I went to these places today while you people were stuck with your family pretending that you won the lottery in the Mother sweepstakes.
La Terraza Bakery - This place is across from Buffalo Wild Wings on 436 near Red Bug. It has been open for a while. I just always ignored it. Small Latin Bakeries usually are nothing to write home about. This place wasn't bad. It was very Latin. I mean - barely spoke English Latin. I forgot to ask from what country they draw inspiration from. I had some kind of giant Munchkin for $1 that I thought they told me was a potato or yuca croquette. It was good. I also had a $1:50 chicken and either potato or yuca empanada. It was in a corn wrapper and very fried. If it was homemade I give it a good grade. If they buy them in frozen packages then I deduct points. I couldn't tell and now I'm paranoid about pre-prepared foods. It looked kind of too perfect to be hand made. Points for the dipping sauce. Habenero? They serve breakfasts. I saw a couple eating chicharon. They have savory and sweet option. It was clean. Glad I stopped. Price was most certainly right. It may be hard to learn what they sell. They had no menu.
8-8 Panda - I went to this place on the advice of the Orlando Weekly. The owner said they reviewed it years ago. I just read the blurb in the last issue. You go for Peruvian Chinese food. They have straight up Chinese and an alternate menu that serves a style of Chinese famous in Peru. I had a combo that had Won Ton Soup, Chaufa (Peruvian Fried Rice) and something called Chi Jau Kay. The owner said Kay is chicken in Canton. Gai (as in Moo Goo Gai Pan) is chicken in Mandarin. The soup had a good broth. The won tons were obviously store bought. The Chaufa had lots of roast pork. The chicken and/or the oyster sauce was way too salty. Sadly, it was a huge portion. I left half of it. It was mostly skin and dark meat though. It was very fried. I thought the oyster sauce was a bad pairing. It made the chicken soggy. The place is very unkempt. I reviewed it once when it was a straight Chinese play with the name like 1-6-8 (had some numerical serendipity to the Chinese). It looked so similar from the outside that I didn't realize it had changed names and owners three years ago. The owner was very nice. There were three other tables there at 3pm. They all came there especially for this type of food. All had traveled farther than I. That's the draw. There aren't that many places around where you can get this. They had a number of other dishes of this style. Alot of shrimp based ones. I would go out of curiosity and then just don't order what I did. It's in a strip mall that I believe was the one that has Holly and Dolly's on 436. If not that one then close. That's in between Rachel's and Red Bug if that makes it clearer. And explain to wife why that is.
Joann's Kitchen - This place is across from the new Sun Rail station on 436 and Ronald Reagan next to a gas station. It has been at least two other places that I have reviewed. One was a Cajun. One was a Puerto Rican. There is another latin place next to it that has made it for a while. It's Puerto Rican again. The owner is a recent Le Cordon Bleu graduate. I just had a pernil (roast pork) and maduro (sweet plantain) empanada for $2. They were tapped out from a catering gig and I didn't want/need to push. I saw her hand make it. She showed me the pot she roasted the pork in. Sadly, the pork was a little dry and I didn't love the mix. a little dry too. It needed a sauce or dip. It was wrapped in a white flour dough. Definitely not machine made. They do breakfasts and had sandwiches and more empanadas and hand held dishes. I also had a coconut flan ($2) that I haven't tried yet. I'd bet that the food will get the proper attention you'd expect here. You just get that vibe some places. And if you need more a better argument - the owner just graduated cooking school. She still has to have the passion that life has stripped from the rest of us so expertly. Right? It has been open for six months. Give it a try.
No comments:
Post a Comment