Read now, Thank me later!

So, it's been awhile, I know, but I've been busy. You know, eating, sleeping, watching tv, etc, etc. But , alas, here I am with a wonderful new entry to my world famous food blog. I decided to go in a different direction with this entry. Instead of focusing on one meal or dining experience, I am gonna give you my recommendations for some eating establishments that you may or may not know about.



310 Park South(winter park, fl on park ave.)-Easy one, blackened grouper sandwich with fries. and extra tartar sauce for the fries. trust me on this one.

Chipotle-Carnitas burrito, with chips and guacamole.

McDonald's-gross, I know, but i love me a filet-o-fish every once in awhile.

Carraba's-Spiedino di Mare(Shrimp and sea scallops coated with Italian breadcrumbs, grilled and topped with lemon butter sauce). Amazing.

California Grill(Contemporary Resort, Disney)- Spicy Sensation Roll (scallops, tuna, avocado , tobiko, and fireball sauce) Trust me on this one. Best sushi I've ever had. Good view of the fireworks too.

Outback-Boomerang Shrimp. And seriously, how good is that bread?

Ale House-Another easy one, chicken nachos. Make sure you have 2 or 3 other people willing to help you eat this beast.

Chick-FIl-A-Chicken sandwich, no pickles(ensures a fresh piece of chicken, trust me), wheat bun, light mayo, large fries with ATLEAST 2 packages of Polynesian sauce.

Fulton's Crab House(Downtown Disney)-Fulton's House Salad(amazing dressing), Fried Rock Shrimp(REAL good tartar sauce), and for dessert, chocolate creme brulee. I will offer a money back guarantee on that dessert. Seriously!

Cheesecake Factory-Crabcake Sandwich, wow.good. And for dessert, Dulce de Leche cheesecake. I just drooled.

Viet Garden(Colonial just east of 17-92)-Garden Rolls(good peanut sauce) and #25 Saigon Combo Rice Noodle Soup. Look out for that crab claw! I've seen the pineapple fried rice as well. Supposedly it's delicious.

Moe's Southwest Gril-Billy Barou Nachos, with chicken and black AND pinto beans. Also, please, for your own sake, ask for the Chipotle Ranch sauce. Heaven!

Olive Garden-not a huge fan, but the breadsticks are amazing, especially if you get a side of alfredo sauce. Also, their sangria is real good. Tastes like fruit punch!! If nothing else, get breadsticks, the sampler platter, and a pitcher of sangria(not the peach kind though). Also, I hear the mussels are good.
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Well, that should get you started on a few weeks worth of wonderful dining experiences. Trust me, I would never lead you in the wrong direction. In fact, you may just want to take me to dinner with you in appreciation of my wonderful taste. I never turn down a (good) free meal.

Wildside BBQ

Where the heck have you guys been? Sheesh!! About time you stopped by. Ok, now that we have all that cleared up, let’s talk about food. A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of dining at Wildside BBQ in Thornton Park. I had always driven by there on my way to Shari, which by the way is some of the best sushi I’ve ever had. Especially on Thursdays and Fridays from 5-7 when they have a happy hour that boasts $3 sushi, sake, and beer. Oh Man! So Good. Ok, anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, Wildside BBQ. On this particular night my friends Daniel and Mike (aka Shoob, Shobe, Shoobywig, Meat, etc) joined me. That’s right, no girls, just dudes!! I didn’t have much information about this place, except for driving by it on numerous occasions. They have outside seating that always seemed pretty fun. We were also let on to a tip that if you sit outside facing the 7-11, you can usually watch people get their cars get towed. That sounded really fun. Of course on this night, it was unusually cold for a March evening in South Florida. Oh well, supposedly we would watch people get their cars towed all night.

The menu was rather basic: Some good-looking appetizers, some sandwiches, and some entrees. Not all of the items on the menu were BBQ. They had some great looking salads, especially a Thai chicken and beef salad. But we were here for BBQ, and BBQ is what we got. I opted for a cup of chili and the BBQ pork sandwich. Mike got the BBQ chicken sandwich and Daniel got the BBQ beef sandwich as well as a cup of chili. The chili was really, really good, although Daniel brought up the fact that it’s really hard to mess up chili. Our only complaint about the chili was that it could have been a tad bit spicier. But no worries, we were cold, and the warm chili really hurt the spot. Too bad Shobe didn’t get chili. He must’ve been cold.

Our sandwiches came out shortly after we got the chili. Oh Man, did they look good! The bun was huge, but soft. A perfect combination. My BBQ pork was tender and cooked perfectly. The meat had such a great flavor that I didn’t have to drench it in BBQ sauce. AND LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE FRENCH FRIES. Well, let me preface this by saying that I consider myself somewhat of a French fry connoisseur. These fries were amazing. Steak fries, cooked perfectly, they were AMAZING. (FYI: for the best fries in town, hit up 319 on Park Ave.)

Needless to say, the food was great and so was the company. Now, I’m sure you’re wondering about this car-towing situation. Well, we saw ZERO cars get towed. So lame.!! But we did witness such things as bike taxi gangs, awesome people getting awesome beer from 711, awesome people with awesome neon lights under their cars, and awesome people walking around in t shirts and shorts and short skirts, obviously freezing their butts off. Oh Thornton Park, thanks for the great food and equally as great entertainment.

Bilingual Birthday Bash (a guest review by Daniel Ariza)

As my birthday neared this year I kept searching for a great way to get together with friends and celebrate. There were some unique ideas floating around. One even included a BBQ Sauce contest. I was pretty pumped about that but I didn't get quite the excited response I had hoped for when I told the idea to other people. So the decision was made to take the party to restaurant. I was doing a little research on places to eat in the Orlando area and I found Numero Uno Cuban Restaurant. Two things struck me right away on seeing this name. First I love Cuban food and to find yet another great Cuban establishment in our area was a birthday wish come true. Secondly I actually had been there a few times with my family when I was much younger. Probably about twelve years younger to be specific. This was a good sign. Any place that can thrive that long must a great place to eat.

So we polled the troops and and tallied the results of who would be able to attend the birthday extravaganza, as I was now calling it. Then my wife was so kind as to make a reservation for us at the restaurant for 28. The first thing my wife said to me after she got off the phone was "Wow, that lady was really nice". This statement as we would later find out was a continued theme with the service at Numero Uno.

Finally the day was finally here and I was ready for some Cuban home cooking. Upon arriving at the restaurant we discovered just about the only flaw in the restaurants charm. Since it is quaint and small so is the parking lot. There were very few spaces in their actual parking lot. And if you actually parked in one of those spaces you would have to make one of the seldom used defensive driving manoeuvres. Yes, none other than the twelve point turn. Most people had to park in surround parking lots that belonged to banks and other restaurants. This was relatively minor problem all in all.

Upon walking in I suddenly remembered being there in the past. Only now everything seemed smaller. This is just a fact of life we call growing up. In the corner was a musician playing some soothing Cubano music on a classical guitar. And on our left was the seating they had set aside for our party. Once seated we were greeted by our server and I dove into the menu. Again I can't say enough about the good service and the overall pleasant disposition of the entire staff. There were so many choices of entrees. Everything sounded so good. After most of the guests trickeled in we made our selections permanent by doing our best to butcher the lovely spanish names of the dishes. I ordered an appetizer of Empanadas and an entree of a Citrus Chicken dish served with rice and maduros. Maduros if have not yet discovered this delicacy are, sweet fried plantains. My wife ordered Bistec de Palomilla, which is beef marinated in mojo and grilled. Needless to say our mouths were watering in anticipation.

While we waited for our meals many of us had glass or two of sangria. Which was delightfully fruity. They brought out some cuban bread, as well as some plantain chips and a garlic dipping sauce. All so good. We did our best not fill up on bread and then made our way through the empanadas. They were filled with beef in a crispy flaky shell and very delicious. Then our meals began to arrive. The aromas were intoxicating and everything seemed to be cooked to perfection. Once we tasted our meals that thought was confirmed. My chicken had a great citrus flavor and the accompanying sides only complimented it. My wife's selection was equally as good. But as we began to indulge our appetites we realized there was one couple who had not received their meal quite yet. They ordered the Paella. A meal which takes a while to prepare so you have to call ahead. But just as we noticed they were still without food our waitress came around the corner with and enormous metal bowl. In honor of the presenting of the paella we all clapped and cheered. It smelled and looked incredible. Garnished with a cute tomato cut into a rose and clam shells lined around the side is was comprised of rice, shrimp, fish, lobster, clams, chicken and pork. They were so kind as to give me a taste and it was a glorious meal indeed.

To finish off the night my friends and the servers sang me a hearty round of happy birthday in both english and spanish accompanied by classical guitar. Although my friends couldn't quite sing the spanish version I knew the love was still there. Then they presented me with tres leche which is a smooth moist cake that I did my best to horde at the table. All in all it was a great birthday and great experience at Numero Uno Restaurant. We all left full and happy. Every single person in our party of 28 only had good things to say. The food was great the incredibly polite and friendly staff topped it all off. I think my wife said best "It's like we were eating at our Cuban grandmother's house". That is if we had a Cuban Grandmother.

Thanks Daniel.......I definitely agree. The food was great, the service was great, and the birthday song was one of the best in the business.

Check out Daniel's blog when you get a chance....... http://www.biggunsdesign.com/blog/

A new local favorite........K

This is definitely a long time coming, but definitely worth your wait, trust me. A few weeks ago I took my lovely lady to a restaurant in College Park called K. It's actually a restaurant and wine bar. It's located on Edgewater dr. just north of Princeton. Hayley had apparently heard about this place and had been wanting to go there, so I finally gave in and made reservations.

As we walked into the restaurant, we were greeted at the door by a nice man in a nice suit. He asked if I had reservations, which I did, and he quickly seated us at a nice table near the window. The restaurant was not as packed as I thought it would have been, but as the evening went on, the place began to fill up. The inside of this small restaurant was filled with artwork from a local artist that was exhibiting their works. There was a small bar inside and also a private room for a group party or office get together, whichever you'd prefer. I'd take the party, but that's just me.

Quickly after being seated, we were greeted by our waitress. She seemed nice. I believe her name was Katy, at least that's what the bill said. K has a fairly extensive wine list, both by the glass and by the bottle. I opted for a French blend and Hayley chose the Riesling. They were pretty large glasses of wine, which was a good thing. As we began to look at the menu, we both realized that choosing an appetizer would be a difficult task. The crispy calamari sounded amazing, as did the fried green tomatoes, but we decided to go with something neither of us had ever had before, beignets. Not just any beignets, but crab and lobster beignets. OH MAN, so good. This was the beginning of a great night, indeed.

For our main entrees, I chose the Black Snapper with Kim-Chi and Hayley had the maple leaf farm duck breast. My snapper was amazing, seriously, one of the top five dishes I have ever had in my entire life. It was prepared beautifully, surrounded by lentils and a delicious soy-sake sauce. It had a pretty nice "kick" to it, but nothing I couldn't handle. I'm not a huge fan of duck, but Hayley's meal looked great. It came with mushrooms and roasted shallots. It was a pretty nice sized portion. She offered me a taste, which I obliged, and I can honestly say that I was impressed. Both of our meals were so good. Oh Man, so good!

After finishing our entrees, we decided that it would be a great idea to order dessert. Hayley ordered the Chocolate bread pudding and I got the pear crisp. My dessert was unbelievable. At first it was hard to taste the full flavor of my dessert due to the large amounts of saliva in my mouth that i couldn't control. My mouth was watering so much. After that little episode stopped I was able to enjoy the wonderful taste of the warm pear crisp that was topped with a honey ice cream. It was AMAZING. Hayley's dessert was good too, I'm just not that big of a fan of chocolate.

At some point during our meal, the subject of food and my fondness for food came up. How weird!!?? I asked Hayley if my love for food bothered her, to which she proclaimed "I'm just glad you are obsessed with food and not something like gambling." I couldn't have said it any better.

To all my friends who are reading this....love food, not gambling, and make sure you head over to K Restaurant and Wine bar ASAP. Seriously, you will not be disappointed.

www.krestaurantwinebar.com

i love NYC, part deux

One of the perks of my job allows me to travel to different states. Traveling to different states means eating at new restaurants. Jealous? You should be. Last week, I had the pleasure of traveling to the New jersey area for a week of work.................and eating.
Last year, I went with work on this same job and I was already looking forward to eating at a few restaurants that i have dined at before. You see, this time last year, i had not yet come to grips with my obsession with food, but as well all know, I am a new man, no longer ashamed of my fondness for food. I am also about 15 pounds heavier than last year. Coincidence?? I think not.
A favorite eatery of the company is Tony's Touch of Italy 2, located in beautiful Wayne, NJ. It is close to the plant that we were working at and no trip to Wayne would be complete without a stop to Tony's. Tony's is an interesting place. For one, they don't serve alcohol, but instead go by the BYOB policy. It just so happens that there is a liquor store right next door. Coincidence? I think not. Anyway, I had an iced tea, so i didn't have to BMOB(Bring My Own Beer, for those not able to differentiate between BYOB and BMOB). Makes perfect sense to me, but i can almost guarantee someone questioning the "M". Don't question the "M"!! Another interesting thing about Tony's is the size of the portions that they serve. Oh man, sooooooooo big. Since I already knew that, I decided to go with an appetizer(mozzarella cheese sticks) and a chicken, tomato, and mozzarella sandwich, thinking that the sandwich would be fairly small, allowing me to be adequately fed thanks in part to the aforementioned appetizer. WRONG. The sandwich was basically two foot longs cut in half, so i guess a two foot long sub? Yeah, ridiculous, but it was good, real good. The tomatoes and the mozzarella cheese were so fresh. I was very impressed. Good job, Tony(if you're reading this).
As far as my eating partners, RL got fettucine alfredo. He said it was pretty on par with the same dish at Olive Garden(his fave). Stevesie got manicotti. The plate was seriously the size of a welcome mat. He ate the whole thing. Guess he like it. Damon got penne a la vodka. I think he hate two fork fulls. Guess he didn't like it. Oh yeah, Stevesie ordered cheese sticks also. He liked those. Rob Berry had shrimp parmagiana. I don't know where Tony gets his shrimp from, but these things were huge, like mini lobsters. So big. He hate all of them. He liked them. By the way, he totally ordered the same thing last year. Well, needless to say we were all stuffed. The amount of food that was left on our plates("our"=RL, myself, Damon) was enough to feed us for the rest of the week. Did we get doggie bags? Nope. Wasters!
Another MFI favorite eatery(well, another favorite Jacob eatery) was a small Mexican restaurant just off Times Square in NYC. We couldn't quite remember the name, but we new the exact location, down a side street by Toys R Us. As we turned down 44th and Broadway, low and behold, there it was. Viva Poncho, in all its glory. We made our way inside and sat next to what seemed to be a gathering of the Mexican mafia. But we shouldn't talk about that, they might be listening, or watching, but if they are, we love that restaurant. Anyway, the portions are huge, which doesn't always mean good, but in Poncho's case, the size of the food matched the quality. Oh man, did they have good guacamole. If you're ever in the city, do yourself a favor and stop by that place. Order anything, seriously. It's all good. Quick note: don't smoke in the bathroom or have the appearance of someone that has just smoked in the bathroom. "Excuse me, amigo, there's no smoking in the bathroom". (A real quote, from a real employee in a serious, Pedro from Napoleon voice).
See, now last year, a few of our coworkers had to go home early to finish another job. I was not one of those people. Myself, and two other coworkers stayed an extra day or so, allowing us to dine at my favorite restaurant ever(I just didn't know it yet), the MESA grill. You may recognize that name from an earlier post, because I know that if you're reading this, you have probably read all my others, right? Right. Anyway, after bragging last year about this place, one of my coworkers, Damone, requested that we eat there this year. Are you kidding me? He seriously asked if i wanted to eat there again? Oh man, who does he think i am. OF COURSE I WANT TO EAT THERE AGAIN. Duh! yeah, you read correctly, DUH.
Before he could finish his request, I was on the phone making reservations for Saturday brunch at the MESA Grill. So it's like Tuesday or something, the reservations are on Saturday. Something to look forward to? Umm, yeah. Well, Saturday came pretty fast and it was time to dine(or brunch?) at my favorite restaurant. Instead of getting my usual, yes MY USUAL, I opted for a meal that my sister had gotten the last time I was there, the pressed roasted pork tenderloin sandwich with adobe fries. Now, some of you may remember the fries. These were the same fries that Hayley insisted on ordering her own plate of that she ate like 4 or 5. Look lady, leave the eating to a professional....Love ya though. Whoa, who's writing this? Ok, back. Anyway, the sandwich was amazing. It had this really good chipotle mayonnaise on it that was nice and spicy. DELICIOUS. RL got a hamburger, as did my lovely sister, Rebekah, who decided to take a break from her busy schedule to eat with her brother and his coworkers. You're welcome, Rebekah. Rob Berry and Stevesie got this Ranch style eggs tostada thing, Oh man, kinda wish i would've gotten that. It looked great. Damone got a grilled tuna steak, most expensive thing on the menu. Good work, buddy! Oh yeah, the burger that RL and my sister had looked amazing. They agreed, I think, well, I know. They both finished their meals. So, i guess you can say that this third trip to MESA was a great success. Oh, Bobby(Flay), how do you do it.
Once again my travels out of state have led to such good eating. Maybe I should travel(eat) more often. Hopefully, I'll be leaving the state for work sometime soon, but for now, I guess i can deal with some of Orlando's fine eating establishments, like K Restaurant and Wine Bar on edgewater. I'm going there tonight. On a date. I'll let you know how it is, since i know you all are dying to hear of all my eating adventures.


OH MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Short and Sweet

1. Working with some of your best friends.
2. Watching your 70 year old co-worker stomp a rat to death with his boots in the middle of a busy period.
3. Getting consistently great food every time you go there.


What do these three things have in common? Chick-Fil-A


Oh man, I love Chick-Fil-A. seriously, who doesn't?? That chicken sandwich, those waffle fries. So good, every time you visit.

Some advice: Order your chicken sandwich without pickles, but with a pickle pack on the side and you'll get a fresh sandwich every time.

so, apparently people are reading this......

This past week, i received a guest review from a good friend of mine, benjamin clyde. i have eaten at this restaurant and yes, i do approve of the food but as far as his guest goes, well, that's another story. enjoy the review:

*disclaimer: i am not responsible for any spelling errors:*
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New Orleans lives on

By Benjamin Clyde



Yesterday, I traveled down to Millennia mall with Emily to do some
quick shopping for Christmas. Actually, I haven't done any Christmas shopping
yet, but I'm really having a hard time with ideas this year. So before I
could buy anything, I needed something to eat. Emily had spoken highly of
this place called Mimi's Café. Sounded like a little hole in the wall
place, but when we pulled up I knew we were setting ourselves up for a good meal.
It's like a New Orleans themed place.



First off, how amazing is a restaurant that has spice cake, coffee, and
punch sitting in the waiting area for people. I mean, come on, that¹s
just good manners, everyone should do that, and it was well appreciated,
cause Emily and I were pretty starved and had 15 minutes to wait for a table.
We did attempt for a seat at the bar, and positioned ourselves
appropriately, but when this couple got up, swoop, this lady charged ahead of us and
stole it. I probably should have broken her legs, but since I'm such an
even-tempered young Christian man, I conceded. Well done my lady, you
have won this round.



Finally getting a table, we were quickly offered drinks and bread.
Okay, let's take a second here and make quick mention of how wonderful the
zucchini bread was that they brought out. I loved it, and I don¹t know
that I've ever said love with zucchini bread before. But seriously, it was
a delight to my taste buds. Mmmm. Emily was sure to fill me in on the
proper tactics to acquiring a lot of bread in order to take some home.
Needless to say, we left with almost a full loaf.



But back the food. First off, the menu. I couldn't decide what to eat
cause everything looked amazing. Pot Roast Sandwich, fish tacos, pasta
goodness, jambalaya and the descriptions to everything were exactly how I would
want them prepared. But in the end, I went with the Cajun chicken sandwich,
cause I was in the mood for something spicy, and Emily said they had
huge sandwiches. She went with the French Quarter Burger. Cant remember
quite what that involved, but it had avocado on it, and it was way greasy and
unhealthy, but she loved it. And as for my meal, oh man so good. I
was so happy. Perfect spiciness, the bread was really good, you can tell Mimi
knows her stuff. I can't wait to go back there. Not kidding, it may
be my new favorite place to eat.



The only odd thing about Mimi's was the booth we sat in. It was one of
those booths that¹s like a semi-circle shape. Felt like we were on
display to the entire restaurant. I think most people like those booths, but
whatever. There was also a little kid screaming most of the meal. Man,
you got to take your kid outside when that¹s happening. Just not cool.



Anyway, Jacob, you got to check out this menu. You'll go crazy.