Grub Crawl - Orlando: Valisa Bakery and Pizza Paradiso

I grabbed some food to go at these spots in a new strip mall near the back way to Baldwin Park on 436.

Valisa Bakery - They just opened a week ago. It'sa  Puerto Rican place with tons of sandwiches and sweets. Maybe more than that. They have a digital menu that kept rotating and rotating and the take out menu only lists the sandwiches. I grabbed their cooked meal special of pernil (pork) with rice and a side. It seemed like a steal. They only had sauteed green bananas as the side. The rice had little chunks or fried pork that looked crisp but were soft and pigeon peas in it. It was a PR fried rice. Yellow not brown. I have to applaud the fact that they veered away from putting gross vegetables in their rice. I'm not sure why beans or peas have to be added, but, maybe it is a tradition to infuse alot of calories and bulk cheaply ahead of a hard days work. It doesn't do much for the culinary aspects of the dish though. The pork was tender. A little salty. The bananas were ok. It's a big serving. I ate half last night and half today. It held up well. It cost a measly $6. Love the value in this segment! The rest of the menu (we'll have to talk sandwiches) is weird. The pricing anyway. A roast beef or corned beef is almost $12! A turkey only $6.50. Tuna is $5.50. Steak is $7.50. It's all over the map. They also have breakfast "sandwiches". They are around $5. There are alot of other sandwiches I didn't mention. And they have a sweets counter. I though that is all I would find here since it is called a bakery. It was pretty full at 3pm. If you order right it should be a great place to get a good value.

Pizza Paradiso - They say the original location is on Golden Rod. I don't seem to have reviewed it. They say they have been open for three months. It was impossible to tell they were open driving past them evidently. I just ordered two slices that they generously converted to a pizza special that added a free soda to the deal ($6). The deal may be $5. I ordered a special slice and it may have added to the list price. I don't see the special price on the menu and didn't see a sign in the restaurant. I didn't go beyond the pizza because I may come back and I wanted pizza and the menu seemed like it was a stock menu for an Italian restaurant at a print shop and they decided to make what was on it. Not a great sign. The pizza was pretty good. Thin crust. Little sauce. I had a cheese and a white slice (I know that doesn't have sauce). I let one cool off until I got home and the other was in the refrigerator until lunch, so, I didn't taste them at their best. The place seats about fifty. It is new. Not very memorable. It seems like an acceptable low end Italian spot.