Is it ever really worthwhile to travel to Orlando?

For the first time ever the entire family went to Orlando with no intention of going to any theme parks.  We also really didn't want to do all the normal freak show or water park entertainment options available to a family of 5.  We started the trip off in very strange fashion. 

We took I-95 which is not the normal route taken when going to Orlando.  As a marketing and sales person I find the drive fascinating, making mental lists of the some of the larger named buildings that we're driving by as far North as Jupiter.  It's only a little over an hour away with no traffic incidents.  It's a much more stimulating drive than the normal Turnpike route.  On the way we decided to call a friend of mine from High School and see if he and his wife and son were home.  As always the phone rang and went to voice mail.  I figured I'd hear from hear in a few days which is the usual time delay for him, very busy with a toddler and two houses separated by 120 miles or more. 

Well low and behold he calls and they're actually home in Jensen Beach.  I tell him wow we're literally less than 10 minutes from your house, not that I had ever been there.  He then gave us directions for a pretty approach to his house.  The funniest things was he says as you come down the street you'll come over a blind descent say, "Whee!".  I've been living in Florida for more than 35 years and laughed at his suggestion figuring it was something he's been saying to his two year old and he couldn't help pulling us into his young family routines.  I was epically wrong.  The hill is one of the steepest and quickest descents in Florida.  The whole car said, "Wheee!!" for a while as we shot down the hill and quickly passed his street on the way down.  Later that morning my son found skateboard type device(I forget the name but it wiggles to generate momentum instead of tick tacking as you would on a skateboard.  The crappy little hill my friend's house is on was enough for the boy that day although I suspect if we went back he'd put on a helmet and try the big hill.  I must say just driving over it is awesome.  I think the blind nature of the drop helps a lot.  We had a great visit with our friends although the toddler didn't wake up(thankfully for his mom and dad) in time for us to say hello and make him generally crazy. 

We had a nice visit and got back on the road driving through a very Florida inspired landscape.  There were very pretty older homes, brand new homes, and completely dilapidated most likely forclosure properties side by side.  Driving on this rolling hilly barrier island(?) was awesome.  Made me want a motorcycle for the first time in a very long time.  Most of Florida's roads don't make me long for a motorcycle, a high speed tank would be more apropos.  After a bit of a detour through Jensen Beach's inner city neighborhoods we wound up back on A1A and drove past a variety of pretty homes though we couldn't see the water through the houses.  Then we wound up near the air force base which forced us to back track to get to Titusville so we could eat at Dixie Crossroads.  The restaurant was a little pricey but very tasty.  Their specialty is seafood of all types with an emphasis on Rock Shrimp which aren't nearly as pretty as regular shrimp.  They do however taste great broiled with butter.  We had two nice sized platter of rock shrimp, regular shrimp, Maine lobster and large bay scallops.  Everything was very good including the decadent appetizer of fried corn fritters covered in powdered sugar.  I warned everyone to eat as few as possible so they would have room for dinner.  We had their clam soup as well which was good but I don't think I could call it great. 

We then got in the car and headed to Orlando full and relatively happy though when it comes to seafood we eat more than your average bear.  We got to the hotel and unpacked.  Then got snacks and movies for the next two nights.   The kids decided to get their dinner in the form of fruit roll ups.  I was eating perfectly ripe Georgia peaches we bought on the side of the road.  Can't remember what else we ate but it was light.  We crashed after watching the slowest movie of all time, Sucker Punch.  When we got up we were hungry.  Somehow we wound up at Shoney's.  That's what happens on family trips sometimes.  Bad decisions are made based on expediency.  As it turned out the only issue for everyone but my wife was the lack of proper air conditioning.  The food was good enough and very plentiful.  Dirty rice worked for me since it was brunch time by the time we ate.  Everyone gorged and we went on with our day.  Dinner that night was tremendous while a lacking at the same time.

But I'll save that dinner for my next post.  When it's your first rodizio it's special.

Great Ceviche and Finally a few excellent Food Trucks

So it was a great week for eating.  My wife and I tried Saxsay Deli near our house just off NW 94th Ave and Commercial Blvd near Bru's Room.  We got the mixed seafood ceviche and it was the bomb diggity.  There was no fishiness whatsoever and the lime juice and cilantro came bursting through just like they should.  They have a hot pepper sauce on the side that has some kick and adds a wonderful colorful flavor to the ceviche, but a little goes a long way.  The decor of the restaurant leaves much to leave desired as does the seating, but once the ceviche comes all that is long forgotten.  We happen to get Fish a la meniere.  Far too salty for my taste but otherwise perfectly done.  Truly can't wait to get more ceviche.  Thinking maybe take out next time.  If you are a fan you've gotta go.

I also went to Gulfstream Park on Saturday night for the 790 the Ticket Food Truck tour event.  The lines were terrible as usual at some of the trucks.  There were some truly normal trucks there as well Bru's Room, Giuseppe's Cheese Steaks and Sausages(excellent but not gourmet in the least).  However there were some excellent finds there as well.  I went on a limited budget and had vegetable samosas from a truck I can't remember, then I had a Cuban Frita which was awesome, and then had some truly kick ass wings at dim ssam a go go.  Korean style wings that were the best wings I've had in some time.  Completely addictive.  The entire drive home I had to stop myself from turning around and going back for more.  Sakaya Kitchen is the restaurant behind the truck and if they have the wings run don't walk to get em.  Can't wait to make them at home.  I will post the recipe once I've got it perfected.  The Cuban Frita is a spiced hamburger with fresh fried shoe string potatoes and hot sauce.  Didn't think it would be good and it wasn't, it was great.  Everything about it was excellent.  Can't wait to have another one in the near future.

I will try to take pictures the next time.  Keep forgetting that aspect of blogging.  Couldn't really take too many pictures a the food truck event due to the lighting issue.

Is that it? Miami Food Trucks

So my wife and I decide to go to a food truck gathering on Saturday night at a local car dealership.  There will be 20 food trucks on site selling their different Gourmet items.  Let's see if I can remember what was there without naming names.  There was a Dominican truck which didn't look all that wonderful to me, but I'm not a mayo,meat, cheese and sauce drenched french fry eater.  Though the truck was packed with people eating at the two fold out tables and chairs the cart graciously provided.  There was an Argentinian Truck with grilled meats also with two tables nearby.  Really none of the other food trucks at the event provided the type of tables and chairs that would be a boon to their respective food truck business.  I guess that's not the way the food truck thing usually goes down.  People bring their own tables, chairs, beverages, etc. and enjoy themselves.  Ok, so back to the rundown there were also two Mediterranean style trucks with felafel,  hummus, Greek and Jerusalem salads and the like.  There was one dessert truck which was packed.  There was an Asian fusion truck.  It served a variety of different dishes from Indonesia, Southeast Asia and their own creations.  We got some food from said truck and really didn't think a lot of it.  The braised Southeast Asian beef dish was good with a nice touch of coconut milk but the fried rice was insanely salty and too moist for my taste.  The side of green papaya salad was one of the worst versions I've ever eaten.  It had no taste, hadn't been allowed to sit long enough to weep and become the salad they want to serve.  It needed more lime juice, sugar, salt, fish sauce, salt, pepper, siracha sauce, etc.  It's really too bad because for $8 I thought it was a little skimpy.  I'm in the business and he's making good money on that dish.  It should be cheaper in my humble opinion.  My wife and I had a fish taco, the aforementioned beef dinner box, a glass of excellent ginger, basil?, limeade, Colombian style ceviche and a coke.  I know of restaurants that I can get equally or better tasting food and much more of it for a lot less money.  If they want to charge mid level money for items they better be good.  It would also be nice if they came up with tasting plates for the kind of events that I attended.  Signage is another big problem.  Make everything larger so we can read it from farther away.  If you are going to put a sign on the ground or next to the truck definitely make the print much larger.  I will say that the ceviche we ate was excellent and the soup I tried at that truck was very good.  The fish taco was a fish taco.  It's cool, but I can get em all over the place locally that are equally good.  There was nothing too them that put them over the top and made me HAVE to get another.  That's what I was hoping for as opposed to another fish taco stand.  Yes they were perfectly done.  If I was at the beach hungry and that truck pulled up I would love to have them, but at the food truck event I want a salsa or something on top that simply makes me get another one as soon as I finish the first.    We ran out of room and money for dessert which was mid level priced at around $4 an item.  The line was long but that doesn't mean anything since they were the only truck that was dessert only.  I also think more salads, cold items that cool you down in the heat would be a good idea.  I was stunned that there wasn't a noodle shop on wheels of any kind Italian, Vietnamese, Japanese, Chinese or other.  There was surely room for more adventurous trucks and better value.   There wasn't a Sushi truck on wheels.  Why, since god knows it's popular enough.  Wish I was crazy enough to want to get into the food truck business, but that business has issues that are all it's own. I sort of look forward to my next adventure in food truck eating at the beginning of August.  I hope that I at least get to see some different trucks than my first adventure.  I wish all of them luck since making money out of a food truck seems like it might be rather difficult.