Author: The Saboscrivner

Z Asian Vietnamese Kitchen

Z Asian Vietnamese Kitchen (https://eatzasian.com/) is one of the nicer, more upscale Vietnamese restaurants in Orlando’s Mills 50 district full of Vietnamese and other Asian restaurants, markets, and shops.  That said, as someone who does not love high-end, fancy, luxurious dining, it is still very accessible and welcoming for all.  It is also unique because it received prestigious Michelin Bib Gourmand awards in 2022 and 2023.  To clarify, that does not mean it has a Michelin star, like some of the highest-end eateries, but rather it was recognized for its “good quality, good value cooking.”  Chef and co-owner Huong Nguyen focuses on street foods from Saigon, but her menu offers several dishes that Orlando’s other Vietnamese restaurants do not serve.

I first went to Z Asian with a former co-worker in late July.  She and I both left our workplace for new opportunities this year, so it was a chance to catch up and chat.  She is vegetarian, and Z Asian has so many vegetarian and vegan options on its menu, I thought it would be a perfect choice for dinner.

We started out with an order of two vegan summer rolls (goi cuon chay), with tofu, vermicelli noodles, and shredded lettuce rolled up in transparent, sticky, chewy rice paper and served at room temperature with a side order of peanut sauce.  My wife loves summer rolls with peanut sauce from other Vietnamese restaurants like Little Saigon and Pho 88, but they are usually not my favorites.  I’m not a big tofu guy either, but I’ll try anything once, and this was an excellent summer roll!  The tofu had the consistency of a firm omelet with a slightly crispy exterior, balancing against all the chewy ingredients. 

I also chose an order of pan-fried rice flour (bot chien), something I always see on Vietnamese menus but had never tried before.  It always looks good, and I thought my vegetarian friend would like it too.  It came served on a blanket of lovely fried eggs, although there is a vegan option too, without the eggs.  It was served with a side of crunchy, sweet pickled carrot and daikon radish, with a sweet chili soy dipping sauce.   This was AWESOME.  We both loved it.  This was another dish with a crispy exterior and soft, yielding interior, kind of like fries or tater tots — not in taste, but in “mouth feel.”  They were terrific with the sauce, and I liked the pickled vegetables (necessary ingredients on any banh mi sandwich) a lot.

My friend ordered stir-fried garlic noodles with tofu.  I didn’t try this, but she seemed to like it a lot.  In addition to the fried tofu (similar to the pieces in the summer rolls), it came with bok choy, carrot, and plenty of crunchy bean sprouts.

I ordered special rice noodle soup (hu tieu thap cam), with thinner rice noodles than you usually find in bowls of beefy pho.  Instead of being a beef-based soup like pho, this soup included pork, shrimp, squid, fish cakes, and krab sticks, in addition to aromatic herbs.  It was a nice, light soup and a pleasant change from the pho I’ve ordered so many times elsewhere.   Somehow, I managed not to splash my clothes, which was a minor miracle.My research tells me hu tieu is a Chinese-Cambodian invention that was adapted to Vietnamese tastes in the city of Saigon, and that I could have also ordered a “dry” version with a small bowl of soup on the side to protect my work clothes in the future.

Before leaving, I ordered the pan-fried rice cakes (minus the eggs) to bring home for my wife to try.  She was dazzled with them too, and they did not lose their subtle crispiness on the drive home. 

And I also brought home a dish I had really wanted to try, after seeing so many people post photos of it.  My vegetarian friend would not have been into this at all, but I knew my wife would share my appreciation of Z Asian’s grilled jumbo squid (muc nuong sate).  You can get squid at lots of restaurants (Italian, Greek, Chinese, steakhouses, and so forth) in the form of breaded, fried calamari, but I had never seen such squid served in such a beautiful presentation as this.  If your fellow diners aren’t averse to eating cephalopods (so that counts out my in-laws), this will be a real attention-grabber at your table, and I strongly recommend it.   
The menu says the grilled jumbo squid is marinated in “house sauce,” and it is served with house-made jalapeno green sauce, but it did not need to be dipped in anything.  Squid can sometimes get chewy and rubbery, but this was so tender and flavorful, with slight spicy and sweet flavors balancing out the taste of the ocean (but not a fishy taste).

It wasn’t long before I returned to Z Asian with my wife, who ordered a Thai milk tea (tra Thai) that was rich and cool and creamy and sweet, with a slightly smoky flavor. 

For some reason, I could not decide what to order.  Normally I am not intimidated by a large menu, but for this second visit, I just couldn’t choose.  I eventually picked something pretty random, the seafood stir-fried noodles in garlic sauce, which came with tail-on shrimp, squid, fish cakes, and the usual bok choy, carrots, and bean sprouts.  I chose egg noodles instead of rice noodles, but I had completely forgotten that this was essentially what my friend ordered on our first visit, minus the seafood. To be completely honest, this was okay.  I feel like I did not make the best choice.  I might have been happier with pho or bun bo hue, but I kept thinking about how hot it was for soup (on a scorching August afternoon in Florida), and how it would be hard to beat Pho Huong Lan, maker of the best pho and bun bo hue I’ve ever had anywhere.  Plus, with Z Asian’s huge menu, I wanted to challenge myself and step out of my comfort zone, trying something new instead of something familiar I’ve had dozens, if not hundreds, of times over the years.  But there wasn’t anything wrong with the dish; I blame myself for being uncharacteristically wishy-washy and not choosing wisely.  I was kind of hoping the garlic sauce on the noodles would be more like the awe-inspiring buttery garlic noodles at Kai Asian Street Fare, but not knowing any better, I just set myself up for disappointment.

As always, my wife was smarter than I, choosing a favorite from other Vietnamese restaurant menus: slices of tender grilled beef, tail-on shrimp, and a crispy fried spring roll cut in half, served over rice vermicelli noodles, with shredded lettuce, julienned cucumber and carrot, diced scallions, and crushed peanuts.  This was not a noodle soup, but a very refreshing, summery dish with warm and cool ingredients.  Sometimes you can’t go wrong with a classic!   

So that’s Z Asian Vietnamese Kitchen.  I would absolutely return and try something different next time — maybe something with clams or snails, or maybe even sample the bun bo hue or the pho.  But I really don’t think you can go wrong, and if you are a vegetarian or vegan, you have a lot more options here than most other restaurants in and around Orlando.  And if you don’t want to take my word for it, a certain tire company also really recommends the place.

Sanaa

This is a review of a wonderful meal I ate back in May, with five wonderful former co-workers.  (I started a new job six weeks ago, so I’m still getting used to referring to the job I held for 15 years as my old job, and my co-workers as former co-workers.)  After attending the lovely graduation ceremony for our students every May, we had a nice unofficial tradition of going out to lunch somewhere afterwards, usually a fun place somewhere on Disney property, where we would never have the time to go on a normal workday.

Last year we had an awe-inspiring lunch at Jose Andres’ huge Jaleo restaurant at Disney Springs, and this year we went to Sanaa (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/animal-kingdom-villas-kidani/sanaa/) at Kidani Village, part of the beautiful Animal Kingdom Lodge resort hotel.  You do not need to purchase admission to the Animal Kingdom theme park to eat here, or I probably would have skipped out on this one.  Sanaa serves African food with Indian influences,

Like everything at Walt Disney World, the theming of the restaurant is beautiful.  It is a popular place, and my Disney-experienced colleague booked a reservation for our party weeks in advance, which was a wise move.   You can actually see zebras, giraffes, and other wild animals out those windows… just not in my photo.  (Sorry.)

If you ask me, the highlight of dining at Sanaa is the Indian-style bread service.  This is a dream for vegetarians and people who are at peace with consuming carbs.  It costs $21, and you get five different breads and a whopping nine different accompaniments.  The six of us shared everything and were very polite about it, but in the future, I would totally order this just for myself, possibly even as my main meal.  If you come to Sanaa and don’t order the bread service, you are missing out on something spectacular.

The five breads are supposed to be traditional naan, garlic-ginger naan, spiced naan, onion kulcha, and paneer paratha.  I only see four in the photo below, and I could not possibly begin to guess which one was which, but trust me when I tell you that they were all fluffy, soft, buttery heaven.  If you haven’t had naan or roti or paratha or kulcha before, I encourage you to find the closest Indian restaurant on your way home from wherever you are and pick some up to go, even if you don’t order anything else!   Imagine the softest, fluffiest pita bread, and you’re still not even close to how good these clay oven-baked flatbreads can be.

Of course I got a lousy photo of the beautiful dips, sauces, and chutneys, trying to capture them before my colleagues dove in, but they were a real treat for a fan of condiments, sauces, and dips like me.  I wasn’t always sure what I was dipping into what or spooning onto what, but there wasn’t a bummer in the bunch.  They included cucumber raita (cool and creamy yogurt in the top right), roasted red pepper hummus (top left), mango chutney (second from top right; similar to a chunky mango salsa), tomato-date jam (I loved this one, whichever it was), tamarind chutney, coriander chutney, garlic pickle, red chile sambal, and spicy jalapeño-lime pickle. This was such a crowd-pleaser, and it was definitely the highlight of the meal for me.  Like I said, whenever I get around to returning, I’m gonna get this just for myself, and then suggest anyone else I am with share one.

One co-worker ordered samosas, which were plated beautifully.  These were potato and pea samosas in what looked like perfect pastry shells, served over mango and tamarind chutney.  I didn’t ask to try hers because that is all she ordered for herself, but have you ever had a bad samosa?  I don’t think that is possible, kind of like the nonexistence of bad empanadas.

I ordered the potjie (referring to food slow-cooked in small cast-iron pots), which I was drawn to because the menu presents several options to choose from.  You may choose one from the “journey” (meat-based dishes): Goan seafood curry, butter chicken, braised beef, or pork vindaloo, and then one from the “harvest” (plant-based dishes): rajma masala, chickpea wat, sukuma wiki, or lentil daal.  Our server was very patient, answering our questions and making suggestions.

I can try butter chicken at any number of wonderful local Indian restaurants, since that is my wife’s favorite Indian dish, and even though I love a good vindaloo, I knew our group was headed to Epcot next, so I did not want to ruin a rare, fun afternoon out by sabotaging my stomach with something really spicy.  I thought the most interesting and offbeat choice was the Goan seafood curry, so that’s what I got.      

It came with shrimp, fish, and scallops in a rich curry that was mildly spicy, probably much more mild than the vindaloo.  Luckily, it came with plenty of fragrant basmati rice, and I mixed them together liberally.

My plant-based choice was sukuma wiki, an East African dish of collard greens stewed with tomatoes and spices.  I love good collards, and even though these were purely vegetarian (rather than being cooked with any smoked pork, smoked turkey, or ham), they were so full of flavor.  No regrets here!  Even though this dish is from Kenya and Tanzania, it made me realize it has been more than a decade since I’ve had Ethiopian food (another cuisine that handles collard greens very well).  It is also really damn good, and I need to get some again soon.

My one male colleague at the lunch also ordered the potjie, but with completely different options.

He opted for the braised beef, which looked and smelled really fine:

And he also chose rajma masala, a curry dish of kidney beans cooked with onions, tomatoes, herbs, and spices.  It looked and smelled great as well, but he was not joining us for Epcot, so the rest of us dodged a big bullet that afternoon.
At this point, I was already pleasantly full, but people in my party insisted on ordering three separate desserts to share.  Let it never be said that librarians don’t know how to party!

This was serradura, which was butterscotch pudding, almond coffee  streusel, fresh pineapple and mango, and Breton shortbread (which I didn’t try because it looked like a biscotti, God’s joke on people who like cookies).  The little spoonful I had was very nice.  It was cool, creamy, not too sweet or rich.  

This was kheer, a plant-based dessert of coconut-rice pudding with cashew streusel and saffron-poached fruit.  I tried a tiny taste because sometimes coconut and nuts betray me, but I liked it more than I expected to.  I would never have even considered ordering this dessert, but it was delicious.  

And this was a dessert special that was like a fancy version of a chocolate candy bar with nuts.  I left that for the other five people to devour, because I was very content at this point. 

As my friends and regular readers (the stalwart Saboscrivnerinos) know, I am not what you would consider a “Disney adult.”  I have nothing against Disney, but my wife and I just aren’t theme park people.  That said, I had a blast at Epcot after lunch with my former co-workers, awesome people I am proud to call friends, as well as professional colleagues.  (Frolleagues?)  I especially want to thank one frolleague who also left that same institution over the summer, one of the dozens of stalwart Saboscrivnerinos, a wonderful woman who used a guest pass to get me into Epcot.  Next time I see you, I’m treating you to something — and you know who you are!

My wife and I end up at Disney Springs every so often, usually visiting people who are staying at or near the parks, since you don’t have to pay admission to go there.  There are good restaurants at Disney Springs, but it was a blast to go somewhere new on the sprawling resort property, somewhere I had never been before, and to enjoy new dishes and flavors I had never even tried before.  I would strongly recommend Sanaa to any adventurous tourists and locals alike.

While I have favorite Indian restaurants in Orlando (Bombay Street Kitchen chief among them), not a lot of places serve African-Indian fusion dishes, aside from occasional specials at the casual Oh My Gyro in Longwood.  There is nothing quite like Sanaa, and especially nothing like that breathtaking bread service.  You don’t have to pay park admission to eat here or even pay for parking, so consider adding it to your list of Disney dining destinations.

Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant (Los Angeles)

Any of my friends, family, and long-time readers know I am a huge fan of delicatessens, whether they are Jewish or Italian.  I am thrilled to say that I recently got to visit the city of Los Angeles for the first time, and on a short, three-day work trip, I still managed to fit in meals at two separate Jewish delis.  I’ll write about the first one I visited a little later, since it was part of a magnificent food hall, but this review is about the second L.A. deli I went to, which happens to be second to none.

Founded in 1947, Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant (https://www.langersdeli.com/) is a timeless classic, probably the L.A. equivalent of the legendary Katz’s Delicatessen in New York’s Lower East Side.  I have been to Katz’s a few times and reviewed it after my latest trip there, in 2019.  The atmosphere at Katz’s is chaotic, like so much else in New York City, but the pastrami is so good, it is worth the high prices and less-than-relaxing meal.  However, my admonition to anyone going to Katz’s is to request their pastrami sandwich on a club roll, since the rye bread sucks.  It is essentially an edible napkin, although it doesn’t work much better as a napkin than it does as bread.

I have no such grave advice to offer about Langer’s Deli on the left coast, aside from just making sure you go to Langer’s.  I would rank the pastrami on par with Katz’s — equal, if not better, but that makes it god-tier pastrami that is better than just about anyone else’s from anywhere.  We all got a kick out of the description of the pastrami from Langer’s menu, especially the last part: “Hot pastrami is a select cut of beef, sugar-cured and seasoned as corned beef, then slowly smoked for tenderness and tantalizing taste and flavor, then covered with choice and costly spices.”

I am also thrilled to report that the rye bread at Langer’s is terrific, and it is also a lot more of a chill vibe there, without the bedlam of the Katz’s experience.  I went with two of my new co-workers who are both based in L.A., but none of us had been there before.   Located on the corner of 7th and Alvarado that has seen better days (man, that sounded like a bit of inter-song banter on a ’70s Tom Waits record), Langer’s is near another Los Angeles landmark, MacArthur Park, a once-beautiful park where someone once left a cake out in the rain, but it is kind of sketchy and foreboding today.

Anyway, we all had a very pleasant lunch, and being smart people (librarians all), we stuck to the house specialty, that perfect pastrami.  My new supervisor ordered the French dipped pastrami sandwich, which came on a roll with au jus on the side.  Apparently, L.A. is the place to be if you’re a French dip fan, with the famous Philippe the Original as another destination for sandwich aficionados that I hope to visit in the future.
He seemed to love his sandwich, even if he expressed a bit of cognitive dissonance over our other colleague’s choice.

She ordered the iconic #19, Langer’s most popular sandwich, with pastrami, Swiss cheese, creamy cole slaw, and Russian dressing on rye bread, which was a very smart choice.  I could not get over how soft the rye bread was, yet it had a crispy, crackly crust that you never get with supermarket rye.  

As for me, I could not decide between two sandwiches on Langer’s menu, so in true Saboscrivner style, I ordered both of them, to eat a half of each at the restaurant and enjoy the other halves later.  This was my #6, with hot pastrami, chopped liver, and Russian dressing on that same perfect rye bread.  You can see that the pastrami is hand-carved into thick slices, and it was so juicy and moist and tender and rich and fatty, I cannot rave enough about it.  The chopped liver was savory and creamy and perfect, and a squirt of mustard brought some acidic brightness to this sensational sandwich.  

My other choice was the #44, with hot pastrami (of course), sauerkraut, and Nippy cheese, served on grilled rye.  It was essentially a pastrami Reuben, except the Swiss was replaced with Nippy cheese.  What the heck is Nippy cheese?  I loved the sandwich, and yet I’m still not entirely sure.  I was too distracted to ask our patient server, but my research shows that Kraft used to sell a processed cheese spread called Nippy cheese (before my time), but the stuff at Langer’s is more like a tangy American cheese that had melted into the grilled rye.  It was such a rich and salty sandwich, almost any cheese would have gotten a bit lost in the shuffle, but I like American cheese more than most, and I have zero regrets about my choice.  It was the best Reuben I’ve ever had, especially because I prefer pastrami to the standard Reuben filling of corned beef, and because almost any cheese has more character than Swiss (fit for Reubens, Cubans, and that’s about it).  The pickles were pretty classic deli-style kosher dills, by the way.

Even though I order macaroni salad almost anywhere that offers it to compare and contrast, I can say that the macaroni salad at Langer’s was nothing special, and I think my co-workers agreed.  The mayonnaise-based dressing was a bit thin and runny, and I think there was yellow mustard in there too.  I had been curious about it, and I’m not sorry I ordered it, but I would not get it again.  If I ever make it back to Langer’s, I think I will try their chili next time, perhaps in the form of chili cheese fries.

As a mustard aficionado (see my past Cutting the Mustard features for more mustard reviews than you ever dreamt of), I was a little surprised to see Langer’s uses good ol’ Gulden’s Spicy Brown, but that’s the mustard my dad always bought, and it’s a classic for good reason.  
My colleagues were good and drank water, but I had heard Langer’s has its own cream soda available as a fountain drink, so I couldn’t resist.  It was much better than that deli staple Dr. Brown’s — sweeter, more vanilla-ey, and more refreshing.  It was a hot August day in L.A., and I definitely took advantage of the free refills.

I had such an amazing time on this trip to L.A., especially getting to meet my co-workers in real life and visit the beautiful school I work for remotely.  Aside from the professional stuff, this magnificent meal at Langer’s Delicatessen-Restaurant was a highlight of this too-short visit (the first of hopefully many).  Not only did the pastrami live up to its legendary status, but I had wanted to eat here for many years — ever since I read journalist David Sax’s 2009 book Save the Deli.  I had planned to go there alone as my first act in Los Angeles, on the way from the airport to work, before even checking into my hotel.  However, sharing that experience on my second day in the city with two new co-workers, getting to know them better over sandwiches, and considering them friends from here on out, made my Langer’s lunch that much more profound and unforgettable.  (And unlike Katz’s, it was a relaxing lunch on top of everything else good about it!)

Primrose Lanes

This may be the most predictable review I have written for The Saboscrivner food blog in a long time, probably because this particular restaurant is the talk of the town right now.  Orlando-based foodie social media has gone gaga (or gone to the dogs, if you will) discussing, debating, and deconstructing the $15 hot dog from Primrose Lanes (https://www.primroselanes.com/), the new restaurant and bar from former Luke’s Kitchen and Bar Executive Chef Jason Campbell.  I will say that if you haven’t heard about this hot dog, then congratulations — you haven’t been spending much time online, and that is laudable.  But if you are familiar with Orlando’s latest obsession, sometimes things that get a lot of hype have earned it and deserve it, and this fabulous, fantastic, first-class, fine freakin’ frankfurter definitely lives up to the hype, hoopla, hubbub, and hysteria.

But Primrose Lanes is not just some hot dog hut.  It used to be the bowling alley Colonial Lanes, founded in 1959.  It was sold and set to become yet another self-storage facility, and the owners even started ripping apart the bowling lanes.  Then the Team Market Group bought the building, refurbished the eight remaining lanes, and worked with Chef Campbell to create a dining and drinking destination far beyond what you would expect from “bowling alley food.”  Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the pastrami sandwich and house-made potato chips at Brooklyn South Bar at Aloma Bowl, but this is a legit gastropub — a true culinary experience that is far better than anything you’re envisioning.  It may not be the cheapest meal in Orlando (although plenty are way more expensive), but as someone who seeks out bargains and hates feeling ripped off, you will definitely get what you pay for at Primrose Lanes, and you’ll leave the restaurant feeling like you just bowled a perfect game.

On my first visit to Primrose Lanes, I went alone and sat on a high-top stool along a beautiful polished wood countertop.  I believe a lot of the wood in the restaurant was salvaged from the 24 original bowling lanes that had been destroyed.  The restaurant and bar area is a beautiful space, both modern and retro at the same time, with a big glass window overlooking the eight bowling lanes.

I started out with the “Funyun” fried onions, because I review onion rings wherever I find them on menus with a special notice longtime readers know as “RING THE ALARM!”  Of course I’m more about the concept of fried onions than the classic ring shape, so I am not a stickler for literal onion rings every time.  These fried onions were unlike any other fried onions I’ve ever had, with thin stems serving as handles to hoist the thick, rounded bulbs and dip them into creamy comeback sauce.  For a guy who eats a lot of chips and other salty snacks (and reviews them in my recurring Tight Chips features right here on this blog), I almost never eat Funyuns, those vaguely onion-flavored corn snacks, but they made a very interesting coating for these very real onions.  

The O.K.C. smashburger was a magnificent double-decker monster, extremely juicy despite the two patties being smashed flat on the flattop grill (hence the name).  I always liked thicc burgers (R.I.P. Fuddruckers) and bemoaned the smashburger trend, worried that everyone would be serving dried-out, overpriced hockey pucks.  But smashburgers like this one have won me over and give me hope for the future.

This O.K.C. smashburger was dressed with American cheese (still the best burger cheese), mayo, thin slices of delicious house-made pickles, and lots and lots of thin strands of fried onions, which really make a burger for me.  Dating back to the Great Depression, Oklahoma-style burger patties are pressed into super-thin strips or slices of onion, which then cook in the heat and the meat juices.  It was served on a brioche kaiser roll baked by the Olde Hearth Bread Company, which provides baked goods (no baked bads, ever) to many of the best restaurants in the Orlando area.  Even without ketchup, it was a winning burger through and through.

And what about this bougie $15 hot dog?  Well, like I said, it surpasses the hype, and anyone who has tried it will probably agree.  I rarely order hot dogs when I’m out on the town, because you can pay $7 or $8 for a pack of good-quality Sabretts or all-beef Boar’s Head dogs in the natural casing, so why would you pay that for a single hot dog?  But I’m glad I recently treated myself to the brilliant Detroit coney dog at SoDough Square, and I thought I had discovered the best hot dog in Orlando then.  It is great, no doubt about it, but Chef Campbell’s hot dog is a triumphant treasure in every possible way.

It is house-made, and I don’t know who else around here goes to the significant effort of making their own hot dogs.  It has such a fantastic snap, the way the best hot dogs and sausages do, and I had to close my eyes to savor every bite.  In a recent article by Orlando Sentinel food writer (and mah friend) Amy Drew Thompson, Chef Campbell said the hot dogs are made with “Certified Angus. Ribeye, short rib, brisket and chuck in a lamb casing,” and then smoked.  That lamb casing is what gives it the satisfying snap, and if you don’t know what I’m talking about, then you need to treat yourself to a higher standard of hot dogs, my dudes.  The tangy, zingy relish is house-made too, but I don’t know if the buttery grilled bun is from Olde Hearth Bread Company or baked in-house.  The pickle spears next to the burger and the hot dog were delicious too, much to nobody’s surprise.  I have no doubt they were also made in-house by Chef Campbell and his team.

Oh yeah, I had heard you could get it topped with smoked trout caviar for an extra $5, and I said “Yes, let’s do that thing.”  It added an extra level of decadence to the best hot dog ever (to say nothing of additional salt and smokiness), and I have no regrets.  Hey, I’m eating at home more than ever now that I have a remote job, and this was my first trip out of the house in several days, so I felt like living large!  WHAT?

Anyway, when I picked up my wife a little later after enjoying that epic meal, she was really hungry and wanted to go to one of her favorite spots for chicken tenders.  I was raving about the meal I had enjoyed earlier, and I told her Primrose Lanes had chicken tenders too, as well as a Shirley Temple made with house-made grenadine syrup.  I thought for sure she would say “Let’s try it some other time,” but instead she said “That sounds really great, and we’re close, and I’m hungry.  Would you mind going back the same day?”  And I said “Hell yeah, girl,” and back I went, fewer than two hours later!

She loves Shirley Temples, so she ordered that, and I ordered a lemonade that was nice and cold and tart and refreshing, and not too sweet.  She said her Shirley wasn’t as sweet as most, which probably use all kinds of artificially flavored grenadine syrups, possibly bolstered with high fructose corn syrup.  She said it was almost “savory,” but I tried a sip and can tell you it wasn’t necessarily savory, but definitely not cloyingly candy-sweet like most.  It was also garnished with a dark cherry that definitely wasn’t a bright red maraschino, but maybe an amarena or Luxardo cherry.  

She ordered the chicken tendies [sp], which came out darker than either of us expected.  I asked if they were burned, and our lovely, patient server Claire, who took care of me on both back to back visits, said they all look like that.  The tendies (I still can’t get used to that) came with a ranch dip seasoned with dill and “sha’bang sauce” that was thick and spicy — not exactly buffalo or sriracha, but they could have been involved — with tiny bits of sliced orange in it.

We also shared hash brown bites, perfect potato cubes that were crispy on the outside and soft and yielding inside, dressed with garlic crema and topped with more of that smoked trout caviar.  These would be a terrific appetizer to order with any meal, unless you are a vegetarian, and then they could easily hold the trout roe for you.  They reminded me of LEGO blocks, the way they were stacked so nicely.

One of the biggest hits of my wife’s first visit to Primrose Lanes and my second was the tuna tartare (her choice), a refreshing portion of diced raw tuna with avocado, spicy mayo, lightly pickled cucumber slices (so good!), sprinkled with regular and black sesame seeds and accompanied by what had to be fried Saltine crackers.

This dish knocked my wife’s socks off.  Every ingredient, every taste, every texture worked in perfect harmony.  It was my favorite part of my second visit, after all the heavy stuff I ate not that much earlier in the day.  It was so cool and creamy and crispy and piquant, especially since I love spicy tuna rolls and poke bowls so much.  She was in love with the fried Saltines, which had some kind of mysterious seasoning on them too, and I couldn’t believe nobody else had ever done that before.

And because my wife loves soft serve ice cream, she ordered vanilla soft serve for dessert (because they were out of chocolate) and got it topped with fudge sauce.  While I thought the smashburger, the hot dog, and the tuna tartare could not be beat, this was her overall favorite.  She looked pensive after the first bite, engrossed in thought, consumed as she consumed it.  Her eyes rolled back in her head.  She said she had never had soft serve ice cream this good; nothing else had ever come close.  She used the word “orgasmic.”  Ladies and gentlemen, you heard it here first.

I could usually do without soft serve ice cream — it tends to be kind of bland and tasteless for me, and rarely tastes like vanilla so much as some kind of plain whiteness.  But upon her urging, I tried it, and it was as inspired as the rest of the food on this menu, so far above and beyond what most people might expect, so much better than it even needed to be.

This is the exact kind of restaurant I love to review on my blog.  There are countless restaurants where you can get a decent-to-good meal, and if you pay enough money, you’re bound to get something above-average.  But I especially love finding good or great food where you don’t expect it, whether it’s a nondescript food truck or trailer or a restaurant inside a place where you wouldn’t go looking for one, and especially wouldn’t dream of finding a good one.  I’d say an excellent restaurant in a bowling alley counts for that, even though Primrose Lanes is more of a restaurant and bar with eight really cool bowling lanes than a bowling alley with that serves food.

I don’t mind admitting that I’m a pretty rotten bowler.  Because I suck so much, I don’t particularly enjoy bowling, so I don’t do it, and that means I never improve.  But if you ever go out for a trivia night with me, you will see me kick all kinds of ass and be impressed, then maybe a little scared, then annoyed, then bored, and then probably round the corner to impressed all over again.  And if you ever join me for karaoke, you will find that I am not a particularly good singer, but I will do my damn best and cheer like crazy for my friends who are doing their damn best along with me.  Unfortunately, I have yet to find ridiculously elevated food like this at any local trivia or karaoke spots, nor do I have many friends who are ever up for that kind of thing.

The good news about Primrose Lanes is that you don’t have to bowl at all.  Plenty of people go just for the food, and you can too.  But if you like to eat and bowl, then my stalwart Saboscrivnerinos, this needs to be your next night out with the ladies or the fellas, or your next hot date.  Everyone will love it.  But if you’re trying to corral 15 or 20 small kids for a bowling birthday party, I would advise against schlepping the little dudes to Primrose Lanes.  Children are certainly welcome, but I’d say it is more of a place for adults to have fun.  And as a non-kid-haver who ate there twice in one day, adults will likely have more fun there without kids… unless your kids are really cool.

Banh Mi Y Nhu

I missed posting a new review last week, but I’m back… not that anyone would have noticed.  I have a new job, working from home on Pacific Time, and I am still getting used to the schedule.  The only drawback, measured against too many wonderful positive changes to count, is that I no longer work on the outskirts of some of Orlando’s greatest culinary neighborhoods, the Milk District and Mills 50.  Case in point: I have been craving banh mi, or Vietnamese sub sandwiches, for weeks, and all the best places that serve them are in the Mills 50 district, about 25 minutes from home, as opposed to ten minutes from work.  Jetting there and back in the middle of a workday is unthinkable, and most of the places are closed by the time I clock out around 9 PM (not that I need to be eating that late anyway).

Banh mi are a perfect comfort food for this scorching hot summer, usually featuring cured cold cuts or fresh meats on fresh-baked baguettes that are crusty on the outside yet perfectly soft on the inside.  The fluffy baguettes are spread with rich pate, mayonnaise, and/or butter, and the salty meats are topped with cool, crispy pickled carrot and daikon radish strips and fresh cilantro and jalapenos.  They are decadent sandwiches for sure — the product of French colonialization of Vietnam — but also surprisingly light and refreshing, compared to something like a heavy, greasy cheesesteak or my beloved Italian subs.

While I really liked the banh mi sandwiches at Paris Banh Mi, this time I visited a place I had not been in several years, but I first tried in 2010 when Orlando Weekly published “Banh Voyage,” an article comparing and contrasting some of Orlando’s finest banh mi.  Many of those listed establishments no longer exist, and several more have opened in the ensuing 13 years, but the #1 ranked place from the 2010 article is still around, just with a new name: the former Boston Bakery, which is now called Banh Mi Y Nhu, at 1525 East Colonial Drive in Orlando.

This place has never had a website under either name, so I wanted to include a photo of the simple menu at Banh Mi Y Nhu, displayed over the counter on two large TV screens.  There was plenty of glare coming in through the floor-to-ceiling windows on a Saturday afternoon, so apologies for the quality of this picture (the best of several, for what it’s worth):

All eight sandwiches are priced at either $7 or $7.50, and if you buy five at once, you get one free.  The 2010 Orlando Weekly article mentions banh mi usually cost between $2.50 and $3, but that’s 13 years of inflation for you!  I do remember them costing $5 at Boston Bakery the last time I was there, but like I said, it had been a while.  Too long.

My wife doesn’t share my sandwich love, so I could not justify bringing home six, but I did splurge a bit and order three different banh mi for myself.  I justified it because it’s more of a mission to get down here, and because I wanted to write a worthy review.  Don’t worry, I didn’t eat all three sandwiches in one sitting.

I ate them in two sittings, although I was standing up for the second.

The first one was my usual banh mi order: the combination, or banh mi thịt nguội (#1), which contains multiple cured meats, including ham, steamed pork roll, and head cheese (which is meat, not cheese, and way more delicious than it sounds), in addition to the savory liver pate.  I am much more used to the combination banh mi being called dac biet, but I’m sure some expert will come along to explain why they aren’t the same thing.  

Here’s a cross-section.  This is one of the prettiest banh mi I’ve ever had from anywhere, and Banh Mi Y Nhu was much more generous with the ingredients than several of the other local places.  It was delicious, with crunchy, chewy, salty, spicy, sour, creamy, and fresh textures and flavors.  I like a lot going on in my sandwiches, and this one did not disappoint.   
I realize I haven’t tried every single banh mi in Orlando, but I don’t mind naming this one the highest-quality combination banh mi I’ve ever had.  (That said, I don’t know if it was missing certain meats that go in the dac biet, or vice versa.)

The next one was the fried fish cake, or banh mi cha ca (#6), which sounded different (and I had completely forgotten I tried something similar at nearby Banh Mi Boy in early 2022).  I expected something like surimi, the imitation “krab” that I love in a mayo-based seafood pasta salad, or maybe like those spiral-emblazoned fish cake slices that make their way into bowls of ramen noodles.

Interestingly, what it reminded me of the most was Jewish gefilte fish, just sliced like cold cuts (I compared it to “fish bologna” in my Banh Mi Boy review) rather than mysterious loaves floating ominously in glass jars like specimens in some forensic scientist’s lab.  This fried fish cake has a slight sweetness to it, and while it was clearly processed fish, it didn’t taste super-“fishy,” which was fine with me.  As usual, the incredibly fresh baguette, spreads, and vegetables elevated the sandwich to a special experience, the sum of its parts surpassing any individual ingredient.       

I asked the lady at the counter for her recommendation for a third, and she recommended the grilled pork, or banh mi thit heu nuong (#9), so I went for it.  I’m so glad I did, because it ended up being my favorite of the three sandwiches.

The grilled pork was still warm, sliced thinly and covered with a savory-sweet, sticky glaze that probably included sugar and fermented fish sauce.  My wife sometimes orders similar grilled beef with rice vermicelli at sit-down Vietnamese restaurants, and this grilled pork was very similar to that, if you’ve had those dishes before.  Of my three choices, this is the sandwich I would recommend to banh mi newbies since it is the most familiar filling and the least processed, and it was really satisfying. 
I’m used to these being cool and refreshing sandwiches due to the cilantro and pickled carrot and daikon, but all three of these were still warm by the time I got them home, all due to the baguettes being so fresh (baked on the premises, of course).  I’ve had too many banh mi in Orlando served on stale, hard, undersized, and even burnt baguettes, and lots where they skimped on the ingredients, but I will definitely return to Banh Mi Y Nhu to fulfill future cravings.

I also ordered a fresh-squeezed sugar cane juice to sip on the way home to beat the heat, but I forgot to take a photo of it.  The last thing I ordered was a bag of crispy shrimp chips for $3, since Banh Mi Y Nhu also sells several small dishes and snacks, beyond the eight sandwiches on the menu.  These shrimp chips are such a great consistency — crispy but not crunchy, probably fried but not greasy.  I wonder if they are made of tapioca flour for that texture.  I’ve had some mass-produced bagged shrimp chips that smelled like sea garbage, but these were relatively mild and not even super-shrimpy.  They were nice and light, and I enjoyed them too.

But at Banh Mi Y Nhu, the sandwiches are the star attraction, so if you haven’t hopped on the banh mi bus yet, this is the place you want to start.

King Cajun Crawfish

It has been over five years since I’ve eaten at King Cajun Crawfish (https://kingcajuncrawfish.com/), the Vietnamese-Cajun restaurant in Orlando’s Mills 50 district, one of our best and most diverse neighborhoods for dining.  I have always loved it, being a fan of New Orleans and its culture and culinary traditions, so I don’t know what took me so long to return.  At least I’ve been there more recently than I’ve been back to the Big Easy itself (not since 2001, sadly).

You may already be familiar with the Cajun and Creole dishes of Louisiana, but I will be didactic and point out that Cajun food is rustic and rural, a spicy stewpot of French-Acadians who left Nova Scotia and settled in the bayous of Louisiana along with Southern influences, while Creole food is more continental “city food” from New Orleans, influenced by Caribbean and European flavors, especially French.

Vietnamese-Cajun is a unique offshoot — a fusion of a fusion — and we are lucky to have several Viet-Cajun restaurants here in Orlando.  I believe King Cajun was the first, so it has always been my favorite.   Food & Wine offers a nice history of the fusion cuisine, which started with Vietnamese refugees who worked in the seafood industry in Gulf Coast Texas and Louisiana.

I recently invited a beloved professional mentor and friend out to lunch, something we’ve been meaning to do for almost 15 years but never gotten around to.  She is a sophisticated and brilliant woman who hails from New Orleans, so I figured King Cajun would be a good choice.  I see it as pretty authentic, but I was glad she said the same, without any prompting.

King Cajun Crawfish specializes in seafood boils, messy pots of excess featuring crawfish, shrimp, and crab in savory, spicy broths with potatoes, corn, and Andouille sausage.  However, those are so messy, you really have to dress down for a meal like that, or you’ll ruin your clothes.  Just an FYI: a meal like that might not be the best choice for a date, unless you’re planning to disrobe later, in case it could end up being an inspired choice.  My colleague and I played it safer, selecting with other menu items less likely to splatter, splash, and stain, but for future reference, those seafood boils are delicious, especially if you go with the house specialty “ShaBang sauce” (a blend of their traditional, lemon pepper, garlic butter, and “Rajun’ Cajun” seasonings).

My mentor started out with hush puppies, seasoned dough balls fried to crispy, golden perfection, yet savory and soft inside.  These were terrific dipped into some thick, tangy remoulade sauce, and the leftovers heated up perfectly in my toaster oven later that night.

She also ordered a cup of jambalaya, which is a rice dish in a thick, tomatoey sauce with Andouille sausage, chicken, shrimp, onion, and celery.  We both liked the little we tried, and I brought the rest home for my wife, who overcame her skepticism and absolutely loved it.

I got seafood gumbo for us to share, which my wife and I both always enjoyed at King Cajun in the past, and this was no exception.  My mentor and I requested it at medium heat, because there was hot sauce on the table to punch it up if it was too mild.  I could have taken it hotter and been fine, but it was great as is, with plenty of plump shrimp, sausage, chicken, rice, okra, and the “trinity” of Cajun and Creole cooking: onion, celery, and green bell peppers, all cooked in a flavorful roux (stirring flour into butter or some other fat to thicken sauces).  Needless to say, we did not roux this day!  Gumbo is more like a soup or stew than jambalaya, just in case you have confused them in the past.  Both have similar ingredients, but gumbo always has more of a broth, with white rice on the bottom of the cup or bowl.

The hot, fresh French bread at King Cajun is awesome — perfectly crusty on the outside and fluffy, soft, and warm inside.  A small loaf, more than enough for two people to share, is only $2.  You must get it, whether you order the seafood boil or something else saucy, like gumbo, jambalaya, or crawfish étouffée (for next time).  The po’boy sandwiches come on the same bread, but when you order the loaf, it is scored to pull apart easily.

This was the fried oyster platter (my choice), which I thought was only supposed to come with six fried oysters, but it came with far more than six.  They were also fried perfectly in a cornmeal batter.  I think I prefer raw or charbroiled oysters most of the time, but these were delightful.  You can also get them in a po’boy sandwich, but we already had French bread, and I felt like getting some sides.All the fried platters come with two sides.  I chose potato salad and onion rings, so long-time Saboscrivner readers know this is also a RING THE ALARM! feature.  The potato salad was cool and refreshing, tangy with a little yellow mustard the way Southern potato salads often are.  The onion rings were breaded rather than battered, but they didn’t have those jagged crags that cut up the inside of your mouth, and the onions inside were at a reasonable temperature, not molten and scalding.  I dipped the oysters and onion rings in the included cocktail sauce, but the remoulade (not pictured) was the best dipping sauce for both.

A side of cole slaw was crispy, cool, creamy, and refreshing, but not too heavy with mayo.  Like the potato salad, it was nice to cut all the richness of the fried stuff we had been eating.

And for dessert, you can’t leave New Orleans or King Cajun Crawfish without an order of beignets (pronounced “bin-YAYS”), puffy triangles of fried dough covered with so much powdered sugar, it looks like they just left a bachelor party in Miami… or let’s face it, any party in Miami.
King Cajun Crawfish serves Café du Monde coffee, a New Orleans classic that is an ideal combination with these beignets (especially with condensed milk added), but we both passed.  I’m not a coffee drinker, and even I’ll tell you that is some damn fine coffee with its flavoring from the chicory root.  Then again, condensed milk makes everything better, and now I’m thinking about requesting some to drizzle over the beignets or dip them in it next time.

This was a long overdue lunch with one of the best people I know, and we could not have picked a better restaurant.  It made me happy she liked it and considered it authentic (better than Tibby’s, she said!), and I wondered how and why it had been so long since my last visit to King Cajun Crawfish.  Next time I return, I will have to go with a group and dress down to enjoy some boiled crawfish and shrimp in ShaBang sauce without ruining my work clothes.  I don’t think that’s too shellfish of a request.

CLOSED: Zorba’s Greek Restaurant

EDITOR’S NOTE: I was saddened to learn that Zorba’s Greek Restaurant permanently closed in August 2024.  Apparently the owners retired, so good for them, after so many years in a hard business.  But Zorba’s really was my favorite Greek restaurant in the Orlando area, and I will miss it terribly.

***

Zorba’s Greek Restaurant (https://zorbasgreekfood.com/) is located at 115 East 1st Street, in the quaint, picturesque, historic section of Sanford, about half an hour north of downtown Orlando.  1st Street is lined with great restaurants (including the beloved Hollerbach’s German Restaurant, Christo’s diner, and the nearby St. Johns River Steak & Seafood), bars, breweries, and cute shops.  There is an excellent ice cream parlor (Wondermade, one of my two favorites in Central Florida) and a very cool new food hall, Henry’s Depot, which I recently visited for the first time and will definitely write about in the future.  There is a German grocery store (Magnolia Square Market, owned by the Hollerbach family), a shop that specializes in hot sauces and everything spicy (Spice is Nice, which I also plan to review), and a farmer’s market every Saturday.  It’s one of the most underrated foodie areas around, so I am thrilled to review another restaurant in the neighborhood that quickly became one of my new favorites.  In fact, after two visits, one for dining in and one for takeout, I might go out on a limb and call Zorba’s my favorite Greek restaurant in the Greater Orlando area.

Funny enough, my wife and I ended up there completely accidentally, after first driving to Sanford intending to go to Hollerbach’s on a day it turned out to be closed.  We had been passing Zorba’s for years, and since it is mere steps away, we went there instead, and were so glad we did.  We were hungry, so we did our usual over-ordering thing, knowing we would have plenty of delicious leftovers to last us for days, which would heat up well at home.

We started out with eggplant garlic spread, which came with warm,  soft, lightly grilled pita bread wedges for dipping and/or spreading.  I am relieved to report the pita bread was really good, because I hate the Toufayan brand of pita they sell at Publix, near the deli section. 

The eggplant garlic spread was savory and creamy, as the menu promised.  It was my wife’s idea to order it, but I think it was so garlicky, I ended up liking it more than she did.  But it was really awesome, and I would definitely recommend it as a nice starter.

She chose the octopus from the list of mezethakia, or Greek appetizers, to be her main course.  We all have our favorite dishes we can never turn down when we see them on menus, and octopus is one of hers.  You never know quite how restaurants are going to serve it, but Zorba’s served one large, marinated, char-grilled tentacle with tomatoes, kalamata olives, lemon, and some of the best feta cheese either of us have ever had.  I’ve had so much rubbery, chewy octopus that I don’t seek it out anymore the way she does, but she insisted I try it, and it was outstanding — easily some of the best I’ve ever tried anywhere.  Really meaty and flavorful, possibly from being tenderized by an acidic marinade that includes vinegar.  

Since my wife doesn’t cook, I suggested she order something else that she could eat over the next day or two, once I was back at work.  She chose papootsakia, which is really fun to say.  The menu describes it as half an eggplant stuffed with seasoned ground beef topped with creamy Bechamel sauce and baked, but as you can see, it looks like they served her a double portion!  This was another banger.  We both tasted cinnamon in the ground beef, and I suspected they use the same recipe for the moussaka (casserole with ground beef, eggplant, potatoes, and Bechamel) and some other dishes.  My wife named this one of the best things she has ever eaten in her life, and she doesn’t toss around superlatives as freely as your friendly neighborhood Saboscrivner!Needless to say, the papootsakia (hehe) lasted her a few days, and like so many saucy, savory dishes, it kept tasting better and better after every day in the fridge.

Just like octopus and eggplant are two of my wife’s “trigger dishes” that she always feels compelled to try anywhere, slow-braised and stewed meats in sauces are one of mine.  I noticed Zorba’s offered a lamb shank and a pork shank, both braised and baked in a tomato sauce.  I had a hard time deciding between the two, but our patient server suggested I try the lamb shank for my first visit, and so I did.  This really is one of my favorite meals, period.  I loved the braised lamb shanks at Cappadocia Turkish Cuisine (and listed them as one of my Top Five favorite things I ate in 2018 in Orlando Weekly), and now I’m pretty great at making them myself, using this recipe.   Well, I’m happy to say that the lamb shank from Zorba’s is as good as any of the other versions I’ve tried or made, if not better.  The tomato sauce is so rich, it really puts it over the top.  The meat was fork-tender and so savory and flavorful.The rice pilaf was already soft and buttery, but I mixed all the tomato sauce I could into it, making it even better.

As if that wasn’t enough food, I ordered one of my favorite Greek dishes, pastitsio, which is kind of like Greek baked ziti or lasagna — a baked casserole with layers of seasoned ground beef (with more of that cinnamon) and long, uncut ziti noodles tossed in beaten egg whites and feta cheese after boiling to help the noodles stick together, topped with more creamy Bechamel that browns when baked.  It is a delicious, hearty dish that is different enough from the Italian versions that you absolutely have to try it, if you never have had it before.  And the pastitsio at Zorba’s is absolutely the best version I’ve ever had.  They knocked it out of the park.

It’s so pleasing to the eye too, when the chef gets all the ziti noodles facing the same way, so it creates that honeycomb-like pattern when slices are cut out of it.

All the entrees came with a choice of a lovely Greek salad tossed in a housemade viniagrette dressing with more of that terrific feta (so much better than the kind I’ve been buying at Aldi), or a soup.  The salad turned out to be a much more refreshing choice.

The soup was avgolemono, a hearty Greek chicken soup with orzo pasta and lemon.  We wanted to try both the salad and the soup, but it’s just too blasted hot to enjoy most soups, here in the hottest summer recorded in human history.

The entrees all come with fresh-baked rolls studded with sesame seeds.  It seems like an unnecessary inclusion, but these are really damn good rolls, especially when you have such delicious sauces and juices to mop up.  Don’t leave them behind!

And my wife said we couldn’t leave without trying the baklava for dessert, so who was I to argue?  It was good baklava, although I have never had bad baklava.

Here’s a look at it with the thin, crispy phyllo dough “roof” removed:

On my second visit to Zorba’s, this past weekend, I brought home the lamb chop lollipops for my wife.  I asked for them rare, but they came out closer to medium.  These are a lot thinner than the thick lamb loin chops I buy at Costco for roasting, so it was probably harder to rescue these while they were still rare.  These were served over more rice pilaf and dressed salad greens.

Since I liked the lamb shank so much last time, this time I ordered the pork shank, which was an even bigger hunk of meat with the bones still in.  Like the lamb shank, it was baked to fork-tender perfection in the same rich tomato sauce, over more rice pilaf.  I didn’t even eat this until the day after I brought everything home, but I suspect it got even tastier in the fridge overnight.   No matter which shank you choose, you can’t go wrong.   Zorba’s prepared both perfectly.   

I could not help ordering a regular gyro for us to share, just to see how Zorba’s stacks up to other gyros around Orlando.  It was really good, with the garlicky, salty lamb slices still tender (some places throw them on the grill after carving them off the spit, drying them out), nice, thick, creamy, garlicky tzatziki sauce, and a properly grilled pita.  If you’re in the mood for a gyro in Sanford, you absolutely can’t go wrong.  BUT — and this is not a complaint about the quality at all — nobody in the Orlando area makes a better gyro than Mediterranean Deli on Fairbanks Avenue.  If they do, I haven’t found it yet.

So that’s Zorba’s Greek Restaurant.  If Sanford wasn’t such a schlep from home, we would become regulars for sure.  As it is, I’ll still make the trek to bring it home when we’re in the mood, because it is that damn good.  You can tell everything is homemade, fresh, and authentic.  The service was great when we dined in, and it’s a nice little spot that would be fine for  casual family dining, but nice enough to bring a date.  There are so many great dining options in Sanford these days, but this is one that may not be as new or exciting or “sexy” as some of the other restaurants along 1st Street.  Don’t sleep on it, though.  It was one of our favorite discoveries of 2023, and it will probably become one of yours too.

SoDough Square

I recently visited SoDough Square (https://sodoughsquare.com/), a new pizzeria that opened in 2022, for the first time.  It was so good, I returned a week later, with a friend and co-worker, and it was just as good on that second visit.  The original location for SoDough Square is at 419 Michigan Street, Orlando, Florida, 32806, directly next door and sharing a dining room with one of owner Rob Bair’s other restaurants, Tin & Taco, which I reviewed in early 2019.  There are a few Tin & Taco locations around Orlando, and just this past week, a second SoDough Square location opened at 223 Fairbanks Avenue, Winter Park, Florida, 32789, directly next door to another Tin & Taco.  Go Rob!

SoDough Square is unique in Orlando because it serves Detroit-style pizza, a unique pizza style that I had never seen in Florida before.  These are rectangular pizzas cooked in steel pans, then cut into four or eight slices, depending on whether you order a small or a large.  The slices crisp up from cooking in the pans, and the toppings go all the way out to the edge, which I appreciate.  Lots of upscale, pricey hipster pizzas seem to be half crust these days, and that just seems like wasted real estate to me.  SoDough Square proofs its own dough (fermented for over 24 hours), makes its own tomato sauce, and shreds its own brick cheese blend, which forms a crispy, caramelized crust around the outer edges of the rectangular slices, called “frico.”  This results in a thicc slice of pizza, similar to the Sicilian style I love so much, but not nearly as heavy, bready, and casserole-like as Chicago-style deep dish.  I’m a convert.  I love it!  If you have read this far, you probably will too.

At SoDough Square, you place your order on one of two touchscreen monitors and then wait.  I was bringing home the pizza to share with my wife, but while I was there, I enjoyed a Detroit coney dog ($5.99), topped with a savory, beanless chili sauce, chopped onions, and yellow mustard.  I rarely order hot dogs when I’m out of the house, since I can usually buy a pack of high-quality dogs for the price of one or two from a restaurant, but I will make exceptions anytime I’m near my beloved Arbetter’s in Miami, a Skyline Chili location, and now for the coney dog at SoDough Square.  I love trying anyone’s different versions of chili, and if it comes in chili dog form, all the better.
It’s a magnificent combination of flavors and textures.  The all-beef dog has a great snappiness from its natural casing, the chili was excellent (far more of a crowd-pleaser than Skyline’s polarizing Cincinnati-style chili that I nevertheless like), and you got a pleasant crunch from the onions.  As much as I love mustard (which is a lot), I usually don’t partake in plain yellow mustard, but it brought a necessary acidic brightness to this perfect coney dog that a spicy brown or horseradishy deli mustard would not have been able to duplicate.

That soda pictured above is called Rock & Rye, from Detroit’s beloved Faygo brand, a favorite of Juggalos everywhere.  I had no idea what it would taste like, but it reminded me of Big Red soda from Texas, if you’ve ever tried that one, or Barq’s Red Creme soda (a New Orleans classic that is impossible to find in Orlando).  Vaguely like cream soda, maybe a bit like cotton candy or bubble gum.  More about Faygo later, I promise.

Several of the specialty pizzas sounded good, but the one I’ve been hearing the most raves about and seeing the most tantalizing photos of was the Detroit Rob City ($15.99 for a small or $29.99 for a large), so I ordered a large to bring home.  This absolute unit is topped with Detroit red sauce, SoDough’s brick cheese blend, whipped ricotta cheese, pinched sausage (I admit it, I laughed), Ezzo cup pepperoni, Mike’s hot honey, and fresh basil.  WOW, what a combination.  This was one of the best things I’ve eaten in quite a while.  Everything comes together perfectly on this pizza!
The creaminess of the ricotta works so well cutting the saltiness of the sausage and pepperoni and the surprising spiciness of the hot honey.  (As a semi-related aside, I bought a different hot honey at Aldi, one of their private label brands that is half the price of Mike’s, but it barely has any heat at all.)  And I absolutely love fresh basil on any pizza, which works miracles when combined with the tomato sauce.  This is food of the gods, folks.

I also couldn’t resist trying the T&T ($15.99 for a small or $28.99 for a large) for myself, but I knew my wife wouldn’t be into a pizza topped with shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, sour cream, and crushed Doritos, so I just ordered a small.  The tribute to Rob Bair’s Tin & Taco restaurants worked for me, and I was stone-cold sober when I enjoyed it back at home!

I also ordered a small garlic cheese bread for us to share ($8.99 for a small or $16.99 for a large), and it was awesome too.  It is made from the same pizza dough, but topped with garlic parmesan sauce, the same brick cheese blend, grated cheese, and fresh basil, with a small dipping cup of the house-made red sauce on the side.  Don’t sleep on this when you go!  My wife liked it even more than the pizza, which I expected, since she doesn’t like tomato-based sauces as much as I do.   

On my second visit with my friend and colleague, who loves pizza as much as I do and hot dogs even more than I do, I ordered us two coney dogs so we could each have one, and we split a small Enforcer pizza ($14.99 for a small or $27.99 for a large), with the same Detroit red sauce and brick cheese blend, pinched sausage, Ezzo cup pepperoni, applewood smoked bacon, pecorino romano cheese, and fresh basil.  Very similar to the Detroit Rob City, but personally, I would rather have the ricotta and hot honey than the bacon.  Here is my last slice of the Enforcer:

I also got three different Faygo sodas they didn’t have on my first visit.  I drank the pineapple orange with my meal, chugged most of the root beer on my way home because it was such a stupidly hot Friday afternoon, and saved the grape for my wife, who said it smelled and tasted like grape bubble gum.  (I didn’t taste it, but I thought it smelled just like a grape-flavored candy from the ’80s called Bonkers.)  My friend tried the Faygo diet cola, by the way.
I’ve had better sodas, and definitely better root beers, but I’m always happy and excited to taste anything new.  All three of the Faygo flavors I tried were pretty artificial-tasting, even by soda standards.  But they are $2.49 each, and I don’t think you can buy them anywhere else locally, so why not try something new and different?

My friend and I then walked to John and John’s – A Pizza Shop, conveniently located mere moments away, although the sweat was pouring off my shaved head by the time we walked in there.  He had never tried John and John’s either, and I figured I would keep blowing his mind by introducing him to another favorite of mine — my choice for the best New York-style pizza in Orlando.  Needless to say, he loved it too, especially the gyro-inspired Mediterranean Blue slice, named for the Greek restaurant that was the previous tenant of John and John’s space.  After that, we parted ways, and I went back to SoDough Square to order another cheesy garlic bread to bring home for my wife, since I try to be a mensch.

I admit that the Michigan Avenue location of SoDough Square is a hike from home, so I was overjoyed when I heard about the second location opening on Fairbanks, near Rollins College in Winter Park.  But I will warn you right now, stalwart Saboscrivnerinos — the new Winter Park location does not have the coney dogs, so just keep that in mind.  That’s a shame, because I can’t envision going there and not getting one of those dogs as a pre-pizza appetizer.  But no matter which location you visit, you are going to be treated to some of the best pizza in Orlando, from Detroit with love.

Have you been to SoDough yet?  Which pizzas are your favorites, and are you in love with the coney dogs as much as I am?  What is the deal with Faygo?  Is it something you had to grow up with?  Hopefully I haven’t incurred the wrath of the Juggalos over that, but it won’t be my first time, and I doubt it will be the last.

Tight Chips: Over Two Years of Potato Chips

In this new installment of Tight Chips, I will review some of the new flavors of potato chips I’ve enjoyed and discovered over the past two years, since my last chip review roundup.  I pride myself on sticking to a budget and keeping my impulse buys and “retail therapy” in check, but one way to sucker me out of a few bucks is to come out with new and weird flavors of potato chips.  I always feel obligated to try them, especially five years into this food blog, under the flimsy excuse of “JOURNALISM!” and even “SCIENCE!”  I used to be like that with sodas too (especially as a non-drinker), but at least I’ve managed to cut back on those.

But it’s almost July 4th, a time when we celebrate our country’s independence (while hopefully realizing we still have a long way to go to improve things here) and get together with family and friends for cookouts and dangerous explosions, often eating lots of chips.  Perhaps this blog entry can serve as a guide for those of you who offer your guests salty, crunchy snacks in between grilling out, drinking heavily, and blowing things up.

I’m going to start with some of my favorite potato chips I’ve ever tried: Zapp’s, out of Gramercy, Louisiana.  Zapp’s specializes in thick, crunchy kettle-fried chips with strong, bold flavors.  You can usually find them at Wawa, 7-Eleven, Publix, and Winn-Dixie stores, at least here in Orlando.

Zapp’s most popular flavors may be Voodoo and Voodoo Heat, which combine salty, savory, sweet, smoky, and tangy flavors, similar to the Canadian-inspired all-dressed chips I have reviewed before.  I give the slight edge to Voodoo Heat, which, as you might guess, is spicier than the delicious but mild Voodoo flavor.

If you like it spicy, but also tangy and sweet, these are awesome.

I must admit preferring the thinner, crispier, Lay’s-style potato chip to Zapp’s crunchier, thicker chips, but Zapp’s has recently started offering its own “Thinz,” which are more like Lay’s, texture-wise, but with the superior Zapp’s flavors.  Winn-Dixie carries larger bags of Zapp’s Thinz.

The Voodoo Thinz taste just as good as the thicker kettle chips:

Zapp’s Bourbon Street Smoky Sweet is kind of like a sweet barbecue flavor minus the tanginess of tomato, and they are also really good.  I’ve only seen the Thinz version sold around here:

But you can’t go wrong:

Zapp’s Evil Eye is more of a tomato-forward flavor that I like, but not as much as the Voodoo:

But they don’t skimp on the seasoning:

Finally, Zapp’s Cajun Dill Gator-Tators are kind of like a mildly spicy dill pickle flavor, but not overly spicy, so don’t worry.  They don’t taste like alligator at all, so don’t worry about that either.

They are one of the better pickle-flavored chips out there, but I will be covering a few more here.

The Voodoo flavor is such a breakthrough hit, other companies have similar versions.  Southeastern Grocers, the parent company of Winn-Dixie, has a surprisingly excellent New Orleans Blend potato chip flavor that is thin and crispy like Lay’s and Zapp’s Thinz, and large bags are ridiculously cheap compared to the name brands.  They also go hard on the seasoning and are excellent quality. 

These are better than they have any right to be:

I only ever see the Dirty brand of potato chips in small bags near the Publix deli (not in the chip aisle).  These are thicker kettle chips.  My wife likes the plain ones from time to time (she doesn’t share my fascination with flavored chips), but one day I tried the Funky Fusion, and it is essentially the Dirty version of Zapp’s Voodoo flavor.  Not nearly as good, though.

Not bad, but they’re no Zapp’s.

All this talk about July 4th cookouts and then the flavors of New Orleans might put someone in the mood for an icy cold, refreshing beer.  If you want one, enjoy it responsibly, but I can caution you against bothering with Clancy’s Beer-flavored potato chips, which are occasionally available at Aldi supermarkets.  Clancy’s is Aldi’s private label for chips and other salty snacks like pork rinds.  Some are great (including Moscow Mule- and Bloody Mary-flavored chips I have reviewed before), but this wasn’t one of the great ones. 

They were mostly bland, vaguely earthy-tasting, and incredibly salty, even by potato chip standards.  I wouldn’t get them again.

I mentioned Clancy’s Bloody Mary and Moscow Mule-flavored chips, which I enjoyed in the past, but the smoked Kentucky bourbon flavor was another miss from this Aldi store brand.

They tasted a little smoky, but not in a good way, like smoked meat or barbecue sauce.  Mostly they just tasted overwhelmingly salty.  I used to enjoy Maker’s Mark bourbon, and there is no substitute for the real thing.

To close out the Aldi chip discussion but tie it back to the cookout theme, Clancy’s also came out with a grilled ribeye steak flavor, which I didn’t love either. 

These had a subtle “burned on the grill” taste with more overwhelming saltiness and also a peppery flavor, but they sure didn’t taste like steak or any other meat.  I think I just don’t care for the “Krinkle Cut” style of ridged chips that much, at least not from the Clancy’s brand.  They always taste much saltier to me.

I bet you didn’t realize how classy potato chip flavors have become.  Barbecue and beer are one thing, but bourbon and ribeye steak are new.  Going beyond that, a Spanish company called Torres makes really upscale chips, including a sparkling wine flavor I recently found at Publix, and another snack company I love, Herr Foods, Inc., out of Nottingham, Pennsylvania, came out with Herr’s charcuterie board-flavored potato chips earlier this year!  Forget cookouts, these are the perfect chips for a really fancy soiree or a date!

It’s uncanny how much the Torres chips actually tasted like sparkling wine — sweet, acidic, fruity, sour.  It isn’t the most satisfying flavor combination overall, but they are definitely worth a try for those who share my fascination with novelty and weirdness.

And as my longtime readers know, I am a pretty serious aficionado of cured meats.  I love that the Lunchables generation has turned charcuterie boards into a thing, but I would rather have my salami, prosciutto, soppressata, capicola, and other delicious deli meats on a sub or hoagie, topped with cheese, vegetables, and condiments, rather than arranged beautifully on a wooden board.  But when you don’t have access to either, you probably want to try these new Herr’s chips.  They definitely have a delicate, salty, porky flavor, but didn’t taste like any specific cured meat that I could pick out.  I should note that I’ve only ever found this Herr’s flavor at Deli Desires, which is one of Orlando’s more underrated spots.These chips did not include any meat in the ingredients, so you’re welcome, vegetarians!

I love Herr’s chips, and being a Pennsylvania-based company, you can always find them at Wawa convenience stores, another Pennsylvania company.  My most recent chip finds are these three “Flavors of Philly” Herr’s chips: tomato pie, roast pork sandwich, and Korean BBQ wings.  

I tried the tomato pie chips first, inspired by Corropolese Italian Bakery & Deli in Philadelphia.  Tomato pie is similar to Sicilian pizza, but the thick, rectangular slices have a sweet tomato sauce and are topped with Romano cheese, but no mozzarella.  The closest I’ve found to it in Orlando is the tomato pie at Tornatore’s, which is more of an upstate New York version, but the scachatta at Alessi Bakery and La Segunda Bakery in Tampa is similar to tomato pie, sweet sauce and all, only they have finely ground beef in their sauces.  These chips tasted like sweet tomato sauce with a dash of pungent cheese, so they nailed it as best they could.

The roast pork sandwich chips are specifically inspired by John’s Roast Pork, a Philadelphia legend I haven’t had a chance to try, although I did have two pretty amazing roast pork sandwiches when I was there last month.  Be on the lookout for that review coming soon.  Anyway, these chips were a lot more subtle, with garlic emerging as the main flavor (aside from salt).  It’s a delicious sandwich when made well, especially when topped with sharp provolone and bitter broccoli rabe, but much more subtle than an Italian hoagie or a cheesesteak.

What I wasn’t expecting was that Herr’s Korean BBQ wings flavor, inspired by Mike’s BBQ restaurant in Philly, would be the best-tasting chips in this new trio.  But I should have guessed, because Korean-style chicken wings kick ass, whether you order them from Hawkers, Domu, Kai Asian Street Fare, or bb.q Chicken.

And Herr’s just keeps on barreling forward with wild flavors.  I admit I didn’t think much of these Loaded Tots chips, but it was an ambitious experiment:

There were some interesting flavors present, but I know I couldn’t pick out bacon and cheese and sour cream and chives!

Earlier this year, Herr’s sold new Sandwi-Chips with four “extra bold” flavors, exclusive to Wawa stores, marketed to be put into sandwiches.  That’s something I’m going to do if I have a sandwich and chips together anyway, so I took it upon myself to sample all the new flavors, inspired by condiments and sandwich toppings.

Everyone knows I love mustard, to the point where I write a recurring mustard review feature called Cutting the Mustard, so I tried the Herr’s mustard Sandwi-Chips first.

Needless to say, these tasted bright and tangy and acidic, just like yellow mustard.  If you’re making a ham, turkey, or roast beef sandwich or a burger, go to town with these.  You won’t regret it.

The sweet onion Sandwi-Chips were almost too strongly oniony, compared to a more mellowed-out sour cream and onion flavor.

They were kind of a lot, as my students used to say.

Next up, I had to try the ketchup Sandwi-Chips, because I have always really liked Herr’s regular ketchup chips.  That is a popular Canadian chip flavor, but not nearly as popular in the U.S.  I’ve never been to Canada, but always wanted to, as I have a fondness for its culture and people, with their reputations for being polite.  In fact, several people have thought I, your friendly neighborhood Saboscrivner, am Canadian, between my voice (your guess is as good as mine) and my unfailing politeness.  I’ll take it as a compliment, eh?

Anyway, to make this a truly scientific experiment (well, not really), I had to compare and contrast Herr’s original ketchup chips, which I’ve had several times, with the new Sandwi-Chips.

They tasted very similar, and I’m honestly not even sure if I mixed up the photos or not.  I’ve always appreciated that the regular ketchup chips are heavily seasoned, and they will definitely turn your fingertips RED.  They are tomatoey, tangy, and sweet, and I like them a lot.  Always have, always will.

I think the only difference I noticed was that the “extra bold” ketchup chips might have had even more seasoning on them, but I couldn’t discern any unique taste.  But I liked both!

Finally (at least for these), Herr’s came out with a spicy pickle flavor of Sandwi-Chips, and they tasted very pickley, as one would expect and hope, but somewhat light on the spice.

They were fine.  They would go particularly well on any sandwich or burger where you would normally add pickles, or even if you actually did add pickles.

As long as we’re talking about pickle-flavored chips, I should note that I used to hate pickles, until I embarked on a mission to learn to appreciate pickles by comparing, contrasting, and reviewing a bunch of different pickles.

The pickles that made me a fan were Grillo’s pickles, which I waxed rhapsodic about in that above review, “A Plethora of Pickles.”  The Utz Quality Foods company, another snack company with Pennsylvania roots (Hanover, this time), actually created Grillo’s pickle chips, which a good friend shared with me after buying a ginormous bag at Costco.

These are maybe the best pickle chips I’ve ever tried, and I was grateful to not have to buy the whole pillowcase-sized bag of them.

I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of Frito-Lay’s extremely popular Flamin’ Hot flavor, regardless of its heartwarming and/or apocryphal origin story.  What exactly does it taste like?  HOT.  It tastes like hot, and there might be a bit of lime, but maybe that’s all in my head.  All the Flamin’ Hot chips (Cheetos, Ruffles, Lay’s, etc.) are fiery, angry red, and sometimes after the fact, other things are fiery, angry red too.

Even though I would have ignored this flavor in the past, when I saw Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle Lay’s, I had to give them a try. 

They weren’t gross like I expected.  The sourness and the dill helped offset the intense Flamin’ Hot flavor (like nothing else in nature!), and I ended up thinking these would be good pickles to crush up on a burger or in a sandwich — maybe something that already had real pickles on it.  They would be great with some kind of cool, creamy dip, too.

And while we’re still on the condiment-flavored chips, Trader Joe’s offered these Patio chips over the summer of 2021 (and possibly still, although I haven’t looked for them since). 

The bag contained a blend of multiple chip flavors: sea salt and vinegar, delicious dill, homestyle ketchup (for all the people who make their own ketchup in a world where Heinz is easily available, cheap, and superior), and smokin’ sweet BBQ.  I appreciated this ambitious experiment, but I don’t think any of the Trader Joe’s flavors stood out on their own, and crunching on multiple flavors in the same mouthful didn’t work as well as I would have guessed.  If these have since been discontinued, I wouldn’t even be surprised.

As long as we’re talking about pickled things, the Kettle brand makes really tasty pepperoncini-flavored chips, which would be awesome crushed up on an Italian hoagie, a gyro, or a Greek salad, or anywhere else you might enjoy those pale green, mildly spicy pickled peppers.

Keep in mind these are also thicker, crunchier chips.  I don’t buy the Kettle brand very much because they only come in large bags, but I’m glad I took a chance with this particular flavor.  They really did taste like pepperoncini peppers!

So let’s switch gears now and talk about some more spicy chip flavors, after that flawless segue.  Lay’s briefly offered an Adobadas flavor in 2022, featuring chile peppers, tomato, and lime.

They were okay.  I only bought one small bag one time, and that was fine with me.

On my 2022 sojourn to the senses-shattering Buc-ee’s, a colossal convenience store that pretty much sums up the American experience and all of its excesses, I bought these “Hot” flavored chips:

And they delivered.  They were hot, but not overwhelmingly so.  Definitely not “Flamin’ Hot.”  I would have preferred some nuance, though.

These Southeastern Grocers Sweet Hot Barbecue chips came from Winn-Dixie, so you know they were cheap.  But were they good?

Actually, yeah.  I love the sweet, tangy smokiness of barbecue chips, and these packed more heat than most. I still prefer the New Orleans Blend, Southeastern Grocers’ Voodoo knockoff flavor, though.

Have you tried hot honey as a condiment?  Mike’s Hot Honey is the main brand, and it has a lot more heat than other companies’ versions.  It is awesome on pizza, just FYI.  And Utz makes a Mike’s Hot Honey potato chip flavor:

They are sweet and hot, so I guess I like my potato chips like I like my women.

Just in case anyone else cares about such things, Utz owns both Zapp’s and Dirty chips, in addition to its own brand.

Lay’s short-lived chile mango chips were also sweet and hot, but I didn’t care for the flavor combination as much:

This was a one-and-done flavor for me.  I love mangos like crazy.  I will eat mangos like they’re going out of style, and I’m a sucker for anything mango-flavored.  I was excited to find these and disappointed I didn’t love them, but you don’t have to take my word for it!

On a lucky trip to Walgreens (admittedly a while back), I found not one, but two new flavors of Lay’s: Hot Sauce (specifically Frank’s Red Hot, the perfect sauce for classic buffalo wings), and Kettle Cooked Beer Cheese.  I like Walgreens because they almost always get new chip flavors first, and unlike Publix, they sell them in small bags, which make me feel much less guilty about eating chips in the first place.  What do you get, six or seven chips in these wee bags?

I like Frank’s Red Hot sauce in the first place because it balances the cayenne pepper-based heat with the acidic tang of vinegar, and I love anything vinegary.  If you shy away from spicy food and order “mild” or plain wings, you probably won’t like these.  But if you do like typical hot sauce flavors, you will be in for a real treat with these chips, especially if you have some good blue cheese dip or dressing to go with them.

The Beer Cheese Lay’s were a lot more subtly flavored.  I’ve had real beer cheese before, and it is delicious.  A friend in Kentucky assures me it’s a big deal up there, whereas it is a little harder to find around Florida.  But these chips didn’t taste too strongly of anything.  I rarely regret trying new chip flavors, but I wouldn’t bother getting these again.  I haven’t seen them in a long time, so they may already be discontinued.

One more spicy flavor, and then we’re done, if you can believe it!  I’m guessing Game Day Chili Lay’s might have been timed to come out around the NFL playoffs and the Superb Owl.  I didn’t find them until early March (2021 or 2022?), and I was really surprised to find them at all.  These were yet another Walgreens find.  I love chili in all its forms, so I was excited to tear into this bag.

This flavor was also a little disappointing, especially given how much I love chili.  It wasn’t overly tomatoey, and I didn’t pick up on cheese at all.  It wasn’t very spicy either, and nothing about it tasted “meaty.”  I’ve already gone on at great length about how I love tomatoey flavors in my chips, but this one was a letdown.  At least I didn’t spring for a larger bag.

Well, that’s a pretty good rundown of the new potato chip flavors I’ve tried since 2021 — the good, the bad, and the weird.  If you have tried any of these, I want to hear about it.  Which ones have you enjoyed?  Were any disappointing or gross?  What are your favorite chip flavors and brands, especially if I haven’t covered them, and where can I get my hands on some?  I might not be an influencer, but if anyone wants to send me chips to review, I would probably graciously accept them!

So enjoy your Fourth of July, stay safe, have something delicious to eat (ideally accompanied by people you like spending time around), and remember to stay hydrated in this insane summer heat, especially if you’re munching and crunching on salty chips.

The Dough Show

A month or so back, I made the trek out to East Orlando, near the University of Central Florida, to try a new restaurant everyone is talking about: The Dough Show (https://thedoughshowfl.com/).  Despite the name making you think it might be a bakery or a pizzeria, it’s actually an Egyptian restaurant that specializes in savory and sweet baked pies made with flaky pastry dough called feteer meshaltet, or just feteer.  A savory, flaky pie sounded pretty awesome, but when I entered the small space, I immediately got distracted by seeing marinated beef and chicken shawarma rotating on vertical spits:    

And when I saw all the various fresh vegetables, condiments, and sauces, I was thrown even more:

So I had to start out by ordering a beef shawarma ($11.99), figuring it would be ready quickly, before my feteer pie.  It came out of that open kitchen a matter of minutes, wrapped in soft saj bread — almost more like a thin flour tortilla than familiar, fluffy pita bread — that had been crisped up on the flattop grill like the best Mexican restaurants do to their burritos.

It was delicious.  I didn’t think to ask for any specific vegetables or sauces in my shawarma, but I probably should have, since it was a bit plain.  But the beef was marinated and seasoned really well, so at least it wasn’t dry (although the photo may not be the most appetizing).

At this point, I should point out the absolutely gorgeous custom-made oven The Dough Show uses to bake its feteer pies.  It is HUGE, and the iridescent, multicolored metallic tiles glisten, glimmer, and shine in all the natural light that streams in. 
Please don’t make my mistake — I was so distracted by my shawarma (and also my phone) that I completely missed the actual “show” from the gentleman rolling and flipping the dough and assembling my pie, but I’ve heard from other, more observant people that it is quite the spectacle.

There are many pies to choose from on the menu, and since this was my first time trying  an Egyptian feteer pie, I decided to go for the “Dough Show” — the namesake pie ($19.99).  It seemed to include a lot of stuff: “mixed meat, mixed cheese,” tomatoes, peppers, and olives.  I’m really not a big fan of olives, but I figured if they were part of the namesake pie, I should give them a chance.  Looking over the menu, the meats include sausage, salami, and pastrami,  which I assume are all halal versions made from beef (as opposed to pork sausage or salami), and the cheeses were mozzarella, “Roman” cheese (Romano?), and Kiri, a creamy, mild, soft, processed cheese enriched with cream, which is apparently very popular in the Middle East.  Hey, that sounded like an interesting combination, and it was!

I can’t prepare you for how big these feteer dough pies are, especially for one person, especially for one person who just inhaled a shawarma wrap.  Each little piece is very filling, especially compared to a slice of pizza, due to all the included ingredients.  Needless to say, I took the vast majority of this feteer pie home and ate it over the next few days, warming up pieces in the toaster oven so it stayed crisp.  

By now, it sounds like the legend of The Dough Show has spread, and long lines have been forming, which is great.  I’ve still only been once, but when I return, I would probably try the pastrami or salami in separate pies, since my only complaint was there was so much going on, it was hard to differentiate all the separate ingredients in the “Dough Show” pie I ordered.  I might even ask them to hold the olives, even though I ate them, and they were okay.  Hey, don’t judge — that just leaves more olives in the world for YOU to enjoy, stalwart Saboscrivnerinos!

Next time, I would also skip the shawarma, but I’d consider going with a friend to share a couple of different selections, and maybe even try something sweet.  So have any of my readers been to The Dough Show yet?  If so, what did you order, and would you recommend it?