2018 Favorites List

I'll post these early this year. I think I asked for more authentic Chinese last year. Wish granted. I've already railed against the effusion of high priced (and low) Mexican and poke joints and ramen bars. You know what I think they say about the state of our community and culture in general. Here's hoping they all die a painful death and are replaced with something more exotic. Or at least new recipes from time tested regional fare and/or slight deviations in representative locales. How about regional cooking from "second" or "third" tier cities and towns like Xi'an or Nantes or Como or Kyoto or Ching Mai? Or "freaky" things like an unbroken noodle.

And remember that these rankings depend on price points as much as execution. It's like boxing. There are weight classes. A few received bonus points for ambiance/panache.


$ - Sausage Shack, Chou La La, Sticky Rice, Papa Sabz, Brownierie, Nam Giao Deli, Bahn Mi Cali, Geni's Philly Steaks.

$$ - Tamale Co, Pizzeria Roberti, 081 Wood Fire Pizza, BBB Tofu House, Pastrami Project,  Buttermilk Bakery, Zero Degrees, 5th Element, Stasio's, Bem Bom, Mr. Worldwide Famous, Ka

$$$ - Glass Knife, El Buda, Peter's Kitchen, Grille's Lakeside, Café Linger, Peppino's, Wa Sushi, Tartine, Grato

$$$$ - Kadence, Mario and Enzo's

Cinco, Winter Park - Closed

I had lunch at this Mexican restaurant across from Trader Joe's on 17-92/ N. Orlando today. I was less than pleased a few weeks back when I saw that this place (Carmel Kitchen) had switched over to yet another Mexican restaurant. One with presumptions to boot. After espying the $4 soda charge on the menu I became more so. Then the uninspired and limited menu really had them playing from behind. I ordered the reasonably priced (for here) taco plate at $15. It came with three tacos and beans and rice. I tried to over-sample (for you) and ended up with a chicken in a lettuce (romaine leaf) cup, a carne asada in a soft corn tortilla and a barbacoa in a soft wheat tortilla. They were all mediocre. The chicken was dry. The carne was cooked medium, but, the pickled onions clashed with the aged cotija. Same with the chipotle bbq sauce on the barbacoa. Plus a third of the "pull" was uneatable. This isn't the first time I've been perplexed by the flavor choices at "high priced" Mexican endeavors around town. They seem to be embarrassed by the pricing and compensate by piling add ons onto it. I know it was early on Christmas Eve day, but, I doubt the execution is ever noteworthy. And like I said, the recipes are suspect. And even if wise, all they seem to do is provide coverage for ham handedness with the principal elements of the dish. The rest of the menu is pricy. $30 salmon. $30 pork chops. $20+ for enchiladas and other Mexican staples. They seem more concerned with the booze. It is featured more broadly on the menu. Which falls apart while you are reading it. The chips were good. The salsa had no kick. Tasted like pureed tomatoes. I want to digress for a second to wonder how there is always one "razor blade" tortilla chip in every batch. Felons shouldn't ask for cakes with dangerous objects baked in. They should ask for tortilla chips. Back to the meal. It took a while to arrive. Thirty minutes. Only two other diners competing for the attention of the kitchen. I'll accept the possibility that they cook fresh to order. I do this because the rice and beans were fresh. And flavorful. The style seemed a bit more Latin than Mexican. Maybe that is why the main components seemed to suffer. Maybe the cook is Latin? The space is cute. They added a little flair to the outside. Two murals in the dining room. A cliché "skeleton painted" senorita and a tribal figure in an agave pina. The rest of the place is the same if I remember correctly. They have parking in the back. They were nice. They gave me a free margarita coupon on the back of the business card. I'm not sure if they would have extended that generosity unless I had asked for the card and they all have that printed on the back. In any case, I have one. Which is good because I think they start at $16. I'm pretty sure they had one on the menu at $29. The menu said they plan on opening in NYC. I think even Gotham-ites are familiar enough with Mexican cuisine at this point to think twice about the price to value ratio. They have been open for six months. It's odd that their name fits perfectly with what score I would assign them. They were less than necessary and even more so after sampling them. I wish I could have ended the year off on a more positive note. Hate to be Grichy. Not really. But, yes in this case.

*I was going to try out a new Italian pizza chain in Maitland, but, they said they won't open until January 20 something. It's called Midici.

Taste of Chengdu, West Colonial *LV Travel Notes

I went to this new (6 months) Sichuan restaurant aside a Best Western for lunch on Wednesday. They have started running a food show by guy who was at the forefront of these kind of shows (Martin Yan) on UCF PBS lately. And the shows have all centered around Chengdu. So my interest was already kindled. I would have been here earlier, but, it was always on a Monday and they are closed then. Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan province (SW China). The chef here once ran Zen at the Omni Orlando. If that is the one at Champions Gate, I may have seen it. I don't think I ate there. He has developed a pretty robust menu. It features the land and sea and even oddities such as pig intestine and rabbit. Not a ton of freak show material, but enough to make it interesting. They did say something about "changing" the menu, so, let's hope they don't dumb it down too much. They initially tried to hide the lunch special for me, but, I got one and tried the shredded pork with spicy garlic something or other. It came with rice (fried) and soup (egg drop) for $8. That was less than the price of the app (rabbit) I was going to order off the main menu. The pork (strips) was fine. It came with sliced peppers and onions and mushrooms. The fried rice was barely fried. And too fluffy. The soup was good. Not too salty. I also ordered Spicy Dan Dan Noodles with Minced Pork for $7. Either this or the lunch special would have been enough on their own. I powered through like a good soldier though. The noodles were good. The pork was fine. Two versions. Nice heat. Service was a bit anxious. Nice though. The hostess chose to chat with me. The table next to me had a guy who sounded like Javier Bardem and they were ordering everything and enjoying it. No air holes to the forehead. The place seats about eighty and started filling up. The place looks clean and redone. I think it was a diner with a Hollywood theme the last time I was here. It is before that huge police headquarters if you are coming from I-4. I'd go back. They said they do the "American" breakfast for the hotel. I'm not sure if anyone can enjoy it.

*I'll hip you to some Asian places I ate at in Las Vegas this week since we are on the subject. The last four have been on TV. They are all on or just off Spring Mountain Road. It starts at the Wynn. I found it looking for some place called Raku. It has a ton of Asian restaurants. And almost as many rub out joints. Here's the list.

Kapit Bahay, Mian Sichuan Noodle, Takopa, Pho 87, Joyful House, Hot N Juicy Crawish "The Original Location" (Richman), Hobak Korean BBQ (Zimmern). Consult TVFOODMAPS if interested. Kaizen sushi across from the Hard Rock also gets 4.5 stars on Yelp. It was ok.

I also should point out a potential franchise called Bruxie. They do chicken and waffle sandwiches, etc.

Capital Grille, International Drive

I hauled my ass over to Pointe Orlando from the airport to try a place (Itta Bene) that ended up throwing a private party. I audibled to this. I've been to other ones in other cities and that plus the prices have left it off my to do list. I had a wedge salad for $12 and steak tartare for $18. Both from the appetizer section. The wedge was ok. Lots of blue cheese dressing and thick bacon bits and a few cherry tomatoes. They say the tartare feeds two people. As an app, I agree. One as a main. It was good. Not very minced. Atop some egg and onions and capers. The tiny capers were good. A side of pickled onions. Five toast halves. Very cracker like. A bit dressed. These things (and soup) are the only off ramps on the menu. The cheapest main was a salmon at $29 or $39. No matter. Most everything else is over $40 anyway. Be prepared for that. The one salmon is saw served was burned. Service was good. At the bar. The tap water is Fiji. That saves a few bucks. They validated the parking. That saved $4 more. It was full. It has that steakhouse look. Black on black. Wood and leather. Easier to stomach when it is being expensed, but, digestible on your own.

*They are opening a place called Hop Daddy. Across from CG. I think it was an ice bar. There is a bowlorama/arcade in the rear of PO called Main event. I'm not sure how long that has been there. It's huge.

Pizza Pie Tutorial

The following is from John Crudele at the NY Post (today's issue).

Full pizza pies are smaller than the "by the slice" pies. 16" versus 20". If you posit that a full pizza is $15 and a slice is $2.50, given the eight slices in a pie, then the per slice price is less. 6 cents versus 7 cents per square inch. The full pie is 201 square inches. The sliced pie is 304 square inches. Per slice that is 25.12 versus 39.25 square inches. So. even with the higher slice cost, you are getting more pie and it costs less per inch if you do the math. According to article, this is common practice. They say that is why they will never sell you the whole "on display" pie and you have to wait for a "fresh" one. Give it a looksy.

Grub Crawl - Disney Springs: D-Luxe Burger, BB Wolfe's Sausage Co and Chicken Guy

I dropped by here at lunch last week to sweep up the remaining dust from my list that normally would have happened over Thanksgiving. That is no longer going to be a tradition. The "wonderful" people at Dismay decided to raise the prices at the Advocare Invitational again. Now a once $10 all access session (2) ticket costs $55. Or from $20 to $110. For mostly garbage match ups.

D-Luxe Burger - I'm not sure if they are Disney owned, but, they might as well be. This was the most expensive and the worst of the three places I went to on this day. The place looks like a Zaxby's. It's supposed to be a ranch/barn. The burger was a blend of machine pressed fast food hockey puck and house burger. It was the worst of both worlds. Rare/cold inside. Rubbery outside. And it was greasy and salty. I had been using a pound of cheap ground meat (for meat sauce) at 70-30 that week and it gave off this amount of liquid fat as this burger. It came with some limp veg and a brioche bun. I find brioche too rich. Especially when paired with this much fat. This joke cost $10+. They also offered $8 fries that looked (battered) like Burger King fries. A soda was $4. The menu has a few burgers, one chicken sandwich and a grilled cheese on the kid's menu. I was expecting very little and got less. They also gave you a pager for some reason. They came and served the meal. They need the beeper. I need a sign. I'm not even going to tell you where it is. That is to help you.

BB Wolf's Sausage Co - I won't tell you where this is either. It's a kiosk that sells a few $9 sausages and a few slightly less expensive snacks. I had a pretzel twist because it was the cheapest thing I could get away with. It cost $6+. It wasn't very big, but, it was ok. It came wit two dips. A cheese fondue and mustard. I wonder how much they cost at Wetzel's Pretzel's? I just got that this Big Bad Wolf's Sausage stand. Slightly meta. Double entendre?

Chicken Guy - I was on the way out (confirming Wolfgang Puck's was open) and saw this Guy Fieri fast food chicken spot. I grabbed a Sauce Boss to go for $6. It was just two fried tenderloins (ala Zaxby's - again) on a bun with shredded lettuce and tomato. Sadly, it far exceeded anything else I sampled that day. If I had a family at Disney, this the cheapest/best option. It  has chicken sandwiches, salads, tenders, slaw, fries, street corn, fried pickle chips, mac and two desserts (one has Apple Jacks)  They have a ton of sauce combinations. My order allowed my to select any two. I think I did something green (lime and/ot chili and/or avocado) twice over. The place is an order at the counter type. It looks new and plastic-y. Clean feel. It just got in before the line got long. I think they opened in August. It is across from Wolgang Puck's. A left off the parking lot escalators.

*Jaleo is not ready. They are adding some kind of pub next to the proposed NBA place down by the Cirque tent. They aren't charging for parking in the Lime lot, yet.