Mamma's Greek Crusine (Tarpon Springs)

My family took a day trip to the west coast of Florida, visiting first Sarasota and then Tarpon Springs. We were drawn to Tarpon because of the Greek community, sponge diving, and, of course, great Greek food.

Tarpon's main drag is Dodecanes Blvd., lined with small shops selling assortments of t-shirts, Greek fishermen caps, and sponges. I'm not sure what I expected sponges to be but they are...actually...sponges. Shocking. There are different types of sponges, some are just for decoration, others are good for washing, others for painting.

There are numerous Greek restaurants all on this one street. We stopped first for an afternoon snack at Hellas Restaurant and Bakery. I had seen it highlighted in Travel + Leisure's Florida Top 40 Places Only the Locals Know About. Hellas was noted for its delicious desserts.



The bakery itself is adjacent to the restaurant and is not very big. When you get a lot of people crowding around the display case, there isn't much room. Add the fact it was a nippy 45 degrees outside and everyone was bundled up, it became a tight squeeze. Hellas sold numerous traditional Greek desserts, as well as ice cream, carrot cake, cheesecake, and even some Italian specialties.

From top left: cookie, Italian Cannoli, flogeras, saraigli, and baklava

I wanted to try their Italian cannoli (up to that point I had never tried one); we also purchased a baklava, a flogeras, a giant cookie, and a saraigli. The cannoli didn't trip my trigger; the outer shell seemed stale and I wasn't fond of the flavor of the ricotta filling. I'd like to give it another shot from an Italian bakery. The baklava was good but super sweet; the sugar syrup and honey over powered the flavor of the nut filling. The flogeras is the cylinder shaped dessert with chocolate drizzled on top. The saraigli is the circular pastry with the cherry on top. Both the flogeras and the saraigli had walnut and honey (just like the baklava) and tasted just like the baklava, though perhaps not as sweet. The cookie was probably almond based but I only had a small bit so I'm not 100% sure. It did seem rather dry and lacked flavor. Overall, we were disappointed in the quality of Hellas' desserts. I've gotten better baklava here in Orlando--Ali Babba buffet in Longwood or Powerhouse Cafe in Winter Park (one of the owners, George, mother makes the baklava...killer!).

After dessert, we weren't sold on going to Hellas Restaurant even though it was ranked #1 at Trip Advisor. A store owner we asked about which restaurant he would eat at, said Mamma's Greek Restaurant because it was home cooking--the tag line for the restaurant is "Where the locals eat". Hellas, he said, was where the tourists always eat. As we went from store to store, my mom asked the owners or clerks where they would eat--Mamma's or Hellas. Most said Mamma's and one lady recommended Dimitri on the Water, which appeared to be more upscale than either Mamma's or Hellas.

We settled on Mamma's and entered the dimly lit restaurant guided by a pitch man who was working the side walk. He burst into song, serenading my 5 year old sister. We were sold.

We got a table right next to the kitchen window which proved to be both eye-opening and interesting. It wasn't too busy when we arrived but more people arrived throughout our meal, filling up the small space. Our waitress was very kind and answered our myriad of questions (we're curious folk). For starters, we had calamari and flaming cheese as well as complimentary loaves of what I assume was the Greek bread noted on the menu. The calamari was good, especially with lemon juice squeezed on them; the waitress also provided marinara sauce which was a nice contrast. The flaming cheese was quite a show--my brothers quickly agreed that any place that lets you play with fire was worth working at. The Greek bread tasted like a white French loaf. Both starters were good and I would order the calamari again.

Mmm, calamari; we didn't tell my brother what it was until after he ate it!

Flamming cheese sans the flame!

For entree I chose the Greek Combo Platter which came with Pastitso (Greek lasagna), Mousaka, Dolmades (stuffed grape leaves), Gyro/ tzatzik, and my choice of soup or salad, and rice pilaf, vegetable, oven roasted potatoes, or french fries. I chose the lemon egg chicken soup and the rice pilaf. Both were excellent choices. The soup had a velvety texture with nice chunks of chicken and orizo. It had a nice lemony finish. My dad got the same entree and chose the house salad instead. The salad was nice but I preferred the soup.

The delicious soup!

The house salad

The platter was massive! The amount of Gyro alone could have been two meals...tacking on the lasagna, mousaka, and grape leaves plus a huge mound of rice pilaf was just ridiculous. Knowing I couldn't finish it all, I tried a little bit of everything. The Gyro meat was delicious almost on par with the Mediterranean Deli in Winter Park (still the best if you ask me). The grape leaves were very flavorful as well packed with rice, beef, and spices. The downers on the plate were the pastitso and mousaka which lacked any real flavor at all. It seemed like someone had forgotten to put in the salt. That was disappointing. The rice pilaf was very good though which sort of made up for it. My dad got the oven roasted potatoes which were sitting in a lemon buttery sauce. Incredible!

Greek Combo Platter...more like a mountain!

The rice could be a meal all in itself.

Oven roasted potatoes...delish!

Gyro sandwich...a real monster

My mom's Gyro Platter w/ the vegetable of the day--green beans

We had coupons for free dessert with the entrees. They were all out of baklava so we got a cake-like sweet; it was cream of wheat in the center, really thick so it could be sliced in between filo dough. The filo dough had been soaked in sugar syrup and then the entire thing had been drizzled in honey before serving. It was a peculiar dessert but I enjoyed it, even more so than Hellas.

Mamma's didn't disappoint and neither did Tarpon Springs, a very unique community worth the day trip. I think in their hearts my family really is Greek. Opa!

Miller's Alafaya Ale House

We headed up to the ale house at Waterford Lakes Town Center so we could watch our Minnesota Vikings take on the Chicago Bears in the first outdoor game played in Minnesota since December 1981. The ale house wasn't too busy, though there were boisterous Bears' fans at the bar.

I started out with a Yuengling Lager and my brother got the Zinger Mountain Melt, a massive combination of fries, cheese, bacon, scallions, and Miller's famous (ok, I don't know about famous but it's a "signature item") boneless chicken wings, Zingers (aka glorified chicken fingers). It was good, what you expect from a sports bar. I thought it was a little on the expensive side for what you got (it was roughly $9 or $10).



Later on we order their Chicken Nachos; the plate was enormous just as advertise. The chicken clearly came from a can and was cold. The cheese directly on top was melted but once you started digging the cheese wasn't melted. Lettuce, salsa, sour cream, and pickled jalapenos came on the side which I was disappointed in...I just prefer nachos with everything piled on and piping hot.



I rarely eat things from the can, such as the chicken on the nachos; growing up we never really had that, mostly making things from scratch. Usually then, the apps would not be acceptable, call me a food snob but that's the truth. However, due to the place's atmosphere, the time of night, the pending lunar eclipse, the fact I was really hungry, or whatever, I really liked the nachos and I thought the pickled jalapenos were a nice touch. It hit the spot though I wouldn't eat it but once in a blue moon, just needed to be hotter! (The waiter was very kind and gave us more salsa, sour cream, lettuce, and jalapenos free of charge; and the service overall was very good.)

All in all, Miller's Ale House was a good spot to sit back and watch the game with a fun atmosphere and decent drink deals. Cheers!

Datz's Deli (Tampa Bay)

My grandpa and I took a day trip to the Florida Aquarium in Tampa Bay. For dinner, we ate at Dat's Deli and Market. I had searched for a place to eat and found Datz listed on Urbanspoon. Most of the reviews were positive but there were a few complaints about slow service and the expense. I wasn't worried about prices so I thought it would be fun place to check out: a gastropub + food market + reworked American classics = something I didn't want to miss! Besides my favorite restaurant in Orlando is a gastropub.

Neat way to use wine bottles!

We arrived at 5 pm on a Tuesday night so not surprising the place was pretty quiet and a number of wait staff were just standing around. We were seated immediately and presented with a menu. I try to check out a menu before I visit places because I have a horrible time making up my mind. The fried chicken and waffles had stood out when I had looked online so I ended up getting it. The menu consists of spins on American classics: pot pie but with lobster, meatloaf but its pan seared and topped with gravy and fried onions, fried chicken and waffles but the waffle is infused with cheddar cheese and served with maple syrup spiked with jalapeno.


I ordered a serving of their house-made potato chips drizzled with blue cheese dressing and topped with scallions. The waitress was kind enough to ask if we would like those brought out first since we ordered everything at once. The chips came out with complementary pimento cheese and crisp bread.




I liked the chips; the blue cheese dressing could have been a little stronger but the scallions added a nice bite. A surprising twist was what tasted like sugar on the chips. It caught me off guard since I expect potato chips to be salty. The pimento was just ok and I would have been fine without it. It was definitely better than the only other version I have had which was just grossly thick.

Slow service had been mentioned on Urbanspoon but all our food came out quickly which was due no doubt to the emptiness of the restaurant. My grandpa got the panseared meatloaf with mashed potatoes and peas, topped with fried onions. I of course got the chicken and waffles.

The meatloaf was good, very moist. It had a smokey flavor that seemed to be coming from the gravy. The fried onions were delish and I think they were battered with the same batter as the fried chicken. I did find it a bit on the salty side which is saying something since I'm often called "Salt Girl" by my family. But my grandpa greatly enjoyed it.


I have never tried waffles and fried chicken before; I'm not a fried chicken person but my last encounter with fried chicken in Alabama almost changed my mind (it was that good) so I was willing to risk it. The plate came with a whole waffle cut in half, a drumstick, a piece of white meat (I'm not sure it was a whole one though), and some spinach sauteed in butter. The chicken was a tad on the dry side and I would have liked a bit more batter on the piece of white meat I ate. The waffle was soft and fluffy just like the menu said but I couldn't taste the cheddar cheese. I liked the contrast of the maple syrup with the salt of the chicken and waffle though while the maple syrup had jalapeno in it it wasn't spicy. I would have thought that it would have been a bit spicy but just had the flavor of the pepper. My dish seemed a bit on the salty side as well. I wouldn't order it again and I am back to my old position on fried chicken.



For dessert, I got the 24K Carrot Cake. It is a ginormous log of moist, delicious cake which was not overly sweet which I appreciate. It was sweet enough to satisfy a sweet tooth but not sickly sweet. What really floored me was cake was in a log shape (I know, it's silly but I'm easily amused). To split a slice of cake, I have always found to be a quandary. Most of the time, the best part is the end which is covered in frosting. The log form eliminates this problem. No matter how you slice it everyone gets the same amount of frosting and it also makes it easy to eat less (but who really wants to do that with cake?)! Genius points! The cake was served chilled which I didn't mind but the frosting was really thick. The flavor improved greatly as it warmed up a bit.


Overall it was a good experience; our server was very friendly and attentive. The decor and atmosphere were pleasant. The food was good (portion sizes were generous) but not out of this world. Perhaps it is Datz, but perhaps it is also my own lack of enthusiasm for fried chicken. All in all it was fun way to cap my first trip to Tampa.

The McDonald's Project: Day 14

Two weeks! I bought my burger fourteen days ago with the aim to see if it would decompose on the counter just like McDonald's said it would. My hamburger ended up like Davies said it would, hard as a rock, though I have to admit her burger and fries look better than mine. Now McDonald's spokeswoman Theresa Riley discounted Davies' project, saying it was something out of urban legend. The Yahoo! article continued:

"McDonald's hamburger patties in the United States are made with 100% USDA-inspected ground beef," Riley wrote. "Our hamburgers are cooked and prepared with salt, pepper and nothing else -- no preservatives, no fillers. Our hamburger buns are baked locally, are made from North American-grown wheat flour and include common government-approved ingredients designed to assure food quality and safety. ... According to Dr. Michael Doyle, Director, Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, 'From a scientific perspective, I can safely say that the way McDonald's hamburgers are freshly processed, no hamburger would look like this after one year unless it was tampered with or held frozen.'" (http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_upshot/20101012/bs_yblog_upshot/mcdonalds-happy-meal-resists-decomposition-for-six-months)

Now, I was on the side of McDonald's; my hypothesis was that in two weeks it would decompose, grow mold, smell, etc. Yet none of that happened. I just left mine out on the counter, untampered; those locally baked-buns are petrified, and that 100% USDA-inspected ground beef is like plastic. I don't know about Morgan Sperlock's hamburgers in jars that molded but mine did not. Notice that nothing in McDonald's statement covers the fries...the one I shattered showed that it probably isn't pure potato from Idaho.

At the conclusion of my project, I have to say I will miss my little Happy Meal. I'm not sure I want to throw it away just yet. Below are comparisons from the first day of the project and today's final pictures. Pictures 1, 4, and 5 are from Day 1; the rest are from Day 14.

The McDonald's Project: Day 13

Only one more day to go and the project is still going strong. It is fully petrified; I wonder if we would put it in a container and bury it, if archeologists would dig it up hundreds of years later. A perfectly preserved hamburger and fries...Eureka!

The shattered fry from yesterday...

The McDonald's Project: Day 12

I decided to break open a fry today; I ended up snapping it in half. The buns and burger are completely hard and the fries only have grease to moisten them. I'd hate to chip a tooth on them.

The McDonald's Project: Day 11

Fully satisfied with turkey and all things that must be consumed with it, it is hard to look at the hamburger and fries on the counter. Yet there they sit, just about completely dried out. It can't compete with real food...

The McDonald's Project: Day 10

Sorry this post is so late but, no surprise nothing has changed. Burger is still going strong, if you can call it that. Grateful that I'm getting made from scratch goodness! Happy Thanksgiving!

Trying to show the grease seeping through the bottom of the bag

The McDonald's Project: Day 9

By Day 9 I hadn't thought through what I expected; my hypothesis was in favor of McDonald's claim that the burger if un-tampered would decompose--get mold, smell, start excreting weird juices, etc. According to Merriam-Webster.com, decompose means: "to separate into constituent parts or elements or into simpler compounds; to break up into constituent parts by or as if by a chemical process".

Would the burger be enveloped in fuzzy multi-colored spores or be perfectly maintained in its original state? Come to find out neither has happened; while no fuzz has germinated, the burger itself wouldn't be fit for consumption if it was the last thing on the planet. The only thing I can think of to describe it is petrification. Every bit of moisture is leaving the objects, leaving a nicely preserved Happy Meal behind.

The fries are matching the bun in hardness. The grease is dripping out the bottom of the wrapper, causing the dye to run and turn the bottom of the plate a gooey red.

My Mom thinks it is shrinking

The grease has changed the paper a reddish hue because of the dye on the
French Fry wrapper

Fries are hard and greasy...hmmm, seems suspicious to me!

The McDonald's Project: Day 8

My little project is coming along nicely. Little seems to have changed though my mom remarked that the food looked smaller. I agree and this is most likely due to the moisture being removed as it sits out. One thing that I noticed was the burger itself when in the light seemed to glitter. I'm not sure if this is due to something in the burger or grease on top of the burger. I tried to take a picture to document the phenomenon but I don't think it came out very well. You can see for yourself below.

That's a dusting of flour on the top bun, there

Are the fries getting smaller???

Glittering patty

The McDonald's Project: Day 7

One week and the burger is still going strong, the little Happy Meal that could! Some flour got on the burger bun and the plate, hazard of living on the counter where cooking is done. Otherwise, the burger seems unchanged.

A little extra dusting of flour never hurt anything

Fries that never change!