Dunkin Donuts in Franklin Square, NY

I really wasn't planning on getting anything when I entered this Dunkin Donuts with someone going to buy a coffee. Then I spotted this chocolate chip muffin and decided to buy it. My muffin impulse all had to do with the large sugar crystals on top of the muffin. If it wasn't for the sugar, I probably never would have bought the muffin. I ate and enjoyed!

Umberto's in New Hyde Park, NY

After visiting King Umberto's, we decided to give another Umberto's a try. This time we went to the Umberto's in New Hyde Park. I thought I ate here a few years ago, but the restaurant was set up differently than I remembered. Unless they redid this place, it was new to me! This is the location that the Deerfield Beach Umberto's claims to be connected to, although I kind of have some doubts about any actual connections.

The meal started with a salad topped with grilled chicken, blue cheese, and walnuts.

Next came a Grandma Pizza. Supposedly, this style of pizza originated here in a competition between a few other Umberto's to develop a new style of pizza, so we had to get it.

It was really good, sort of like a thin crust Sicilian pizza and I'd gladly get it again.

The pizza was also good as leftovers the next day!

Taste of UCF

I like food tasting events. My personal favorite that I've been to is Taste of Altamonte. You get more food than you can ever possibly eat at these events from restaurants all over the area. The only downside is that many of these food events can get somewhat pricey. New events seem to be starting this year as well, such as Taste of Sanford. Another new one is the Taste of UCF, and the best part was that it was all free!

I started with a Mango Smoothie filled with tapioca balls and jellied coconut from Boba Tease. It was good, especially in the heat!

Peppino's was giving out three different food items. By the time I got to them, all they had left was this baked ziti. I was one of the last one to be served before they ran out of this too. They were all out probably twenty minutes after the event started. The people at this booth wouldn't make me want to eat at their restaurant either. The person serving the food was chain smoking cigarette after cigarette. I'm sure some of those ashes got onto the food.

A barbeque caterer somehow connected to Wackadoo's was giving out these pulled pork sandwiches:

Random cotton candy from an unknown source. This is all I got before the machine broke.

Qdoba Chicken Burrito Bowl:

Domino's served Buffalo Chicken Pizza. I would never think of getting pizza with these toppings, but it was better than I expected. I liked it better than Domino's plain cheese pizzas.

There were a few other food vendors as well, but they all seemed to run out of food before I got to them. Silver Mine Subs is one of these restaurants that comes to mind.

Taste of UCF was good for a free lunch, but it can't compete with Taste of Altamonte!

Pizza Hut in Deltona, FL

It's been a very long time since I've had a pizza from Pizza Hut. After my latest experience with the pizza chain's Deltona location, I was reminded why it's been so long!

When Pizza Hut delivers their overly greasy pizzas, shouldn't safe food handling practices be extended to the time when the pizza is in the delivery driver's car? I was outside when the pizza was delivered and watched the driver sit in the car with the pizza and finish smoking his cigarette before getting up and bringing the pizza to the door. Gross...

As for the pizza itself, there were large areas on the pie where there was no cheese and only crust. It had to be one of the greasiest pizzas I can remember eating. The huge amounts of grease on this pizza had the thick crust almost waterlogged. Needless to say, I won't be ordering from Pizza Hut again any time soon.

Cafe Murano in Altamonte Springs, FL

I ate at the newly opened Cafe Murano in Altamonte Springs, FL. This Italian restaurant was formerly Gina's Lakefront and has a nice view of Cranes Roost Park. After waiting about ten minutes, we were seated. We ordered our food and then waited. The food took a very long time to be served, about an hour. During that wait, I took notice of my surroundings. The restaurant had way too many TVs in the room, all playing something different. In the environment that the restaurant seemed to be trying to create, the TVs really didn't fit in. There was a very loud and drunk birthday party on the other side of the room, and then a DJ took over the TVs and started playing music videos.

Finally, the food was served. I ordered the Rigatoni Broccoli Rabe, which consisted of large rigatoni noodles topped with Italian sausage, garlic, and broccoli rabe. It was good, but reminded me too much of something I would make myself at home. It was a really simple dish, and truthfully, I ordered it for the broccoli rabe because I don't see that on menus very often. I'd get it again!

Someone else at the table ordered a brick oven pizza topped with meatballs. They couldn't finish the whole pie on their own, so I tried a slice. I wasn't expecting much since the restaurant didn't seem to specialize in pizza, but I was pleasantly surprised. It had a nice thin, crispy crust. There was a perfect amount of cheese and sauce on the pie, and I liked the meatballs too. Sometimes the meatballs on pizza taste like plain ground beef, but these had plenty of flavor. The edge of the crust was a little burnt in spots, but besides from that, I had no issues. If I return to Cafe Murano, I think I'll definitely be getting the pizza too!

Cafe Murano had really good food, but that hour long wait for food that generally doesn't take that long to make was a bit of a turnoff...

Space McDonald's

On August 28, 2009, the Space Shuttle Discovery was making it's third attempt to launch on mission STS-128. Although I can see the shuttle just fine from where I live, I decided to go out to Titusville, FL to get a closer look. I arrived about an hour before the launch and some sort of dessert seemed appropriate to pass the time.

I initially thought of going to this Ice Cream Truck. I've noticed that most ice cream trucks in Florida are pretty sad. They normally involve a guy in a van selling prepackaged ice cream bars out of a freezer. These are the same ice cream bars that you can buy a box of in the supermarket, probably for about the same price as one pop. Up north, they have soft serve ice cream trucks like Mr. Softee where they do more than pull a frost covered ice pop out of the freezer with a big markup. When I saw this particular ice cream truck parked on the side of the road in Titusville, I got excited. It looked like it was a soft serve truck. Unfortunately, when I walked over, it seemed the truck and another car got in a fender bender and ice cream was no longer being sold.


The next dessert choice within walking distance was this Mcdonald's with appropriately decorated windows. I had a strawberry milkshake, which was okay for what it was and where it was from. It really couldn't compare to milkshakes from a soft serve ice cream truck though!





At 11:59 pm, the Discovery finally launched. I love night launches, especially when you can hear the roar of the engines! It's a shame the shuttle program is coming to an end pretty soon. I really hope NASA gets it's act together and goes through with completing the Orion Project, but somehow I have my doubts that we will see it happen any time soon.

Olive Garden in Westbury, NY

I ate at the Olive Garden in Westbury, NY. It was your standard Olive Garden eating experience with half-decent Italian food. Olive Garden isn't my favorite of the big Italian chains, but it is what it is.

The meal started out with salad and breadsticks:
I had Eggplant Parmesan for the main course. It was good, but a little too much sauce for my liking.

Yesterday's Diner in New Hyde Park, NY

Yesterday's Diner isn't the best name for a restaurant in my opinion. It makes me imagine that all of the food is leftovers from the previous day. It doesn't help that the menu titles each section with yesterday, for example, you could order "Yesterday's Sandwiches." It just doesn't sound right to me, but I ended up eating a late breakfast at Yesterday's Diner regardless of the name.

I ordered a Spinach Florentine Omelet. I'm not normally an egg person, especially in restaurants, unless there's enough additional ingredients mixed in to add extra flavor. I was hesitant to get my omelet, but I decided to give it a try. Luckily for me, I enjoyed the Spinach Florentine. The omelet was filled with fresh spinach and plenty of feta cheese and didn't really taste egg-like at all. I liked it! The omelet was served with a side of homefries and two slices of whole wheat toast.

Trinity in Floral Park, NY

The original plan was to eat dinner at a diner, but after discussing how expensive most diners on Long Island became, we decided to try something new and go to a nicer restaurant (hopefully in the same price range). We ended up at a good Irish Pub in Floral Park, NY called Trinity.

The meal started out with a basket of Irish Soda Bread, crackers, and really good scones. Someone at the table ordered a beer, and somehow they put this clover design in the beer head. I've never seen anything like this in beer and have no idea how it's made.

I ordered Fish & Chips for my meal. I normally don't go for the fried fish, but this was pretty good. Drenching everything on the plate with lemon juice and malt vinegar makes it so much better though!

Someone else at the table ordered a Chicken Pot Pie. I traded a piece of fish for half of the pie and really liked it. It was one of the best chicken pot pies that I have eaten in a long time.

Another person at the table ordered Bangers and Mash. They didn't finish, so I tried one of the leftover sausages. It had a somewhat unique taste that I couldn't quite place, but was still good. Not as good as the Chicken Pot Pie though.

I really enjoyed Trinity and I'm glad I found it. It was way better than a diner!

P.F. Chang's in Westbury, NY

I ate at the P.F. Chang's in The Source Mall in Westbury, NY. I ordered the Singapore Street Noodles. It consisted of chicken and shrimp with assorted vegetables, all served over noodles. I liked it! Interestingly, this dish was not marked as spicy on the menu, but it ended up having a nice kick to it. Someone else at the table ordered something that was supposed to be spicy, and it had a really sweet sauce. I could see people sending their food back over an issue like that, but I liked my noodles the way they were!

This stone warrior was looking over our table. I decided he was worthy of having his photo taken...

A&S Bagels in Franklin Square, NY

I bought an everything bagel with lox cream cheese from A&S Bagels in Franklin Square, NY. The bagel was really good and the cream cheese had plenty of salmon in it.

A&S Bagels is a pretty cool place. They are open 24 hours and seem to always have a line, no matter when you ride by. If you look through the door going into the back rooms, you get to see all of the bagels being made. Those machines that press the dough into a bagel shape are really interesting to watch. Only problem is that some of the help in A&S seem to be really grumpy and aren't very good at customer service...

OLV Café Grand Opening

I was sent some information on a new restaurant called OLV Cafe that opens tomorrow in SoDo. I thought I'd share in case anyone is interested. I'll need to give them a try soon!

ORLANDO, Fla. (Aug. 21, 2009) – OLV Café announced today it will celebrate its grand opening on Monday (Aug. 24). This contemporary, swanky and fun café/bistro is designed to be Southeast Orlando’s newest restaurant and social gathering place.

“We are excited to announce the beginning of a brand new kind of restaurant experience in Orlando. OLV Café is more than just a restaurant -- it is Sodo’s new hip destination,” said Michael Buell, a partner on the project. “As Sodo’s newest addition, OLV Café is positioned to be a premiere social gathering place, offering great food and good times--morning, noon and night.”

The café/bistro will be open for lunch and dinner, offering coffee all day with a great selection of beer and wine in the evening. Its eclectic menu will bring a unique blend of tastes from around the world.

“From our she-crab bisque or smoked duck confit for lunch to tuna ceviche with avocado-tomato salsa and crispy tortilla for dinner, OLV Café’s dishes are unlike anything being offered in the area,” said Humberto Perez, owner of OLV Café.

OLV Café wants to create the perfect place to meet friends for coffee, conduct business meetings or meet collegues for a drink after work. Its will feature free WiFi and high-tech multi-screen entertainment to help people stay connected during the day and night.

OLV Café will open from 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to Midnight Friday and Saturday and 11 a.m. – 8 p.m. on Sunday. The new bistro/café is located at 25 W. Crystal Lake Drive Suite 175, Orlando, Florida 32806 in the Sodo shopping plaza.

For more information on OLV Cafe, call (407) 722-5060 or visit www.olvcafe.com.

More King Umberto's in Elmont, NY

I've written about them before, but here once again is King Umberto's in Elmont, NY. They still hold my place as the best pizza I've tried. I don't have much else to say except to point out how nice looking their pizza is compared to most other pizzas. Look at the pictures and drool...

Dixie Bones BBQ in Woodbridge, VA

Midway through another day of driving on I-95 with far too much traffic, it was time for lunch. Dixie Bones Barbecue is located in Woodbridge, VA about a mile or so off of I-95. I ate here once several years ago and decided to give them another try. While walking into the restaurant, truckloads of ribs were being packed for the huge catering business that it looks like Dixie Bones does. Once seated, I looked over the menu and choose a pulled pork sandwich. While waiting for the food, I observed the antiques and paper mache animals all over the restaurant.

Soon enough, my sandwich was served. It came with coleslaw, and was really tasty. The pork was a little dry, but that was solved by sampling the various sauces on the table. I liked the vinegar based sauce the best, but this was also the first time I tried the white Alabama style barbecue sauce! It tasted a lot like ranch dressing and didn't seem to go with meat, but I guess some people like it.