I stopped by these places today at lunch. I also tried to find a place (Selectos Fructos) that the Orlando Weekly said was opening up at 55 West. Either they haven't or they have and have closed. A resident said some smoothie place did just that. And it is becoming apparent that you can't spell DON'T without DOWNTOWN. The more people that move down there, the worse the quality (of everything) seems to get. It's incongruous. So forgettable. A shame.
Chela - This used to be some kind of tapas restaurant. It is on the corner of Orange and Church. I was really surprised to find out how "casual" lunch service is. It's basically a Tijuana Flats. You order at a counter. That plus the relative expense of the menu made me get two tacos to go. They were $4 a piece. I chose carnitas and brisket. They were served in tiny-ish, soft, semi-thick tortillas. They were stuffed. The beef was too salty and the hot sauce was bad. It came with aged cotija cheese and cabbage. The carnitas had pineapple and pickled onions with it. It wasn't as salty as the beef. But, am I mistaken or isn't pork with pineapple referred to as "al pastor" in most places? The decor seemed exactly the same. The menu seemed pricey. They want $3.50 for a soda. At an order at the counter level establishment! I think they opened this winter. I wouldn't be surprised to hear they opened again as the next played out trend. Poke anyone?
Nifty's - This is a deli and Korean restaurant under the movie theater where Chela is. I believe it was called Mochi before. Don't take this the wrong way, but, I think Korean food is a poor attempt at copying Chinese and Japanese dishes. Case in point - the Kimbop (I believe that was what it was called) that I ordered here. It's just bad sushi with (in this case) chicken in place of seafood. And it cost $9 for what is essentially a roll. Everything here was 50% over priced. A basic breakfast egg sandwich was around $6. A juice was $9. It took a while to get my order completed. The place also has suffered from a change in direction/ownership. The once stylish interior is all ratted up with junk. They tape menus to the counter. It's just aesthetically to a Japanese understanding of taste to what the food is to a Japanese (for example) understanding of flavor. Sloppy. Overlooked. I will accept the argument that bonchon (not theirs - I didn't try it) is interesting. But, let's get back to the smaller picture. I didn't find this place Nifty.
*I also tried (again) to get something from Jinyo in Thornton Park. They wouldn't (couldn't) do a to go order. For bad spaghetti in piss water? So, you open in a city that is a steam room? In the summer. You sell bad soup. You pick a place with hard to find parking? You pick a location that has failed more than once/ You open late? And you can't buy some plastic bowls to accommodate forlorn customers? Does it affect the experience? Do you need to slurp the dashi from a clay bowl? Lacquer?Are you that pretentious? Or that out of your element that to go business wasn't a consideration from the get go? And yes I realized that I just criticized Nifty for not being anal enough. Piss off.
No comments:
Post a Comment