Bombay Chaat Cafe, Longwood *CO/KS Travel Notes

I tried this little stall at the Spice House market on 434 (near 17-92) on Saturday. What I purchased served as lunch and dinner. I was told about it by some people I met at Genetic Brewery a few months ago. Since they are only open on the weekends (and I am always wary of Indian before travel on a plane), it took me a while to follow up. Glad I did. They serve a "street food" menu representative of Bombay (Mumbai). Or so I'm told. Never been. I tried Batata Vada (baked balls similar to samosa) at $3 for 2. Same potato, etc filling in a thin, baked dough. Probably chick pea flour. Healthier than samosa. Not as tasty though. Fried is better. Whodda thunk it. Just at the edge of tolerable (heat wise) for most pale skins. It came with that black liquid (dipping sauce) that I think is tamarind and vinegar. I also tried two of the special meals. The first was Ragdha patties at $6. This is a fried potato "cutlet" covered in a green pea sauce. Ragdha is the stew. Not sure what was in what, but, there were flavors of onion, chutney and tomato. Not spicy. The "sauce" had whole peas in it. Starchy and still thin. Too much sauce to cutlet. I had to use the extra as a dip. Topped with some fried sticks like they put on lo mein. For dinner I had the Samosa Chaat at $6. This was what they do with leftover samosas. They tear them apart and cover them with bhel poori. Chick peas, tomato, onion, sev (noodles), chutney, tamarind sauce and yogurt. It was ok. Bigger portion than the Ragdha. Liked the yogurt element. They made all the dishes to order. The menu was pretty big. One man and daughter (I think) operation. Open for a year. I think the market has had other people in this spot. I'm not sure where exactly you can try Bombay style street food. That alone warrants a visit. I had no intestinal issues. All the items are vegetarian. In today's grab and go world, I think this type of place is right up our alley. The market is good as well.

*Travel Notes - CO/KS: A few things I tried on my last trip. Still unaffected by the scary plague. Ham and Turkey on an inverted bun at Professor's Sandwich Shop in Hays KS. Actually made the bun taste worse. Tahk Omakase Sushi (not cheap) in Steamboat Springs had red cut throat. That turned out to be a river trout. A few places were offering pickled mushrooms. Not a new food thing, but, the Huntington House Tavern at the Grand Lake Lodge in CO had a great view. Last food thing was a venison jerky bar at Natural Grocers near the airport in Denver. Oh yeah and smoked gouda potato chips at a gas station (their brand) in Colorado Springs CO. Good brewery in Breckenridge CO. Broken Compass.

Greek To Go, Maitland - Closed

 I tried this Greek spot on North Orlando (17-92) on Monday afternoon. It's between the light rail station and the new condo complexes. In a strip mall. Near that drive in looking sandwich place (Snappy's?) that must be a million years old. I grabbed a beef and lamb gyro to go for $7. It was par for the course. A bit better perhaps. The meat was pre-carved. I hate that. But, they said the fuzz won't let them keep the meat on the rotisserie for more than two hours. Not sure if that is bs. In any case, it was ok. Veg were fresh. Pita was warm and fluffy. Tzatziki was fine. They serve pork, beef and chicken gyros and platters. Falafel. Typical side dishes. Dolmades. Spanakopita. Tiropita (cheese pie). I think I saw a sign for weekend fish specials. Open for five months. A few seats. rectangular flow. A few decorations. I remember tables made from (atop) barrels. 

*My trip here was circuitous to say the least. I tried for a place at Apna Bazaar (I forgot it is closed on Monday) all the way down OBT. Didn't they used to be nearer to Sand Lake Rd? Then backtracked through downtown to East End Market. Tried to find the fried chicken sandwich guy. Found out it was a truck and had moved out. Bakery (Old Hearth?) and place across the aisle had closed. FYI. Then on to Meatball Stoppe on Lake Underhill (near 436). It says on the net that they are open for lunch. Nah. Opens at 3pm for some reason. Then I tried moving on to Winter Park and Big Belly Grindz on Aloma. Out of business. Tried sushi at a place in Maitland. Boku or something. Sign and door info says open for lunch. Fourth time. On different days and times. Never open. So I ended up at Greek. I saw alot of closures driving around will have to update you. One more after this one. Will include some trip updates.

World of Magic, International Drive

I've had two restaurants on my list and in my mind for months, but, Wu Flu and the fact that they are both on I Drive and only open at night has made intercourse impossible until now. Both serve cuisines from countries I haven't had the pleasure of often or at all. This one serves up Saudi Arabian fare. Never had that to my knowledge. I popped in on Sunday night near closing (8pm for a 9pm close). I grabbed braised or stewed lamb on rice to go (you can dine in). It cost $16. The menu only has around eight choices. Not sure if that is a Wu Flu menu. Chicken, lamb, fish or vegetables (ie okra) over rice. My lamb was very good. Six or more pieces. I'm not Dexter (remember him), but, I think I saw some rib bones and some vertebrae. I thought it was chopped up shank, but, the bones were very slender for an appendage. The meat around the bones peeled off easily. Not dry. Good, natural flavor. Not gamey. Fresh. You probably could have sucked marrow out of the bones. It came with a salsa like tomato sauce (unnecessary) that I used to make a freaky Italian style sausage sandwich in proceeding days. Pretty sure that was a sacrilege. I also used said sausage in another leftovers' dinner with the basmati rice it came with. They piled on so much (an entire square styrofoam container) I used it for three separate meals. I presume it was saffron rice. It was yellow. I know some people chintz with tumeric, but, I think that has a distinct taste I didn't get. The rice was fresh and tender. A very well crafted meal. Prepared fast. But not too fast if you know what I mean. I'm not sure I'm remotely qualified to explain Saudi cuisine based on this one experience and some cursory questions I proposed, but, it seemed a bit more Indian influenced than Mediterranean. Blander though. Even blander than Persian. Less bitter herbs too. But, I could be way off. I think the lamb was the most expensive dish. The room is square. Not a ton of decor. A Royal Flush painting. Some iron chandeliers with glass ornaments that always remind me when me and my friends used to piss my step dad off by unhooking them and pretending they were diamonds. Thin stone walls in the back. Black plethor chairs. Wood tables. A tinny gray color scheme. There was one table (Saudis I think) seated and four guys bs'ing outside. Seems like a family run place. The young man I ordered from said the get alot of tourists (usually). Some from India. I'm not sure if the Kingdom of Saud imports as many workers from abroad as its neighbors. Maybe Saudi cuisine is more well known than it would seem if they do? They have been open for four years. So sad no one clued me in until this year. Open every night. You have to try it just to be a say you are a citizen of the World (get it?). Worth a flyer on quantity alone. It is next to the Nile Ethiopian restaurant off I Drive in a crappy strip mall. Around where that Titanic Experience (is it CSI now?). Aside a hotel. Halfwayish between Sand Lake and Kirkman.

*There is/was a place called Jerusalem (not one of the two places I was eager to try) nearby on I Drive. I think it is closed. It would help if they were ever open or put up some notification or "for rent" sign in the window. A new Taco Bell opened on I Drive.

Grub Crawl - Altamonte Springs: Grattin Dog and Nick's Pizzeria

 I grabbed some food to go from these two replacement eateries (Sugar Sow and Tamale Co) aside the gas station on 436 near the train tracks (and station) around twelve days ago at dinner.

Grattin Dog - It's a Colombian burger, dogs, wings, etc play. I just grabbed a Colombian sausage ($4) to go out of curiosity (and I wasn't hungry). It was damn good. Although, probably just purchased and reheated. Still good. Long. Pork. Slight flavor of garlic and cumin. Served atop an arepa. White corn. Could have been cooked longer. They said they make their own empanadas (4 types). They also sell salchipapa, choripapa and salchifries. The burgers looked ok. They have some tricked out ones with cheese melted on top of the bun for around 10 bucks. That is the 'grattin" in the name. I surmise it's from the French "gratin". Maybe that how it is spelled in Spanish. Or a bastardization. Dogs start at $6. See why I chose the sausage? They are from Bogota. Seemed like a two man op. Open everyday. 9pm on week nights. 1am on F and Sa. In the Tamale space. Open for ten months.

Nick's Pizzeria - In the Sugar Sow space. One regular and one Sicilian slice (because they were down to the last slice in the cooked pie). $2 and $3 a piece. Fine. Typical NY style. Neutral sauce. Sicilian wasn't dense. Crisp bottom. The menu states that they are trying to do a full service out of a band box. Calzone, stromboli, pasta, subs, salads, wraps, apps, desserts. They seemed nice. Guy and his girl (or a girl). Open one month. 7 days a week. 10 to 9 Sn-Th. 10 to 10 Fr and Sa. Give both a try.

Grub/Pub Crawl - New Smyrna Beach: Norwood's Eatery and Bar and Sugar Works Distillery

 I tried these two places around ten days ago. The first is on the left after the light after the overpass over the intercoastal. The second is before the overpass on the right in a strip mall behind a Wawa.

Norwood's Eatery and Bar - This was the first place I tried on my first visit to NSB. It was pre-blog. I sat in the "treehouse". It is an elevated area above the restaurant. It brings out the Swiss Family Robinson in me. I had a shrimp cocktail ($10) and the seafood pot pie ($13.50). The shrimp (8) in the cocktail were fairly good. Decent size. Decent firmness. Eight is alot. I was happy with that selection. The pie was also good. A little odd. It had a floor and a ceiling but no walls. Or - no walls of crust. I've had it (lazily) topped with a shell. But, I've never seen it "carpeted" with one. It was supposed to come with fish and shellfish. I believe I encountered three types of fish. Salmon (easy to spot). Mahi (what they said would be in there). And maybe tilefish (or some tougher species cut into chunks). All good. For scraps. It also came with 4 shrimp, 2 scallops (no abductor muscle but likely not cookie cut fish), Diced carrots and peas. White sauce. No complaints. Very filling. The menu has most of what you'd expect at a seafood restaurant. They try and upscale it a bit. Downstairs there is an ashram type patio (Buddha themed). Inside are two bars. One small one for the hard stuff. One inside where they usually are. The tree house also has a bar. It's decor is gray colored wood and glass windows, The inside seats around seventy. Maybe the same outside. Service was good. Plating was clean. Parking is adequate. It was pretty full for 2pm. Still one of the better options in town. They have been in business for a while.

Sugar Works Distillery - Open two years. Ex-architect/professor owner. Whiskey, rum and moonshine. 3 types of each. I bought their regular rum for $25. Haven't tried it yet. They said they are available in over 70 restaurants and bars (mostly locally). Place looks new and clean and nice. Smallish. Good swag.

*I have three more posts (local) coming this week. Probably will put a free day between them.

Gram's Kitchen, Deland

 After I found out plan A was a buffet, I grabbed an egg and sausage breakfast burrito to go at this little cafe I passed on the way from I-4 off 44 to New York Ave. That was about ten days ago. They have another location on New York Ave and one in Orange City. I think I've been to the one on New York. This site's terrible search function couldn't find it. So here we go. The burrito cost $4 ($5 with tax and a small tip). It was ok. Small. I could have bought 4 similar ones at McDonald's. Needless to say, I wasn't overwhelmed. They have the same "cafe" menu that they all have. Breakfast and sandwiches and burgers and salads. Some lunch special meals and a fish and a steak dinner. They are closing at 4pm at this location.. It looks like a little house. Not especially charming or clean. Painted saws are the main motif. This is the original location. Breakfast served all day.

Grub Crawl - Sand Lake Rd: Mr Puffs and American Social *MN/MI Travel Notes

I'm going to put these together in one post, although they are a few miles apart on Sand Lake Rd. The first is outside the food court entrance (near Shake Shack) at the Florida Mall. The second is in the strip mall near Universal on the way to Dr Phillips (the one with Ocean Prime). This is fucking great. I just saved this and it didn't. Here we go again. Man my first one was better.

Mr Puffs - This is the Justin Trudeau (sans black face) of dessert shops. A Canadian chain that looks good but can't even best Dunkin Donuts and Baskin Robbins. They sell little grease balls that I think they think are choux. I had a combo for $8.50. That gave me six of these fritters and a shake. The munchkins had a crisp shell. Slathered in maple syrup (my topping). Too sweet. Too much. They give you fork picks too eat them with. The blueberry shake was soft serve chemicals and water than had no blueberry taste. Small serving. They opened this week. It looks ok but... I was here to also try a place called Crepe Delicioso or something. No sign of them. Another kiosk inside called Crepe 4 U or something was new and open. I also noticed we have a Carlo's Bakery here too. I wonder if I reviewed them?

American Social Bar & Kitchen - They replaced Bar Loiuie. Two FSU guys. The menu is from a gastro pub fantasy draft. Sprouts, za, burgers, pretzels, avocado toast, tacos, pork belly, wings... you get the picture. I had the lunch special ($10.50 with a soda) because this was not where I prepared myself to dine and nothing seemed too interesting or within execution. I settled on the mahi tacos (2) over the club sandwich or burger. It came with chips. I'd rather it had come with one of the other sides. Couldn't match the main with the side I wanted. It was better than I expected. Maybe fresh fish. Slaw, corn and spicy mayo. The soda had a problem at the tap. The menu has two possible winners. A steak frites on the "large plates" section and a raw bar with poke, oyster and shrimp options. The place is big. Bad layout. The main booths are next to the kitchen door or bathrooms. Left and right side of room feel separated when you are in a booth. Most table are high tops. Patio in front. Large bar front and center. Longer left to right than front to back. DJ Booth. Restoration Hardware look. Life Magazine posters. Service (1) was good. Six people dining. Nothing life changing, but, better than Bar Louie.

*Travel Notes - MN/MI: Things on the menu in MN and MI. Chicken salad mixed with wild rice and fried walleye sandwich in MN. Pannu Kaku (Finnish pancake) and thistle berry glazed donut at Jamsen's Bakery in Copper Harbor MI. Smoked fish chowder and fried white fish sandwich at Four Suns in Hancock MI. Tuna fish mixed with macaroni, sour cream lemon pie and ham spread at Pat's Food in Hancock MI. They seemed to like to add pasta to lots of dip type stuff or vice versa.

Taqueria Las Cazuelas, East Colonial (50)

 I tried this Mexican spot in the short lived Gyroville spot (strip mall west of UCF area) on 50 last Tuesday. I grabbed four tacos to go and ate them in the car. They all cost $2 except for the lengua. It cost an extra 50 cents. I also tried a barbacoa, a carnitas and a carne asada. They also offer pollo, pastor, nopales, pescado, camaron, salchicha (hot dog), jamon and milanesa (breaded). They also sell those as tortas, burritos, quesadilla, sopes, gorditas, chimichanga, tostadas, bowls, salad and nachos. They also offer up some more complex dishes such as: flautas, enchiladas, fajitas, parillada, chuletas (pork chops), arracher a la plancha (grilled skirt steak), pechuga asada (grilled chicken breast) and caldo de res (beef soup). They also do breakfast (all day) and seafood like: shrimp cocktail, soup, two shrimp dishes and two tilapia filets. They do a menudo de res and pozole on the weekends. They also have guac and elote. The handheld stuff tops out at $10 for the chimi. The others at $17 for the shrimp parillada. I had onion and cilantro on my tacos. You can "supreme" them (lettuce, cheese, sour cream and tomato) for 25 cents. My tacos were overflowing. Two would have been enough. The beef ones were a little bland. The pork was tastier. The only issue was the tortillas. They were not warmed/grilled enough. I want to say not at all. And the hot sauce was just pureed peppers. They may have gone bad. That or they just naturally made my insides boil over. I was expecting way less from this place. It was better than I could have hoped for. Every town needs one of these. Unfortunately, my town does not have one. I believe they opened under six months ago.

Phoresh, Curry Ford Rd

 I grabbed an eye round steak pho to go from this Pho+ spot on South Chickasaw Trail just off Curry Ford Rd (old Pizzeria Roberti spot) on Tuesday around three pm. It's hard to report on the quality because I brought it home for dinner and nuked the broth and meat. That said, the meat quality seemed good and the broth and add ins seemed similar to almost every pho I've been offered. Fresh though. I doubt they make their own broth. It cost $10. The rest of the menu has beef ball, flank or brisket options. Plus white or dark meat chicken and crispy or regular tofu on the pho side. They also have the Vietnamese rice or vermicelli options for chicken, pork, tofu or spring roll toppers. They also have summer rolls, special summer rolls and spring rolls. They go off script with a Roti Paratha cake (Malayasian I think), fried rice, pad thai, baos, yum squid (Thai I think) and chicken wings tossed in garlic butter and fish sauce (wish I saw that but probably a fat bomb). Pad Thai is the most dear at $11. The rest was in low to middle single digits. The place looks different. They put the kitchen on the left. I think they opened less than six months ago. I've been encouraging Vietnamese places to break out. This wasn't what I was thinking of, but, it does make it more interesting. If I lived closer, I would give the other items a taste. Love the word play on the name.

*I forgot to add on the last diatribe against the Orwellian food police that they are going to bring in the big tech giants like Google (now I'm really going to be banned) to use AI (ala China) to "monitor" all the data collected from the food supply network. Including all that data from your "rewards" programs.

Bao's Castle, SoDo

 I tried this bao shop almost two weeks ago at lunch. I grabbed a Mad King and a Baoser's Buddy to go. One was short rib and the other was pork belly. I can't remember which was which. The King cost $4.50. The Buddy cost $4.25. They were ok. Pre-prepped stuff slapped together. The bun was a little cold. The toppings not so fretted over. They had six or so others. A breakie and a vegan one, I think. A fried chicken one. That's all I remember. They are in that older condo complex with the Target. Near Michigan. On South Orange and West Crystal Lake. The place is small. Some (what I think are) Mario Bros (or cart) murals. It's also dawning on me that the names are derived from that franchise. It has been a while since I played. There aren't a ton of bao places in town, so, I wouldn't fault you for trying it. They could put in a little more effort though. It's more of a defensive fort now. I think they opened a few months ago.

*Some random facts about pork I've heard over the last few days. Pork ribs should shrink back from the ends of the bone when cooked long enough. Stevie Raichlen says. He also showed an interesting recipe for "mustard seed caviar". You soak them in vinegar. In areas near Muslim countries, pork can surprisingly be on the local menu. It is because those conquered peoples knew the Muslims wouldn't steal pigs. Remember those outbreaks in slaughterhouses a few months back that they said were necessary to keep the food supply chain open. The ones at Smithfield sent most of (if not all) the food to Va-China. 

That reminds me. Did I write about how the government is now using the plandemic to monitor the food supply chain? They are using some law/regulation enacted to protect our military's supply chain from bad actors on agriculture because that is now seen as essential. Not only is Big Brother on board,  Big Businesses (like Walmart and Amazon and Tyson and Cargill) love it because it creates administrative hardships ($) on smaller competitors and gives them all sorts of information on the merchandise and the end user. Every sub-component will be chipped and cataloged. Every non-compliant item/supplier will be excluded. They will use DNA sampling and the like to trace back the origins of "black market" items and producers. If you use "improper" seed for instance, they will trace it back to you and do lord knows what. Fun times. But, who cares? We can shake our asses on Tik Tok.

Sixty Vines, Winter Park

I tried this Texas based California cuisine chain at dinner over a week ago. It's in that new strip mall across from Trader Joe's (insert spi-Cola joke here) on Orlando Ave (17-92). It was better than I expected. It's big. Five 10 seaters in the middle. Big bar in between main dining room and large enclosed patio by the road. High tops between the bar and the ten seaters. Seats by the pizza oven and behind the high tops. Probably seats 100+. It has a Restoration Hardware feel/look. Light wood. Black and white tones. Exposed kitchen. The menu wasn't very large. Fair prices. I had a half order of the pappardelle with short ribs and carrots. The pasta was good. Thick. Nice bite. It cost $10. I had the Lemon Roasted Chicken (half a chicken) for $18 as an entree. It was also good. Good skin. A tad dry for some. My social climbing step family believes that the rarer the meat, the rarer the breeding. My, non-downstairs, part of the family believe real people of breeding make the rules. As such, a firmer bird is not a sign of poor execution. I concur. I don't like a slimy texture to my fowl. I find it foul. I will also trade some moisture for a crispier skin. The dish came with roasted potatoes. There were alot of them. Nice flavor. A few chunks were under cooked. The rest of the menu had more lunch type items than I expected. Sandwiches, dips, burgers. I believe they had a chop and a steak. And pizza. They looked good going by. A few more things. Maybe a fish. I kind of remember a Noah's Ark approach. Except one of every kind instead of two. They opened March 16. Only one in Florida. They also had booze. They just stopped offering bottles of wine (the waiter said they are selling them off if you want to make an offer). They use "kegs" and sell by the size (4). Service was very good. They started serving lunch this week. I'd recommend that you try it. It might squeak into the Favorites. I'd write more, but, these dicks at blogger have changed their platform once again and my browser isn't working well with it. 

*I'll have some trip info in future posts. I have around four or five more to catch up on this week. Be ready for a new one almost every day