Hungry Goes Abroad: Key Largo!

Headed out for a day trip to Key Largo, a five hour trek from good 'ol O-Town. Our main objective was John Pennekamp State Park. We took a two hour glass bottom boat tour to Molasses Reef. We saw a variety of fish, the largest Loggerhead sea turtle the narrator had ever seen, and a squid, something never seen on the tour. Quite the ride!

Pennekamp was the first U.S. underwater state park and is home to the famous Christ of the Abyss statue. It has a variety of activities besides the glass bottom boat tour such as snorkel tours, suba classes, kayak rentals and a sunken Spanish shipwreck that you can swim around. The amount of people on a Friday indicated this is quite a popular destination for tourists and locals alike.

Of course, you have to eat so we asked in the gift shop where to have dinner. I had a place in mind but I was curious to see "where the locals eat." The girl loved the Pilot House, tucked away into a little neighborhood. We got directions and eventually made it there without any trouble. It is down a side street, located right on the docks. We opted to eat on the deck with a view of the water and the boats.



The atmosphere was laid back and the bar was full of folks calling back and forth to each other and the bar tenders. Clearly, they were the locals. Our waiter was laid back; actually, that may be an understatement. Extremely laid back would be more accurate. If it had been any other restaurant, he would never have cut it. But in this setting, I wasn't surprised. Don't get me wrong, it was bothersome, as at one point we were sitting and waiting for him to come back.

But enough about service...the food! I ordered conch fritters since I had never tried them and my grandpa ordered a conch chowder for appetizers. I thought the chowder was very tasty, tomato based with chunks of vegetables and conch. It was almost Italian in flavor and I would have never guessed there was seafood in it. I guess that could be a real downside if you are a huge seafood fan but since I'm not, I loved it.

The Chowder

The fritters were very good. The batter was tasty with a bit of a kick in it; there wasn't a whole lot of conch in the fritter, though. I don't know if this is typical since I haven't had it before. I loved them with a squeeze of lemon juice and dipped in the cocktail sauce.

Conch Fritters

For entrees, I went with the tuna tacos which the girl at the park recommended, my dad got the blackened Pilot House sandwich and my grandpa got the grilled Pilot house sandwich with added sweet potato fries. I'd be lying if I wasn't a bit apprehensive about ordering tuna. My only experience has been with the canned stuff and I'm afraid that scarred me. But I trusted my dad and grandpa's opinion and went for it. The two tacos come in a flour tortillas with shredded cabbage, pico de gallo, and house made taco sauce. I loved the tacos! The tuna which I got medium was very mild in flavor and didn't seem to be seasoned. Again, my lack of experience played in my favor as I didn't know if that was a good or bad thing. The pico de gallo and the taco sauce made up for any lack of flavor in the fish. If I hadn't ordered the fish, I never would have known it was in there.

Tacos w/ Tuna

My dad got the blackened fish sandwich on rye which had tomato, provolone cheese, and some sauce on it. The flavor was very good and I liked the blackened spices. I think they were a bit on the mild side for blackened but tasted good anyways. His sandwich also came with a pickle, tartar sauce, and coleslaw. I didn't like the coleslaw but the tartar sauce was delicious. It was creamy with a hint of sweetness which I think came from a pickle relish of some sort.

My grandpa got the grilled sandwich; I did not try his but I got a picture of it. The sweet potato fries were good but after having Bar Louie on Tuesday it is hard to compare. He seemed to enjoy his meal though.

Grilled Pilot Sandwich on Rye w/ Sweet Potatoes and Coleslaw

You can't go all the way to the Keys with having a slice of key lime pie. Again, this was a whole new experience for me so I didn't know if it was good, bad, or otherwise. To me, the house-made pie tasted sort of like cheesecake though not quite as dense. The graham cracker crust was a good compliment for the tang of the pie.

Key Lime Pie

Overall, I liked Pilot House and I hope to improve my knowledge on seafood. Key Largo was a great, old Florida location and I look forward to further exploring the Keys.

A Fellow Diner

$1* Burgers @ Bar Louie, Sandlake Road

$1 Burger with pepper-jack cheese...

The Orlando Sentinel's food critic, Heather McPherson, highlighted cheap burgers last Friday in the Calendar section. Among the great deals was Bar Louie's Tuesday night $1 burger. The * in the title is for the fact that you have to buy a drink to get the burger. We didn't know that going in and since we aren't soda drinkers or lemonade or sweet tea drinkers, we asked if we could substitute a side instead. The waitress was kind enough to ask manager and we were allowed to do that.

Bar Louie is definitely a bar, though they do have a children's menu. The atmosphere is lively with music blaring, games on at the bar, and a stage, waiting for a band. Our waitress was very helpful and gracious, especially when we had to reconsider the $1 burger deal.

The burger is a 7 oz. Angus beef patty, and it comes with shredded lettuce. You can add extra toppings like tomatoes, pickles, cheese, BBQ sauce, and others. 7 oz. is a pretty big patty; it's the same burger that is on the menu which makes this a very good deal.

The food came out in a timely manner (it was pretty busy) and it was piping hot! We all got sides instead of the required drink so our table was quite full of food. If you buy a drink or a side, it appeared that you could get as many $1 burgers as you want.

...with pickles, tomatoes, and complimentary lettuce...

...with cheddar cheese (left) and provolone (right).

The burgers were good; I got mine plain with just the lettuce. It's hard to say that they were really good; the patty was a bit tough but definitely meaty. I slathered mine in mustard, ketchup, and some of their hot sauce (really good). My beef (yuck, yuck, yuck) with the burgers is that they required sauce; in my humble opinion, good burgers don't require sauce of any kind because the beef is flavorful enough on it's own.

The regular fries; we didn't get a picture of the sweet potatoes

The fries were exception, both the sweet potato fries and the regular fries. They were smokin' hot when they came out so I knew they weren't sitting underneath a heat lamp waiting to be delivered. Bar Louie seemed to have a good system going--runners were delivering the food to the tables from the kitchen which freed up the waitresses to continue checking on customers and take orders. The sweet potato fries came with a spicy ketchup which had a great kick; I think that was jalapenos but I failed to check with waitress.

All in all, it was a good meal and I would go back. If you do the side instead of the drink, it's $4.49 for a really filling meal. If you do the cheapest drink, it's a dollar less. $1 burgers are the way to go.

Food Trucks Make Front Page!

If you haven't seen today's paper, make sure you head over to OrlandoSentinel.com to check out the article by Sandra Pedicini all about Food Trucks in Orlando. It highlights the buzz making Taco Box as well as a few other food trucks that are already in business or coming soon.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-03-04/business/os-food-trucks-orlando-20110304_1_food-trucks-bright-yellow-truck-social-media

5 Guys Burgers and Fries

We got to go out to eat Friday night and being a rather large group we all had to agree on the dining choice. I always vote Asian but I fear I am alone in that desire so after some hemming and hawing, 5 Guys was settled on.

I've heard great things about 5 Guys: great burgers, even better fries--the place to eat. I'm usually not a national chain type when it comes to eating out though there are exceptions (Chipotle and Mellow Mushroom notably) but this place was highly recommended by most people I know so I figured it couldn't be all that bad.

The set up is definitely low key. You place your order at the register either a normal 1/2 pound burger or a little burger with the toppings of your choice. The definite highlight of the joint is the nice assortment of free toppings you can add onto your burger. I got my burger "All the Way" and added jalapenos. "All the Way" consists of lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard, mayo, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, and pickles. An interesting feature is that fries are ordered separate which some people could find annoying but really, the serving of fries is so large it could be a meal in and of itself. We purchased for a group of 7: one regular sized original and one regular sized Cajun and that was more than enough for all of us.

After you order, your receipt has your number and once it is called you pick up the brown bag and dig in. We had a slight mix up on our order and even when they tried to fix it, they still got it wrong but we weren't going to spend any more time on it.



I excitedly took a bite and...wondered where the burger was? I could see the burger but I couldn't taste the burger. It could have been all the toppings (but really, they weren't that overpowering). I was sorely disappointed in the burger: it was dry and very bland, as if it was missing just the basic elements of seasoning, salt and pepper. I had to dump more ketchup on to bring up the flavor. And those fries that everyone raves about? The ones that are fresh cut, fried to order? Yeah, those needed ketchup and even a bit of Bar-B-Q sauce to help those go down. Another high point of the night was the free peanuts you could help yourself to--those were awesome!

It could have been the location (we went to the Waterford Lakes Town Center); it could have been the night but for a place that has been recognized across the country for having great burgers, I was really disappointed. I love burgers; burgers are one of those foods that have a very special place in my stomach; but I would not eat at 5 Guys again.

My unprofessional theory is that if you have to add ketchup to a hamburger or fries, then they really aren't that high quality. I'll keep coming back to it, but it truly is hard to beat The Ravenous Pig's Pub Burger. Try that and then we'll talk. It was nice to eat out together but I'm hoping that Asian wins out next time.

Not to mention it wasn't very well put together.

Vote for James Petrakis!

Today is THE last day to vote for The Ravenous Pig's James Petrakis, chef and co-owner. He is up for Food and Wine Magazine's Top New Chef award, a great honor. Let's represent Central Florida!

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/02/15/food-wines-the-peoples-best-new-chef-2011-gulf-coast/

Korean BBQ Taco Box

My bro in front of the truck; if you think he looks exited,
you should have seen my face!

Orlando denizens, rejoice! The first Korean BBQ Taco truck has arrived in Orlando. I've read about the outstanding trucks in LA such as Kogi whose chef, Roy Choi, was named one of Food and Wine's Best New Chef 2010: http://kogibbq.com/ . Now I can say we have one in our backyard and while I've never had Chef Choi's creations, I am pleased with what I had today at the Taco Box.

Located on the corner of Colonial/50 and Primrose in the Citco Gas Station parking lot, the Taco Box has a nice little spot on the far side of the lot. A few places for parking are available at Citco and I did see someone park at McDonald's right next door and walk over. While we waited for our food to be made, I was like a kid in a candy store, literally gushing standing in front of the truck (I know, I'm such a food geek). Let's just say my enthusiasm was not disappointed!

Now for the food; Tasty Chomps recommended the spicy pork taco which looked delicious from the pictures (Tasty Chomps is where I first heard about the Taco Box: http://tastychomps.blogspot.com/). The other options include subs and plates with your choice of meat plus rice. I figure if the thing is named Taco Box, go with the taco! So I did.

There were a number of us that converged on the spot and the girl and guy working the truck did a good job of cranking out the order. You have to have patience because they whip the food up right after you order it so the filling of the taco is nice and warm. I ended up getting the beef taco while my brother got the spicy pork so we could share. Each of our plates came with two half moon fried things with cabbage in them (very good), two seaweed type rolls that looked like it had been fried, two rice balls which were like meatballs rolled in sticky rice, one chicken wing (loved the sauce), and a bit of cabbage with onion and warm ginger dressing (could have eaten a whole bowl of salad with that dressing!). Quite the smorgasbord. The taco plus all the sides were the perfect amount of food. I've heard people saying that they felt stuffed after eating. The sides are little bit of this and a little bit of that so it doesn't end up being a ton. And the taco itself is just a bit bigger than one of Chipotle's tacos (you know, the soft shell ones that come in a set of three).



There was a bit of incongruency in the sides. Some of our group didn't get dressing on their salad. My fried roll didn't have any sauce on it (my dad was willing to swap one of mine for his). But I can understand that with just two people running the show, 10 people showing up at once to order, and making the tacos to order can cause some misses. No worries, Taco Box, I'll be back.

We asked for kimchi on the side and it ended up being raddish kimchi; at first, I wasn't sure about it but the spice and tang of the fermentation sort of grew on me. And, hey, it's healthy to boot!



I loved my beef taco as well as the spicy pork. The beef had a slight sweetness to it which I enjoyed. While the spicy pork taco was called "spicy", it wasn't overwhelmingly so. In fact it and the chicken wing could have had a bit more zing to it! I also had a taste of the chicken taco which my dad said had some sort of peanut sauce on it (next visit, baby!). All the tacos were delicious and hit that deep, comfort food spot. Like I said before, the sauces were really the show stealer both on the salad and on the chicken wing. I thought the sticky rice balls were a bit bland and should have dipped them in my leftover sauces.

For the amount of money (taco boxes cost $5.99) to the amount of food you get, the Taco Box is really a great find. I hope as they settle in they'll be willing to try new menu items. I'm already planning my next visit!

Pita Pit--Colonial and Alafaya Trail

Had lunch today at the Pita Pit in the same plaza as Wendy's and Duncan Donuts on the corner of Colonial and Alafaya Trail. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera so no photos for this one. The concept is the same as Subway: order your pita and then build it up with all sorts of free toppings (and toppings that cost extra). The menu definitely has a more Mediterranean bent to it as falafel, hummus, babaganoush, feta, and gyro meat were available but it has a number of fun pitas along with traditional ham and cheese offerings--something for everyone.

I ordered the falafel pita; I wanted it on wheat but they were out so I went with white. You can also get it on a bed of lettuce. I had romaine, tomatoes, onions, and tzatziki. The falafel was decent, much better than Ali Babba's in Longwood (but I feel Ali Babba's has been better in the past) and the yogurt sauce wasn't watery but thick with a nice garlic hint to it. The best part was not feeling stuffed--perfect sized, torpedo of a sandwich. If I need a quick bite, I would definitely choose this place over other offerings.

When You Can't Eat Out: Black Beans and Avacados...What Can You Make with That?

Decadent desserts abound in Orlando: The Dessert Lady, Jeremiah's Italian Ice, Sweet! by Good Golly Miss Holly, Blue Bird Bake Shop (I need to visit this place!), etc. Sometimes, however, time and money prevents indulging in conventional sweets. Not to mention that the ingredients can be questionable. To fix the dessert need, homemade concoctions can do just the trick.

At a New Year's Eve party we attended, a mountainous dessert of brownies, chocolate pudding, cool whip, and Heath Bar crumbled on top drew my mom's attention and one she wanted to replicate. There is a catch...See, we don't eat typical sweets; our family tries to make cookies, cakes, ice cream even, with alternative sweeteners such as honey, coconut palm sugar, or stevia. It can take time to develop a taste for these compared to white sugar but once done, you really don't miss the other. Thus, to make the dessert seen at the New Year's Eve party, we took an alternative route which included black beans and avocados.

To make the cake part, we made chocolate cake using 1/2 cup of honey instead of a white sugar and rather than using flour, we used black beans which makes the end result very moist. It isn't as sweet as typical chocolate cake but it is just as satisfying and high in nutrients!

For the chocolate pudding, we employed avocados. Yes, avocados! We added a little sweetener and cocoa powder which makes it almost a chocolate mousse.

Finally, instead of cool whip, we made homemade whipped cream. This is simply the only way to indulge in whipped cream and it is way easier than pie; the air can stuff can't compare (see recipe below).

For the Heath Bar, I made a creamy peanut butter filling which I spread and froze in a pan. My mom made a chocolate frosting/toffee for the top that we aren't sure how we got to the consistency and texture that we did so that could make replicating it difficult. We placed the entire thing in the freezer to get good and hard.

We layered the concoction in a clear dish so we could get a good look at our creation. Cake, then the pudding, then the whipped cream, then the peanut butter candy; we repeated this one more time. Once completed, we set it in the freezer for about a half hour to set. The end result was a rich, healthy, dessert which hit the spot! Enough of my opinion, a picture speaks a thousand words and I have a few!

Not bad for black beans and avocados!

Whipped Cream Recipe:

Place a medium bowl and beaters in the freezer until completely chilled.

1 cup heavy whipping cream

2 tablespoons honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

Place all the ingredients in the cold bowl and beat on high until stiff peaks form; you can test this pay pulling the beaters up and creating peaks. If they flop over, then you need to beat a bit longer. You don't want to over mix the whipping cream.