Mmmm . . . blueberries!

Don't know how healthy this is, but yours truly got his day started this morning with a big fat wedge of blueberry pie.

Thanks to the friendly folks over at Shannon's Casual Cafe on South Orange Avenue for getting the sugar high started early around this little corner of heaven!

Look out world, pie plus coffee equals one extra alert sock!

Bring cash to Shannon's

My regular Thursday morning crew decided to mix things up a bit this week by moving our rendezvous point down a few storefronts to Shannon's Casual Cafe.

Ye local socks have no doubt spotted the place south of downtown Orlando. It's in that commercial center wedged between Fort Gatlin and Lake Jenny Jewell, on the east side of Orange Avenue.

Anyway, yours truly had heard good things about their blueberry pie. Decadent choice for breakfast, I know, but it's almost Christmas.

A couple of things you need to know about this place, if you care to visit it yourselves:

1. You have to go up to the register to place your order and pay before sitting down. They will bring your food to you, but that's the extent of the table service. If you want a refill on your coffee or other beverage, you have to do it yourself.

2. They are one of the few remaining places in this neck o the woods that don't accept credit/debit cards, so bring cash! Yours truly suffered a bit of an embarassment when they didn't make him aware of this rule until after his order was placed. Fortunately, one of my posse was flush with cash and able to come to my rescue.

Go if ye must. And, the blueberry pie is indeed quite good. But, this is no Carole's Place . . .

As American as Apple Pannini . . . er . . . Pie

The lunch hour found yours truly at Citrus Restaurant on North Orange Ave.

A little ritzier than my typical lunchtime haunts, to be sure.

One of the specials was a pannini whose innards included slices of the proverbial forbidden fruit . . . about as close as I was likely to get to apple pie on this Election Day 2009.

Of course, the politics of the day was covered in the lunchtime conversation.

I believe the general consensus is that Virginia and New Jersey will switch back to the GOP column, at least as far as their governors' mansions are concerned.

But, that's about where the consensus ends.

Whether or not one chooses to read anything more into this off-off-year election results is none of my business.

If you really want a tough choice, try to figure out what more peculiar pannini ingredient the folks over at Citrus might try to inject into the lunchtime menu . . .

Carlucci's gets a thumbs-up!

Ye olde to-do list found yours truly stomping around Winter Park this fine Saturday.

The last time I was up this way, I was more than a little disappointed by a certain Mexican restaurant that shall remain nameless.

But, it's never a good idea to go running errands on an empty stomach, especially when you're known for being a big old crank even on a good day.

So, I decided to try some Italian this time around, and was very happy to discover Carlucci's in the shopping center opposite Winter Park Village at 17-92 and Lee Road. They're in the strip between Office Depot and Michael's.

Anyway, great food, atmosphere, and wait staff. If any of ye socks find yourselves starving in this little corner of heaven, give 'em a try!

Avoid this place like the plague

The usual rounds of Saturday errands found yours truly in Winter Park this afternoon, doing more than our fair share of dodging thunderstorms.

Unfortunately, shelter from the storm and mid-day nourishment was sought at the El Potro in Winter Park.

What a disappointment!

Other locations from Apopka to St. Augustine have never failed to satisfy cravings for Mexican comfort foods. But, this franchise was the most poorly-run dining establishment I have had the displeasure of visiting in a very, very long time.

The laundry list of offenses:

1. None of the staff acknowledged our arrival, and even after we seated ourselves in a booth we weren't spoken to for 10 minutes.

2. Drinks listed on the menu were "unavailable at this location."

3. Second choice drink selections weren't delivered without reminder, and then without straws or napkins.

4. The napkins were practically thrown at us.

5. The "manager" carried our hot plates from the kitchen to our table with the nastiest looking oven mits I had ever seen.

6. My order of enchiladas verdes never arrived. Instead, I got the enchiladas supremas. But, at this point, I just wanted to eat and get out of there so I just ate what they gave me.

7. Our drinks were never refilled.

8. In fact, no member of the staff ever came back to our table after the food arrived, not even to drop off our check.

9. Finally, we went to the counter to pay without a check and the "manager" tried to ring us up by memory . . . faulty memory, as it turned out.

Next time I find myself starving in this neck of the woods, I'm going to take my business to one of the several other dining establishments in the area. El Potro in Winter Park is a complete disaster . . . at least is was this afternoon.

A Dining Adventure

Today's little safari took us up I-4 a bit to the Altamonte Mall.

That's right, ye socks, yours truly actually stepped foot inside a mall. (Shudder.)

Surprisingly, despite a thriving food court full of the stereotypical variety of eateries, there is only one full-service establishment on the premises: Elephant Bar & Restaurant.

Ye native socks may remember the location from its previous incarnation as a Ruby Tuesday's, near the Barnes & Noble.

But, this place is far from Ruby Tuesday's with a pan-Asian menu and a jungle themed dining room.

Unfortunately, the only good thing I can say about this place is that the greeter and hostess were very nice and got us seated quickly. Our server, on the other hand, left much to be desired. Maybe, I was expecting too much on a Sunday afternoon . . .

Anyway, I ordered the sweet and sour chicken. But, as Linda Richman would have said on Coffee Talk, it was neither sweet nor sour: discuss!

The presentation was . . . interesting. It arrived with some peculiar dry stringy things sprinkled over the top, and a generous bowl of white rice on the side. Never did figure out what that stuff was on top, though.

The only remedy I could come up with was to douse this culinary disaster with some soy sauce. Of course, they didn't have any condiments beyond salt and pepper on the table, so I had to wait for the painfully slow waiter to bring it . . . and, then only after he gave me an annoyingly quizzical look.

Add to this the fact that we were given the best seats in the house, next to a window overlooking a bank of Pepsi machines. Oh, the parade of mall rats that were buying cold sodas this afternoon up in Altamonte!

Fortunately, I had some pretty interesting dining companions to ameliorate these annoyances.

The bottom line: unless dinner service is ten times faster than lunch, and you can get a seat with a better view, you might want to consider some other place. Maybe, even invest in a good wok and try stirring something up in your home kitchen?!

RIP Princeton Diner

I am sad to report to ye socks that today will be the last time to patronize the venerable Princeton Diner at Edgewater and Par in College Park.

It's not for a lack of business, as any of you who frequent the place will already know.

No, this is a case of a government taking. The Orange County School Board is forcing the owners out of business so they can expand the adjacent Edgewater High School.

I'm not saying it's a good thing or a bad thing, just a foreshadowing of things to come. As The Tragedy in Waiting threatens to usher in a new era of big government, I imagine a lot more than diners are going to be taken out of the hands of the private sector . . .

Mom's birthday dinner

So, a small group of us got together to mark the occasion by checking out this restaurant that I drive by all the time and vow to visit but never have.

Actually, I have a laundry list of such places since moving to the new neighborhood. But, the one in question this evening was PAXIA at 2611 Edgewater Drive.

It was a little too chilly to enjoy the patio, so we went inside and really got a kick out of the over-the-top Mexican decor and the not-so-subtle mariachi music they were piping into the dining room.

The menu was far-too-subtle, no description of the dishes being offered. This handicapped at least one person at our table, who simply wanted a chimichanga or something similar to it. The waitress recommended the flautas with a couple of special modification requests to the chef.

The birthday girl spotted an interesting chicken entree with a cocoa sauce, probably the most exotic dish brought to our table. Yours truly stuck with the enchiladas suizas.

To hold us over til the food arrived, we ordered some queso fundido as an appetizer. It was great. But, they only gave us three tortillas, a definite handicap. And, since the waitress chose that moment to go AWOL, we ended up having to raid the basket of chips she'd left on our table to finish off the queso.

Everyone agreed the entrees were delicious, too . . . if a bit pricey. But, the presentation detracted from the experience. They brought a small bowl of beans and another small bowl of rice to the table, announcing it was being served "family style" and if we wanted more all we had to do was ask. But, this is not a "family style" restaurant, and for the prices they charge they should put everyone's sides on their own plates.

We decided to split a dessert to top off the meal, but were disappointed to discover only two were available: flan or sopapillas. We took the latter, which were served "family style," too. This meant, one big plate of honey-dripping goodness and no smaller individual plates to save the tablecloth. Really turned out to be a mess.

Bottom line: Glad I can scratch this place off my to-do list. But, I don't think I'll be back for dinner until the service and presentation catch up with the prices.

Oh, and happy birthday, Mom!

Pei Wei - first time dining experience

Yesterday I was forced out of my "comfort zone." And, that's not altogether a bad thing, as it turned out.

Anyway, yet another corner store near my office has been gobbled up by one of those cancerous paycheck advance places. So, I couldn't get a quick sandwich for lunch. Instead, I was left to drive aimlessly along the streets of Orlando until I found the first dining establishment.

As luck would have it, that place was Pei Wei on Colonial Drive.

Now, I had passed this restaurant a hundred times, and heard my friends in Dallas rave about it many more times than that. For some reason, though, I'd never had the inclination to go myself. Until yesterday, that is.

Well, I can report a pleasant surprise. To call Pei Wei a fast food version of PF Chang's does not do it justice. This place is much nicer than the typical fast food place. In fact, I think it's more like a Chipotle. Only, the decor is nicer, and the menu a LOT more diverse.

I ordered the spicy orange chicken and got my own iced tea from the beverage station before grabbing a seat in the welcoming air conditionining of the dining area. Within a few minutes, a server brought my hot meal right to the table.

It was awesome.

A little pricy for a "quick" lunch ($10 with tip).

But, the food was great.

And, I got the chance to expand that whole "comfort zone" I mentioned earlier.