La Segunda is an institution in Tampa. The bakery has been operating since 1915, making fresh breads and pastries. I went to visit their restaurant and grab something to eat.
There was a lot to choose from. They had pastry cases full of pure happiness. I did get three desserts to go so that I could enjoy them at home later. They had so many things to choose from it was a hard choice for me.
I finally decided on the carrot
cake, the cheese danish, and the guava cheese turnover.
The carrot cake was extremely moist. The spice in the cake was great, it tasted like nutmeg. The cream cheese frosting was sweet and creamy. It paired well with the spice in the cake. There was also a lot of sweet raisins mixed throughout the cake. It was perfect with a cold glass of milk.
The guava cheese turnover was my favorite. The flakey pastry was moist and held in the filling nicely. The sweet cream cheese paired well with the semi-sweet and tart guava jam.
The cheese danish was huge. It is good to share because one person could not eat all of it. The cheese filling was creamy and super sweet. They used a generous amount that made the danish heavy in weight. The dough they used for the pastry was light and flakey.
I ordered the Media Noche. It is the ingredients of a Cuban sandwich on a special bread called Medianoche (a sweet, eggy bread). The bread was loaded with marinated pork, smoked ham, Genoa salami, swiss cheese, crunchy dill pickles, and a special sauce. I had the sandwich pressed so that it would warm up the fillings and make the outside of the bread crispy.
The pork was my favorite part of the sandwich. The shredded pork was tender and juicy. It was full of flavor from the Mojo marinade. The special sauce did have mustard in it but I could not make out the other ingredients, but it did help tie all the components together.
I loved all the pastries and the
sandwich that I got at La Segunda. I can see why they have been around for over
a century.
Downtown Lakeland does a fun food truck rally the second Thursday of every month. They close the main streets down and different food trucks line the streets around Munn Park. It is a fun way to get to experience all the local food trucks in one spot.
So over the course of a few months I have made my way to
downtown to experience a few of those trucks. I thought this would be a great
write up to talk about each truck I tried. The Lakeland food truck rally is a
fun time for the whole family.
The name of this truck says it all. They are all about
bacon. Who doesn’t love bacon. It was a hard choice for me of what to try, it
all looked delicious.
I went for the Fat
Tony Tater Tots. These were crispy fried tater tots that were smothered in
their homemade mac and cheese. Then they were topped with a ton of crumbled
bacon.
The mac and cheese was so creamy. They used so much cheese,
which is what made it so good. I also loved how much bacon they used. It was so
crispy. Each bite had bacon in it, adding a great crunch.
This is a Venezuelan food truck. I ordered the Arepazo
special. Arepa is a flat corn bread
that is stuffed with different meats and cheeses. The special arepa I ordered
came stuffed with pork, beef, and chicken along with gouda cheese.
The corn bread was like a shell. It was soft and had a nice
corn taste. It was a little sweet which paired well with the saltiness of the
meats. I also loved how much cheese they used. The creaminess went so well with
the corn bread.
I also got two of their empanadas. I got one pollo (chicken) and one carne (beef). Both the chicken and beef were shredded. The empanada shell was deep fried until crispy. The dough was slightly sweet. It helped hold in the heat, so each bite of the meat was hot. The meats were full of flavor from the spices they used to tenderize the meat.
The owners of this fun food truck are originally from New
Jersey. This inspired them to bring a bit of the Jersey Shore to Florida. And
when I think of the shore, I remember all the fun times I had on the boardwalk
eating French fries. So it was only fitting that I order one of their French fry
options.
The bleu cheese fries looked really yummy. They took crispy French
fries and tossed them with Buffalo wing sauce. Then they covered it in bleu
cheese sauce with extra bleu cheese crumbles. These fries tasted just like
chicken wings. The tangy vinegar taste from the wing sauce was minimized by the
creamy bleu cheese sauce.
This food truck offers up Nicaraguan cuisine. I do not remember
ever trying Nicaraguan food so I was looking forward to trying something. I
ordered the Cerdo Asado. This meal
included charbroiled pork in an achiote rub. It came with white rice, a tangy
slaw, and fried plantains. I also got a side of homemade Chimichurri sauce.
The pork was tender and the seasoning on it was fantastic.
It was very impactful. It reminded me almost like a blackening seasoning. I
drizzled the Chimichurri sauce over the pork and rice. The sauce added even
more flavor to the dish. It had a salty and herby taste.
The slaw was very interesting. It was very sour tasting. It reminded me of a Korean Kimchi. The fried plantains were very sweet. They were cooked up just how I like them. I enjoy ripe plantains in all cuisines, Cuban, Puerto Rican, and Jamaican. They are the perfect side dish.
I was not sure what to expect when I walked up to Spontaneous
Consumption. Their name did not really hint at what they would be serving. When
I saw their sign for loaded baked potatoes they grabbed my attention. I had not
had a loaded potato in a while. Then when I saw their Philly Potato on the
n=menu I knew this is where I was going to eat.
This one pound potato was covered with tender beef steak, grilled onions and peppers, tons of cheese, sour cream, and green onions. The potato was full of flavor. The beef was tender and tasted great with the onions and peppers. It was as if I was eating a cheese steak. I liked that they used shredded cheddar cheese rather than a cheese sauce. It prevented it from being messy to eat. The sour cream just added extra creaminess. Table
I was staying in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York recently and it was dinner time. I took a walk around the area to see what I could find. I came across a small Italian restaurant called Zia Maria.
I popped in to see if they had a table and good for me they did.
It was a cute little restaurant inside. It was perfect for me to get a quick
dinner for myself.
I saw they had arancini on the menu. Naturally I had to try these. Four little rice balls came out with a homemade pasta sauce.
They were crunchy on the outside. Inside the tender rice was covered with creamy cheese. There was no meat or peas in the middle of the arancini. I was a little disappointed by that but they were still good. I did love how much cheese they used. The homemade pasta sauce was full of flavor.
The served up freshly made bread. It was light and fluffy. It was perfect to scoop up the extra sauce on my plate from the arancini.
For my dinner I got the Gnocchi Alla Bolognese. The portion size was huge.
On top was melted mozzarella cheese. It was nice and crispy from the oven. The gnocchi were tender. It was covered in a traditional beef ragu sauce. The meat in the sauce added a heartiness to the dish. This was a very filling dinner.
Zia Maria was a great neighborhood restaurant that was perfect for a quick dinner. Check them out at www.ziamarianyc.com
It was a cold winter evening in New York and it was dinner time. I bundled up and headed over to the Bryant Park Hotel. Inside this beautiful hotel is KOI, an upscale Japanese restaurant.
This place was packed because they are pretty popular. As
always I had a reservation. You really can’t go anywhere in New York without
one.
The great thing about KOI is all their dishes are small so they are ideal for sharing. This also allows for tasting more things. So first out was the Koi Crispy Rice. This was slices of rice that were deep fried to be crispy on the outside. Then it was topped with spicy tuna. The tuna was pureed until smooth. There was a little hint of spice in the tuna. They also included a slice of jalapeno on top of the tuna. This added some crunch and additional heat. The combination of the rice and tuna went really well together. They were bite size too so it made it easy to eat all at once.
The next dish was the seared tuna. The tender tuna was served on top of a seaweed salad. There was crispy garlic chips in the center of each slice of tuna. The garlic added crunch and extra flavor to the tuna. The dish was very light and not overly filing. It meant I still had room for more items.
The Kobe Style Potstickers were delicious. These potstickers were pan fried until they were crispy. They served a scallion Ponzu sauce for dipping. This was basically a sweet soy sauce. The flavor of the sauce went perfectly with the tender filling in the potsticker.
The Edamame Dumplings were unique. The tender dumplings were stuffed with mashed edamame. It created a smooth texture that was very creamy. The dumplings were placed in a mushroom Mirin broth. The mushrooms were chopped up to make them easier to eat. They tasted amazing in the very savory broth. I could have eaten these all by themselves.
The chef’s tempura selection was great. They offered up sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans, broccoli, and onion. All of the vegetables were extremely fresh. There was great crispiness to the tempura batter. They served a sweet soy sauce that was great for dipping. The sweet potato was my favorite because it was soft and sweet. The green beans were my second favorite.
Finally the last item out was the grilled skirt steak. The steak was extremely tender. The flavor from the Shiso Chimichuri sauce was amazing. It had a savory, salty taste.
They served a side of ginger shitake fried rice. The rice was full of ginger flavor throughout. It was different from any other fried rice I have ever had.
KOI was an amazing restaurant. The food was absolutely delicious. I want to go back right away. Check them out at www.koirestaurant.com/new-york
Well I am back in New York. It was time to try a different restaurant for dinner. This time I checked out a little place called Legasea. If you like seafood, this is the perfect place to visit.
I started off with a unique cocktail called The Layover. It sounded good with vodka, lemon, and lillet. Lillet is an aperitif wine, a blend of Bordeaux wine and citrus liqueur. It was very sweet. There was a great lemon taste. It reminded me of a lemon drop martini. It was a nice way to start the evening.
The waiter brought out some fresh bread with homemade cole slaw and homemade bread and butter pickles. The bread was sweet with a little butter glaze on top. The bread tasted a lot like this sweet bread my mom would make at Easter.
There were a couple of starters I got for the table. The Spicy Crab Beignets sounded delicious and completely unique. The soft dough of the beignet was sweet. It was filled with a chipotle crème fraiche and a crab slaw. There was a great spice to it that was balanced out by the sweetness of the crab meat. The cabbage slaw added crunch that countered the soft dough. These were bite size, but they packed a bunch of flavor.
The Little Neck Clams were the next thing to come out. These also were bite size. These little clams were loaded with bacon, white wine, and marjoram. Marjoram is just another term for oregano. These had a creamy taste and were full of bacon flavor. I could have eaten every clam on the plate, but I had to be nice and share.
The last thing out was the chopped Green Goddess Salad. This salad was an assortment of different greens, chick peas, olives, and shishito peppers with a red wine vinaigrette. They put sliced avocados on the side of the plate. The salad was tasty, and I liked adding the creamy avocado. I just wished the salad already mixed the two components together. It was a little difficult to do on the plate.
For my dinner I ordered the Diver Sea Scallops. These were sweet, tender scallops that were grilled in a lemon butter sauce. The lemon flavor went really well with the scallops. The butter helped make the scallops creamy.
Sides came separately. I got the sautéed zucchini. I figured this would pair well with the scallops. They cooked the zucchini in garlic and butter. It was absolutely the best flavor combination.
After all this food, I had no room left for dessert. That
just means I will have to come back for another visit.
There is a shopping area on the south side of Lakeland that has several little local restaurants. This is where I found Thai Oishi.
They are a
fairly small inside, so they fill up quickly. They have an extensive menu that
offers Thai dishes as well as sushi options.
I started off with two appetizers. They were small so it allowed everyone at the table to enjoy the taste. The coconut shrimp came out first. They were slightly butterflied. They were covered in coconut flakes that fried up very crispy. There was a nice sweet taste to the coconut. The sweet chili sauce for dipping was amazing. The slight hint of heat paired well with the sweetness of the coconut.
The other appetizer was the steamed dumplings. These wonton wrappers were filled with ground chicken, mushrooms, water chestnuts for a slight crunch, carrots and peas. They steamed the dumplings up in a bamboo steamer.
Then they
were topped with fried garlic and scallions. A ginger soy sauce was served on
the side. The ginger added extra flavor to a generic soy sauce. The filling for
the dumplings was tender and very moist. I enjoyed them more when I dipped them
in the ginger soy sauce.
Rather than getting my usual ginger salad, I decided to change and try something else. I ordered the cucumber salad. This was fresh cucumber chopped up with tomatoes, scallions, carrots, and onions. A sweet tangy Thai dressing was drizzled on top.
The
cucumbers and tomatoes made this salad extremely fresh. The flavor of the
dressing went so well with these vegetables. It was sweeter rather than tangy.
What I
really enjoy about Asian restaurants is that their dishes can be shared family
style. That is exactly what was done on this visit.
The Thai fried rice came out first. This stir fired rice was cooked up with egg, scallions, carrots, tomato, cucumber, and broccoli. I got pork added in for extra flavor and a little protein. The flavor of the rice was delicious. There was a slight smokey taste from being cooked up. The vegetables helped make the dish filling.
The second dish was the Lad Na. This was a stir-fried rice noodle. The rice noodles were a medium thickness and it absorbed the flavor from the sauce. They loaded this dish with broccoli, carrots, and diced up chicken. The chicken was very tender. The sauce that they put on this dish had a nice garlic taste with a hint of soy sauce and ginger.
I really enjoyed my dinner at Thai Oishi. I would want to go back to try a few other dishes as well as some sushi. Check them out at www.thaioishirestaurant.com
Thanks to a flight on Southwest Airlines a few years ago I was introduced to Deep Eddy Vodka. When I was visiting Austin, I was excited to see that they had a huge tasting room for me to check out.
They used to make the vodka at this location, but they got too big, so they moved the distillery operation to a different location. But this offered up a huge space for tastings and a place where folks can just hang out.
They had several bars where you can order unique cocktails all made with the different flavors of Deep Eddy. I started with the SouthernHospitality. This blended their Sweet Tea vodka, peach vodka, and lemon juice. They finished it off with a dried lemon for decoration. This cocktail was sweet from the tea. There was a nice accent of peach flavor.
After checking out some of the local vendors that were set up around the tasting room, I went for a different drink. This time I went for the SpringSling. This cocktail used their original vodka, pineapple juice and lemon juice. They topped the rim of the mason jar with a dried pineapple. I really enjoyed this drink. The pineapple juice was full of flavor and was not overpowered by the vodka.
There was an area in the tasting room that was set up for the crafting of new vodka flavors. It was essentially a kitchen. The day I visited they were working on a coconut vodka. He was explaining to everyone the process of creating the flavors. He was flavoring the vodka by using an actual coconut to ferment the flavor. It was cool that we got to sample this creation right there.
Deep Eddy’s tasting room was a fun place to visit. The drinks were great. It was a great atmosphere to hang out with friends. Definitely stop by if you are in the area. It is worth a small detour out of Austin.
