Tortilleria La Mexicana #11 in Longwood, FL

I had lunch one afternoon from Tortilleria La Mexicana #11 in Longwood. They are located in a small strip mall near the intersection of 434 and 427. The restaurant is attached to a convenience store, selling various products. The Mexican convenience store has been in this location for as long as I remember, but the food is a relatively new addition. I'm assuming by the #11 that this is part of a Tortilleria La Mexicana chain.

I ordered three tacos. I tried the Pollo, Chorizo, and Al Pastor. Each taco was served in a corn tortilla. These were interesting. They weren't completely soft, but they didn't have the consistency of hard shelled fried tortillas either. They were still soft and pliable, but had a bit more character. I am guessing the tortillas were pan fried. Each of the tacos was topped with onions and cilantro, with lime slices to squeeze over top and salsas on the side. As for the meats, the pollo was a little plain. The chicken was shredded into fine strips and was good enough. Similar to my experience at El Taco Amigo in Deland, I was unable to tell which meat was the al pastor and which was chorizo. Both were good, but in terms of taste, texture, and appearance, both meats were very similar.

I enjoyed my visit to Tortilleria La Mexicana. The tacos were good, the prices were very affordable, and I now know where to get good tacos in Longwood. I'll be back...

Provisions & Buzz Co. Grand Opening in Baldwin Park, FL

I was invited to the grand opening of Provisions & Buzz Co. This restaurant is located along New Broad Street in Baldwin Park and was formerly Jack's Steakhouse. The decor of Provisions & Buzz Co. seems to be loosely themed around bees. There were hexagonal honeycomb designs hanging on the walls of the restaurant. Bees appeared on the menu, jars of honey were given as parting gifts, and the obvious Buzz in the restaurant's name.

Small, sample size bites of many of the menu items were served at the grand opening. The Tuna Tartare was one of my favorites. It was topped with avocado, pickled cucumbers, micro greens, wonton chips, and sweet soy.

Crostini: The bread was a little too hard for my liking, but the tomato topping did have a very nice garlic flavor.

Cheese Puffs: Lightly fried pillows, filled with fontina cheese and crispy pancetta. These were good. They resembled tater tots in size and appearance from the outside, but were filled with cheesy deliciousness inside.

Pork Shank: Braised served over soft goat cheese polenta with roasted garlic and onion gravy.

Caramelized Onion and Smoked Gouda Quesadillas: I liked the smokey flavor of the cheese in these quesadillas.

Tempura Shrimp: Tempura fried then tossed with spicy honey aioli. I guess the honey aioli brought us back to the restaurant's bee theme.

Drinks were also offered at the grand opening to accompany the food. Here's an Earl Grey Martini:

Zona Fresca in Winter Park, FL

Zona Fresca is a new restaurant which has recently opened in Ravaudage near the intersection of Lee Road and 17-92. This fast-casual restaurant serves fresh, healthy, Baja-Style Mexican food. They are based out of South Florida and this is Zona Fresca's first Central Florida location. I was invited to give Zona Fresca a try, and I did enjoy what I sampled!

I started out with the Pozole Soup. In all my experience eating in Mexican restaurants, I don't think I have ever ordered soup. This soup had braised chicken, hominy, onions, cilantro, and radishes in a guajillo chili broth. I very much enjoyed the soup, and may be my favorite dish out of everything I sampled at Zona Fresca.

I had a sampling of tacos on the Three Street Taco Plate. I tried the Chicken Breast, Machaca, and Baja Fish tacos. Each was served on a double layer of corn tortillas. Of the three, the Chicken Breast taco was my favorite, exceeding my expectations. The chicken was topped with cactus, avocado, cilantro, onions, and a lemony dressing. With a meat that had the potential to be bland, the combinations of toppings on the chicken taco made it burst with flavor. The Machaca was my second favorite. I don't think I've ever ordered machaca at a Mexican restaurant before. This was slowly braised shredded beef, topped with poblanos, tomato, and queso fresco. It reminded me a bit of ropa vieja with the shredded beef being tender and flavorful. The Baja Fish Taco was my least favorite of the three. Nothing wrong with the taco, but the fried fish topped with cabbage, pico, and tangy dressing really didn't have anything that stood out.

I also tried the Chili Rellenos. Two charbroiled poblano peppers stuffed with jack and cheddar cheese, served with black beans, cilantro rice, and pico de gallo. The peppers had a nice charred flavor and were very tasty.

I had the Flan for dessert. Can't go wrong with custard-like desserts topped with honey.

I liked everything I sampled at Zona Fresca. When it comes to Mexican fast food chains in the area, I enjoyed Zona Fresca more than some of their competition. The menu provided interesting flavors not typically found at non-sit down Mexican restaurants. I'll be returning...

The Bavarian Haus in Mt Dora, FL

I had lunch at The Bavarian Haus in downtown Mount Dora. This small restaurant lived up to it's haus name, being that it was in a small house. Bavarian Haus had indoor seating as well as outdoor seating on a patio out front.

I had the Bratwurst lunch special. According to our waitress, the bratwurst were one of the best things on the menu so that's how I made my meal decision. The normal side accompanying the bratwurst was German Potato Salad. Instead, I asked if I could have the Kartoffelknödel, or potato dumplings as my side. They gladly obliged.

Two sausages were served. They were good, although nothing that would stand out when compared to other bratwurst I've had elsewhere. The kartoffelknodel on the other hand were new to me, therefore much more memorable. These dumplings sort of reminded me of matzo balls, both in shape and consistency. The texture was interesting. They weren't mashed potato smooth, nor were there chunks of potatoes. It was all somewhere in between. A gravy-like broth was served on top, which went well with the bratwursts as well.

I liked the food I tried at Bavarian Haus. Everything tasted good. The prices for lunch were reasonable. I have no complaints overall!

Copper Canyon Grill in Orlando, FL

Copper Canyon Grill has been located in Pointe Orlando on International Drive for years now. I had been warned multiple times from different people about how horrible the restaurant is and to avoid Copper Canyon at all costs. I finally decided to ignore those warnings and give the restaurant a try. 

I was there for lunch on a Sunday. These lunch specials were advertised outside the restaurant and it must have worked. I ordered the Korean Pork Belly Tacos.

The food took quite a while to be served. The restaurant was mostly empty. They had an open kitchen and the guy cooking was getting loudly upset at something and yelling at some of the servers. If you have angry cooks, don't put them in an open kitchen where the guests can see and hear them. Once the food did come out, I had no complaints. The tacos were delicious. The pork belly was tender rather than rubbery (I've been served rubbery pork belly one too many times at other restaurants). The sauces were delicious. The side of kimchi was unexpected, but I graciously devoured it.

Prices at Copper Canyon Grill were a bit too high for most of the food which was served, but I suppose most of their business is from the convention center with people with expense accounts. Besides the high price point and the angry cook, I have no complaints about the food itself. Copper Canyon definitely didn't live up to their reputation as a horrible restaurant...

NY China Buffet in Lake Buena Vista, FL

I ate lunch at NY China Buffet in Lake Buena Vista on 535. Buffets in this area could be scary tourist rip offs, so I was surprised to see lunch was just under $8.

Plate #1: Chicken with broccoli, mixed vegetables in a white sauce, egg roll, steamed dumplings, red bean filled sesame balls, and lo mein. The mixed vegetables were the tastiest food on this plate.

Plate #2: Stir fried bean curd, fried dumplings, fried rice, mei fun, and crab rangoon. The standout here was the bean curd. This stuff was delicious. 

Plate #3: Dessert. Pineapple, glazed fried wonton chip, cheesecake, and butterfly cookies. Apparently they like the cheesecake here. I saw an employee eating a plate of six slices of the cake. 

NY China Buffet had a good selection of food. Some of it was not the typical Chinese buffet foods, which was a good thing. There were enough people eating here for a decent turnover and everything was edible. Not bad for a buffet across from Disney...

Joe Smoked Meat in Quebec City, QC

Smoked meats seem to be another food that's popular in Quebec. I passed several restaurants specializing in smoked meat, so I figured I'd try one. I ended up at Joe Smoked Meat in downtown Quebec City. Looking at their website now, it looks like they are a chain. Didn't know that at the time.

They had smoked meats served various ways. Someone I ate here with had smoked meat poutine. I decided to go with a sandwich instead and ordered the Assiette Garnie. Out of all the menus in Quebec City, I had the most trouble translating/understanding this one. Because of this, I picked my sandwich mostly because there was a picture of the Assiette Garnie on the menu. The sandwich reminded me of something found in a Kosher style NY Deli. Sliced meat was piled upon rye bread with spicy mustard. Fries, coleslaw, and a pickle were served on the side. I never confirmed for sure what sort of animal the smoked meat was from, but I'm assuming beef. The smoked meat in the sandwich was tasty, but I had the same complaint which I have in the Kosher delis. There was too much meat and not much else going on in the sandwich. Some other flavors would have been nice.

D'Orsay in Quebec City, QC

I found that Quebec City seems to shut down pretty early. I was looking for dinner one evening around 9:30, and almost everywhere in the Old City was closed or closing for the night. D'Orsay was one of the few restaurants which was still open, so that's where I ate.

Because I was in a French speaking province, I felt the need to order French Onion Soup for some reason. The soup here was a bit overpriced. Still, the tasty bowl was filled with salty broth, soggy bread, and topped with lots of cheese. Can't go wrong.

I ordered a lamb sandwich for my meal. The sandwich was served on fig bread (according to the menu- I detected no figs). There was a huge mound of thinly sliced, tender lamb between the bread, with lettuce, tomato, and mayonnaise. A mixed green salad and fries were served alongside the sandwich. Everything was tasty and the sandwich exceeded my expectations!

For the limited choices of this evening's meal, D'Orsay was a very nice choice!

Quebec Boulangeries

While in Quebec, I had breakfast almost every day at a different bakery. Quebec City has some excellent bakeries and they are all over the city. My first bakery experience was actually in the Montreal Airport while I was waiting for a connecting flight to Quebec City.

Second Cup (Montreal Airport)

The restaurant was called Second Cup. It was a coffee shop which sold assorted pastries and sandwiches. I was initially going to get a sandwich, but even in Canadian dollars, the sandwich prices here were insane for something pre-made. The pastries were much more reasonable and I ordered an almond croissant. The croissant was filled with almond paste and topped with slivered almonds and powdered sugar. It was good for airport food, but much better croissants were coming in Quebec City.

La Boite a Pain (Limoilou)

In Quebec City's Limoilou neighborhood. This was my first experience in Quebec where I felt lost with not being fluent in French. Nobody in here instantly switched to English with my first word of bad French, and I was lost once entire sentences of words I didn't recognize were spoken to me. Turned out nobody working in here spoke English (Yay! It actually felt like International travel!), but I was able to get the point across that I wanted an almond croissant. It was much better than the almond croissant from the airport.

La Fournee Bio Boulangerie Artisanale (Limoilou)

I think I would say La Fournee Bio Boulangerie is my personal favorite restaurant that I found in Quebec City. The bakery items here were amazing. There were pastries, breads, sandwiches, and all sorts of other baked goods. The shelves of deliciousness were perfectly laid out, all looking beautiful. This was another place where very little English was spoken. The employee's very broken English and my very limited French allowed me to order here. Multiple times. I think I ended up here at least four times during six days in Quebec City.

Ham and cheese croissant.

Almond Crossant

Turkey sandwich. This was my least favorite thing here. Stick with the baked goods rather than a pre made sandwich.

Brulerie Limoilou
Brulerie Limoilou was more of a coffee shop than bakery, but they did sell baked goods. I stopped in here upon somebody's recommendation for a snack.

I had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich. Nothing was wrong with it, but it was pretty forgettable in the big scheme of deliciousness which was eaten on my trip. It was a bit pricy as well for what ended up being half of a full grilled cheese. 

Paillard 

I had breakfast at Paillard one morning in Quebec's Old City. I couldn't really figure out if this restaurant was a chain or not, but I definitely got that vibe. The restaurant was doing a huge amount of tourist business. There were very few open tables and they had a constant line. I ordered one of their breakfast combos, which included a bacon, egg, and cheese croissant, fruit, and a coffee. The buttery croissant and bacon resulted in a very greasy sandwich. Still, it was much better than the Tim Hortons bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich.

Cafe du Monde in Quebec City, QC

Quebec City likes the circus. All throughout the summer of 2015, the city showed a free circus called Crépuscule in a city park. Crepuscule rivaled, if not surpassed some Cirque du Soleil shows I've seen. As I was watching the show, I couldn't help but notice there was a sign on a nearby building to the left of the stage for Cafe Du Monde. I visited New Orleans earlier this year and sampled the famous beignets at the Cafe du Monde there. I was with someone who had never had a Cafe du Monde beignet, so we decided to see if this was another location of the New Orleans version of the restaurant. It was not.

This Cafe du Monde was a fancy restaurant overlooking Quebec City's cruise terminal. It wasn't beignets we were initially thinking about, but a nice dinner sounded good as well. After we were seated, it took me a few moments to realize I wasn't having to translate the menu. I suppose it's a sign that Cafe du Monde was a touristy restaurant if they handed the English menus to the Americans horribly attempting to speak broken French. Out of all the meals I ate on the trip, this is the only restaurant which this occurred.

I ordered the Smoked Salmon Gougere. The menu described this as 2 chou-pastry puff with smoked salmon, dill cream cheese, capers, and onions. Smoked salmon seemed to be a fairly popular food in Quebec. I was noticing restaurant after restaurant had smoked/cured salmon of some form on their menu. This was my opportunity to have some of the salmon in the city.

French fries were also served on the side. I found it interesting that in almost all restaurants, mayonnaise was offered before ketchup as a topping for fries. I've always preferred mayo opposed to ketchup for fries anyway. Perhaps I've been channeling a French Canadian for my fry condiment choices.

We decided to get dessert. Our waitress was very insistent that fried ice cream was ordered. According to her, fried ice cream is a dessert found only in Cafe du Monde. I've seen fried ice cream on menus plenty of other places, including on other menus in Quebec City. Much to her disappointment, I ordered Rice Pudding instead. The rice pudding came served in a huge glass which was probably a foot and a half tall. The server then portioned it out into a smaller bowl with a small pitcher of maple syrup topping.

I enjoyed my meal at Cafe du Monde. It was the most expensive meal I had while in Quebec and it wasn't beignets, but everything was good!