Grub Crawl - West Colonial: Taipei Kitchen and Brazilian Village Pizza

I had lunch at these two restaurants on West Colonial in Chinatown on Monday.

Taipei Kitchen - I had to ask for the Taiwan menu. They handed me a generic Chinese lunch special flyer. I had Spiced Dried Bean Curd for $6 and Mustard Greens and Pork Noodle Soup for $8. The curd was a first and was a square of dried soy cut into thin slices. It came in some kind of mirin/soy dressing. Of course the soy had no flavor, but, it wasn't a huge miss either. The soup was good. The noodles were very buttery. The pork was not gristly. The place was clean. I believe the just opened a month or so ago. The have a fort on the left that seems to be where they keep the daily special stuff. It seats about forty. It was almost full. I was the only non-Asian. I think there were a few actual Taiwanese there. It's getting harder to tell with every generation that passes. Definitely Chinese if not Taiwanese. It may have fewer Taiwanese dishes than Taipei 101, but, they may just have more specials or I can't remember accurately. Communication was a slight barrier so service became a little timid/evasive. They didn't know if the take AMEX or not (it's only one of three). I also suggest you order a soda by the can ($1) or they will take liberties and give you the twice as expensive fountain and not refill. Still it's in the top three for this genre (only three in Orlando).

Brazilian Village Pizza - This place is a few doors down. I had one slice for $2. If this is a Brazilian style pizza place, then Brazilian pizza is foccaccia like. The dough seemed to have butter in it. The slice was about twice as thick as you want it to be. It also had a lot of air pockets (didn't pound out the CO2 after it rose) and was over floured (maybe when stretching). The sauce was spicy. The cheese was gluey. They have 44 styles of pizza. They have subs, past and wraps. The prices are low. I just read the menu and they say they serve NY Style. That must be the bad NY Style and not the good. It was better when I thought it was a Brazilian quirk.