Category: orlando

magical dining month

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september was (was! I am so behind!) Magical Dining Month here in Orlando. It is a month where various restaurants around the city have three courses for $30 per person.  We usually try to make it to at least one of these.  Last month was crazy for us and we only made it to The Kitchen.  The Kitchen is a signature restaurant at the Hard Rock Hotel.   It is on the property at Universal Orlando.
The decor is kind of what you’d expect – lots of artifacts from the world of rock n roll.
We were surprised how quiet it was.  They didn’t have much of a buzz and it was half empty.   This was a little weird for us and we felt a bit conspicuous.  We perused the menu and while I appreciate that there is a hefty entertainment ‘tax’ on restaurants like this their menu was surprisingly pricy.  We stuck to the magical menu and I chose -calimari for my app.  It was funny with both rings and tentacles and was a bit fishy for me.  I also chose… surprise!!?!  a burger.  I don’t know what it is with me.  I just love them.  This was an $18 dollar version and probably more expensive that any I have ever had.  When it came to the table it was sized for three people which may have had something to do with it.  It was super beefy on a nice butter roll and had ALL the requirements – onion ring, bacon, cheese, beefsteak tomato and lettuce and a huge oversized and cute condiment cup of fries.  A huge deep fried pickle closed the deal.  It was all really tasty- kind of excessive even.  Z had nice bruschetta, much chefier with heirloom tomato, balsamic reduction and crispy bread.  He also had some nice cedar planked salmon with corn pudding.  Very nod to fall.  By the time we hit our banana bread pudding we were spent.  The portions were so huge I could hardly enjoy my bruleed bananas and rum sauce.    It was all just a bit overkilled and didn’t have perfect execution.  We enjoyed our time though and I did love the burger.
We spent a few minutes as we wandered our way out looking at guitars and rockers outfits.

 

suburban pantry?

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I have been kind of obsessed by the idea of food trucks.  I don’t know if it is the fact that I live in a city that is bereft, by my dubious standards, of a great food scene.   But, I see them hyped on blogs and cooking shows about how great the eats are and feel some kind of funny kinship, that I belong there, on the edge. In truth, I don’t.
We went to one of the local produce slow harvest community markets Monday night. I have been itching to go but it is only once a week and it hadn’t worked out until this week. The market itself is usually outside but had moved inside a local coffee shop to get out of the rain and the Big Wheel truck parked outside.  So, what I find is something I had worried about.  I am totally bland and suburban.  It was totally hipper than thou and well, I’m so preppy, tidy and worried that I couldn’t really relax and enjoy it.  I love design and thoughtful living and this was some kind of service station turned into a grungy coffee shop.  So, that’s where I’m at.  I was out of my element (good) and uptight (bad).  The food?  It was good.  I enjoyed it.  This is what we ate from the Big Wheel Provision Food Truck.

  • Lemon Basil Fries $5.50 – such a good idea and so tasty – slender fries with salty lemon zest and Big Wheel garden basil
  • Seared Marinated Flat Iron Steak  $9   An on the rare side flat iron with ‘Lisa’s’ yellow rice and local tomato chimichurri
  • Big Wheel Meatloaf Sandwich Burger  $7.50  Salty meat slab with huge porky bacon lardons, garden herbs, local lettuces and onion cremosa
  • to drink?  Captain Eli’s Blueberry Soda and Root Beer  $2.25 a pop made with cane sugar
  • Roasted Banana Bread Pudding.  $5.50  Banana Bread – Bread Pudding with Sea Salted Caramel Sauce and Whipped Cream.  We got the last two of the evening.  A salty crunch on caramel is a unique experience

aloha cuz

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celebrated my birthday last weekend. My sister has been in the area for about 3 weeks on vacation-spending time between the beach, my parents and my house. So, I was able to spend a day with her and her kids along with dinner out on the the big day.
We had actually made reservations to hit ‘Ohana at the Disney Polynesian Resort about 4 months ago when I tried to get in there for our anniversary. It is a popular Hawaiian themed restaurant with a great view on the lake outside of the Magic Kingdom.
We were ushered in and told a line about Hawaiians giving you a loaf of bread and then you become family. They gave us a loaf and proceeded to call us all cuz.
We were also given a great seat right at the window with a view to Cinderella’s castle and them the food started coming. I hadn’t realized it is a family style all you can eat type place.
First came green with honey lime dressing followed by pork and lemongrass potstickers with a kind of carmelly drizzle and teriyaki wings. Then they brought out skewers of really good fire roasted meat, pork, chicken, steak and shrimp. We were impressed at the quality of the cooking over huge fires at the end of the room. Meanwhile, a guy played the ukelele and put leis on people for their birthday/anniversary and taught the hukelau. They brought out some excessive peanut noodles and steamed veg (brocoli and snap peas) and then closed with banana bread pudding with coconut ice cream and banana carmel sauce. Kind of excessive but a fun experience.

After dinner we took a monorail ride to the Magic Kingdom while the sun went down and then rounded off our trip with a breezy boat ride across the lake. I love the magic of Disney, the kind of false magic that is kind of dreamy and thought out. I notice the wear by millions of guests but still enjoy the show. We even found some funny art fish that we both loved in a gallery in the lobby. Aloha!

hawkers

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roti flatbreads with curry dipping sauce
five spice pork chopettes

hawker – one of the definitions is a person who travels around selling goods, typically advertising them by shouting and it is also the name of a restaurant on Mills that was so new they hadn’t had their grand opening when we stopped in on a rainy Friday night for dinner.  It is a place of small shared plates of Asian street foods and they have tons of options all ranging $3 to $6.  There are a few countries showcased including Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and China.  We had six small plates starting with green papaya salad and moving on to five spice deep fried green beans and roti flat breads with incredible lightly spiced curry.  After the curry out came roast duck tacos with korean bbq sauce and five spice pork tenderloin chopettes followed by pork bahn mi sliders.   Everything was really good and all we missed was a small bite of dessert but they said they were still working on the menu.  We will definitely be back.