Breaktime

The Floridian Cuisine Experience will be taking a break until January/February 2012. Its been a very good run, I've been to a lot of wonderful places, but its time for a small break, regroup, financially be better, and hopefully we can begin this blog again firing on all cylinders.

So yea, take care to all of you.

Friendly Fisherman: Good Seafood With Bad Company

During my trip to Treasure Island to see the Rays play (and etch out one of the greatest baseball stories in the history of the sport) I decided to tackle a very old seafood restaurant that’s located on an older section of the Tampa Bay area. Roaming around since 1978, Friendly Fisherman Seafood Restaurant has been serving locals left and right, and somehow someway grabs a few tourists here and there. I mention the “somehow” part because when I visited, the entire John’s Pass area was quite empty. There’s something mildly depressing about seeing empty gift shops and eateries left and right, especially when just two hours away Magic Kingdom’s biggest merchandise store makes thousands of dollars every dozen minutes.





Friendly Fisherman was just as empty inside as it was outside. And this was a shame considering it has a nice view of the quiet side of Tampa Bay, the Treasure Island/Madeira Beach section. Their menu isn’t too extensive, and it ranges from freshly caught seafood to a few Floridian favorites and even some pasta. Their frozen drinks (alcoholic and non-alcoholic) come from the Island Oasis company. The two times I went I ordered one of their drinks: I had a pina colada and a coco butter drink (butterscotch schnapps with some pina colada and vanilla ice cream). For the appetizers I went with the peel n’ eat shrimp, and alligator bites. Lastly, I ordered their most popular item (Grouper: a Floridian favorite) and a Mahi/Shrimp Baked Parmesan dish.



While this place is very old-school, they still work at a steady pace, with an attentive staff. The peel-n-eat shrimp was mildly disappointing. I asked for them cold, thinking that they at least enhance it with something—kind of like the pepper seasoning added to the peel-n-eat shrimp in Margaritaville. Not these babies, they came out with just cocktail sauce. While this shrimp tasted very fresh, and while it was plentiful in size, one would wonder how they would be with a little more effort attached to them. If you like them plain and simple, and this is perfect for you. But if you are hoping for some added flavor, you won’t find it with this appetizer.


The alligator bites were amazing however. If you do come here to eat, this is what you should order as an appetizer. I have had gator before, but these bites even top those of Charley’s Steakhouse, a fancy joint in Orlando. They weren’t too big, but contained just enough meat and batter to hit the spot. The accompanying sauces worked well too, but I am a purist and can eat these things by themselves. The drinks both times were very good, and they didn’t hold back on the ice cream or the quantity (I swear, alcoholic drinks have become smaller over the years). Both times the main course took a little longer to prepare, but remember I am always used to waiting long periods of time for food.








The grouper I ordered broiled and in the dinner portion. The fish itself was huge, as it was resting on a bed of rice with French fries and their popular corn fritters. The grouper came out fantastic, some of the thickest I’ve had in recent memory. While it’s not my favorite fish, its still a very flavorful one if done correctly. This grouper didn’t disappoint, as it tasted fresh, had plenty of meat, and made up for the disappointingly tasteless rice. The French fries were steak-cut and decent, but there weren’t enough of them. Same goes with the corn fritters. These things are delightful, like a sweet hush puppy, but they gave me only two of them. Let’s compare this to the infamous seafood platter from Crabby Bills: two filets of fish, one strip of shrimp, and several other sides and a smaller price tag too.






The baked parmesan dish was a very mixed bag of quality---which is very unfortunate considering its potential. The parmesan cheese mix that was baked on top wit the mahi-mahi and shrimp was phenomenal. It was very rich, had a sweet afterkick, cheesy, and mixed perfectly well with the chunks of mahi (my favorite fish) and shrimp. That being said, this dish would have been perfect if I had meshed up the plate and mixed it with the spaghetti underneath the first layer consisting of seafood and cream sauce. Instead, I ate the top layer, and was surprised to see that the pasta had not been drenched in any sauce, did not have any added flavor, and didn’t benefit from the first layer in the least bit. Usually in a baked dish, the cream and sauce finds its way to the bottom. Not this time, the pasta was left virtually untouched, leaving me with plain pasta after such a great beginning. If they had put any of the sauce on top and mixed it with the bottom before baking it, the dish would have been absolutely perfect. Instead, I got a mix of fantastic and disappointing. It was a very odd eating experience.


Bottom Line: Not sure how to feel about this restaurant. You got to respect the old-school seafood places, but in this case when they didn’t fully deliver on some dishes and you have a decent Bubba Gump Shrimp right next door, why should I recommend this place? For its history? Friendly Fishermans is a nice place, does have some nice food, but dropped the ball too often to warrant a return visit. They have some good ideas with their seafood; they just need to execute them better. The staff was great, but the food, mildly underwhelming.



Final Verdict: Do Not Recommend

Friendly Fisherman Seafood Restaurant
150 Boardwalk Place West
Madeira Beach, FL 33708-2625

Delmonico's: Delightful Culinary Import From New York

The original plan was to visit a Polish restaurant in the outskirts of Downtown Orlando. After about an hour of searching, I failed miserably and couldn’t find the darn place. I drove back home, disappointed, but still determined to find a spot. Going down International Drive I noticed that there was a restaurant I had never seen before. About a mile away from Sea World’s Aquatica was this Italian steakhouse. What intrigued me was its premise: not an Italian restaurant, but an Italian steakhouse. Delmonico’s Steakhouse became the next adventure in the Floridian Cuisine Experience.




The inside of the place was a mix of higher-class Italian flair, old-school Italian mobster costumes, ode to the Frank Sinatra lifestyle, and finally some tongue-in-cheek flavor. There were caricatures all over the place, a room dedicated to Sinatra, and a massive bar in the exact center of the restaurant. They made great use of the building space with a plentiful amount of tables with enough room in between them. Now, Delmonicos qualifies as a local joint because it’s the only one of its kind----in Florida. There are four locations in New York, but Orlando became their first joint outside the Big Apple state.




Delmonico’s menu was a bit small for an Italian restaurant. I guess the steakhouse title was a preceding warning of the smaller quantity of food to choose from. Even more shocking was the exclusion of pizza. No pizza in an Italian place? Now I know this place is trying to draw away the younger crowd, in a nice manner anyway. There are a slew of pasta dishes and a slew of steaks to choose from. I decided to go with the garlic cheese bread and also their signature dish: Delmonico Steak. Ripping this from the menu, it consists of: 24 oz certified Angus Beef, Center Cut Rib-eye Steak from Midwestern Heavy Aged Beef, seasoned and perfectly seared---Served with Penne Marinara. My server warned me that this steak is heavy on the fat; they don’t remove any of it. My response? Bring it on. I also decided to run with an order of meatballs.




I received my garlic cheese bread, which was decent. Nothing too special, and definitely nothing when compared to the likes of my first Italian restaurant experience (La-Forchetta). There was the right amount of cheese and butter and the bread was hot and thick. Then they flipped the switch by giving me the free bread afterwards. If I had known I was getting free bread (which was fantastic, from the fresh dough to the creamy butter) I never would have asked for the garlic bread. Now, I didn’t regret the ordering, but I am stuffing up on bread before taking on a 24 oz steak with pasta with none of the fat removed. I was about to get hammered.


The steak arrives.



I’m gonna get hammered.


This is hands-down, no question about it, the juiciest steak I have ever experienced in my entire life. Puddles of calories were oozing out as I chopped it up. No, the calories may sound like a complaint, but its actually a compliment---and a warning. If you are watching your diet, do not order this by any means. But if you want a damn good steak regardless of fat, then look no further. Inching its way into the Top 3 Steaks I’ve Ever Had with Le Cellier and Charley’s Steakhouse, the Delmonico delivered as it gives you plenty of meat, plenty of juicy flavor, plenty of tenderness, at a whopping price of: $20!?!?!? That’s it? And let’s not forget, this actually comes with pasta! Compare that to Charley’s Steakhouse, which won’t even give you the prices in its own menu.




I personally am more of a pasta fan as opposed to steak, but decided to go with the steak since it was the restaurant’s most popular menu. The dish of penne pasta however was quite good. They give you plenty of sauce without drowning the thing, and the pasta itself tasted fresh, and wasn’t overloaded on toppings. The meatballs were the big surprise of the night though. I honestly expected a small dish, and three small rounds of meat to put with the pasta. Instead I got these gigantic towers of meat with sauce all over and under it. The meatballs were very soft, very chewy, and had a great blend of meat and minimal vegetables inside. The only thing missing was ricotta cheese, which is something that very few meatballs do (although its done to perfection in the Hollywood Studios pasta joints). The steak killed me however, as I couldn’t finish it, it was so rich I was regretting touching any bread before taking on the mammoth.



Bottom Line: Delmonico’s is quirky enough to deviate from the norm, but lets the food, not the presentation, do all the quality talking. This place offers great food at reasonable prices albeit having a small menu. The steak here was a delicate surprise, and a monster overall. When I visited, this place did pasta and steaks right—what more could you ask for? The service was great, as the attractive (always a plus, and hush up female audience, this enhances any dinner, that’s a fact of life) staff engaged in conversations with you, as opposed to just throwing food on the table and running away. Prices were good, staff was good, food was good, and this spot hit all the right cylinders. And with the Italian music lightly interacting in the background, you feel like you are in a non-violent scene in Goodfellas.

All I need is Spider serving me a drink.

Give yourself 20 points if you understood what I meant.

Final Verdict: Recommend

Delmonico's Italian Steakhouse
6115 Westwood Blvd.
@ International Drive
Orlando, FL 32821

Paradiso 37: A Little Far From Paradise

Me and Paradiso 37 have had a small subtle rivalry ever since it’s opening back in May 2009. There are many reasons for this rivalry (that they actually know nothing about) and it originally stems from its partial replacement of the Pleasure Island lineup of clubs and comedy clubs (Adventurer’s Club, R.I.P.) as well as its unknowing theft of my idea for a restaurant. As a matter of fact, it changed its name shortly after opening after I questioned why a place with a subtitle of “Streets Foods of the Americas” prices their dishes so extremely high. You thought I forgot that fact, didn’t you Paradiso?


So because of this, my two visits there came with a hintage of bias against the institution. Third time’s the charm, this time I am giving the place my most unbiased attention. Paradiso 37 has been an extremely successful staple of Downtown Disney for the past year as although the park attendance has dipped slightly, Downtown Disney has seemingly exploded because of its addition of restaurants, family-friendlier theming, and because CityWalk is too stupid to realize that charging everybody for parking after 6:00 is nothing short of idiotic.



Upon entering the restaurant, the noise reached an almost-unbearable level as we have loud music, a loud DJ, and a loud ambiance. The building itself isn’t that big, which allows for the noise to bounce back and forth across the rooms involved. The presentation was the weakest part of this restaurant, as it has an inconsistent theme, and the booming music didn’t allow you to enjoy the scene regardless. The menu has remained the same since 2009, which is slightly odd considering the expansive range and potential (two continents, the Caribbean, over a dozen countries)---and also the fact that the menu is quite small.



I decided to go with the mac and cheese bites, and then went after their most popular dish: the Surf n’ Turf. The Surf dish consisted of bbq shrimp, their popular Argentinean skirt steak, seasonal vegetables, corn on the cob, and potato pancakes. For a drink I went with their pineapple mojito. I am just a sucker for a good mojito. After a small wait I got my drink from one of the two bars that can be found in the restaurant. It was good, but quite small. At nearly $9, it was quite pricy, even if it tasted refreshing, tangy, and had a nice slight pineapple kick.




The mac and cheese bites were quite phenomenal, much better than the previous time I had them. They are massive, well-fried, very hot, and had the right mix of batter and actual macaroni and cheese. They came with this unique cilantro dipping sauce that had a heavy dose of lime and jalapeno. While the cheese bites did not need the dip whatsoever, the cilantro dip wasn’t half bad. It was mildly spicy, but wasn’t overwhelming. It felt like it would compliment chips better than a fried appetizer. And then came the main course.


The surf n’ turf was a mix of good, bad, and outstanding. The skirt steak, the main item in this dish, wasn’t anything spectacular. That being said, unless you have Argentine blood running through the veins of the restaurant, its nearly impossible to successfully recreate the skirt steak that’s so popular down in South America. There wasn’t enough of the underrated chimichurri sauce (seriously, if you do it right, this sauce will enhance all your foods) to compliment the chewy, tough, and very thin steak. It was the weakest part of the meal. Closely following the disappointment factor was the corn on the cob, which came out cold---which is odd considering everything else in the dish is served hot.


However, that shrimp, my goodness. The amount of meat on one shrimp rivals that of the entire steak on the left, and three of them was quite a welcome blessing. They were doused lightly with bbq sauce, and its size was supported by a hearty, thick taste that will satisfy any shrimp lover. Underneath the shrimp was the surprisingly delightful potato pancake, which was warm, soft, and should have been an appetizer option. Honestly. A rather odd moment of the meal was when I realized that the best part of the meal was.....the potato pancake. It wouldn’t usually be an issue, but the $24 price tag makes it one.


Bottom Line: Paradiso 37 is an excellent idea that hasn’t quite translated into a great restaurant just yet. With so many options to choose from, a one-page menu doesn’t really make sense. And when pancakes and appetizers manage to trump steaks and other main courses, its time to look at a revamped menu. Sadly though, the mammoth success of Paradiso 37 will make my complaints fall on deaf ears. And if its not the success that will make my shouts fall on deaf ears, it will definitely be the noise in the place as it reached a point in which I had to complain to a manager. There is good food here, and there is potential, but the overall result is muddled, expensive, and far below the quality line to justify a visit. Downtown Disney offers a lot of great restaurants----this just isn’t one of them.

Final Verdict: Do Not Recommend. Yet.

Paradiso 37
Downtown Disney Area
Lake Buena Vista, Fl

Shiso Sushi: Small in Presentation, Big on Sushi

It has been a while since I took a stab at Japanese food. While Chinese restaurants are present in pretty much every city, every region, every zip code, Japanese restaurants are a little tougher to come by. That being said, sushi is definitely making a stronger and stronger push nowadays. Some will claim that its because of it’s a healthier alternative to burgers and fries. My strong opinion is that sushi is helped by the Subways Effect: easy to build, easy to make, easy to maintain. Sushi is a type of food that doesn’t require a massive kitchen nor does it require a plethora of machinery to produce for the mainstream. So I predict a slew of Japanese food chains to start popping up in the mere future. In the meantime, the latest challenger comes from a small local joint in the bustling Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando.



Quietly building an audience of followers for the past several years, I visited this place because this is the sushi joint that finally converted my brother and my father into fans. They said the sushi and the chicken were incredible. I find the place and inside you can immediately tell it’s aiming for a much more laid-back and romantic setting. The place is dimly lit, the massive windows are tinted so barely any outdoor lights makes it way inside, and there aren’t even that many tables in the area overall. My theory of its attempted romanticness is enhanced by its list of wines.



The sushi menu was massive to the extreme, clearly with the most variety I’ve seen from any Japanese restaurant in the Central Florida area. Over 90 options of sushi, and some of them are cooked, and a small portion are actually even deep fried. Amongst the three Japanese restaurants in the Orlando area that I’ve visited, this menu is the best---in terms of sushi. As for the other items it’s a bit more limited, with Mizu hands-down taking the cake. You get your typical tempura, your typical appetizers, your usual soups, and of course the hibachi.


On my two visits here, this is what I ordered: side of chicken with “white sauce”, side of steamed rice, shu mai (shrimp dumpling), Jimmy Smith Roll (smoked salmon, cream cheese, krab, deep fried) and the Kimono Roll (shrimp tempura and cheese, topped with steamed shrimp and avocado). I must say though, there are a lot of nice-sounding sushis I did not get to attempt (Best examples: Alaska Roll—crab, shrimp, cheese, avocado, topped with salmon, Monster Roll—shrimp tempura, cheese, avocado, topped with krab tempura). The waiting for the food is usually minimal, and luckily it doesn’t cut back on the presentation either.



The chicken that my brother bragged about was cooked with a slight edge of teriyaki, and overall wasn’t that big of a deal. The white sauce (never found out what its made of) complimented it a little, but it doesn’t prevent this chicken with teriyaki to be just that---decent chicken…with a hint of teriyaki. The steamed rice both times I went was good, and although it lacks the pizzazz and calorie greatness of Hispanic rice, it still gets the job done. The shrimp dumpling I can definitely do without, as it was honestly no big deal. It was soft, mildly crunchy, but you didn’t get that kick of shrimp most of the time. It tasted like remnants of a soft eggroll. To this day I wonder what the krab Rangoon would have tasted like.



Shiso Sushi shines best not on the entrees, not on the appetizers, but on the sushi itself. While Mizu reigns supreme with the appetizers and entrees (and price range of both), it doesn’t hold a candle to the two sushi options I enjoyed in my visits here. The Jimmy Smith Roll is honestly not your average healthy sushi fare, but this is the kind that can entice a beginner in the sushi consumption department to be a little experimental. At Oishi, I had a similar sushi with salmon and cream cheese. The difference here is that the little bit of fried adds a nice crunchy texture to the outside while giving the rice a nice kick. The cream cheese blends with the krab and salmon quite well, and this roll is much more filling than the average sushi.





And then we have the two reasons why the quality stock towards this place went up. The Kimono Roll is legit awesomeness, as unlike the dumplings the shrimp flavor was in full blast, and the avocado doesn’t distract as it surprisingly blends with the other ingredients like flavorful butter. The two types of shrimp work perfectly with the solid but creamy cheese as this entire roll more than justifies its $9 price tag. You are literally paying for over a dozen shrimp with fresh ingredients at less than 10 bucks. The men behind the sushi also know how to present food as they crafted a nice presentation out of the roll by dazzling the top of the Kimono with a mix of sesame and soy sauce. It looks fantastic, and tastes fantastic.




Reason number two became a tasty surprise as I decided to try their fried cheesecake. Mizu had a similar treat, with an entire cheesecake surrounded by fried batter. It was a mix of hot and cold as the cheesecake was freezing, while the batter tasted warm. Shiso destroys Mizu by offering the cheesecake in a variety of fried chunks (as opposed to a whole cake) with ice cream in the middle and chocolate drizzle sprinkled all over the dish. The biggest difference here is that the cheesecake in Shiso comes out extremely warm, and it oozes creamy brilliance as it mixes with the fine tempura batter as you slice through the pieces. The ice cream only added to the mayhem as your taste buds for dessert get a mix of melted cheesecake, fried sugary goodness, and chilly ice cream. Without exaggeration this is one of the better desserts I’ve had since I started this blog.



Bottom Line: While Shiso Sushi may mildly deter in some aspects, its sushi and dessert more than make up for the shortcomings as it delivers quality food at quality prices in a nice atmosphere. If you are looking for a smaller-key, simpler Japanese lunch or dinner, then this is your place. If you are looking to dig in to some heavy meats or some heavy meals, then Mizu is more your choice. It all depends on what type of hunger you are bringing with you. Shiso has a nice romantic ambience, and better serves as a date-type of cuisine experience. This is no spot to pig out; it’s a nice place to visit for a small lunch or a small dinner. Or awesome sushi.


Verdict: Recommend


Shiso Sushi
13025 W. Orange Blossom Trail
Orlando, Fl