Monorail Bar Crawl

So there's this thing that happens just outside Magic Kingdom. It's something that Disney probably doesn't like to admit happens as not to tarnish their perfect family friendly image. This something is known as the Monorail Bar Crawl. Unlike drinking around the world at Epcot, which everyone knows happens, the Monorail Bar Crawl seems a bit less known. It basically involves parking at one of the Magic Kingdom hotels, drinking alcohol at a bar in the initial hotel, then riding the monorail to the next hotel and repeating the process. Although I really don't drink much, I do enjoy wandering around Disney hotels and monorails are one of my favorite forms of mass transit, so I've gone along as designated driver with people doing the Monorail Bar Crawl. The remainder of this post consists of alcoholic beverages that I didn't drink and food that I did eat...

We started at the Polynesian Resort. Once parked, we made our way to the Tambu Lounge, located next to the very popular Ohana. The drink of choice here was the Lapu Lapu. It was a stereotypical tropical drink served in a hollowed out pineapple, complete with paper umbrella.

After Tambu Lounge, we headed to the monorail station and took the ride to the Grand Floridian. The destination here was called Mizner's Lounge. Located right off the huge atrium that makes up the hotel's lobby, the big thrill here was the free bowls of nuts that were brought to every table.

The drink of choice at Mizner's Lounge was the Glowtini. It was basically a martini with an added LED 'icecube.' This allowed you to drink your alcohol in any color you'd like by sticking your fingers in the martini and pressing the button on the cube.

Once the light up martinis were finished at the Grand Floridian, we boarded the monorail once again and rode past the Magic Kingdom and into the Contemporary Resort. Here, we headed to the elevator that goes specifically up to the roof of the hotel to the California Grill. The California Grill normally requires reservations to eat at, but if you go to the desk downstairs and tell them you're going to the bar, they send you right up. Time it right and you'll be up on the roof of the hotel for the Magic Kingdom fireworks. Seeing them from above is my personal favorite way to watch Wishes. Here, the drink of choice is apparently called the Ray-Ray.

As a food blogger, I had to get some food at California Grill. While the majority of the menu at California Grill is rather pricy, their flatbread pizzas are relatively affordable and are enough food for a meal. We ordered a Heirloom Tomato BLT Flatbread and were served the wrong one. Topped with beef, mushrooms, and greens, the heirloom tomatoes were nowhere to be found.

They quickly corrected the mistake and brought out the Heirloom Tomato BLT. This thin flatbread was topped with marinated tomatoes, applewood smoked bacon, chiffonade romaine, and lemon mayonnaise. Getting a pizza topped with a range of colors from the typical to deep purple or yellow is very different. And very tasty.

And that's my experience being a designated driver during a Monorail Bar Crawl. Watching people drink, eating flatbread pizzas at fancy restaurants, and riding monorails. I'd gladly do it again!

Florida Cracker Cafe in St. Augustine, FL

I recently spent an afternoon in St. Augustine and had lunch at a restaurant along St. George Street called Florida Cracker Cafe.

I ordered the Shrimp Po Boy. The sandwich came with two sides, and I picked collard greens and cheesy grits. The sandwich was good, with surprisingly large fried shrimp, lettuce, tomato, onion, and remoulade sauce. My general experience with shrimp po boys normally involves tiny shrimp, which isn't necessarily a bad thing since they are hidden away on a sandwich. The shrimp on this sandwich were quite large, almost taking up the width of the roll if angled correctly. I liked the sandwich, but the sides were disappointing. The cheesy grits were very plain tasting with very little cheesiness. The collards weren't much better, being so salty that I took a few bites and gave up.

Florida Cracker Cafe had okay food. I liked my sandwich but the side items could definitely use some improvement. I did try their homemade potato chips which were another option for a side, and they were very tasty. Perhaps chips would be a better choice than grits or collards as a side if I return.

Captain J's Ocean Deck in Cocoa Beach, FL

It is time for a correction on this blog. Back in 2011, I ate at and wrote about a restaurant that I thought was called Captain J's Ocean Deck in Cocoa Beach. I was wrong. I actually ate next door to Captain J's at a place called Sandbar Sports Grill. On my most recent trip to Cocoa Beach, I realized the error of my ways when I actually ate at the real Captain J's Ocean Deck.

When we were seated, I saw somebody eating their taco salad and I suddenly had a craving for one. I knew what I was ordering before looking at the menu. The taco salad was served in a tostada bowl, filled with lettuce, tomato, black olives, jalapeno slices, cheese, and ground beef. Sour cream was served on the side. The salad was alright for what it was. I've had better taco salads elsewhere, but this served it's purpose of satisfying my taco salad craving. The funny thing was that as I was eating, I heard a few people walk past and mumble about how my salad looked really good, just like I did upon entering the restaurant. Captain J's makes very attractive looking salads...

Timacuan Country Club in Lake Mary, FL

I ended up at the Timacuan Country Club in Lake Mary and decided to get some food there. They had a make your own pasta station set up, so I figured that was the thing to go with. I had the chef make me a plate of penne with shrimp, scallops, peppers, onions, broccoli, and sundried tomatoes all in an alfredo sauce. I think I did a good job selecting items to go into the pasta and the chef did a good job cooking the food because I thought the meal was pretty tasty!

For bread to go with the pasta, the country club offered popovers. This is not a typical type of bread to be served with pasta, but I do enjoy a good popover. They also had a salad bar set up that I tried, but I didn't take a picture. Overall, not bad for a golf course country club!

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!

Mauro's Pizza in Hollywood, FL

I was recently in South Florida and stopped for food at Mauro's Pizza in Hollywood. Located downtown, Mauro's was a tiny pizza shop with a few tables outside of the restaurant. All of the tables were full when I walked in, which was a good sign that Mauro's had promising food.

Mauro's seemed to be run by very cranky people. The interior of the restaurant was covered in signs of what their rules are. Cash only. No debit or credit cards. No cash refund or exchange after placing order. No Parm cheese. Then there were the other signs. The ones that got meaner. Signs such as: Price subject to change instantly. What part of NO don't you understand. With all the stated rules, I would be very afraid to find out the employee's reactions if I accidentally broke one of the rules. I suppose asking for Parmesan cheese to top the pizza would be considered a horrible crime...

I ordered two cheese slices. For $2.75 each, the prices weren't bad and I can normally finish two slices with no problem. I wish I noticed the size of a slice on the way in though. The slices at Mauro's were humongous. Each slice was served on two full size paper plates, and the pizza took up pretty much all of the plates. They were equivalent in size, if not larger than the huge slices at Orlando's Lazy Moon. Only unlike Lazy Moon, the pizza here at Mauro's was actually very good! The crust was thin and crispy. The cheese was melted properly and was in good proportion to the tasty sauce. By the time I got through the first slice, I knew I'd have trouble finishing the second. After a bit of a battle, I did manage to get both of the slices down and thoroughly enjoyed them.

Mauro's pizza was really good and was a really good value with the size of the slices. If only the people working there took down all of their angry signs and seemed more friendly. I was actually talking to a few people who live nearby about where I ate afterward and they all agreed that they stopped getting pizza from Mauro's because they felt so unwelcome each time they went there. Regardless of good pizza, scaring away customers never is a good business plan...

Gateway to India in Longwood, FL

There are so many Indian restaurants in the Central Florida area, and I've visited so few of them when compared to other types of foods. Recently, I was able to give one of these Indian restaurants a try when I stopped into Gateway to India in Longwood for lunch. Gateway to India is located along 434 in an old Pizza Hut building. They had a lunch buffet for $10.95, so I went with that. It seemed a little pricy for lunch, but still probably a better value than ordering from the menu. My buffet experience included two plates of food, filled with chicken masala, tandori chicken, various vegetarian dishes, naan, and rice.

I enjoyed all of the food from Gateway to India's buffet. I've been to other Indian restaurants with larger buffets with lower prices for lunch, but the quality of food seemed substandard at some of these other restaurants. Here, the food seemed fresh and everything tasted good. I guess that's a plus of paying a few dollars more for a buffet!

Lucky Dill in St. Petersburg, FL

I was in St. Pete a few weeks ago and was looking to find breakfast somewhere downtown. We were told by a police officer that the only place in the area that would be open on a Sunday morning serving some sort of breakfast was a Starbucks. That was a disappointing answer, but food is food, so we started walking in the direction of the Starbucks. On the very next block, we came across a restaurant that was very much open for breakfast called the Lucky Dill. Most likely a much better choice than Starbucks...

Lucky Dill was a NY Style deli during the day, serving typical deli-type foods like huge pastrami sandwiches. The breakfast menu included several different breakfast meals as well as omelets and sandwiches. I had a meal called the Manhattan Morning. This included two scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast, grits, and bacon for just under $5. The breakfast was simple yet good, and definitely much better than one of those pre-packaged breakfast wraps that are served at Starbucks!

 

Baja Burrito Kitchen in Orlando, FL

Baja Burrito Kitchen was once a local chain of fast food Mexican restaurants with several locations around Central Florida. I always enjoyed the food at the various Baja Kitchens, but for whatever reasons, all but one of the restaurants closed. The only remaining Baja Kitchen is in a shopping center on Colonial Drive in Orlando. It had been years since I had last dined at a Baja Kitchen, but I recently stopped in for dinner. The meal started with some tortilla chips and various salsas. Their salsa bar was always a highlight of a visit to Baja Kitchen. Their fire roasted chipotle, salsa verde, and habanero salsa were my favorites.

I had the Baja Enchiladas for my main course. This came with three cheese filled tortillas, topped with a red enchilada sauce, cheese, and chicken. Black beans, rice, and sour cream were served on the side. There was probably far too much cheese on my plate than I should have eaten in once sitting, but the meal did give me a warm, fuzzy feeling from food memories associated with this dish. This plate of Baja Enchiladas brought back memories attached to when I used to frequent the Baja Kitchens that were once located closer to where I live. It was definitely strange having many memories of various meals with various people from years ago come rushing back, just because I had a particular version of a particular food.

The enchiladas were good, but the rice and beans could have used some improvement. Both were relatively cold and seemed like they were the bottom of the barrel as far as sides go. It was pretty close to Baja Kitchen's closing time when I ate there, but that's no excuse for crunchy rice. Putting aside the mediocre rice and beans, I did enjoy my meal at Baja Kitchen. The meal was somewhat of an unexpected and unscientific exploration into the power of food memories and the result was me being glad that there is still one last Baja Kitchen left in Orlando...

BellaBrava in St. Petersburg, FL

I had dinner while in Saint Petersburg at an Italian restaurant called BellaBrava. Based on the location, right by the water in an area that seemed like everything would be expensive, I was surprised how affordable everything was here. The majority of the menu items were under $10 and there were some interesting takes on Italian foods. Some of the pizzas were especially interesting to me.

I had the Asparagus & Crispy Prosciutto Pizza. This pizza was topped with asparagus, crispy prosciutto, smoked mozzarella, and a sunny side up egg. They served half the pie alongside a side Caesar salad. This was my first time trying egg on a pizza. Egg always seemed like a very strange pizza topping to me, but much like pineapple on pizza, I enjoyed it once I tried it. The runny egg yolk dripped down and got absorbed in the airy pizza crust, adding a whole new element to the pie. My only real complaint about this pizza was with the asparagus. There weren't any actual asparagus heads topping the pizza. Instead, there were only asparagus stems, but they were still tender and edible so it really isn't a big deal.

I was pleased with my food here. The pizza was tasty and the toppings weren't what everyone else serves. Prices were affordable and the location was also very nice. I'd return.

Palm Tree Grille in Mount Dora, FL

I ate dinner at a restaurant called Palm Tree Grille in Downtown Mount Dora. Although the name wouldn't imply this, the restaurant had a menu featuring mostly Italian food. There were also some typical sandwiches (burgers, turkey, etc) that didn't seem very Italian on the menu.

Since the menu was mostly Italian, I figured ordering some sort of pasta dish would be a wise choice. I picked the Farfalle de Pesto, which was bowtie pasta tossed with a pesto sauce made from roasted ground garlic, fresh basil, served in an alfredo sauce with Romano cheese. This wasn't the typical basil pesto that I would expect from something with pesto in the name. Instead, the sauce had a much stronger alfredo flavor as opposed to the basil. It wasn't bad, just different. The portion was very large for the price and was also served with a side salad.

I'd return to Palm Tree Grille again. I don't know if I'd order the same farfalle de pesto again, just because it was a lot of the same. Regardless, this was an unexpected restaurant find in Mount Dora!

Ha Long Bistro in Orlando, FL

I recently met with Traveler Foodie to try a new Vietnamese restaurant on Colonial Drive called Ha Long Bistro. Although there has been Vietnamese restaurants in this location for as long as I can remember, the restaurant has recently gotten new owners and has undergone a name change.

When we first arrived, we tried the Goi cuon (summer rolls) and the Cha gio (crispy spring rolls).

Goi ngo sen tom thit was the next dish I tried. This was a salad consisting of lotus root with shrimp and pork. The lotus was pickled with daikon and carrots, making all the vegetables somewhat soft with a nice pickled flavor. The salad was served with rice crackers on the side.

 The Bo xao luc lac was stir-fried cubed steak in Ha Long's house special wine sauce. The beef was nice and tender and had nice flavor.

The Mì xào giòn (hoặc mềm) thập cẩm consisted of pan fried crispy egg noddles topped with a combination of seafood, beef, and vegetables. This particular dish confused me. Some of the crispy noodles stayed crispy. Others that touched the sauce quickly became soggy. Were the noodles supposed to stay crispy? Were we supposed to mix the noodles with the rest of the dish so they all became soggy? I suppose I don't have enough experience with crispy noodle dishes to really criticize, but nothing was exceptional about the meat (seemed overcooked) and vegetables topping the noodles either.

Phở áp chảo hải sản was described as flat rice noodle with seafood combination. This particular menu description left a lot to be desired. What I would have imagined from reading about this dish was very different from what was served, which in this case was a good thing. The actual dish was much better! The flat rice noodles turned out to be noodles pan fried into a cake topped with egg. This noodle/egg cake was then topped with a mixture of seafood and vegetables. The seafood was tender, the sauce had very nice flavor, and the noodle/egg cakes were completely new to me. I liked!

The Hủ tiếu Nam Vang thập cẩm was a large bowl of soup. The tasty chicken broth was filled with shrimp, thinly sliced pork, crab meat, egg noodles, and assorted vegetables and herbs. A side plate of bean sprouts, cilantro, and jalapenos was served on the side. This soup didn't seem to be anything too different from similar soups that I've had at other nearby restaurants, but that isn't necessary a bad thing. It was tasty and had everything that I would expect from a soup like this.

For a soup that was very different from what I've had at Vietnamese restaurants in the past, we came to the Canh chua cá hoặc tôm. This was a family style sour soup with shrimp. The most apparent ingredient floating in the soup were the quartered tomatoes. Pineapple was also present, but the two ingredients that were very different were elephant ear and rice paddy herb. The elephant ear was a light green sliced vegetable that had the appearance of cucumber and the texture that could somewhat be described as a spongy version of celery. Elephant ear grows in Florida and after living in the state for most of my life, I had no idea that the plants were edible. The rice paddy herb was another new food to me. The plant had an interesting, slightly tart flavor. With all the ingredients put together, I thought this soup was delicious. It had a combination of flavors that were very unique and slightly hard to pinpoint. There was a sour flavor, but I liked it. The pineapple balanced out the sour and rice was served alongside the soup in case the sour flavor was too much. Overall, this was my favorite dish that I tried at Ha Long, not only because of its unique flavors but also because of the education I got on some new types of edible plants!

Cá kho tộ was the Vietnamese braised fish in a clay pot. Technically, the pot was actually cast iron, but lets forget the minor detail. This dish consisted of tender pieces of tilapia in a very tasty sauce.

The Vietnamese Coffee came in a large, ice-filled glass. As someone who rarely drinks coffee, this tasted like coffee with milk to me.

I did enjoy the Jelly Drink. It consisted of shaved ice, coconut milk, strips of green jelly, and kidney beans. Mixed together, this was like a really good version of a snow cone with more interesting ingredients!

I did enjoy my meal at Ha Long Bistro. Most of the food was good and I would gladly return. Although, coming from the perspective of an American who's experience with Vietnamese food comes mostly from the restaurants in the neighborhood surrounding Ha Long Bistro, I didn't notice all too much that separated them from the rest of the pack. We did try some unique foods that were new to me, but I wonder how many other restaurants nearby serve similar dishes that have gone under my radar until now? It isn't necessarily a bad thing that Ha Long Bistro is similar to their neighbors, but as the new restaurant on the block, I wish them the best of luck with all of the competition in the area.

Triple Eight Café in Altamonte Springs, FL

Triple Eight Cafe is the third consecutive Chinese restaurant that has filled this particular location. First there was Wonderful Chinese, followed by Asian Express, and now there's Triple Eight Cafe. What sets Triple Eight apart is that although the menu is mostly Chinese, they also have a section of Italian food and sandwiches. Triple Eight is also a full service restaurant as opposed to it's predecessors who were fast food. On my first visit to the restaurant, I had a combination dinner that started with a bowl of wonton soup and egg roll. The soup's broth was a bit plain tasting, but I did enjoy all the extra vegetables that don't normally come in wonton soup. There was cabbage, carrots, snow peas, water chestnuts, and large pieces of sliced pork. It definitely made the wonton soup more interesting than most.

For the main course, I had the chicken with black bean sauce. The large portion of chicken was cooked with green peppers and onions alongside brown rice. I have a pretty high salt tolerance, but I found the black bean sauce to be overly salty. The chicken definitely had to be mixed with the rice to take away some of the saltiness. 

I returned to Triple Eight Cafe a second time and ordered wonton soup for take out. Again, the broth was very plain tasting, but I enjoyed everything else in the soup. I'm not entirely sure if I like this place...