Steak 'n Shake in Lake Mary, FL

I've been to multiple Steak 'n Shake locations and have never really been too happy with their food. I'm not a big fan of burgers, and all of the other sandwiches I've tried have been dripping with a disgusting amount of grease. The salads I've tried there haven't been much better, but Steak 'n Shake does have pretty good milkshakes though.

I recently went to lunch at the Steak 'n Shake in Lake Mary and tried something new. I ordered a bowl of their chili and was actually pleasantly surprised. The chili was really good. It had plenty of kidney beans and had a nice kick to it. I'd get it again...

Mimi's Cafe in Altamonte Springs, FL

Several years ago, I ate at the Mimi's Cafe near the Millenia Mall in Orlando. I did enjoy my meal, but I never returned to the restaurant. Not because I didn't want to, but instead because there are so many other choices of restaurants to try in Central Florida. Finally, after years in between since my last experience with the restaurant chain, I had dinner at the Mimi's Cafe in Altamonte Springs.

After reading over the menu, the best deal seemed to be the three course dinner for $12.99. This included an appetizer, main course, and dessert. To start, I picked a Caesar Salad for the appetizer. While the salad tasted good, they put far too much dressing on it. There was actually a centimeter deep pool of dressing on the bottom of the plate. It was a bit of overkill...

For the main course, I picked the Shrimp Ravioli. The ravioli were filled with ricotta cheese, spinach, and chopped up shrimp. These were topped with more shrimp and spinach, tomatoes, cheese, and a cream sauce. I did notice that a few other tables being served received similar pasta dishes that appeared be filled with much more food. I'm assuming the bigger pasta portion is what you get if you order the pasta separately rather than part of the three course dinner. Still, I found the amount of ravioli served to be plenty to eat.

For dessert, I picked the Lemon Mousse. The creamy, tart goodness was topped with blueberries in syrup.

Will it be years until my next visit to another Mimi's Cafe? I liked my food here and had no major complaints, so I have no good reason not to return. Chances are I will be back eventually...

La Fuente in Brunswick, GA

In order to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, I'm pulling an unpublished meal from a Mexican Restaurant out of the Watch Me Eat archives:

During a trip along I-95 a few years ago, I stopped in Brunswick, GA for a late dinner. A Mexican restaurant called La Fuente was very crowded, so it appeared that this was potentially a good choice. The building appeared to be a former Applebees.

The meal started out with tortilla chips and salsa. The salsa was nice and smooth with a nice amount of spice.

For the meal, I ordered an enchilada dinner. It came with four enchiladas, two with green sauce, and two with red sauce. I had two filled with cheese, one with beans, and one with chicken. The cheese was a bit too chewy once it started to coagulate. The refried beans were better, and the chicken stuffed enchilada was the best out of the meal. Lettuce, tomato, and sour cream were included on the side.

I enjoyed my food, but not everyone I ate at La Fuente with was happy. A shrimp dish was ordered and although I didn't try any, it was reported that the shrimp were so rubbery that they were almost inedible.

On my last drive through Georgia on I-95, I stopped for gas in Brunswick and noticed that La Fuente was closed. Were they closed for the day, or are they out of business? I'm not sure...

Berrywise Cafe in Altamonte Springs, FL

Berrywise Cafe is one of the many self-serve frozen yogurt shops that have been opening all over Central Florida lately. Berrywise is located in a Wal-Mart shopping center in Altamonte Springs and serves both yogurt and Lollicup drinks.

During one visit, I tried their frozen yogurt. Berrywise Cafe had eight different yogurt flavors to choose from in the self serve machines. They gave small sample cups to taste the flavors first, then you get a larger bowl to fill with your selections. After filling the bowls with yogurt, there is an adjacent topping bar stocked with all sorts of good stuff like fruit, jellies, and candies. After the dessert is made, it is weighed at the cashier and charged by the ounce. A word of warning though, the bowls are quite large and the machines dispense yogurt very quickly. If you're not careful filling your bowl, you can potentially end up with an expensive dessert.

I decided on a twist of California Tart and Pomegranate yogurt topped with strawberry and kiwi.

On another visit, I ordered something from Berrywise Cafe's Lollicup menu. I had an Avococonut Smoothie with tapioca balls. I've gotten the flavor once before at another Lollicup and liked it. This particular drink was just as good.

I initially didn't know what to think about these self serve yogurt places, but I liked my visits to Berrywise Cafe. The whole self serve aspect allows you to self ration yourself, rather than the typical ice cream/yogurt shop where you have to order a set size. The flavors of yogurt I tried were all really tasty too!

Little Caesars in Altamonte Springs, FL

According to Wikipedia:

The Ides of March (Latin: Idus Martiae) is the name of March 15 in the Roman calendar. The term ides was used for the 15th day of the months of March, May, July, and October, and the 13th day of the other months.^[1] The Ides of March was a festive day dedicated to the god Mars and a military parade was usually held. In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known as the date that Julius Caesar was killed in 709 AUC or 44 B.C. Julius Caesar was stabbed to death in the Roman Senate led by Marcus Junius Brutus, Gaius Cassius Longinus and 60 other co-conspirators.

After receiving a $10 gift card, I picked up a pizza from the Little Caesars in Altamonte Springs. It wasn't until after getting home that I realized that I was eating pizza from a fast food restaurant named after a Roman emperor on March 15, the Ides of March, or the anniversary of Caesar's death. Coincidence is pretty awesome sometimes.

I ordered a $9 Vegetarian Pizza. They said it would take about ten minutes to make, but the people in the back claimed the cashier never told them to make the pizza (she did), so it was a bit longer. They gave an order of their Crazy Bread as an apology...

This was my first time ever eating pizza from a Little Caesars. I tend to avoid the big pizza chains, so a Little Caesars isn't someplace I would normally visit without the incentive of using a gift card.

Comparing this pie to what the other pizza chains serve, Little Caesars was better than Pizza Hut, but not as good as Papa Johns. Haven't tried Dominos new recipe yet, so I can't compare to them.

The Vegetarian Pizza was topped with onions, green peppers, black olives, and sliced tomatoes.

The pizza was okay for what it was, but there is no comparing a chain pizza like this to a pie from an independent pizzeria serving good NY style pizza. I wasn't expecting much from the pizza, and it was slightly better than my low expectations. I don't think I'll be getting another pizza from Little Caesars again anytime soon unless they entice with more free gift cards...

2 Years...

Today is the two year anniversary of when I started this blog. And it's still going.

Wow...

Raphsodic Cooperative Company in Orlando, FL

I visited a vegan bakery in Orlando on 17-92 called Raphsodic Cooperative Company. I had a Wasabi Almond Brownie. It tasted a lot like a normal brownie with the wasabi flavor kicking in as an aftertaste. It wasn't noticeable that this was dairy free. Pretty good...

Race the Lakes 10k Food

On Saturday, May 24, I ran in the Race the Lakes 10k in Lakeland, FL. It was fun (although paying to run, even if part of the money goes to a good cause, seems so silly to me). The race started in front of Lake Mirror, proceeded through downtown, around Lake Morton, through some neighborhoods filled with lots of old historic mansions, around Lake Hollingsworth, and then returned to the start at Lake Mirror. After the run, it was time for the post-race food.

They had water bottles printed up specifically for the race. I wonder how much of the $20 registration fee went to printing custom waters? Behind the bottle is a view of Lake Mirror and Downtown Lakeland. The stone arches on the far side of the lake is main entrance to Lakeland's underground tunnels that run under downtown. I'd love to see inside these long closed tunnels...

I normally stick to water, but I picked up a bottle of orange Gatorade. I felt like I needed to brush my teeth after...

They had boxes of bananas, Fuji apples, and Gala apples.

Fuji apples are one of my favorites, and I'm normally fine with bananas. For some reason though, bananas always taste horrible after I run.

Bagels!

Cookies aren't exactly the healthy post-race food that I would expect, but these oatmeal raisin and lemon coconut cookies were pretty good.

Overall, Race the Lakes had better post-race food than some of the other races I've run in...

Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy in Lakeland, FL

I had lunch at Abuelo's Mexican Food Embassy in Lakeland. The interior of the restaurant was set up to look like an outdoor courtyard.

I had the Enchilada and Taco combination from the lunch menu. I had my choice of fillings in each and picked an avocado enchilada and chicken taco. The avocado in the enchilada was actually a really smooth guacamole. Sort of reminded me of the guacamole from Taco Bell, but it was still tasty. No complaints about the taco. The combination also came served with refried beans and rice.

Abuelo's was pretty good for a chain Mexican restaurant. I'd place them above other chains like Chevy's or Don Pablos.

Fresh on the Fly in Lake Mary, FL

I ate dinner at a new seafood restaurant in Lake Mary called Fresh on the Fly. Their menu was somewhat limited with almost only sandwiches and salads. There was nothing that could be considered a seafood dinner, but I personally had no problems with the menu. The menu also shared that Fresh on the Fly only uses sustainable wild-caught fish, grass fed beef, and hormone free chicken.

I had the On the Fly Fish Tacos. The two tacos were filled with blackened mahi mahi, lettuce, pineapple salsa, and mango sour cream. These were very tasty tacos and only cost $5. Not bad, considering I've had similar tacos that weren't nearly as good at nearby restaurants for double the price.

One final thought about Fresh on the Fly. Their sign is really hard to read from Lake Mary Blvd. I had no problem seeing Fresh, but the rest of the sign is too small and jumbled to decipher from a distance. I probably would have eaten here sooner if I would have been able figure out what this place was from their sign.

Stavro's and Sons in Eustis, FL

I had a late dinner at Stavro's and Sons in Eustis, FL.

The meal started out with some garlic bread and a Greek salad with shredded lettuce, onions, ham, feta cheese, kalamata olives, and a pepperoncini. Ham doesn't typically come in Greek salads, so that was somewhat surprising.

For my meal, I ordered the Cannelloni Florentine. As described on the menu, this consisted of large tubular noodles filled with spinach, cheese, and veal. Differing from the menu, the cannelloni I received also had carrots mixed into the filling. I didn't see any of veal in the noodles, but the cannelloni was served in a meat sauce, so perhaps that's where the veal was. Even though the cannelloni was served slightly differently from how described, it was still really tasty. For $8.95, it wasn't a bad deal considering a plate of spaghetti with meatballs was $9.25 when cannelloni is definitely more labor intensive to make.

When paying, we spotted the dessert case filled with cannolis and decided to get one to go. The shell wasn't the typical crispy cannoli shell and was instead more light and flaky. The custard filling was topped with chocolate shavings on each end and was really good!

Little Saigon in Orlando, FL

I ate dinner at Little Saigon in Orlando's Mills 50 District (or Colonialtown, Viettown, Little Vietnam, or whatever else the neighborhood is known as). Little Saigon has won all sorts of awards, including best Vietnamese in this year's Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards. As the sign in front of Little Saigon said, they are "One of America's Top Rated Restaurants."

The meal started with a Summer Roll appetizer. These rolls filled with pork, shrimp, vegetables, and noodles were tasty, but they were also very skinny compared to the Summer Rolls from the neighboring restaurants.

I had the Hu Tieu Thap Cam. It was a soup filled with roasted pork, shrimp, krab, scallions, cilantro, and clear rice noodles in a broth. A plate of bean sprouts, jalapeno slices, basil, and lime was served on the side to be added to the soup. It was really tasty and was a whole lot of food, all for $6.50!

Of the Vietnamese restaurants I've visited in Orlando, Little Saigon appeared to be the fanciest. The restaurant itself had the nicest interior, but as far as the food goes, Little Saigon wouldn't get my pick as the best in Orlando. The food was good, but little things like the skinny summer rolls and a somewhat stingy portion of vegetables for the soup make me think of some of the neighboring restaurants that serve equally tasty food and are pretty generous with the portions. Good, but not the best...

Pipo's Cafe in Lakeland, FL

I ate lunch at a Cuban restaurant in Downtown Lakeland called Pipo's Cafe.
I ordered their lunch special that included a half sandwich, rice and beans, plantain chips, and iced tea. For my sandwich, I chose a classic Cuban sandwich, or the Cuban "The Real Deal" as they called it. In addition to the normal roast pork and ham, there was salami and mortadella on this Cuban sandwich. The pork was topped with cheese, pickles, and mustard, and then pressed. The sandwich was a little dry, but was still pretty good.

I got the impression that Pipo's Cafe was part of a large, franchised chain from the way it looked on the inside. After checking for other locations on their website, it turned out they are a local chain and aren't that big with only four stores in the Tampa area. Interesting...

Logan's Roadhouse in Sanford, FL

I had dinner at Logan's Roadhouse in Sanford. I ordered the Mesquite Wood-Grilled Salmon and picked a Caesar salad and mashed potatoes as my sides.

The salmon was good, especially with the garlic-dill sauce served on the side. I'm not exactly sure what was in that sauce, but it was one of the best sauces I've had with seafood in a long time!