Sweet & Salty Island Grindz Food Truck

I recently tried a food truck called Sweet & Salty Island Grindz who specialized in Hawaiian BBQ. I ordered their Kalbi Beef. The beef ribs were served over rice, with macaroni salad and a Hawaiian roll. Beef was flavorful in some sort of teriyaki-like sauce.

 

Cafe du Monde in Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

I had a layover in Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. While in New Orleans, regardless of if it is just an hour in the airport between flights, the tourist thing to do is stop at Cafe Du Monde. 

 I had a Cafe au Lait.

The beignets! As far as beignets go, I was reminded that Cafe du Monde's beignets are better than the beignets that I have occasionally in Florida. These were very fluffy, almost croissant like on the inside.

Pioneer's Pizza in Punta Gorda, FL

Jersey Meatball Pizza from Pioneer's Pizza in Punta Gorda, FL. This was a pie topped with meatball and ricotta.

 

Las Olas Pizza Company in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

I had dinner at Las Olas Pizza Company in Ft. Lauderdale. This was a New York style pizza shop, serving pizza by the slice with a nice selection of pies to pick from.

I had two slices. One was their Supreme Pizza, topped with pepperoni, sausage, mushrooms, peppers, and onions. The other was the Margarita, which was a thin, square slice topped with fresh mozzarella. Both were nice and thin, with a nice proportion of all the ingredients. I think I preferred the Margarita of the two...

Bagels & More in Hollywood, FL

I had breakfast at a restaurant called Bagels & More in Hollywood, FL. Interestingly, they were cash only. Which doesn't seem like a wise way to run a business when cash seems to be used less and less (especially during COVID), but they were filled with customers. I guess it's working for them.

I had an everything bagel with lox cream cheese. They were generous with the amount of cream cheese, which also happened to be filled with lots and lots of lox.

The Piefather in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

The Piefather was a food truck parked in The Wharf in Las Olas. I ordered a pie called The Pepperoni. Pretty self explanatory. Nice thin crust with good proportions of cheese and sauce. The pepperoni curled, as hipsters at The Wharf would expect their pepperoni to do. I enjoyed the pizza...

Boston Bagel Cafe in Oakland Park, FL

I ate a sesame bagel with salmon cream cheese from a restaurant called Boston Bagel Cafe in Oakland Park, FL.

 

Chesapeake Bagel Bakery in Ft. Lauderdale, FL

I spent a few days in Ft. Lauderdale. While down there, I sampled some of the city's food. The motel I stayed in didn't supply breakfast because of COVID reasons, so I ventured out to find food on my first morning there. I ended up a restaurant called Chesapeake Bagel Bakery. It took me way too long to get the pun in the restaurant name...

I had the Nova-Nova sandwich. This was an everything bagel, topped with Nova lox, red onion, capers, tomato, and cream cheese. 

I very much enjoyed this sandwich. Good bagel, and they were generous with the amount of lox and toppings in the sandwich!

 

Stillwaters Tavern in St. Petersburg, FL

I ate in a restaurant called Stillwaters Tavern in downtown St. Pete. There were a few different menu items that sounded good to me, so I asked the server what he would recommend out of them. His said that the Pan Fried Ramen was the most unique to the restaurant out of my choices, so that's what I ordered. The menu described it as: Chinese sausage, market veg, toasted peanuts, marinated soft boiled egg, bean sprouts, and Thai basil.

I enjoyed the ramen. The portion was huge. There was a good amount of sauce and other ingredients mixed in with the noodles, and everything was flavorful!
 

Rise Pies in Sarasota, FL

I had things to do at The Mall at University Town Center in Sarasota and got lunch there. 

Besides having a horrible, overly complicated name, this mall doesn't have a food court, which was interesting. There were restaurants in storefronts, each with their own seating rather than one centralized location. I had food from one of these restaurants called Rise Pies.

Rise Pies was the same concept/setup as Blaze Pizza. It did seem like the topping selection here was a bit more limited than what Blaze offers. I had a pie with pesto for the sauce, topped with mozzarella, green peppers, kalamata olives, basil, sausage, and pepperoni. The pepperoni here curled while cooking into a cup shape which always makes pizza feel more gourmet. The crust was puffier than a lot of the fast food pizza competitors.

Not bad for a mall pizza!

Kathi Rolls in Orlando, FL

On my last trip to New York, pre-pandemic, I came across a restaurant serving a type of Indian street food called kati rolls. I very much enjoyed these rolled up sandwiches and was unaware of any other restaurants serving this food. That is, until I stumbled on a restaurant called Kathi Rolls in Orlando. Different spelling of a very similar food item...

I tried both the Chicken Tikka and the Lamb Tikka Kathi Rolls. Each was filled with the meat, onions, peppers, cilantro, and an added egg.  Lots and lots of flavor in both rolls. Of the two, I think I preferred the chicken slightly more.

Kathi Rolls also has naan pizza on their menu which sounds interesting. I may have to try one of those on my next visit. I'm glad I found a restaurant serving a kathi rolls in Orlando so I don't need to take a trip to New York in order to eat one...
 

White Castle in Orlando, FL

The wait is finally over! On May 3, 2021, the first White Castle ever in Orlando is having its grand opening. I was invited to try White Castle a few days before they open their doors to the masses.

It appears White Castle is expecting quite the crowd when they open on May 3. They had a few large tents set up in the parking lot to accommodate a large queue line. 

White Castle's lobby:

It has been a very long time since I've been to a White Castle. So long that I asked the employee taking my order to recommend the quintessential White Castle food. He told me to have the Cheese Slider Combo. The menu describes these sliders as "made with 100% beef, steam grilled on a bed of onions topped with a slice of American cheese."

The combo came with a side of crispy, crinkle cut fries.

The cashier also recommended that I try the 1921 Slider. This sandwich was topped with lettuce, tomato, pickles, and cheddar. 

After sampling some of what White Castle had to offer inside the restaurant, I was asked if I would like to experience the drive-thru. Of course I would!

I tried the Chicken & Waffles Slider. Fried chicken, bacon, and cheese between two waffles. This was my favorite of all the sliders I sampled at White Castle.

I also had a side of Onion Chips. Crispy, breaded, deep fried onions.

Vanilla shake for dessert. 

Here's a video from White Castle. This is one of the few times on this blog where you can actually watch me eat...


White Castle is located at 11595 Daryl Carter Parkway. That's between all the theme parks near the intersection of Palm Parkway and Daryl Carter Parkway. Go tomorrow and see what White Castle is all about!

MOD Pizza in Orlando, FL

MOD Pizza. Another fast food pizza chain in Orlando near the attractions. I ended up eating here 4 or 5 times since they opened. 

  Here's two of the nicer looking pies I got from MOD Pizza:

I enjoyed MOD Pizza when they were new, but I liked them a little less on each visit. It seemed like the employees stopped caring about the pizzas as time went on. On my last two visits, the pizzas were sloppily thrown together as quickly as possible resulting in pies that weren't as good as my initial visits here. Don't know if I got unlucky with my pizza maker or...? 

Blaze Pizza in Disney Springs

Blaze Pizza has been around for a while now in the Orlando area, but they never made it onto this blog. I've eaten at a few of the Blaze Pizza locations in Florida, but these pies are all from their location in Disney Springs. 

Of the pizza chains where you pick what you want on your pie as it's being made, Blaze seems to be the most consistent. The proportions of crust, cheese, sauce, and toppings always seems to be just about what I'd expect from a pizza at Blaze. That's some good corporate fast food consistency...

1000 Degrees Pizza in Lake Mary, FL

 I had lunch from 1000 Degrees Pizza in Lake Mary. This is yet another restaurant following the formula of Blaze, MOD Pizza, etc, where you pick toppings for your pizza in a Chipotle style format. I honestly started mixing up places serving pizza in Orlando, and confused this with 900 Degreez in a brick and mortar form. Wrong temperature, wrong restaurant, and 900 Degreez is still a truck.

My pizza was topped with sausage, pepperoni, onions, bell peppers, olives, and banana peppers. Pretty tasty. Topping selection here seemed slightly more limited than some of the similar competitors, but they still had a decent selection. I'd get a pizza here again.