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.

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.