Restaurant Name: STK Orlando
Address: 1580 Buena Vista Drive, Orlando, FL
Social Media: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

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Orange Dream Cheesecake – March 23, 2018

I recently revisited STK Orlando while back in Orlando for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. My parents wanted me to take them out for dinner and we wanted to go somewhere nice in Disney and so I knew I had to take them back to STK – Orlando. In the post after this one I got the steak. This time around I wanted to try something new so for my dinner I actually did the beef rib meatloaf dinner which was awesome. I’m going to have to write about that sometime, but this update to this restaurant review is for the Orange Cream Cheesecake I had for dessert!

This dessert was a little small so it doesn’t score high on my appearance points because it kinda got dwarfed by the plate. The burnt topping and orange slices and drizzle were nice touches but the dessert itself was still a little small for the plate. 

The taste of this dessert is just like the name…DREAMY! IT…WAS…AMAZING! Probably a close 2nd or 3rd favorite dessert is the dreamsickle which is basically orange and cream. I remember getting a dreamsickle from the ice cream man and absolutely loving it. I still to this day take orange soda and mix in some vanilla ice cream whenever I go to a Chinese buffet. The balanced flavors of tart and cream are straight delicious. 

Literally EVERY SINGLE BITE was just like eating a dreamsickle except not frozen. The graham cracker crust of the cheesecake was a great choice as it held together really well. Not a whole lot more to say about this dessert besides it is an ABSOLUTE MUST TRY if you go to STK – Orlando!

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10 oz. Filet Mignon with Grilled Asparagus and Bleu Butter

Traveling by airplane can make Christmas present difficult to distribute, so a common go to for me is taking people out for some nice fine dining that they wouldn’t normally experience. I’ve been blessed lately at my job and that blessing is never meant for me to keep to myself but to also be a blessing and bring an experience that people may not usually get to enjoy. So taking my aunt and cousin to STK popped up on my radar as “Fine Dining Near Disney”.

The outdoor seating while we waited for our table to be cleaned was great and comfortable and a nice vibe overall. The perfect temperature and clear sky was a plus as well for the Disney Springs atmosphere. The menu at STK is traditional steakhouse, but they offer a variety of toppers and sauces. The bleu buttered sourdough bread was very tasty and got the taste buds salivating early. The special oil that came with it was unique and added some additional depth of flavor as well. 

I ordered us a side of the double smoked bacon which was basically cubed up pork belly that was smoked twice and came with some dates, tomatoes, & a very sweet BBQ sauce. It was an amazing explosion of flavors for the taste buds. My aunt ordered the coconut grilled shrimp, my cousin ordered the 12 oz New York Strip with the red wine sauce. I went for one of my favorite cuts of beef…the Filet Mignon. Got it with the bleu butter and some grilled asparagus.

This plate looked a little empty at first because it was just the filet and the dish of bleu butter as the asparagus came on its own plate. I moved the asparagus to the plate with the filet and looked better but failed to get a pic before cutting into the filet which came out PERFECTLY for medium-rare doneness (look at that center!?!?!?!).

The seared crust on the filet was solid but not tough and definitely flavor packed. The knives that came with the steak made cutting each slice of filet easy. The meat was tender, juicy, and the bleu butter sauce wasn’t necessary by any means, but definitely added the unique flavor that bleu cheese and butter can do to beef.

Very tough to find something “wrong” with this dish as it was pretty near perfect. Maybe the “emptiness” of the plate when it came out. A side of potatoes or a risotto of some sort would’ve been a good compliment to the plate and have it jump out more. 

SUMMARY

STK Orlando is one of the best steak houses I’ve been to and I’ll definitely be coming back. It’s pricey…fine dining will do that, but when you celebrate and want to really treat family or guests or friends or a date or whomever to someplace special with a contemporary atmosphere and solid food, STK Orlando won’t disappoint.

Restaurant Name: 4 Rivers Smokehouse – Winter Garden
Address: 1047 South Dillard Street, Winter Garden, FL 34787
Social Media: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram

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Pitmaster Combo – December 26, 2017

T’was the day after Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring except my tastebuds after eating lunch at this place with my aunt and cousin while on Christmas vacation in Florida. 

With a few locations in the Orlando area, we ventured to the one in Winter Garden just north of Orlando. I kinda knew this place was going to be pretty legit as you could smell smoke and BBQ down the street. 4 Rivers Smokehouse offers a full spectrum of BBQ with traditional sides and even a few unique BBQ’d meats that aren’t too common like tri-tip and prime rib. For our lunch, the three of us decided to enjoy the Pitmaster Combo which features probably 1/3 LB of four meats, 2 sides, and some biscuits. 

Our Pitmaster Combo featured beef brisket, pulled pork, sausage, tri-tip, mac n cheese, baked beans, and additional side of greens. The first look at the plate, well tray, of food is pretty much going to be “WOW! THAT’S A LOT OF FOOD!”. Sure we ordered an extra pint of the mac n cheese and an extra pint of the baked beans, but still…this was a lot of food for three people. The layout of the tray and the colors are consistent with most BBQ joints…predominant red colors, a few contrasting ones for some “pop” but the focus an emphasis is on the meat. For the most part you could see some smoke rings on all the meats. The sausage had the most visible amount of smoke but ironically didn’t have the most smoke flavor. More on that later on in this review…

I must give a shout out for the side dishes. All three sides were amazing and the baked beans and mac n cheese are definitely one of my favorite sides from a BBQ joint. The greens had the traditional texture and flavor you’d expect, but I think there was some apple cider vinegar or something vinegar based as a left hook type of tangy flavor hits you at the end. The baked beans were FIRE! With some pulled pork and BBQ sauce integrated into it, you get that smokey and sweet flavor added to the beans and it was awesome. The mac n cheese rivaled my absolute favorite mac n cheese made by my friend Krista back home. It was a traditional mac n cheese nothing super fancy or special added to it, but it was the absolute CREAMIEST mac n cheese I’ve ever had…especially from a BBQ restaurant. Every spoon full the cheese was just dripping over the spoon…that’s how creamy the cheese was!

If I had to rank the meats from my favorite to least favorite it’d go: Tri-tip, Sausage, Pulled Pork, & then Brisket. All the meats tasted good and nothing was bad.

I will admit this was my first time having smoked tri-tip. If you’re unfamiliar with what tri-tip is, it’s basically the bottom portion of the sirloin steak. Most sirloin steaks you get the store or restaurant are the top sirloin…the bottom sirloin or the tri-tip is commonly passed over because it is traditionally a much fattier cut of meat but to most pitmasters and BBQ’ers out there, fat = flavor and the smoked tri-tip didn’t disappoint. If you want tender, juicy, smokey meat…tri-tip is where it’s at. The medium rare doneness was spot on. Add a dash of salt and the traditional 4 Rivers Smokehouse BBQ sauce and you’ve got an amazing journey for your tastebuds.

The smoked sausage is quickly becoming one of my favorite things to cook and to eat. It’s a perfect picture of simple, flavorful, and quick! Simple because it’s ground up pork, mixed with an array of seasonings, and typically gets cooked in about 3-4 hours on a smoker. The smoked sausage at 4 Rivers Smokehouse was exactly what I expected  it to be. Juicy, smokey, and flavorful and it fit that bill in every bite. A nice crust/casing on the outside too…sometimes sausages can have really rigid and tough to bite through casings or be really chewy casings, but 4 Rivers Smokehouse did it right.

The pulled pork was tasty and had a little bit of a smoke ring on some of the end pieces. It needed some sauce though if you didn’t have one of the end pieces as it was a little bit dry. The meat could’ve dried out because I was enjoying the tri-tip and the sausage first, but it was still good and tasted and felt like pulled pork. Some of the pieces I was able to do some additional pulling and it pulled really easily.

Brisket is a tough cut to cook right so it definitely has its fair share of challenges for every pitmaster out there. The smoke ring was solid and the taste of smoke was most evident in the brisket compared to the other meats. 

If I had to choose some negatives about this platter it’d have to be the pulled pork was a little bit dry, the brisket was a little bit over done as the slices were thicker than expected, and the mac n cheese as creamy and delicious as it was would’ve been over the top if some jalapenos or green chiles were mixed in it for some zing or maybe some breadcrumbs on top for a texture change.

SUMMARY

All in all…4 Rivers Smokehouse is an absolute MUST visit if you’re near one. They have other locations throughout Florida and recently opened a location in Atlanta, GA. Check out their website at http://www.4rsmokehouse.com for a full list of locations.

I almost forgot to write about this dessert known as the “Hello Dolly”. We call my aunt who lives in Florida “Dolly” so I had to get it. This brownie bite thing was phenomenal. With chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and coconut flakes it was a sweet end to a great lunch.

Restaurant Name: Blind Owl Brewery 
Address: 5014 E. 62nd Street, Indianapolis, IN 46220
Social Media: FACEBOOK / TWITTER / INSTAGRAM

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PORK MAC – December 17, 2017

This evening I had the privilege to take out for dinner my pastors, youth staff at Club 365, and the parents of the students at Club 365 for a little Christmas party, appreciation, dinner. The night featured a full spread of appetizers ranging from the chipotle rubbed and smoked chicken wings, buffalo chicken wings, and pulled pork nachos. Desserts galore including chocolate brownies and strawberry lemon cheesecake. Entrees ranged from ribeye steaks to portobello mushroom tacos to flatbread and to the item I partook in and will feature in this first review of Blind Owl Brewery: The Pork Mac Mac n Cheese.

Traditionally when I go to Blind Owl Brewery for food, pasta isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, but I was feeling adventurous this evening and took Blind Owl Brewery’s take on macaroni & cheese topped with some delicious BBQ pulled pork. When the plate comes out to you the portion looks a little deceptive as it initially doesn’t look like a lot of mac n cheese but the dish is quite deep and the dish will be very filling. The pulled pork on top is piled in one location with some additional sauce drizzled over the pork and the color does stand out vs. the mac n cheese. The additions of red pepper, jalapeno, and green onions do add some additional color to the dish besides the pulled pork.

I decided to spread around the pulled pork as I really wanted to make sure I got some of that smokey BBQ flavor in every bite of the mac n cheese. By doing this, the flavor profile is very unique in a good way. You get that traditional cheese flavor (in Blind Owl’s case a four-cheese blend) followed by some heat from the jalapeno peppers, and then you get some smokey sweetness from the pulled pork. 

The really unique thing about this dish is the array of textures you’ll experience in this dish. You get some creaminess because of the cheese, some crunchy because of the red pepper, and a little bit of chewy because of the pulled pork. The pulled pork itself was “smoked” and I’ll put it in quotes as it was difficult to tell if it was truly smoked in a pit or just cooked in an oven and had some smoke added to it. It didn’t have the traditional texture of pulled pork, but it did taste good.

The only “negative” of this dish would be the pulled pork itself didn’t seem to be smoked like on a charcoal pit. It had some smokey flavor to it, but the appearance of smoke which is distinct for pulled pork couldn’t be found and I think it could’ve really added some additional depth to the flavors and eye appeal one could experience.

SUMMARY

All in all, this dish successfully makes the taste buds encounter new flavors and textures in every bite. If you’re looking for non-traditional pub food at Blind Owl Brewery, give the Pork Mac and a try and see what your taste buds have to say!

Restaurant Name: Top Golf – Fishers
Address: 9200 E. 116th Street, Fishers, IN 46037
Social Media: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram 

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One of the absolute most fun places you can go if you’ve got a spare hour or three is Top Golf. When I first heard that a Top Golf was going to be coming near to me I was mixed on it as I had read that it’s not a place where you really work on your game because the golf balls aren’t standard weight so distances are off and the furthest you can hit is only like 215 yards so that takes my driving out of the picture. I was pleased to find out that Top Golf has a full restaurant and they take pride in the food that they serve. Take a peek at their MENU!

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Chicken & Waffles Sliders – February 16, 2018

Last Saturday, the men at my church, ironically named MyChurch Indy, ventured to Top Golf for some fellowship, camaraderie, and brunch. Top Golf has surprisingly a very hipster style menu that features your traditional pub style food of appetizers, burgers,  wings, and sandwiches but also has an impressive brunch menu. For this particular visit I feasted my tastebuds on the Chicken & Waffles Sandwich

The chicken and waffle sliders come out fairly basic on the plate but don’t be quick to judge a package by it’s outside. These sliders are jam packed full of goodness and makes the southern dish meet a manageable and easily handheld delight that doesn’t hold back on flavors.

If you’ve ever had chicken and waffles you know it’s basically fried chicken, waffles, butter, and maple syrup. It’s a great combination of sweet, salty, savory, crispy, crunchy, and juicy flavors. The chicken and waffles sliders at Top Golf match EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THESE FLAVORS!

The Belgian waffle is crispy and crunchy on the outside and warm and fluffy on the inside. The fried chicken is crispy as well and has a decent amount of spice and heat to it. The meat is tender and juicy and really adds a nice contrasting flavor to compete with the sweetness of the Belgian waffle and the maple syrup. 

I took a bite of the slider just as is and was really good, but I think the best way to eat the sliders is to put some of the jalapeno gravy on top of the fried chicken so the slider goes waffle, fried chicken, jalapeno gravy, and then waffle…I would then dip it into the maple syrup for a great array of flavors in every bite. You get hit with the sweet first and then the salty, savory, and spicy flavors with another sweet hit to round out the bite. 

My only critique for this dish besides more than just two sliders would really only be to add some excitement to the plate when it comes out. A little cilantro, green onion, or red onion garnish would look nice. I’d also possibly recommend a maple syrup butter in lieu of the jalapeno gravy. I will admit that I don’t usually accompany gravy with my chicken and waffles, so I think a good compromise would be some butter.

SUMMARY

The chicken and waffles sliders are mighty tasty and worth a try if you’re willing to take a risk. Chicken and waffles are non-traditional so it takes a little bit of an adventurous spirit to want to give these a try, but I assure you that your tastebuds won’t be disappointed

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Grilled “Backyard” Wings

The last time I went to Top Golf it was this past Friday with a coworker and one of our concrete suppliers (Sagamore Ready-Mix). We started the weekend a little early and did some Top Golf, food, and drinks for a few hours. Looking over the “Apps + Shareables” as the menu describes it I wanted to get an order of the grilled “Backyard” wings as they sounded amazing.

When these wings come to the table it surprisingly seemed less than I was expecting. Initial look even of the picture above you can locate maybe 6 or 7 wings in this dish. Not exactly the most appealing from a quantity standpoint, but from a food standpoint the wings do look great and you can tell they’ve been grilled vs. deep fried as the char marks on the wings really comes out. The tin container that holds everything is nice and keeps everything close. If you don’t like your carrots & celery touching the wings right off the bat, don’t order these.

Reading the food description of these wings the flavors the taste buds will experience should be amazing and it definitely was. You can tell the wings have been brined as the citrus flavors of lemon, orange, and maybe even a hint of grapefruit (just guessing on the brine) come out and the strong garlic flavor really compliments the citrus on these wings. The grilled wings were near fall apart tender which is good because I like to actually bite into the wings and not have all the meat fall off of them before hand. You get a nice hint of smokey flavor as well, kind of like a left hook at the end after the first punch to your taste buds is the citrus and garlic, which is always good for grilled food.

The number one thing I really didn’t like about the grilled “Backyard” wings was the skin texture. Definitely not appealing at all. It was definitely more chewy and a little tougher to finish bites while my teeth are grinding away at the skin. Grilled wings are always going to have the challenge when compared to traditional deep fried wings to have the skin be crispy and crunchy vs. soft & chewy. I’ve had a fair share of grilled wings and this is the main pitfall that grilled wings face. If I grill chicken wings I usually try to direct sear and grill the skin crispy at the beginning and then offset cook the wings on grill while I load in some mesquite, hickory, or apple wood chunks to get some smoke while cranking up the heat to about 450.

SUMMARY

All in all, the grilled “Backyard” wings are delicious to eat and full of flavor if you can get past the texture of non-crispy chicken wings. I definitely recommend people eat them, but maybe not at the same time as the Topgolf Wings which are fried. I do wish they’d offer the zesty garlic vinaigrette for the top golf wings but they don’t right now.

Restaurant Name: Nada Indianapolis
Address: 11 West Maryland Street, Indianapolis, IN
Social Media: Facebook / Twitter / Instagram 

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Crispy Pork Belly Taco’s

Day after Thanksgiving is typically filled with recipes creating wonderful dishes with Thanksgiving leftovers. Well, in my family we do distribute leftovers but we traditionally will go Black Friday shopping and stay at a hotel in downtown Indianapolis and eat out for dinner. This past Black Friday we visited a sweet little join just south of the Circle City Mall called Nada and after scrolling through the menu decided I must try this:

I know this dish has a lot going on and if you’ve ever been to Nada before you know that everything is pretty much al a carte style so the sides were all bought individually but an order of tacos does come with three tacos so that’s cool. If you wanted to get some friends together and share some tacos that’s a genius idea and I definitely recommend it as they have a wide array of tacos and other sides from the menu here:

Back to the critique of my meal, let me quickly write about the side dishes. The chili-glazed crispy potatoes were my favorite. The sweet chili sauce reminds me of the sauce my mom uses on her egg rolls (or lumpia to stick to my Filipino roots) and it’s sweet and spicy and crispy but a dabble of crema does good for those who don’t like “spicy” things. The beans and rice and the cucumber salad were good, but nothing jumped out from the flavors standpoint but they were very complimentary to the dish.

The crispy pork belly tacos themselves were salivatingly tasty! If you’ve never had pork belly or not sure what it is…in short, pork belly is the part of the pig where we get BACON. Pork belly is ideally cooked two ways…smoked in a BBQ pit or simply deep-fried to be crispy and tender. When this plate came out the fried pork belly strips jump out and the pickled peppers and onions are a nice contrasting color. The rectangular plate is a nice touch and does make handling the plate itself easy as sometimes the plates even for tacos can be scolding hot at other restaurants. The dishes the sides come in are pretty sleek…very shallow, but of good size and easy handling.

The pork belly was definitely crispy which is how I like my bacon and so that’s how I like my pork belly. Not really any smoke flavor which is always complimentary to pork belly but that’s OK as crispy is still really good and Nada does it PERFECTLY! There’s a crispy crunchy first bite with a good healthy amount of “chew” to the pork belly. As your tastebuds navigate through the pork belly they encounter a sweet and tangy flavor from the pickled peppers and onions, and then a little bit of a hit and from the guajillo peppers and cilantro for an amazing bite each and every time. I like the flour tortillas because of a smoother texture, but if you don’t like flour tortillas they do offer their tacos in corn tortillas, but I think it’d be too much of a gritty type of texture as the crispy pork belly has that to it. 

The downside to this dish and specifically to the crispy pork belly tacos, besides there only being three of them, is I wasn’t too particularly fond of the size of the tortilla’s. I get that they’re “taco” sized tortillas, but I think they could be a little bit larger. Tacos are meant to fit in your hand and these definitely do, but they do way too easily in my opinion. I think if they were to increase the tortillas it’d be a nice touch and probably get people fuller faster!

SUMMARY

At the end of the day…the crispy pork belly tacos at Nada are full of intense and complimentary flavors. If you’ve never experienced pork belly in this form (bacon is definitely good, but pork belly is like 1/2″ thick cut bacon strips) this would be a great gateway to eating pork belly and enjoying the glorious flavor that cut of meat is.