Tandoori Flame, Longwood

I went to this new Indian place (replaced the old Indian place - Sizzling Grill) on 434 last night. It's near Max and Meme. I was going to skewer this place like the beef kabob in naan that I ordered, but, the food was good. The kebab (ground beef) "wrap" cost $10. slightly privacy. It was freshly made and had a nice white sauce and decent spice and veg (l, t and o). The naan was fresh and home made. The skewering was contemplated by the fact that they did nothing to the decor, tables were unbused, the buffet looked coagulated, and the chef made me wait a half hour for the wrap even though I was the only customer. He was finishing a catering commitment. The place is Northern Indian (Pakistani). I would assume that they are Muslim (by the menu and the fact that someone was downloading a song of what I think was a slow motioned recording of some poor guy getting his nuts squeezed) if that colors whom you think deserves your tainted infidel money. The menu has a few infidel dishes (hamburger, cheese steak) and the prices range from $7 to $17. It's basically the same experience under new management. Quality seemed to be good. You can buy the buffet to go per pound. It was limited and like I said it didn't look good by Sunday night. The place was empty. I think they said they have been open for three months.

Pub Crawl - Altamonte Springs: Miller's Ale House and World of Beers

I am only publishing this because I hate World of Queers so much. I went there Saturday night.

Miller's Ale House - Packed for dinner. They have a decent craft beer selection now.

WOB - I went here to see if this location had also done away with printed menus with prices. They have. It's still that terrible app that can't even sort beer by state. Of course they are too embarrassed to list their ridiculous mark ups ahead of time. And now they have gone overboard with the pretension. They now serve the same draft beer (am I even getting what you say) different ways. It is supposed to taste different depending on how the pour it (if they are doing that right). Whatever they are doing, I have never had a worse Pilsner Urquell. It tasted like Bud Light (was it?). It was flat and watery. It cost an outrageous $8. They didn't even give me back the coin part of my expected change. Isn't that theft?  I like craft beer and take it seriously, but, they are pathetic. And it's all done to raise profit margins not out of love for the craft. These places are always empty. How do they stay afloat? Oh yeah - they rip you off.

SSC - Radio Golf

I watched the final installment of the August Wilson series on Friday. It cost $10. I won't bore you with a critique of the acting or the material since it is over and most of the actors and the author has been reviewed before. I saw eight of the ten and am glad for the opportunity. I will say that I found it funny that in the playbill that they finally acknowledged the playwright's conversion to Islam and association with Malcolm X. I guess they thought that would have been too prejudicial to the community if they told us that in advance.

Kiko's, Sanford - Closed

I had a meatball sub to go on Friday at this Italian place on 17-92 on some cross street called Minnie something (near Lake Mary Blvd). It has been open for three months. Things seem to be going well enough that they said they are expanding into the space next to it. It's a pretty basic Italian menu with some outliers like escargot. The owner is Croatian (Kiko is Chris) and they said something about the family owning some place called Sergio's. The sub ($7) was smallish ans served on weird hot dog-ish bun. It consisted of two meatballs sliced in half. They were a little stringy and meatloafy. The sauce was an au natural tomato sauce. Not much mozz. The place seats about sixty. It was about half full. They have a patio. Look for a mostly untenanted strip mall. Nothing to write home about, but, the unadventurous seem to love these places. They don't serve slices which is why I went to the sub. They do have one unique approach. They will cover any of the subs and dough and make it a stromboli.

Grub Crawl - Winter Park: Sushi Cafe and Besuto (Closed)

I'll review these two side by side because the are across the street from each, serve similar food and have opened quasi-simultaneously. They are on University (I forget the cross street, but, it's one street closer to UCF than Forsyth),

Sushi Cafe - The name is fairly eponymous since it is just your average sushi play. It's in a strip mall at the location of a defunct Italian place (Barducci's). It has been open for four months. I had a special (not sure if it was every night or just Mondays) priced roll (3) dinner for $10. Salmon, tuna and yellow tail in a cigar shape. The salmon looked fresh, but, tasted salted. The tuna looked like another portion of yellow tail and was tasteless/vinegary. The yellow tail was iffy. The rice was pasty and sometimes tasted like vinegar and sometimes did not (not mixed well). Their soy sauce was Chinese (thicker) and that may be the canary in the coal mine. The owners may be Chinese doing Japanese. The miso soup was also terrible. It tasted like Won Ton broth with some of the oldest/driest tofu ever experienced. The interior is pretty ugly. Mismatched blue and black booths with a black primary motif. It seats about ninety. There were two tables seated. The real (and only) draw here is an all you can eat option. If you want to gorge yourself on mediocre sushi then this is the place for you. They also have some hot items.

Besuto - This place replaces the horrible Thaitanic sushi. The new owners are from Venezuela and you get to experience their definition of sushi. I was just going to get one roll and mark it off the list, but, they had an intriguing (cheap) happy hour still available at 6pm. I sat down to try the duck hearts and got carried away. The first (salmon) hand roll I had for $2.55 started things off with a bang. Nice warm rice stuffed with fresh salmon (all the way to the bottom). Then I had a huge bowl of duck hearts with shitaki mushrooms ($4). A steal. I was full by then. Things went a little down hill after that. They served me rolls on a few items that were supposed to be nigiri. I had two yellow tail rolls (Red Bull sized circles) which were to be nigiri. They cost $3.45 a piece. The percentage of fish was laudable, but, it wasn't very flavorful although they say the buy small quantities frequently. The rice quality also seemed to deteriorate. I'm not sure if the stuff below the original scoop was older or they just played with it (corrupted/overworked it) too much. The grains showed signs of distress (the outer sheath becomes flaky). I also had a tuna roll (supposed to be nigiri) that was tasteless ($3.45) and some roll called something Colors for $4. It was tuna, yt and salmon mixed together. Kind of mushy. It would have been nice if they comped some of the cost of their mistakes, but, I felt as if they needed the income so I didn't complain. They have been open for eight months. They fixed up the place a little. It still isn't attractive, but, they say they will continue to improve it as finances allow. It seats about thirty. There was one other table eating with me. They have some interesting items like pizza (fried rice "dough" with fish on top, ramen, Japanese style hot dogs and fried mozzarella sushi rolls. The pricing is very competitive/cheap. They are nice and seem to care about their craft. If you like inventive culinary experiences then this is choice you have to make. It's unusual to have such a late (for CF) happy hour. It really bleeds into dinner time around here. Take advantage those prices. The name means "best sushi" or something like that.

Ari, OIA

I had lunch at this Japanese restaurant near the airport on 436 over a week ago. It opened a few weeks ago. I had the sushi lunch special for $ 11. It was only five pieces of nigiri and a California Roll. The salmon and red snapper tasted ammoniated (going bad or chemically treated). The snapper was very dry. The yellow tail tasted "tataki-ized" (flame seared). The tuna was tasteless. The escolar was ok. The cuts were thin, long and narrow. The appearance of generosity not the certitude. The roll was forgettable. While the lunch price is probably about 50% too much, the regular prices are about two times too much. Most nigiri which costs around $4-5 were at $7-8. Neither the quality, quantity nor q-atmosphere explain the pricing. They have another location in celebration. Hopefully, this is just a case of the gas station close to the airport gouging desperate travelers and not an indictment of a corporate policy of greed or delusion. That's the first thing they need to address. Here are some more. They were preparing and storing trays of sushi (huge) in the main dining room while people ate. Hide this. It is unsightly and I don't want to know that my meal preparation is taking a back seat to some douche bag conference cocktail party. They have a hostess station yet the POS machine is in the main room. It is unsightly. Move it out of the main room. Would you put a toilet in your dining room? If the wait staff can go to the kitchen to get food then they can go there to do whatever needs to be done on that terminal. They don't hide the sight line into the kitchen. Same argument as the toilet in the dining room. There is a reason you hide certain things. They didn't go the extra mile on decorating and construction. It looks like a knock off of a luxury home by a cut rate contractor. You can see the haste or inexperience in the contracting work and the decor is all knock offs. They also need a dash of humility. Now I hope it's just the usual puffery, but, the print that they are the best Japanese Cuisine in town. Hah! It's not even all Japanese. Half the hot menu is Korean. I would bet the owners are Korean. Not exactly the pedigree you would expect to get the best Japanese food from. I'm sure all the best Japanese place have a Godzilla Roll and fried gator. Get over yourselves. You are worse than Amura who are B grade restaurant that also thinks too much of themselves. I'd pass on the 70+ seat sushi/bar room and 12 hibachi table back room (empty) unless you still think Benihanna is good eats thirty years and a million experiences later. And if that doesn't dissuade you then remember this price to value ratio. It's below the line.

Anna's, Winter Park

I had lunch at this Polish restaurant on Aloma (east of 436) yesterday. I had a mixed mini platter for $10. It consisted of 2 pirogis, half a kielbasa and half a stuffed cabbage. I was musing on Polish jokes (the one about how they lost the recipe for ice) and how I was going to rip the place for it's plastic table cloth, unbused tables, high prices and Americanized lunch menu and then I tasted the food. It was good. The pirogis were filled with flavorful pork (also available two other ways). The kielbasa was grilled nicely. The cabbage was thin and the pork filling was tasty and moist. It came with a mushroom sauce (others available). The kielbasa had a sweet jelly on it. They also serve bread , but, you have to ask. Service was ok. Polite. Informative. It seemed like there was only one cook (Asian) and one waiter. No bus boy. The place seats about thirty in room one and twenty in room two. They have a deli in room two. The menu is smallish and typical. Pickle soup was the one outlier. The place has been there for four years. They seem to have won the Trip Adviser award for 2014. Not sure if it was for all restaurants or just that segment. It would be a stretch if it was for all restaurants. The place was previously a French place and before that Polonia. The main problem it has is that it is closed M, Tu and half Wed. You could do worse. Prices average in the mid to high teens.