The shrimp and grits came in a large bowl piled high with grits. This grit mountain was then topped with a very thick shrimp stew. Of all the times I've had shrimp and grits, this was the thickest sauce I've seen with the shrimp. Because it was so thick, I found that the flavor from the shrimp sauce didn't permeate into the grits very well. It was slightly spicy with lots of medium sized shrimp swimming around. The shrimp and grits were served with a biscuit on the side. I had trouble finishing all the food...

Southend Brewery & Smokehouse:

I also had a much needed meal at Southend Brewery & Smokehouse while in Charleston. This large restaurant was in a lovely old building, complete with a fun, rickety elevator to take you upstairs if you needed the restroom. As the name implies, they were brewing beer in the center of the restaurant.

I had the pulled pork for my meal. The shredded pork was served on a plate piled high with all sorts of sides. There were French fries, pinto beans, coleslaw, and mustard barbecue sauce. I'm a big fan of the mustard style of barbecue sauce. I also enjoyed that they didn't serve the barbecue restaurant standard of baked beans. I'd take pinto beans like served here over baked beans any day!

Dixieland Diner

I visited the Orange City Food Truck Bazaar. I tried a truck serving Cajun food that I had never eaten at before called Dixieland Diner.

I ordered the Shrimp & Grits. This bowl of cheese grits was topped with chopped tomatoes and several large shrimp. The shrimp had a nice spicy seasoning and the grits were cheesy. Overall, I found these to be very tasty. The first response from someone I was here with was a look of disbelief and the comment "you paid $9 for that!?" The portion did appear to be on the small side, but I guess the bowl was bigger than it looked because the meal filled me up.

I liked my shrimp & grits. I'd try Dixieland Diner again, although think I'll try something else here the next time I visit for some variety.

Shrimp and Grits from T.G.I. Friday's

I had this buy one, get one free coupon for T.G.I. Friday's, and used it at the Friday's off of Kirkman Road in Orlando, located across the street from the main entrance to Universal.

I ordered the Spicy Southern Shrimp, which was basically shrimp and grits. It consisted of shrimp, andouille sausage, and scallions, all served over cheese grits. The food took a very long time to be served, and I was a bit disappointed when my shrimp and grits finally came. There were hardly any grits. There was probably a teaspoon sized scoop of grits in the middle of the plate, hidden under the shrimp and sausage. There was actually an exponentially larger amount of sauce on the plate than there was grits. Grits are cheap, so I don't see why putting enough on a plate so they can actually be eaten with shrimp would be that hard for Fridays. The picture on the menu looked very different that what I received. You could actually see the grits on the menu.

Also disappointing, the Gourmet Mac and Five Cheese that some someone else ordered on the healthy menu, which cost less than $6.00, was served on the same plate and had a much larger portion than my $14.00 Shrimp and Grits. I don't quite understand how a large portion of macaroni and cheese with chicken and bacon made it on to the healthy menu in the first place.

It seems like there is some sort of issue every time I eat at this Friday's location. It's always extremely slow, and there is always some sort of food issue.