Saturday, October 08, 2011

Notable Eats

It's been a while since I've posted. it's not altogether accidental. I made a conscious decision to take a little break from all this craziness for fear of being lumped in with the  other food bloggers in Orlando (and there are SO MANY all of a sudden). It's not that they're not fab, because many of them are, it's more to do with the fact that writing about food is my profession, not a hobby, and I wanted to avoid the label of "hobbyist."
That being said, during my absence, I have eaten some amazing things. On a recent trip to Louisville (who knew it was such an inspiring place for food!) I found more than a few haunts I'll keep dreaming about for the next few months. Here are a few I particularly remember:
Mayan Cafe-My coworkers and I wandered into this NuLu (new Louisville, cleverly) gem on happy accident. Don't you dare miss the guac. It's the best I've ever had and I, admittedly, am not  always a fan of guac. The chef is from the Riviera Maya and has quite a command of the popular spices and permutations of the quintessential Mexican plates we're all familiar with. Loved the tuna ceviche and the beef tamale.
Please & Thank You- Holy baked goods. Favorites included a super-chewy chocolate chunk cookie and by far the gooeyest, fudgeyest brownie I've ever experienced. Go for the Thai iced coffee sweetened with God's gift to coffee...sweetened condensed milk.
Jack Fry's- This place has been around since the 1920s. It was super-packed but cozy and intimate at the same time. The cuisine is New American and quite fashion forward for a 90 year old resto. We loved the goat cheese stuffed dates in smoked tomato sauce and the shrimp and grits. So sinfully cheesy and earthy. They make a bang-up Mint Julep, too, with Old Forester bourbon.
We did have one diappointment on our trip to what was supposedly the hippest joint in town. The real telling fact is that I don't even remember the name of the restaurant! (Trust me, this has nothing to do with how many glasses of wine were imbibed.) It's one thing to forget a dish. It's another altogether to forget the entire restaurant altogether. I do remember that the dining area was in the bottom floor of the swank 21c boutique hotel. Also, the hotel bar has several obviously-enhanced photos of various men's junk. I felt sorry for the girl awkwardly sipping her Cosmo under that dangling, foot-long scrotum. There's no accounting for taste, but I can confidently state that this place is trying too hard to be hott.
And that never works.