Susie's Home Cooking

Is there really "home cooking" at Susie's Home Cooking? You bet! We made a good choice when we decided to stop here. Warm and inviting, it feels like (and is) a small town diner inside--with great food.

We had to start with the deep fried cheese curds. They were all they should have been, with a nice beer-batter coating, fried and tender and delicious.

For his meal, my friend Tommy tried the Pasty. A Pasty is an upper Michigan treat, a pie dough of sorts that's stuffed with all sorts of goodness. This was stuffed with meat, onions, celery, and rice. It was excellent--really very, very good. I would go back to Suzie's just to have the Pasty again--it was that good. I wish I could have gotten a dozen frozen and taken them back to Florida on the plane with me. Yes, it was that good.

I started with a salad, and it was pretty typical, iceberg lettuce with a few bits of red cabbage and carrots for coloer. Nothing too special, but what you'd expect to find in a diner. however, the dressing was homemade, a raspberry viniagrette, and very good.

For my main course I had what I consider to be a diner staple, a Patty Melt. It was all I expected it to be. The patty appeared to be hand made and it was cooked perfectly. The grilled onions and the cheese made it just perfect. I loved it.

So, next time I'm driving from Milwaukee to Marshfield and need a bite to eat, I will remember the food at Suzie's. Definitely worth stopping for.

Silvano's Ristorante Italiano

We ate at Silvano's Ristorante Italiano recently, and it was a pretty good meal. I had a coupon and a taste for some Italian food. It's a pretty nice place, very Italian looking. Not huge but a warm and inviting space.

We started out with a glass of wine. I will say that the price of a glass of wine seemed a bit steep for the pour. Our meal started with a salad. The salad, as well as the accompanying bread, was very good. It was lightly dressed and the greens were very fresh.

My friend Tommy had the Penne Vodka for his main course. It was pretty good, though seemed a bit heavy on the tomatoes and light on the cream. Still, it was better than most.

I had the Veal, thin-sliced cutlets of veal cooked nicely in a lemon-cream sauce served on a bed of fettucine. It was good and I managed to eat it all.

All in all, it was a pretty good meal, and if I lived in the area I'd probably return. However, I live in Lake Mary and we do have better Italian food close by, like my favorite, Cafe Positano. Not to take away from Silvano's, it's still way above most chains the the food seemed genuinely Italian. Give it a try, let me know what you think! 

Mikado Japanese Cuisine

I went to Mikado Japanese Cuisine with a few coworker for lunch recently, and we were all in agreement--very good! It was a very pleasant surprise. I'm not all that familiar with Japanese cuisine, but they have an extensive sushi and sashimi menu--besides other things--and we all left very satisifed. We all agreed: we'd return again, it was very good.

I ordered a lunch special, two sushi rolls, and it came with a choice of soup or salad. I had the salad. It was very good. An assortment of greens was dressed with a ginger dressing. Now, for my taste, the ginger could have been a bit stronger, but still, it was very good and nicely refreshing.

For my lunch I had two sushi rolls, both cooked. One with chicken, one with shrimp. Both were very, very good! The accompanying wasabi was expecially good as well. For about $10, I had a really good meal. I'd come back here again, anytime. The service was extremely attentive as well. Excellent job, excellent food. Yumm!

Tutto Bene

We had dinner on a recent Sunday late afternoon at Tutto Bene in Lake Mary. We were pleasantly surprised and had a much better meal than I've had recently at another nearby Italian Restaurant, by far.

Tutto Bene is located very close to the Seminole State College Campus and, judging from some of the items on the menu board, I'd guess they cater to a nice College population as well as the area. We were hungry and adventurous, and sure brought our appetites with us!

We started with appetizers. First there were Garlic Knots (not pictured). They were very garlicy, something my friend Tommy does not like. But I liked them, though i found them just a bit heavy. The marinara to go-with was very good.

Then we had Fried Mozzarella Sticks. They were served with the same marinara which was fine with me as I really liked it. The mozzarella sticks could have been friend just another 30s seconds or so, they would have been better. Still, they were plenty good.

On top of that, we also ordered the Fried Ravioli. Again, they were very good, not overcooked, jsut right. And again, served with the same marinara--still just as delicious. These were pretty darned good.

For my main course I had the Penne ala Vodka with Chicken. Wow, this was very good. You could tell that this dish was cooked to marry the flavors, and it had a lot of very good flavor. I liked it a lot.

I also ordered a side salad, which our waitress almost forgot, but it had it right after my entree arrived. It was a good salad, nice and fresh. The best part of it was the dressing, a house Italian. It was very good and full of nice flavor.

For his dinner, my friend Tommy had the Chicken Cacciatore. It, too was very good, and a nice portion.

Finally, we ordered a Cannoli. All I can say is "yumm." It was very sweet but also very good. However, the chocolate sauce it was trimmed with did taste like bottled stuff from the store. Still it was good.

We had a nice experience and dinner here. I'd come back. They have a nice menu and the wine and beer prices are very reasonable as well.

Romano's Macaroni Grill

I had lunch recently at Romano's Macaroni Grill with some coworkers. It was a pretty decent lunch and a fair price. There were five of us, each with coupons. Our server handled it well without even batting an eyelid. I ordered the "choose three" for $10. The items I chose were (1) a Fresh Greens salad with Italian dressing, (2) the Whole Wheat Fettucinne Pasta, and (3) a half Roasted Turkey Sandwich.

You can see above what I was first served, two of the three elements of my dish. I thought that a bit odd. The Salad and the half Sandwich arrived but you can see there is an open space. However, within a minute or two a manager arrived with the missing element, the Whole Wheat Fettucini, below.

My guess is that there was some miscommunication in the kitchen or with the waitress, but it all eventually arrive.

The salad was nice and fresh and tasty. The sandwich was good, though maybe just a bit dry--it could have used a touch of may or something. The past was very good with crisp broccolini and cherry tomatoes. The sauce for the fettucine was a bit thin--actually very thin, but the dish was tasty.
Overall, this was a nice meal at a good price.

Bananas Modern American Diner

We recently ate at Bananas Modern American Diner on a Sunday afternoon. It was the weekend before Halloween and the wait staff were somewhat costumed up for that. But we had a decent meal here, though the service was a bit slow. Nonetheless, the food was generally pretty good and I'd eat here again.

Bananas is a diner, and it does have somewhat of that type of look and feel. We were promptly greeted and initially shown a seat by the window, in the sun. But when we asked, we were shown a nearby booth which seemed better than sitting in the hot Florida sun, even if it was a nice autumn day.

Upon ordering drinks, we also chose to get an appetizer of the Beer Battered Onion Rings. They were done nearly perfectly, nice, thick slices of onions in a tasty beer batter and fried just right. But the star of the dish was actually the horseradish dijon dipping sauce--it added just the perfect amount of zing to these nearly perfectly cooked onion rings. This was a real hit.

For his meal, my friend Tommy had the Daddy's Burger with fries. A burger was cooked and trimmed with blue cheese, smoky bacon, and caramelize onions. Lettuce, tomato, and onion were on the side. The bun was nicely toasted as well. Tommy ordered the burger medium, but it came out well. Our server did offer to replace it, but he ate it. It was still rather tasty, just a bit overcooked. The fries were very ordinary, however, and a bit on the starchy side, if you ask me. But the burger was plenty good.

For my meal, I ordered the Buffalo Burger with a chicken breast for the meat. A chicken breast was served on a toasted bun with provolone cheese and a spicy buffalo wing sauce. The portion of buffalo, sauce, though tasty, was very skimpy, as you can see in the picture. There was not much of it. The chicken breast was cooked through, and just barely. Instead of the fries, I asked for and got a side salad. It was served with a truly amazing Wasabi Viniagrette that was out of this world. It had a nice wasabi bite to it and was just wonderful. It's one of the best salad dressing's I've ever had. Overall, it was a nice meal.

As I mentioned, our service was a bit unattentive. It was the middle of the afternoon and some of the wait staff, our waitress included, were doing some cleaning and other housekeeping activities such as changing out the ice tea station. That's what kept here occupied. One thing I did notice is that there really didn't appear to be any sort of manager or anyone in charge, and I think the service suffered for that. There seemed to be no direction in the front of the house, just people doing whatever they normally do. No on really keeping tabs on the diners and the dining room.  Nonetheless, it was an OK experience here and I'd come back again another time.  

Cozee Cafe

We went to Cozee Cafe in Lake Mary on a recent Thursday evening and had a nice meal. Mitchell provided us with very good service. It was a nice November evening and we sat outside.

We decided to start with an appetizer, the Queso Dip. It was just passable and really could have used a bit of zing. It was more like melted velveeta with a few bits of peppers added. It wasn't bad, just wasn't really what I'd call restaurant quality. Fortunately, the rest of the meal was better.

For his dinner, my friend Tommy had an Omelet with mushrooms and cheese. It was served with fried potatoes and toast. It was pretty good. He mentioned that the mushrooms seemed like maybe they'd been pickled, though they weren't bad, but probably had been cooked ahead and then held. Too bad, had they been cooked fresh, it would have much better.

For my dinner, I had the special, a Blackened Chicken Sandwich. The chicken breast was tender and juicy and lightly blackened. It was served with cheese, tomato, onion, and lettuce, on a nice ciabatta roll. It was actually a very good sandwich and I enjoyed it a lot. It was werved with fries which I thought could have been cooked an additional 30 seconds or so, they were not quite crispy on the outside and just cooked inside, but overall they were still plenty good.

Overall, we enyojed our meal here and believe this newly expanded place has nice potential. A few rough edges and room for improvement, but they really tried to please us and took good care of us with fast, friendly, and efficient service. The outdoor dining on a beautiful evening was a great way to end an evening too. Nice job, overall.

RedBrick Pizza

After my last visit to RedBrick Pizza in Sanford, I wrote that I would probably not go back because I was underwhelmed. But I went back to give them a second try after getting an email telling me they were under new management and a similar comment on my previous blog post. So, almost two years to the day later, we once again ventured to RedBrick Pizza to give them a second try. It was later in the evening, past 7 PM on a Saturday evening, and we were in search of a light bite to eat.

The place was not very busy when we entered, maybe three or so tables occupied. But we were promptly greeted and our order promptly taken. Also, it arrived rather quickly. We'd barely uttered the words "medium pepperoni with mushrooms" when we saw our pizza being made. So, the service was friendly, the restaurant was clean, and the food arrived promptly and nice and hot.

Our pepperoni and mushroom pizza was OK, but just OK. I guess the first thing that confused me was how the pizza dough was made. RedBrick says they are "gourmet" pizza, but they use a machine to press out the dough into a nice, neat, round with a nice, neat, precise raised edge. The dough was just OK, nothing really set it apart, and I think a hand pressed/made crust is far superior to a machine made crust. The sauce and cheese and toppings were good and the pizza was cooked properly. So it was a good pizza. But just not a great pizza. It was served hot and fresh and fast and for the just-over $11 price, not too bad, but it just did not strike me as gourmet. However, if I was looking to have a decent pizza cooked properly and served fast, I would come back. Still, the experience was not enough to convince me to change my urbanspoon.com vote, sorry. It was OK, but there is much better pizza in the area. Of course, those places (like Caffe Positano and Terra Mia) are usually much more busy and much harder to get into, but there's a reason for that. And a reason that RedBrick was so not-busy on a Saturday evening.  

Bahama Breeze Island Grille

My friend Tommy and I went to Bahama Breeze Island Grille in Altamonte Spring for dinner on a recent Friday evening. I knew we'd have to wait, and sure enough there was a 45-60 minute wait. But it was a pleasant evening and we found a nice spot on the large patio and had a few drinks while we were waiting.

Eventually we were seated and we started off with the Firecracker Shrimp appetizer. This was pretty gosh darned good, though not the best I've had, buttermilk battered shrimp that were deep fried and served with a fiery, creamy red pepper remoulade. Still, I'd have it again. The shrimp could have been cooked just a half minute less, but they were not way overdone either. The remoulade was great and a nice accompaniment. I liked this dish a lot.

For his meal, Tommy decided on soup and another appetizer. For the soup he had the Bahamian Seafood Chowder. The soup had a cream base and contained shellfish and vegetables, and was topped with a few fried shrimp. It was very good. I know, because I had a taste.

Then he had the Chicken Empanadas. They were the normal fried pastries with an adobo seasoned chicken filling that also had with mushrooms, sweet peppers and onion. Ut was served with a seasoned sour cream and black bean roasted corn and fresh tomato salsa on the side. The empanadas were good and the salsa was very good, it had a nice and bright flavor. Another hit!

For my main course, I had one of my favorite dishes, one I've eaten at a number of restaurants, Shrimp and Grits. It was good, though not great. The shrimp were cooked pretty well, but again, maybe 15-30 seconds overcooked. However, they were not way beyond cooked and so were not at all rubbery, something I abhor. The grits were good enough though just a bit clumpy and not quite as creamy as they should have been. I think they could have suffered a bit of stirring and a few more drops of cream before being served, then they'd have been nice and creamy. The accompanying green beans were very lightly steamed and were good. Overall, this was pretty good, though nothing set it above some of the other shrimp n grits meals I've had. 

Our experience here was pretty good. Our server, Amber, was attentive and helpful. We enjoyed the meal and the prices seemed about right for what we got.

Outback Steakhouse

We had a very nice dinner recently at the Outback Steakhouse in Sanford. We started with drink. I had a beer but my friend Tommy had the Margarita. He said it was absolutely delicious. After a long, hard day of work, I'm sure it was.

We started with the Grilled Shrimp on the Barbie and they were wonderful. We had them wood-grilled and the flavor and aroma of the wood was apparent. And, they were cooked right, just done, not overcooked. They were lightly seasoned and accompanied by a remoulade sauces that was fantastic.

For my main course I had the Alice Springs Chicken, a wood-fire grilled chicken breast topped with sauteed mushrooms, crisp bacon, monterey and cheddar cheese, and finished with a honey mustard sauce. I had my accompanied by broccoli. The meal was delcious. The chicken was nice and tender, and the broccoli was just lightly steamed. I love mine with a bit of lemon juice. It was a very good meal, I enjoyed it.

My friend Tommy had the Outback Special, a 6 oz. sirloin filet that was grilled on the wood-fired grill. It was accompanied by a loaded baked potato. I had a taste of the steak and it was indeed delicious, cooked just as ordered, tender and juicy, with a nice wood-grill flavor and aroma.

There is a reason that we keep going back to Outback time after time, and that is consistency. Their food is always consistently good. I've have some of the best shrimp ever at Outback (unfortunately, that item, the Shrimp on the Barbie, is no longer on the menu--dang!). But whatever I've had there, it's always good, the service is always good, and the meal is a fair value for the price. I guess I'll keep going back!

Tuesto Café

Wow! My friend Tommy brought home a sandwich from Tuesto Café today and it was mighty fine.

The sandwich we had was a the Pulled Roast Pork sandwich. The pork was roasted very well, tender and juicy. It was served on a Cuban type roll with swiss cheese, onions, mayo, and mojo sauce. It was an excellent sandwich. The pork was so tender and juicy, it was amazing. There was not a lot of other seasoning and that allowed the flavor of the pork to shine through. Nice job.

Along with that we had the Potato Ball. A round ball of potatoes was stuffed with a delicious ground beef filling, then breaded and deep fried. It was delicious! Based on this experience, I'd certainly go back--again and a gain. It could be a very addicting place and a great lunch or "quick bite" place.

Willow Tree Café and Octoberfest

Willow Tree Café was featured on My Fox Orlando recently. You can see the segment here.  Octoberfest starts tonight, Thursday October 13th, at Willow Tree Cafe as a part of the monthly Alive After Five event. As always, I'll be hanging out much of the time at Art Affair Gallery. Join us!

Tree House Food Truck

We stopped by Tree House Food Truck  the other night and liked what I had. We were at the Apopka Food Truck Roundup, a fairly new event held the first Thursday of every month at Kit Land Nelson park in Apopka. There were about 14 various food trucks in attendance. We'd already eaten, but were looking for dessert, and I was drawn to the Tree House Food Truck by one very particular thing...bad spelling and grammar. Now, as a proud Polak (person of Polish-American heritage), I could not let their advertisement for pierogi pass for two reasons: (1) I love pierogi and am an expert, and (2) I am the Polish spelling police, and they had a violation. So when I saw pierogi on the menu, I knew I had to try them, and when I saw the word grossly misspelled, I had to comment

A pierog (single, one) is a little dumpling that is filled with a filing and usually boiled, then fried, and served with some accompaniments. In Polish, "pierog" refers to one, singular, and "pierogi" refers to more than one, plural. So, the word "pierogi" is already a plural word and adding an "es" to it is not correct. Worse yet, the forgot the first "i"... it's Pierogi, not perogi--that is not a Polish word with any meaning.

But, on to the pierogi (there were three of them, so plural, and now spelled correctly). The actual pierogi themselves were just OK, but the way they were served deserves comment and accolade. The pierogi appeared to be very average, maybe even the "Mrs. T's" store brand (hint, guys, buy them at the Europol store on Aloma and 436--they are much better there). They were boiled and then fried, very traditional. But then they were topped with a very delicious sour creme sauce and sprinkled with some fried bacon. I'd guess the sour creme sauce had some yogurt in it as well as chives and dill, but it was sure delicious and really made up for the pierogi's somewhat bland filling. I'd probably eat these again, but if they really use quality pierogi--and I could show them how to make some excellent pierogi--they'd have a real hit on their hands.

And then the dessert. The picture here does not does it justice. This cookie was at least 6 inches across and nicely cooked, nice and moist and tender. It was a Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookie, and at $2, it as a steal! Moist, tender, with a hint of salt and some nice chunks of chocolate, this was a very good cookie and we both enjoyed it. 

We really enjoyed our time at the Apopka Food Truck Roundup, and that was in part due to the good food (bad spelling notwithstanding) at the Treehouse Truck. If you want to know where they'll be next, you can friend and follow them on Facebook.    

C&S Brisket Bus

We ate some decent sandwiches at the C&S Brisket Bus at the Apopka Food truck Roundup on the first Thursday of October. The event started recently and is held every first Thursday in at Kit Land Nelson Park in Apopka. After looking over the various offereings of the 14 trucks in attendance, we decided to give C&S Brisket Bus's food a try. It was good. 

I had the Texas Brisket, smoked sliced brisket covered with a sweet and sour barbecue sauce and served sandwich style on Texas Toast. At $9 for a whole and $6 for a half, the choice was a no-brainer. I had the whole and then split it with my friend Tommy. The brisket was nicely smoke and the barbecue sauce did somewhat remind me of Texas BBQ, though maybe from far east Texas, as close to Tennessee and the Carolias as you can get, due to the bit of tang from the vinegar. Yet, it was very good. The Texas toast was the perfect vehicle for this hearty sandwich.

My friend Tommy had the Carolina Pulled Brisket Sandwich, grilled smoked brisket that was mixed with an eastern North Carolina type vinegar based barbecue sauce and served on grilled white bread. It was the same price, so again, a no-brainer, we each ended up with half. This was a very good sandwich and I'd say I liked it marginally better than the Texas sandwich. Still, they were both very good. If anything could be said for either sandwich as a criticism, I'd say just a tad more sauce would be in order, to really highlight the BBQ flavor. But overall, a nice job, we liked this. Now to try some of their other items another time. And I will be back, for sure.

If you'd like to know where this Food Truck is, friend them on Facebook!

Eola Wine Company

A recent Sunday afternoon found us in Winter Park, and we had lunch at Eola Wine Company. It was a good choice, and there are many choices in Winter Park. We both agreed, based on our experience here, we'd come back!

We both were in the mood for something rather light, and their brunch menu seemed just perfect. We started out with the Mimosa Flight, samples of four of their signature Mimosas. The price included one more of the favorite. The flavors included Raspberry, Peach, traditional (orange), and Banana. Our least favorite was the banana, as there was no discernable banana taste. Our most favorite was the Raspberry--great flavor. We split on the other two. 

For my brunch I had the Tomato, Artichoke and Bacon Quicche. It was fantastic. It was a personal size quicche with a very nice an buttery crust. The flavors were very good and quite distinct, though i had a harder time tasting the artichoke. Still, it was very good. The mixed green salad that accompanied it was very good, and i had a house balsamic viniagrette with it--yumm! It was accompanied with a bunch of small red grapes--small in size, but huge in flavor. This was a very good dish.

My friend Tommy had the BBT, a bacon, basil, tomato and cream cheese sandwich served on a bagel. It was fantastic! It was very good. the creaminess of the cream cheese was a nice contrast to the bacon and tomato. It, too, was served with a salad of mixed greens and red grapes. We really enjoyed our meal here. Our service was attentive, even though we sat outside. We had a chance to do some people-watching on a nice summer afternoon. Lucky for us it had rained a bit early and so the heat was not so bothersome. This was a very nice place and I'd come back here again. Nice job!