2021 Favorites List and Travel Notes Index

It was another rough year for the industry. Few break throughs. Lots of reductive concepts. Lots of snack bar level ambition (pizza, tacos, burgers, donuts, ramen, etc). Lots of poor execution. Lots of turmoil. Once again, I had to grade on a curve just to fill this out.

$$$$-

$$$- Osphere, Aji, Hunan Taste

$$- Shanghai Lane, Tokyo Ramen, Thai Halal Grill, Ramen Takagi. Deli Desires, Mei's Kitchen, This Little Piggy (Winter Garden), Ceviche Express (Mount Dora), Cryderman Barbeque (Cocoa Village)

$- Taino's Bakery, Parva, Ziggy's

Travel Notes Index

January 31 - UT

February 5 - SC/GA

February 19 - MT

March 10 - FL

March 12 - AL/MS

March 14 - LA

March 17 - TX

April 2 - NC/SC

April 18 - CO

May 4 - AZ

May 24 - OH/MI/IN/KY/TN

May 31 - FL GC

June 14 - NY/NE

July 2 - OR/NV

July 4 - CA

August 1 - SD/ND/MN/WI/IA/MO

August 19 - FL

August 23 - NC/SC/VA

August 25 - PA/NY/MD

September 12 - LA/TX/OK/AR

September 15 - FL/AL/MS

October 8 - Nantucket

October 31 - NM/TX/AZ

November 4 - NV/UT/CO

November 12 - FL Keys

November 18 - FL GC

November 23 - FL/AL

December 10 - FL Keys

December 20 - SC/GA

Ma-Se Sushi Eatery, Longwood *SC/GA Travel Notes

I tried this partially Japanese and partially Thai/Lao place on Friday at dinner. It replaces some whacky sandwich shop from Jacksonville or Tampa that was in this strip mall with a car wash and a pizzeria. Near the tracks on 434. It confused me. I thought it was just sushi. The menu is half Thai+. That always gives me pause. Although one of the two chefs may have been at least half Japanese. It's harder to look for "traits" when masks are worn. I did see a sign (far away) proclaiming Jiro a sushi chef. The first name (last names go first ) was very long though. Long enough to be Thai. Any way. I just trust Japanese chefs more with my sushi. Not that others can't learn the skill. They can. It's just an odds game. Remember when incorporating statistical logic showed you were endowed with a MORE advanced mind? In this case, I may have been right. Or wrong if there is a Japanese presence. I sampled two pieces of conch nigiri. The rice was bad. Bad temp. Broken husks. No discernible vinegar. Probably wrong grain. Etc. The conch was also spongy (old). It should be crisp. Like an apple. No flavor either. It should be sweet. The tuna I saw looked barely pink too. The salmon looked ok. And it is expensive. Only by a buck or two. But, that adds up. Renting this tiny location in a shit hole strip mall in a poor area of town should DECREASE the prices. Inflation or no inflation. All apps and rolls were also over priced. They did ply me with a sample tuna nacho. The tuna cubes on that were fresh. It was from the other sushi prep area. I didn't get to gaze at the quality of the fish in that area. And it was nice of them to do that. My main course was from the Thai side. Part curiosity. Part damage control. Part whimsy. I had the Ma-Se Noodles. It only cost $15. I wasn't sure if I had had it before. It is the place's name. It was ok. Half the chicken (alot in the dish) was like plastic. Freezer burn. The wavy, thin noodles were nice. Came with scrambled egg, cabbage, mushroom, onions, scallions, chili and they said Chinese broccoli. Not sure I received much of that. The Thai side is less expensive. It could be called the carb side. Yaki soba, fried rice, lad nar, kee mao soba and two chicken and three seafood dishes. The salads and apps are "pan" too. Tiny room. Maybe five tables of four and a sushi bar for five. A section of one wall with some sheets ripped out of a magazine to make wall paper is the decoration. Nice service. One cook. One waitress. two sushi chefs. Sushi orders to go took a while. The lunch menu isn't a great value either. A sushi roll sleep walk at $12 or $11-13 noodle/rice yawn. They have been open for two months. If they just had their stuff together a little more, I would have loved to recommend them. They even give 10% off to first time customers. I just need more Japanese obsessiveness. Fresher ingredients. Tighter controls. FYI - the name is a play on words. The end of "irasshai-mase" (welcome) from Japanese and ma-se (let's meet or something) from Thai (according to them). 

*Travel Notes - SC and GA: I went back and added "travel notes" to the start of all of the previous ones. Not that it probably helps. Maybe that can be the search phrase/word? Or the full name of the area or its abbreviation? I drove to Hilton Head and stayed at the Home 2 Suites for $104. Ate a lunch of ribs, ps and mac just outside in Bluffton at Jim n Nicks Bar B Q. Turned out to be a chain. Ate a dinner of fried chicken sandwich with slaw and pimento ch and ff at Chow Daddy's. On Food Paradise. Ate a brunch "smoke stack" of fried eggs, sausage, pulled pork, hb, fruit salad and toast at The Smokehouse. Winner. Ate a forgettable Wavy Nood of pork belly and egg with ramen at Nood. Slept at the Grand Hilton Head Inn for $99. It was near Coligny Beach. One of the few public ones. Had breakfast at Stacks Pancakes. The Hilton Head breakfast of 3 eggs, sausage, pancakes and hb. Had a dinner of bad fried oysters and fries and hp at Marley's Shrimp and Burger Shack. Slept in the Sea Pines Resort area at the Inn at Harbour Town for $254. It's on Travel and Leisure's top ten Southern hotels. It was fine. They actually just called and comped the room because I bitched a little in a review. I had a lunch of their supposed famous Calabogue shrimp salad with ps at Salty Dog at Braddock Cove inside the Sea Pines area. Walked the Lands End beach there. Had a pre-dinner of chicken pot pie soup and fried chicken salad sandwich at Nectar Farm Kitchen. A really cute place. We could use a few of these. Grabbed a surprisingly good meatball sub with house made chips at Fat Baby's Pizza. Slept at the Best Western at Coligny Beach for $111. Grabbed a terrible broiled flounder with rice and beans lunch at Skull Creek Dockside. Left town for Charleston area. Drove through Beaufort, Hunting Island and Fripp Island. Visited the Magnolia Plantation. Didn't go in because it was near closing plus it cost $29. Ate a disappointing brisket and smoked pork belly and ps and mac at Swig and Swine west of Charleston in an area called West of the Ashley. Pork belly doesn't smoke well. Slept at the Town and Country Inn for $111. Ate a breakfast of two eggs, sausage and toast at Early Bird Diner. On 3D. Went down the street and grabbed a Boxcar fried chicken sandwich with pimento ch and peach slaw at Boxcar Betty's. Left town because hotel prices in town were redic. Drove to Johns Island to see the 400+ year old oak tree. Free. Drove to St Simons Island. Stayed at the Ocean Suites and Inn for $104. Visited beaches at Massengale Park, Coast Guard Station and 15th St. Ate a dinner of lobster salad and blacked shrimp on a salad at Mullet Bay. I knew it wouldn't be lobster at the price, but, at least others have the decency to just proclaim the surimi - crab salad. Ate a lunch of Huevos Esplendidas (wrap of scrambled eggs with salsa and avocado) at Palm Coast Coffee. Lucky with the weather. Didn't plan to stay so long in HH. Glad I did. I think I finally found the place (Van der Meer Racquet Club) my tennis team had spring practice at years ago. Was going to try and stay at two high end resorts in St Simons. Rates were too high. Can't see paying high dollar for Georgia. Who would? Hawaii maybe.

Pupusas and Burritos Grill, Sanford *FL Keys Travel Notes

I tried this two year old (seems longer) mish mosh (Latin American, American, Italian, etc) near 17-92 on 46/S. Park Ave today at lunch. I pass it on my way to and from 95. I disliked everything about it except the food. Reservedly. I grabbed two Pupusas for $3.50 a piece. One was what they translate as ground pork. In Spanish it is listed as Chicharron. Further confusing what that word actually translates to. The other was queso and loroco (a vine with edible flowers). They described this as artichoke tasting like. They took a while to appear. I hope that means they were being made to order. The pork pup wasn't sealed together. It split in two. Never had that happen before. It was ok. It could have been cooked longer. Corn tasted a bit raw. They offer a hot and a not hot sauce for it. Plus vinegar-ed "cole slaw". It adds a dimension. The loroco did taste a bit like artichoke. At least it was a new experience. They also sell pizza (saw two steel pizza ovens), sandwiches, gyro, Mexican items, Carib items, etc. The place is just a bare white square. No effort. No decoration. I expected it would be like this. Why it has been ignored. The pricing is also bad. Maybe 25% too expensive. A burrito was over $10 for instance. Pizzas were near $15. 

*I forgot to alert you to a delivery site called Gold Belly. They deliver from many famous restaurants.

**Travel Notes - Florida Keys: I first stopped at a place on US 1 in Pinecrest that looked cool. It wasn't. Just another three step bowl/burrito place. Called Diced. Had an ok chicken wrap. In Islamorada, I ate dinner at Ziggie and Mad Dogs. Had one of the better cheeseburgers I've had in a while. Cheapest thing, Plus an ok shrimp cocktail too. Was a Capone hang out. Now owned by a 70's Miami Dolphin. Stayed three nights at Creekside Inn for around $133 a night. Keys getting expensive. Seems like hotels are only partially renting rooms to inflate prices. Had mahi reuben at Island Grill. Had a great pizza at Enrico's after watching the sunset at Mile Marker 88. Had a meh chicken salad sandwich at City Hall. Dinner menu looked better. They have a nice wine store inside. You'd never think it from the outside. Scuba'd at Islamorada Dive Center. $95 plus $30 for gear (pre tax). Great coconut and coffee ice cream at Mr C's. Drove to Key Largo for happy hour (half price on already cheap drinks) at Jimmy Johnson's Big Chill. Went back for dinner at Old Tavernier. Mushy yellowtail snapper almondine with "risotto". Old school flop. Wrong rice. Mushy too. Expensive for what they delivered. Very good and generously portioned bread crumb encrusted hogfish at Lazy Days for lunch. Looks like a dump. But, great view and surprisingly good food. Saw some sick shrimp cocktails. Huge! Drove to Marathon. Stayed at the Sea Dell Motel for $145. Cheapest thing available! It was ok. Not fancy, but, quietish and no glaring disappointments. Saw sunset at Burdine's. Got a media noche to go at La Nina. Got a beef empanada, croquetta and pork tamale at Juice Paradise Cuban Cafe. Didn't want a sit down dinner. Marathon location of Captain Hook's didn't have a pm dive, so, I drove to Big Pine Key to dive Looe Key Reef. $95 plus $36 for gear. This was a better dive site. Sailed by Little Palm Island going out. It has a hotel that is $2500 a night. Ate a Turkey Club at Big Pine Rooster before the dive. Drove back through Marathon to Castaway for lionfish sushi and lionfish miso soup. It was on 3D. Had dinner two at Twisted Shrimp in Islamorada. It gets a 5 out of 5 on Yelp. Great "fried" shrimp and roasted brussel sprouts. Barely coated. Like salt baked shrimp. Excellent. And it's an order at the counter place. Low maintenance vibe. Spent the night at Travelodge in Florida City because at $80 it was $40  less than anything in the Keys. Had lunch in Pinecrest at another place that looked cool. It wasn't. Called Grown Drive Thru. Crappy Cobb salad for $11 because everything was WAY overpriced. Trying to get you for $20 to start. Another stupid three step fast casual place. Plus it was only healthy crap. No traffic snarls either way. Only rained Monday morning. Temps in the low 80's. Water temp also good. I also laid out at Founder's Park (free with Creekside parking pass) in Islamorada and Coco Plum beach in Marathon.

Grub Crawl - Thornton Park: 808 (Closed), Island Time and Sperry Deli & Creamery

I tried these places in on East Washington St today at lunch. This area is now done too. The area was pleasantly empty. I even found a parking space though the main area near the lake was closed off. They had a marathon earlier. 

808 - The area code for Hawaii. They opened in August. I had the two item platter for $14. I chose the Kalua pork and grouper fingers with white rice and macaroni salad. Served in a cafeteria tray. Lei type flower in the middle. The pork was ok. A tad dry on the outside. Probably oldish. They topped it with a tropical barbeque sauce. Big Portion. Three grouper fingers in a bloated tempura coat. Made them look bigger. I believe the grouper was frozen. It may not have totally been defrosted inside. Bland. Needs a sauce. I finally realized (near the end) that there was soy sauce on the table. That helped. Rice was good. Mac too. I tried mixing it up. A forkful of mac and pork was the best. You can add a wide variety of menu items to a platter (ie tuna or salmon poke, chicken, spam, etc). They sell pokes, handhelds, apps, etc. They were doing brunch (eggs, macadamia nut pancakes, etc) until 2pm. Probably just a weekend thing. Some traditional things like spam masubi and loco moco (burger patty and gravy dish). It's a fair representation of island food. Not a fast casual place. Sit down. Fifteen four person high tops. Thirty seats at an end to end bar in the center. Sixteen seats in the front patio area. High ceilings. Woody. Surfboards. I think Dexter's was here before them. Half price drinks during the day. A card said. Double check. About ten people there. Not a ton of Hawaiian options in CF. Could be better. But, could be worse. Not a waste of time. Service was good. 

Island Time - I think I reviewed them already. Forgot to check. Been there before. Not sure what it was called. Why I've ignored them. If I have. Open as this for nine years. They said this. Seems exaggerated. New owner for the last two years. That seems more like it. Now they serve more food. I got the Mangu for $12. Why? Craziest thing of course. They said it is Dominican. Google agrees. It was one runny egg with ground sausage and smashed green plantains. Egg (thankfully) wasn't that runny. One is not enough though. Sausage and plantain were good. Better overall than I expected. Ate it for dinner. Also had needless avocado slice and tomatoes. Small place. Most of the action is in front on the patio. Small bar inside. One waitress. One cook. One stove. They had about ten brunch items. Dinner menu was lightly bigger. I remember: a Jamaican grits and shrimp dish, deviled eggs, burger, etc. When you go past it at night, it seems like a bar. More expansive though. As you can see. Caribbean. Anglicized. Porch area was filled.

Sperry Deli & Creamery - Across the street from Island Time. Kind of grubby. Barely a creamery. Just a display container of Hershey's ice cream and sandwiches and salads (as in tuna). Small patio in front. I made my own sandwich for $8. 8" hoagie of turkey and swiss and Russian dressing. Turkey could have been Boarshead. It was in a package. They sliced it. Swiss was pre-cut. Lettuce was meh. Tomato was fresh. Too little dressing. Roll was mass produced and still under baked and over floured. Those need to go. That's the problem. It seems to want to be bougie. It's just ordinary. It wouldn't take much to fit into the neighborhood. The guy said it may close. I'm not sure that's a bad thing. Or. Do better! Clean the place up. Decorate it cutely. Get some better product. It has been open for two years.