Central Florida Fair Food

I visited the Central Florida Fair and had some carnival food. I avoided deep fried Oreos, deep fried Twinkies, deep fried bacon, or anything else deep fried and got food from a booth selling steak. The food was being cooked in big skillets and smelled much better than much of the other fair food.

I tried a sandwich called the Big John. This featured a roll filled with mashed potatoes, mushrooms, onions, peppers, and sirloin tips. The steak was nice and moist with good flavor. Mashed potatoes on sandwiches always seems strange at first glance to me, but it worked here. Overall, this was a much better choice than a corn dog...

Outback Steakhouse in Orlando, FL (International Drive)

I was invited to a menu tasting at the new Outback Steakhouse that recently opened on International Drive. This Outback is located in the I-Drive 360 complex, anchored by the currently half built Orlando Eye ferris wheel.

I attended one of their lunch tasting events. These menu tasting events were used to train Outback's staff in exchange for free food. The meal started with Signature Baked Potato Soup - Creamy potato soup topped with melted cheese, bacon, and green onions.

I had the Baby Back Ribs - Smoked, wood-fire grilled and brushed with a tangy BBQ sauce. Served with Aussie Fries.

Sirloin and Grilled Shrimp. Served with a baked potato and asparagus as sides.

I had their homemade watermelon soda made from ginger ale, watermelon, and lime for my drink.

Sangria:

Outback Steakhouse was fun. This new Outback Steakhouse was pretty much exactly what I was expecting. Like most chains, the food here was pretty much equivalent to what can be had at any other Outback. Still, I think Outback Steakhouse should fully embrace their Australian theme and start serving kangaroo meat. I'd totally try kangaroo if it started being served at Outback. It could be a place for people on kangatarian diets to go eat!

The Cattle Ranch in Sanford, FL

The Cattle Ranch is a restaurant in Sanford in a mostly windowless building. The location is on a stretch of Sanford Avenue with no nearby restaurants in the immediate vicinity. Those two points gave the restaurant a somewhat creepy appearance from the outside, but creepy looking restaurants normally have good food. The Cattle Ranch did indeed have good food...

My meal started out with a salad with the house dressing. This was pretty much what I would have expected from an old-fashioned steakhouse salad. It was nothing exceptional, but it got the job done with iceberg lettuce, onions, tomato, pepper slices, carrot sticks, and croutons.

Even though the Cattle Ranch was a steakhouse, I didn't order any beef. Instead, I went with the coconut shrimp. These large shrimp were butterflied and fried in a coconut batter, then served with a baked potato and apple sauce. I've had coconut shrimp in the past where the coconut flavor was completely absent, but in this case, each shrimp was bursting with coconut! I would gladly get these again.

Also worth noting for all you big eaters out there is The Cattle Ranch's Six Pound Challenge. If you eat a six pound steak, along with all the sides, you get the meal for free and your picture hanging on the wall! Being that I'm not a big beef eater to begin with, I don't think this particular eating challenge is for me...

Cowboys Bar B-Q & Steak Co. in Ft. Pierce, FL

I stopped for dinner at Cowboys Bar B-Q & Steak Co. in Ft. Pierce based on a recommendation while driving down south. I'm not all too familiar with the area, but I'm pretty sure I ate a meal at a R.J. Gators that used to be in this building a few years ago.

I ordered their pulled pork dinner. The menu claimed it was award winning. Sounds good to me. The pork was nice and tender with very little fat. It had a great smokey flavor and there were plenty of barbecue sauces on the table to sample with the pork. I had waffle fries and corn on the cob for my two sides. I liked the corn, although all of the salt and pepper on top was definitely a bit on the strong side. The waffle fries tasted like fries should. Garlic bread was the only part of the dinner I didn't like. It was boring white bread with very little garlic flavor. I suppose that's what the butter was for...

Longhorn Steakhouse in Lake Mary, FL

I had a Darden gift card that I decided to use at Longhorn Steakhouse in Lake Mary. I ordered the Grilled Trout Topped with Shrimp & Lobster. The meal came a Caesar Salad which was served first.

The rainbow trout came out next, served with a side of mashed potatoes. It all tasted good, but I was disappointed with the shrimp & lobster. There were two little shrimp and one or two tiny pieces of lobster meat. The majority of the topping consisted of chopped tomatoes and corn. While it did taste good, the upcharge from the plain rainbow trout on the menu didn't seem worth it based on what I received.

Longhorn Steakhouse is a good restaurant to use a good coupon or Darden gift card. The food is normally good enough for what you would expect from a Darden chain, but it's not something I would go seek out without incentive...

Ginza Steak & Sushi in Orlando, FL

I ate lunch at a new Japanese restaurant called Ginza Steak & Sushi located in Orlando's Mills-50 District. The restaurant is split into half hibachi and half sushi. I went with the hibachi.

I had the chicken and shrimp lunch special for $8.95. The meal started with soup and salad, then the chef started cooking and fried rice, stir-fried vegetables, shrimp, and chicken followed. It was the standard show that goes on at these type restaurants, and the standard food for the most part. Noodles were the only thing that was missing that most other hibachi restaurants serve, but perhaps you get them with dinner.

For the price, this was a whole lot of food. I didn't notice much of a difference in quality or portion size between what I ate at Ginza compared to what Kobe serves for almost triple the price. I'd gladly return.

Outback Steakhouse in Altamonte Springs

I ate at the Outback Steakhouse in Altamonte Springs, FL. It's been years since my last visit to an Outback so I really didn't know what to expect. The dining experience started out with a wait. I had called ahead to make reservations, and Outback said the wait time would be cut in half. We got there and were given a buzzer. After about a half hour of waiting, it turned out that our buzzer never went off, so we had to wait even longer. They said we were probably out of range, but if that's the case, then Outback needs a new system because we were right outside of the front door, probably twenty feet from the receiver. We finally sat down, and I wasn't impressed with the menu. I don't really like steak, and the non-steak choices are very limited at Outback.

I ended up ordering the Shrimp en Fuego. After a long wait, the food finally was served and I wasn't exactly pleased with my shrimp. They were deep fried, and the way the menu and the waitress described the dish put a different image of the shrimp in my head. Once I got over the deep fried part, the shrimp weren't all that bad. They were covered in a spicy buffalo wing type sauce, and served in a cheese covered potato skin of all things. A side of green beans were served on the side.

Outback is supposed to serve Australian food, but I'm assuming actual traditional Australian food is way different, and most likely way better. I think a Watch Me Eat field trip should be arranged to sample real Australian food...

Yokohama Japanese Steakhouse

I ate at the new Yokohama Japanese Steakhouse in the Super Target Shopping Center in Sanford, FL. It's a hibachi style Japanese Restaurant where they cook at your table. The first thing I noticed in the restaurant was that the chairs were too low for the table. I'm an average height, and the table was kind of high, so I imagine it would be much worse for a shorter person. The second thing I noticed was that for some unknown reason, they dressed their chefs up as cowboys. Someone must have thought it would be a good idea to put the chefs in cowboy hats and bandannas, but it just caused the chefs to look silly.

As for the food, it tasted good, but was overpriced. My Hibachi Chicken was a few dollars more than what the already overpriced Kobe charges. For that extra money, the portions here seemed to be smaller and they didn't include the noodles that most other Japanese Steakhouses serve. I have issues with most Japanese restaurants that serve these noodles, assuming the stupid Americans think they are eating something exotic like soba or udon, when in fact it's just a box of spaghetti. When the noodles don't come though, I miss them. Yokohama should move above all of the other Japanese Steakhouses nearby and actually serve a more traditional noodle.

The meal started with some soup and salad. The menu said miso soup, but they served the normal steakhouse onion broth. I don't like it when places switch menu items without telling you.

The cowboy chef came and cooked the food soon after. Everything was good, but something I especially liked was the mustard sauce. It's rare to find a Japanese Steakhouse that serves this and it's very tasty. The other thing I liked was that the shrimp were already cleaned and they didn't make a show out of cleaning them. This meant that they were really clean and weren't covered in those strings of shrimp guts like you get at Kobe.

After the meal, Yokohama gave a plate of sectioned oranges for dessert.

Overall, most of the food tasted good, but I don't think I would return to the Hibachi part of the restaurant. It cost a bit too much, and giving less of basically the same food as their cheaper competitors isn't an incentive for me to return. I did notice that most of the people eating here were sitting in the non-hibachi area of the restaurant, so this may be the way to go if I do return. From what I saw while glancing over the menu, it seemed you could order similar food for a lower price without the show. And the sushi looked good too!

Phat Philly

I ate a Chicken Teriyaki Cheesesteak sandwich from a place called Phat Philly in the UCF Student Union food court. The sandwich consisted of chicken, teriyaki sauce, onions, cheese, lettuce, and mayonnaise, all on a huge roll. The bread definitely could have used some improvements. Mushy white bread doesn't really go with teriyaki sauce, but otherwise the sandwich was tasty.

Return to the Chop Shop

I had eaten at the Chop Shop Restaurant in Deltona, FL once before just after they opened. The restaurant was up to par last time with decent service and good food. Tonight I returned to the Chop Shop to eat dinner for a second time and it seems the restaurant has developed some problems.

It initially took a while for the drinks to be brought to the table, and then took an even longer time for the waitress to come back to take our food order. I ordered their Jambalaya. Another person dining with me ordered something called the Seafood Trio, which included shrimp, scallops, and mahi-mahi. Someone else at the table ordered a mahi-mahi dinner. The waitress was asked if some substitutions could be made in the meal involving the side dishes. These involved replacing a baked potato for French fries and changing the vegetable side from zucchini to broccoli, both of which were on the menu as sides. The answer was a firm no. According to the waitress, the owners made it very clear that there are absolutely no substitutions on their new menu.

After an insane amount of time, the food finally came. Someone at the table noted the time after we had already waited a while. It took our food an hour to come from that point.

I had no complaints with my Jambalaya. It was actually really good coming from a restaurant that didn't specialize in Cajun food. There were nice big shrimp and a generous amount of sliced andouille sausage. It wasn't so spicy where it would leave you wanting a drink, but it wasn't bland either. There was a nice heaping portion on the plate, almost too much to eat.


My Jambalaya may have been good, but there was another issue at the table. Remember the Seafood Trio that was ordered and the whole no substitutions thing? It turned out that the Chop Shop was all out of scallops, so they substituted the scallops with a few extra shrimp. Instead of doing the right thing by telling the customer that the restaurant was out of a major component of the meal, they made this substitution without asking. It seems a bit hypocritical to me that customers don't have the right to ask for a substitution on a side item, but the restaurant can substitute a major component of the main dish without asking first. The person that ordered this Seafood Trio, which was actually an unannounced Seafood Duo for the night complained about this stating that scallops were the highlight of the meal, and the waitress was vaguely apologetic. She agreed that what happened was wrong, but she passed the blame on to the kitchen and said something should have been done about the situation. The manager/owner of the restaurant was requested, and the waitress announced that she was the manager. She did not offer to do anything about the situation...

I don't think I'll return to the Chop Shop anytime soon. My food may have been good, but the service was pretty bad...

Lunch @ Orlando's Texas de Brazil

I ate lunch at Texas de Brazil on International Drive in Orlando, FL. Texas de Brazil is a Brazilian Churrascaria where waiters come around and slice various meats off of swords onto your plate.

I started at the salad bar. Besides from the normal salad, they had lots of good stuff like various cheeses, olives, crab cakes, meats, tabouli, and soups. They also had some really interesting stuff that I had never seen before such as caper berries (left side of the plate between the pasta and chorizo). Capers are one of my favorite salty foods, so I really liked these. Apparently normal capers sold in supermarkets are immature when they are pickled. If they continue to grow, they become caper berries, which were served here. It was a good salad bar, although it seemed like they had room to serve twice as many items with the amount of space between each dish. Maybe that's for dinner (not that I'm complaining).

I finished my salad and returned to my table to get served meat on swords. My favorite choices were the chicken wrapped in bacon, the sausages, pork ribs, and sliced pork. I'm not a big fan of beef, and when it's not well done, I get grossed out by the blood dripping out of what I am about to eat. It seemed like the majority of the steak and beef served wasn't cooked to my liking, and I only got one piece that was close to being cooked throughly. I have tried a Portuguese Churrascaria in the past, and it seemed all of the meat was automatically cooked to well done, including the steak. I wish they at least came around with some skewers of cooked steak here to give you a choice on how well the meat was cooked. With the exception of the steak being served dripping in blood, I liked everything else. I'd go again...

Bairrada Rodizio Churrasqueira Restaurant

I ate take out Portuguese food for lunch from the Bairrada Rodizio Churrasqueira Restaurant in Mineola, NY. Roast suckling pig and mixed grill were ordered.

The roast suckling pig was good. The pig was served still in it's skin. There was a bit of fat in the meat, but as far as pork goes, the pig was very tasty and tender. It was served with rice and homemade potato chips. They needed some salt, but otherwise were very good.


The mixed grill consisted of a skewer of chicken, steak, sausage, onions, bell peppers, and sweet potatoes. It was served with rice and french fries. I am not a big fan of steak, so I didn't think it was anything that good, but at least it was well done rather than having the blood squirt out of the dead cow flesh when you take a bite. The chicken was tasty, but the best meat on the skewer was the sausage. The rest of the meat all tasted basically like char-grilled meats, while the sausage actually had a distinct flavor.

Eating the food as take out didn't give you the whole churrasqueira experience with waiters walking around with meat on sticks, slicing it at your table, but the food was still good. Take out was a whole lot cheaper too!

Charlie Brown's Steakhouse

I ate at the Charlie Brown's Steakhouse in Garden City, NY. I ordered a combo dinner that included shrimp and snapper, as well as a salad bar. The salad bar was good. Lots of good stuff was there for the taking, like several different types of olives. The feta stuffed olives were especially good for a salad bar...



I believe the fish I ordered was herb encrusted snapper. It was okay, but wasn't anything exceptional. The cilantro shrimp were much better than the fish. This was served with mashed potatoes as a side.

It was way too much to eat...

Chop Shop Restaurant

I ate at the Chop Shop Restaurant in Deltona Florida today. It is new. It smelled like fresh paint which doesn't mix with food too well. The food was good though. I ate blackened mahi mahi. It came with two sides, and I choose corn and mashed potatoes. The corn wasn't on the cob, but it still tasted like corn.

Unless they get a better sign than what they have, I don't think they will stay in business very long. There were people eating there, but I think that's because they left fliers at peoples houses all over Deltona...