Grub Crawl - Longwood: Maya Rosa, Simon Parrilla, Historic Bar Room and Fueled Up

I tried the first spot last Tuesday at lunch. It is on Ronald Reagan (all these are) in a strip mall that looks deserted. Near the 7-11. I tried the second and third this Tuesday night at dinner. The first is near 434. A place called Oasis Cuban was there for years. The next is near the light rail station. The last is also near the light rail station. I went there yesterday at lunch.

Maya Rosa Latin BBQ - This is a prep area for a catering company. The food is to go only. They also have a food truck and pop up pizza business. Messy. No decor. Realtor lock on the door. Door always closed. Makes it look abandoned. I tried a "Taco Tuesday" of pulled pork for $2 (usually $4) and brisket for $3.50 (usually $4 or $5). I also tried the pulled chicken empanadas. 3 for $8. I liked those the best. The chicken was a bit mushy. Not oily. Crisp shell. Small. Not much flavor. The brisket was by far the worst. They said they smoke it for 15 hours. I doubt it. Or they don't do it low and slow or it was old. It was half fat. The meat was tough as leather. No flavor. No "smoke" flavor. They cut it into cubes and reheated it in oil in a frying pan. The pork had good flavor. Seemed fresh. Both tacos came with a nice, home made tortilla with a pickled slaw and sauce. A large amount of meat and slaw. They also sell items like: bbq boxes, combos, sandwiches (ie fried chicken), sides, ribs, chicken quarters and desserts. They seemed to have raised prices since the last printing of flyers and menus. For instance the brisket sandwich is now $12 versus $10. The food is Cuban style. I think they are open from 11am. To 5pm? I think open a little longer on Tuesday. Check for what days they close. I believe they opened two years ago.

Simon Parrilla - Open for two years according to waitress. Menu says 2013. I forget what country's cuisine. I've avoided it because I went when it was Oasis. Plus it never seemed to have that much business (cars in the lot). It was ok. I tried the pechuga epanada (breaded chicken breast) for $15. It was three, palm sixed, pounded pieces of breast. Tough. I chewed some pieces over twenty times and it still was fiberous/whole. Probably fired and frozen and nuked or fried and refried. In addition, it came out too quickly as well to be fresh. They added two sauces. A garlic one and a spicy one. Fries. Not the ones I like. The reconstituted, dry mashed up potato (or something else), brown, greasy ones. These were at least (sort of) fried long enough. Salad. Mostly iceberg and onions. Some dry tomato. Russian dressing. Rice. White. The best part. Too flufffed up. They also sell things like: fried mojarra (snapper), mofongos, skirt steak, pork chops, chuleta valluna (pork loin), sausage, soups, empanadas, sirloin, etc. Up to low twenties for most things. $10 lunch special. $13 on WEs. High ceilings. Not crowded. Booths at left wall. Bar on right. Some tables in between. TVs with baseball on. Wood feel. 

Historic Bar Room - Was O'Shaughnessey's (sp?). Open for two years. I think it had more furniture before. Not much now. 

Fueled Up - Re-opened for two months. Was a "healthy food" cafe. Now they sell that ready made to go and added bowls/burritos of five choices of meats for $10. Mexican style, I believe. I tried the barbacoa with rice and black beans bowl. They said that would be bigger than the burrito. Huge portion. I can't really isolate the components since they are mixed together. The beef seemed good. Not a ton of flavor. Not tough though. Rice seemed properly made. Small grain. I wonder what type? Beans are beans. Also topped with lettuce and tomato and cheese and sour cream. Maybe it could use hot sauce? No seats. No decor. I believe the old owner sold out to the old cook. I was all set for it to be just over priced microwave dinners. And healthy ones at that. I'm happy that they branched out. Not open for dinner. I believe closed on Sn and Mn.

Grub Crawl - East Colonial: The Moderne, Sampaguita and Haan Coffee

I tried these new offerings near Mills Monday night. They are nearly side by side near Mamak. Parking is next to non-existant. 

The Moderne - It has a "the". So, you know they think they are important. They skate a bit close to the precious edge, but, they are interesting. There has always been a waiting list since they opened around the new year. I snuck in at 5pm. The drinks looked better than the food. I tried the $10 raw tuna salad, $10 calamari and $6 ribs. The tuna was a bit sticky and ham handedly cut. Soft. Still ok. Lots of wakame and cukes. Nice "bowling". The calamari was thin. Pretty good fry. Decent amount. Asian dip.  The ribs were the best. Two, large, old school red Chinese take out ribs. Meaty. Sticky sauce. The menu is what they call "tapas". Mis-indentified. Just small plates with a mostly Asian bent. Things like: $8 gyoza, $6 to $12 chicken, beef, Chilean sea bass skewers, $20 lamb rack, $12 to $14 sushi rolls, $6 edamame. Carpaccio, and wings. Mixology drinks. Huge selection of premium booze. Not so great wine selection. Ok beer. They said they are part of USBG Group. Two other Japanese restaurants. I forget which. Open for dinner. Hip clientele. Gold, brown tones. Kind of a Palm Beach vibe. Central bar. Patio.  If they harness the kitchen, watch out.

Sampaguita - It means Jasmine in Filipino. I had a scoop of their namesake for $5. Great. Homemade. Bits of lychee. Lots of cool flavors. Open for two months. Longer hours now. Especially on weekends. Used to only be post 5pm. Modern look. Mostly white. Rectangular. WiFi. Strongly recommend.

Haan Coffee - Grabbed a $5 Seoul iced coffee. Good. Milky. Sweet. Modern. Small menu of drinks. Similar look to Sampaguita. They said the opened two months ago, but, they were the first to open.

Grub Crawl - Lake Mary: Stacking Philly's and Persis *MX Travel Notes

I tried the first spot on Wednesday at lunch. It is in the marketplace at 46a and International Parkway. It used to be a Middle Eastern place (that gave me food poisoning) before. Near the Amstar. The second is in a strip mall on the way to AAA building. It was a fast casual pizza place before this. I tried this at lunch on Friday.

Stacking Philly's - Not sure if this akin to "stacking Benjamins". They opened a month ago. They sell sandwiches. I don't even recall any sides. Cold ones and hot ones. And of course the South Street cheese steak for $13. I was about as good as one should be. Thin, fresh roll. I believe they said the get these from Jersey. Good thin, beef. I believe from Maryland. Whiz and onions. Cooked in front of you. The cold sandwiches start at $12. They had their first place in the DC suburbs. Thirty years (or some such thing) of experience. Same layout inside. Around eight tables. Order at a counter. Big tv with ESPN on. Cool selection of drinks (even beer). Needless to say it is a welcome change from the Middle Eastern place. I will have to try a "cold one" (and I ain't taking beer) some other time.

Persis Indian Grill - I had the Chicken Chettinadu for $16. Not many chunks of chicken. Boring red masala. Full clove and bay leaves had to be picked out. I don't love that Indian places leave these (and others) in. Ok basmati. I asked for medium hot and it was hot. Some m'fer thin peppers in there. Probably Thai chili peppers. Typical menu. $14-$19. Most apps are near those prices too. A samosa is $3. Naan too. A few at $6. Sodas $3. They seem focus on the biryani. The most interesting thing about the place is a poster that explains the history of that dish. High ceilings. Spartan. White. A bubble tank up front. Tables are in groups of four. Three columns. Booths on ends. Six person tables in between. No buffet. They break between lunch and dinner for a few hours. Closed on Tuesday. Open a month. Doubt I will return. Nothing sets them apart from other Indian options in the area. Not nearly as interesting as Banana Leaf. I was hoping it would be fast casual Indian. Nope. Their first spot is in Omaha. Post script - I had half the sauce left over and poured in a $1 can of black beans the next night. That was better than the original. I wonder why Indians (or ones outside of India) don't utilize more kinds of beans in their dishes? They could have a whole section of the menu devoted to these. They are cheap and store easily. Helps their vegetarian ethos too. I, also, have come to (or been reminded of) the realization that Indian food (and most good ones) is all about the masala (sauce). Like French food, we should be focusing in on that. The meat/produce is kind of irrelevant.

*Travel Notes - Mexico: I flew Volaris to Mexico City for $376. I stayed the night in the airport at the Real Camino for $104. Ate a jamon and a carne empanada at El Globo. Flew the next day to Cabo San Lucas for $124. I could have had a $70 flight if I left earlier in the morning. Rented a car (Chevy Cavalier) from Hertz for a week at $138! Hertz Mexico site not US site. Came with unlimited miles and some third party insurance. I declined any other insurance. Not sure how much that would have added. They were pimping it hard and forced a 25k Peso hold on my cc. Not sure if they do this if you take the insurance. I currently have an issue with them. I alerted them about a scratched portion before and after. I video-ed and took pics. Their pics were in the shade. I received an email about this AFTER I checked out with what I thought was an issueless rental. We will see where it goes from here. My reply to their email address got bounced back. I stayed the first night at the Hotel Boutique Plaza Doradas on the main road in San Jose del Cabo for $88. It wasn't noisy. Checked out the downtown. This area may be nicer than Cabo now. Especially the nicer hotel area. Drove through Cabo and then surf town of Todos Santos (on 19) to La Paz. Stayed at Hotel Maioris La Paz near the airport on 1 for $70. Drove northeast to Puerto San Carlos on Magdelena Bay. Known for chocolate clams (and whale watching). Found a shell. Didn't eat any though. Stayed at Sunset San Carlos for $86. Beachcombed. Water not deep enough to swim. Drove north and east to Loreto. Stayed at Bugambilias Suites for $209 for two nights. Great roof deck. Was going to go scuba diving or snorkeling, but, water was cold and they didn't seem to want to take people out. Island they were going to go to seemed unimpressive in real life too. Just ate and beachcombed. Had a great pineapple paleta at La Michoacana Paleteria. Had very good pork (costillodos cerdo) tacos and quesadilla at tacos at Mariscos y Tacos El Cora. Ate a chicken torta Milenesa at Cafe Ole. Drove back to La Paz. Stayed at Hotel Zar La Paz for $59. Closer to downtown. Walked to Malecon. Drove down east coast through some towns and Sierra de la Laguna NP back to Hotel Boutique Plaza Doradas in San Jose del Cabo for $79 this time. Lesser room. 

I mostly ate (charcuterie/sushi/cheese) and bought wine/tequila at Walmart or Soriano or OXXO or a tiny market. Way lower prices. Compared to other stores and the US. They have a cheap thing they call licor de agave (Cielo Azteca). Ten percent less potent. Tasted good. Only 60 pesos for a big bottle. Exchange rate was just over 18 per dollar. Was 22 before Covid (last time in MX). La Paz stores wanted masks. Gas was MORE expensive than Florida. Around 22P a liter. That's over $4 a gallon. Roads were ok. But, I didn't go to towns that had dirt roads. 

Flew to CDMX. Took Yellow Cab from airport kiosk (you can choose from many companies) to outskirts of Historic District for 263P. Stayed at Hotel Plaza Revolucion for $246 for four nights. The others I considered in this price range or higher looked worse when I went by them for real. Ate a Ranger CB combo at Pirates Burgers the first night. Went to CDMX (instead of Mazatlan) to take a day tour to San Miguel de Allende. This was my main objective. It is a pain to get to. Nearest airport is still an hour away. This $89 trip worked perfectly. Wouldn't have wanted to spend much more time there. Not nearly as charming/lush as I anticipated. Ate a good 30P chicken torta Milenesa at some stall at Mercado Ignacio Ramirez. Ate two 30P tacos al pastor at Sir Loin back in Mexico City. Ate lunch the next day at Cicatriz. Pollo Rostizado with couscous and yougart. Grabbed two great sesame bagels (bought cc in a market) to go from Bagels Lepu. Went back to that area (Le Havre St/Londres St) the next day for Cafe Nin by Elena Regladas (some well regarded chef) for Heuvos in chile Cascabel and tamal de frijol. The first two were in a NY Post article a cut out last year. Also on that article were Choza, Pulpo and Niddo. Around the Roma Norte area. Mostly walked around the city. Took taxi back to airport for 250p. 

Mexico continues to frustrate and exhilarate in waves. Some things are so maddeningly stupid that you want wring someone's neck. Somethings are so glorious that you wish Westward Expansion never stopped. I will probably need another year to sort it out in my brain. Tried ok local queso azul and terrible queso de cabra and terrible queso Chihuahua El Chervo. And a bad pastry called a banderilla. Tried a terrible Mexican white wine called Cuatro Soles. It was low end though. They wanted too much for all their wine in my opinion. I wasn't going to gamble too much on them. Had what I think were quinoa health bars. Called barras de avena. Forgot to look it up. BTW - when in CDMX you will think you have Covid. Probably not. Just altitude plus pollution plus dry air.

Grub Crawl - Casselberry and Longwood: Never Pho Get and Siam O-Cha

I tried these spots on Tuesday night at dinner. The first is in the old Pho Guys spot on 436 between 17-92 and Red Bug Lake Rd. The second is near Lyman HS and Hourglass Brewery on Ronald Reagan Blvd. In an old Chinese take out location.

Never Pho Get - Just love the word play with this word. Open for four months. Inside looks the same. Maybe some new posters. Not sure if I tried Pho Guys or just updated the title to say that the Vietnamese place that was there before switched to them. That's the reason for the uncertainty. Typical menu. The only real difference is mini phos. And I love this concept. $6 cup and half-ish containers of the big bowls. I often don't want that much or pho as the only thing. Now I can have a pho app and something else. I decree that every other Vietnamese shall forthwith adapt their menu to this new reality. I loved the idea so much that I ordered a chicken AND a beef one. Kind of contravening my previous declaration that I didn't only want soup for a meal. However, this was to go and I knew it would be eaten on two separate occasions and I wanted to report back on at least two items for you. The broth was ok. They swear the make their own. The same broth in both. No jalapenos or bean sprouts. A decent amount of meat. A perfect portion. As I said, the rest of the menu and pricing is in line with every other similar type place. Dark interior. A dozen or so tables. On table eating and two to go customers at 8pm. They main draw is the mini bowl concept.

Siam O-Cha - O-Cha means delicious. They were once a food truck. Open for six months. Typical Thai menu with the associated Chinese offerings. The most interesting dishes were an omelet and the larb. Maybe the wings. $10-$18 dishes. I tried the yellow curried chicken with rice for $14. I found the curry a little thinner than I would prefer. Almost a soup. Alot of thin, white meat chicken. It could have been cut up into more manageable pieces. Yam. Potato. Onion. Not spicy. Rice was a little dry. 4 tables. More of a take out place. I believe the wife may be the Thai connection.  They add a credit card surcharge. They do delivery and catering. Closed on Sunday. 11am - 9:30pm.

Grub Crawl - Stoneybrook Area and Oviedo: Banana Leaf and Martin's

I tried these spots at lunch on Tuesday. The first is a self-described "only Sri Lankan restaurant in the State of Florida". It is on South Alafaya Trail in a strip mall near the Stoneybrook entrance. The decor isn't great, but, the food was. Novel too. The second is on 419 passed the road that connects with 434 and passed where Mitchell Hammock Rd meets with 419. About a mile further on. On the right.

Banana Leaf - I had Pol Roti with chicken for what was supposed to be $17.99 (I just noticed that the bill says $18.71). The roti is a plate sized flatbread made with coconut. Two in the serving. The chicken was white meat in pieces in a neutral red broth. They also added a cup of daal and sauteed onions. I could have packed up the second roti to go. I was full after one portion. But, I plowed through. So, you can either make two meals out of a trip here or roll home. They serve meats like: rabbit, chicken, goat, lamb, beef, mutton, cuttlefish, shrimp, fish and pork. And vegetarian items. $16-$24. I missed the fish menu. I may have tried fish mud curry or sprats had I known. They sell: curried dishes, other roti, dishes with rice, desserts, etc. "Deviled" dishes mean "fried". The desserts looked good. Things like chocolate biscuit pudding and flan looking things. A buffet on weekends. The owner moved here from LA (San Fernando Valley) recently. 6 to 8 tables. Only three others here at lunch. Indian music on tvs. Seems like only two people on the job. Open for six months. Already reviewed by Weekly and Sentinel. I believe favorably. A definite must see. If only for the novelty. 

Martin's Coffee & Ice Cream - More than the above. Some food too. I just had a scoop of banana pudding ice cream. Really good. It's one of those places that is "concerned" with their practices. Home made ice cream. It was on that Edible list. Funky flavors. A small footprint. One server. I guess the namesake is a Mr Martin. Open for two years. 

*There will be two more post in the next week. The last will have Mexico Travel Notes.

Courtyard Grill, New Smyrna Beach

I tried this spot last Wenesday at dinner. It's in an alley in between Pine and Cooper on Flagler. Opens at 5pm. No Monday. Casual dress code. Under this owner for six years. I had ribs with side and salad and bread for $25. Did a Caesar. Bad dressing. Ok greens. Red potatoes for side. Four thick slices. Ribs were large for baby backs. Tender. Moist. He said he smokes them himself. Covered in sweet bbq sauce. I don't love that. Half rack. Waitress threw in a sample of the award winning clam chowder. The menu is American and Italian. Even a hamburger on spaghetti called Surf and Turf. Prices in twenties and up. Most tables outside. Two inside with the bar. Bar area is black and modern. Outside is covered. Pretty full at 5pm. Good service. I thought it would be fancier. Still pretty good. 

*I thought this would wrap up NSB. Saw some turnover though. A big Jimmy Hula's opened on other side of intercoastal. My first time back since the hurricanes. Some beach erosion and foundering houses. The guys who put in stairs to the beach have been busy. Beach was very clean. No seaweed. Water may be warm enough already.

Cafe Boutique Piano, Winter Park

I tried this spot on Wednesday at lunch. It is in Hannibal Square next to Park Avenue Tavern. It is open from 11am to close. I chose the $20 bouillabaisse. It was more of a consomme. They used mussels (2), shrimp (2), salmon and grouper. The first two do not count towards the four fish quota. Salmon is also a queer choice. A bit fishy. No rouille. Toast was poor. Veg were fresh. Almost raw. Mussels and shrimp were tough. However, it was only $20. I saw it offered in Marseille this fall for up to 75E. They do a daily brunch. Prices in the mid teens and up. Things like eggs, French toast, oatmeal and chicken liver. The dinner menu runs from $20 - $36. Steak is the costliest. They have quite a few Italian options. They have four two person tables and four four person and two larger ones. A bar. A player piano. Black and brown color scheme. Sports on tv. Fine service. It was almost empty.  The owners are Russian. Open for four months. I may try the brunch in the future.