Meat – Page 2 – The Saboscrivner

Chain Reactions: First Watch

First Watch (https://firstwatch.com/) is a chain restaurant that serves breakfast and lunch, named for the nautical term for the first shift of the day. My wife has been bravely and boldly undergoing physical therapy for most of the year, a few mornings a week, after a major surgical procedure. There is a First Watch location between our home and the outpatient PT clinic, so it has been nice to stop there a few times on our way home, almost like a mid-morning date before I have to start work.

I think our friendly neighborhood First Watch has only been open for a year or so, opening in a space that used to be a busy Panera, but the food is so much better than Panera ever was. It is a bright, open, spacious dining room with lots of natural light, always clean, with friendly service and a hands-on manager who runs a tight ship. Even though it’s a chain, we have never had anything but good food there, especially when our schedules are very limited by where we can go during the week (as in, hardly anywhere).

On our first-ever visit, my wife ordered this seasonal beverage, the Blue Booster. I was totally on board with it, due to my favorite superheroes being DC Comics’ Blue Beetle and Booster Gold, best friends and Justice League alumni who need their own movie and/or TV series. The drink was a blend of fresh blueberry, Fuji apple, and lemon juices, garnished with a basil leaf. She likes blueberries a lot, so it was a hit, but it didn’t stay on the menu very long.

She loves this “Million-Dollar Bacon,” baked with brown sugar, black pepper, and cayenne pepper and drizzled with maple syrup. I think it is her favorite bacon anywhere, and I like it too. Nothing beats the taste sensation when maple syrup collides with salty, smoky breakfast meats, and if you don’t believe me, Special Agent Dale Cooper on one of my favorite shows ever, Twin Peaks, agrees.
She has ordered this on each one of our return trips, but if you’ve seen one photo of Million Dollar Bacon, you’ve seen ’em all. Of course, we essentially get four servings out of it every time because she insists I have a strip of bacon at the restaurant, she has one there too, and then she takes the other two home and has them one at a time.

I ordered a seasonal special, the carne asada hash, with thinly sliced carne asada beef, crumbled chorizo sausage, and diced red bell peppers in a potato hash, topped with two cage-free eggs (I got mine scrambled), cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, house-made pico de gallo, fresh avocado, shaved radish, cilantro, and jalapeño crema, and served with two warm wheat-corn tortillas.

This was my wife’s avocado toast with two eggs over-easy. We might be Xennials rather than Millennials, but she sure appreciates good avocado toast.

These were called “Holey Donuts,” and they were essentially cinnamon-sugar doughnut holes with really nice textures.

On our second visit, she got this honey caramel crunch iced coffee, festooned with salted caramel and honey swirls and topped with a sweet cream cold foam and toffee nut crumbles. Like so many iced coffee concoctions, it is more like a dessert than anything:

I got an item off the regular menu this time: the chile chorizo omelet, a cage-free egg omelet with chorizo, avocado, green chiles, house-roasted onions, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, topped with all-natural sour cream and served with whole grain artisan toast.
It looks like I must have requested a side of Million Dollar potatoes to go with it, seasoned fried potatoes that were so good last time, now topped with crumbled Million Dollar bacon and what looks like some melted cheese.

She got raspberry ricotta French toast, another seasonal special that has come and gone. The thick-cut, custard-dipped challah bread was griddled and topped with fresh raspberries, whipped lemon ricotta cream, raspberry puree, and spiced with gingerbread cookie crumbles, then lightly dusted with powdered cinnamon sugar. Is it breakfast, or is it dessert? ¿Por que no los dos?

On our third visit, I tried a seasonal drink called the Pineapple Express, with pineapple and orange juices, coconut water, lime, and agave with a “mint crystal rim.” It was okay, but I should have just drank water, especially for the price. You live and you learn. I love straight-up pineapple and orange juices, but I’m trying really hard to not drink my carbs.

She ordered a seasonal spring special of wild berry lavender French toast, with thick-cut, custard-dipped challah bread griddled and topped with fresh strawberries and blueberries, warm mixed berry compote, spiced gingerbread cookie crumbles, and mint leaves on the side, and lightly dusted with powdered cinnamon sugar. It also came with lavender whipped cream, but she isn’t a fan of the lavender flavor (it smells too much like soap to both of us), so she asked them to hold it.

That time, I also got a seasonal spring special: SoCal breakfast hash, with hardwood smoked bacon, grilled all-natural sliced chicken breast, seasoned black beans, house-pickled sweet peppers and cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses over a potato hash, topped with two cage-free scrambled eggs, fresh avocado, house-made pico de gallo, cotija cheese, scallions, and a drizzle of jalapeño crema, and served with two warm wheat-corn tortillas.
I appreciate the creativity of all of these Tex Mex-inspired seasonal specials. If they keep making them, I’ll keep ordering them.

Most recently, she got the avocado toast again, this time with eggs over hard:

We shared the blueberry lemon cornbread topped with lemon butter, a summer special:

And I got the elote breakfast burrito, a summer special with chorizo sausage, scrambled eggs, seasoned potatoes, diced red bell pepper, cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses, seasoned black beans, and fresh avocado wrapped in a grilled flour tortilla, covered in Vera Cruz hollandaise and topped with house-roasted corn salsa, cotija cheese, house-pickled red onions, chipotle aioli, Tajin seasoning, and diced cilantro. It was huge and really cool-looking, with a lot going on flavor-wise. Of the four breakfast entrees I’ve tried at First Watch, this was probably my favorite, and the presentation had a lot to do with it.

I have mentioned before that I am not a brunch fan. I like breakfast food as much as anyone, but I don’t usually eat in the morning. Also, we don’t drink, and that’s a major selling point of brunch, especially on weekends. And I get super-steamed when restaurants only offer a brunch menu on weekends with a few overpriced breakfasty selections and most of their lunch selections unavailable. Plus, I can make most breakfast foods just fine at home!

Well, as much as I unironically love our local Waffle House and have nothing but deep, resounding love and loyalty to Orlando’s beloved icon of Southern decadence Se7en Bites, First Watch has really grown on me, especially for their ever-changing seasonal specials that bring some exciting flavors to traditional breakfasts, and for those mid-morning, post-PT, impromptu weekday dates with my wife. Chain or no chain, they are convenient, consistent, and keeping it interesting, so we’ll keep returning.

Istanbul Grill

I love Turkish food. It might be my second-favorite cuisine of all time, after Italian, and the insidious social media algorithms are always sending me reels of the most amazing-looking Turkish street foods that always make me hungry. Unfortunately, Turkish restaurants don’t always last here in Orlando. I was a big fan of Beyti and Cappadocia, but they didn’t survive. Luckily, I have a new favorite, Istanbul Grill (https://istanbulgrillorlando.com/), but unfortunately, it isn’t close to home like Beyti was or close to work like Cappadocia was (especially because my work and home are now one in the same). It is way far south on Orange Blossom Trail, south of the Florida Mall, south of the 528. It’s a haul — about 45 minutes each way in good traffic on a weekend during the day. But I’ve brought home takeout twice from Istanbul Grill, and it was so worth it both times.

It is a big attention-getter to order lavas bread in a Turkish restaurant. They walk it out to your table, this big, beautiful bread puffed up with hot air like a football, and then you stab it with utensils to deflate it (and watch out for the hot steam escaping). It is very soft, and you rip off pieces and use it for dipping and scooping. Of course, if you get lavas bread to go, it deflates on the long drive home, but if you’re lucky, it stays warm and may stay soft overnight if you have any left.

And why do you need soft bread for dipping and scooping? For this mixed appetizer platter! Almost every Turkish restaurant offers a variety of cool, fresh, refreshing dips, and you can usually order some kind of assortment. My favorite is spicy ezme in the top left, almost like Turkish salsa — a combination of fresh tomatoes, onions, parsley, green and red bell peppers, hot peppers, garlic, tomato paste, and lemon juice. My wife wants nothing to do with ezme, so I get it all. In the top right, the tabouli salad is all hers — crushed bulgur wheat, parsley, scallions. and tomatoes with olive oil and fresh mint. She told me this is her favorite tabouli from any restaurant, Turkish or otherwise.In the bottom left, we have baba ganoush — fresh smoked eggplant puree with tahini (sesame paste), olive oil, labneh (strained yogurt thickened into a cheese-like form), mayonnaise, garlic, and lemon juice. We both love this one, but it is her absolute favorite. In the cup in the middle, we have cacik — a dip of creamy yogurt, shredded cucumber, mint, dill, and garlic, perfect for cutting spice and mellowing out rich meats. And in the bottom right, we have the old classic hummus — chick peas, tahini, olive oil, garlic and cumin.

As great as this mixed appetizer bounty is, I do wish Istanbul Grill served two more dips that I rank even above ezme: soslu patlican (eggplant sauteed with tomatoes, onions, and peppers, like a spicy ratatouille) and taramasalata (a creamy dip made with salted, cured fish roe).

For my first visit, I made sure to order lahmacun, one of my Turkish favorites. These thin, round flatbreads look like pizza without cheese, but they are much thinner than even tavern-style pizza and not as crispy, and aren’t sliced. They are topped with a delicious mixture of ground lamb, tomatoes, onions, and peppers, and then baked. Here you get three in an order.
I’ve made lahmacun from scratch before, and I think I’m going to have to do it again soon, since I have ground lamb in the freezer and want to use it up before hurricane season gets hot and heavy. Mine are pretty awesome, but not quite as perfect as Istanbul Grill’s.

Instead of eating lahmacun like pizza, you are supposed to roll it up and fill it with sliced tomatoes, red onions, fresh cilantro, and a squeeze of lemon juice. It is so refreshing and light, much moreso than you would think a pizza-looking thing would be.

My wife ordered “mosakka” (often called moussaka on other restaurants’ menus), an oven-baked dish of eggplant with ground beef and tomato sauce, topped with mozzarella cheese. If you’ve made it this far, you might be more familiar with the Greek version of moussaka, which is often assembled in layers and topped with a bechamel sauce, but both of us really love the tomatoey Turkish variant. I tried a bite, and folks, you have to try this some time! This is actually my preferred moussaka/mosakka.

It was hard for me to choose, but I made the game-time decision (standing at the counter placing my order) to go with lamb adana, grilled kebaps of ground lamb seasoned with red bell peppers. Think of it as a grilled meatloaf with a firmer texture. These were fine, especially when I added some of the house-made hot sauce, but I was hoping they would be a little more exciting, flavor-wise. I almost always gravitate toward lamb dishes at Turkish, Middle Eastern, and Greek restaurants, but I probably would have been happier with the special beef adana, grilled ground beef shoulder kebabs tender seasoned with mint, red bell pepper, onions, chili flakes, and cumin. There seems to be more going on in that one. Leave it to me to choose the lesser adana! Or maybe I should have tried a different lamb dish. Luckily, there would be a next time. They came on a bed of rich rice pilaf (which gets so much better with all the meat drippings soaking in) with a small salad and crunchy pickled red cabbage.

My wife had asked me to pick her a dessert, so instead of baklava, I brought home this kunefe, because she is in her pistachio-loving era. This Middle Eastern dessert is a large “patty” of very fine shreds of dough that almost look like vermicelli strands, often with a sweet cheese filling, soaked in a sugary syrup and topped with crushed pistachios. It looks a bit dry in this photo because the sugar syrup came in a separate little ramekin (not pictured) for us to pour over the kunefe when we got it home. That definitely improved its looks, texture, and most importantly, its taste. I didn’t try it, so I don’t know if this one had cheese inside or not, but she liked it, so that made us both happy.

For our second visit, we got Istanbul bread instead of the fluffy, puffy lavas (that is actually quite thin once you rip it apart). This was very similar to a thicker pita bread or a good pizza crust, minus toppings, and much thicker than the lahmacun. It held up well dipping and scooping the mixed appetizer platter I brought home again.

My wife asked for an order of falafel, which came with four decent-sized discs and a little cup of tahini, which really surprised me when I took a big dip, expecting it to be hummus. I like hummus (who doesn’t?), but straight-up tahini, not so much. These looked darker than your average falafel, so she thought they were burned and ended up not having any after all. I ate them a few days later, so I can vouch for them not being burned and actually being delicious. I made them into two separate sandwiches (two falafels in each) on onion naan bread with homemade pickled cabbage, homemade pickled red onions, tomatoes, Istanbul Grill’s own hot sauce, and Flavortown Secret Sauce from my giant collection of condiments. I should have taken a picture of one of those, because they turned out pretty.

One thing my wife ate with gusto was this order of four beautiful grilled lamb chops, seasoned to perfection. I asked them to grill them as rare as possible. Despite being very thin (much thinner than the thick lamb loin chops I buy at Costco), they were delicious, and seasoned so well. The rice pilaf underneath them got better and better as it soaked up all those savory drippings. She actually got four separate meals out of this, with one lamb chop and a little rice in each portion!

She surprised me by taking a big bite of the grilled pepper on the left, before I could warn her it would be too spicy for her. It was. She won’t do that again! And I ate all the crunchy red pickled cabbage, of course.

This was my lamb shank, a tender, braised chunk of meat barely clinging to a large bone, which was stewed in a tomatoey gravy. This is one of my favorite dishes to order at Turkish or Greek restaurants, but because I love it so much, I learned how to make braised lamb shanks myself at home, and my sauce is a lot thicker, spicier, and more robust overall, especially since I braise mine in the oven for five to six hours. This was perfectly good, but just like I’m exceptionally picky about restaurant lasagna because I love my homemade version so much, I also like my lamb shanks a lot more than this one. Sorry, Istanbul Grill. It’s not you, it’s me.

It came with a big styrofoam container of rice pilaf, which I dumped into the lamb shank’s somewhat thin gravy to soak it up.

And this was the iskender style kebab, a dish I was introduced to a long time ago at Bosphorous, the first Turkish restaurant I fell in love with, and then Cappadocia (RIP) raised the bar even higher. I didn’t eat this until the following day, but it consists of “signature house prepared meat” sliced thin over “garlic bread” (I’m thinking fried Istanbul bread) topped with a tangy, tomatoey “special sauce” and served with yogurt. It is mildly spicy, acidic, and also creamy, and you get the crispiness of the fried bread underneath catching all those meat and sauce drippings. The other Turkish restaurants used their doner kebap meat (think sliced gyro meat, all salty and garlicky usually grilled to make it a little firmer), but this was definitely different from those.

Like I say at the end of too many of these reviews, we both really liked Istanbul Grill, but it is too far from home to return with any regularity, and too far to even drag my wife down there to dine in the restaurant. But I recommend it, and I will challenge myself to keep ordering different things off the expansive menu whenever I return. And FYI, there is a second location in Kissimmee, which is even further from me, but might be more convenient for some.

Walala Asian Noodle House

Earlier this year, I met two foodie friends at a relatively new restaurant in Orlando’s “Chinatown,” a huge plaza in Pine Hills on West Colonial Drive that is absolutely full of Asian-owned restaurants and other businesses, including Enson, a sprawling supermarket. I’ve eaten at a few places in the Chinatown plaza and reviewed two of them, both of which have since closed. But one that I know isn’t going anywhere anytime soon is Walala Asian Noodle House (https://walalaasiannoodlehouse.toast.site/), specializing in hand-pulled noodles in rich, beef-based soups from Lanzhou, China. The noodles are called lamian, the term that gave us both Chinese lo mein and Japanese ramen. Don’tcha love etymology?

Back in 2023, I visited and reviewed Mr. J’s Hand-Pulled Noodle in Ocoee, but I really preferred my meal at Walala. Not only was it a lot closer to home, but everything had more flavor. Of course, it helped that I went with two friends, and we shared everything. That said, we all ended up with the same kind of long, thin lamien noodles, even though Walala also offers Japanese ramen (but there are so many good places for ramen already, especially my favorite, Ramen Takagi), Hunan-style rice noodles (which we all thought might be too similar to the familiar noodles in pho), hor fun noodles (I’m assuming wide, flat noodles like in beef chow fun or ho fun, even though hor fun cracked us all up), and they added knife-cut noodles to the menu after our visit.

It was my choice to start with a tea-infused boiled egg for each of us. I know, I know, in this economy? But before eggs became a luxury good, I was experimenting with pickling eggs with different combinations of vinegar, herbs, spices, and other seasonings, and I enjoyed similar tea eggs at Mr. J’s. (Anyone else reading that in the late Arleen Sorkin’s voice? Seriously? Just me?) Just like at Mistah J’s, we had to peel the eggs ourselves, but these came pre-cracked:

Due to the cracks, they took on beautiful patterns from the tea infusion process:

We shared an order of rich, chewy pig ear slices tossed with spicy chili oil and fresh herbs, including lots of fresh, bright-tasting cilantro. This is probably better than you are thinking. They were cartilicious!

One of my friends got braised beef boneless short rib soup with the hand-pulled noodles. I was tempted by it, because I love any braised meats and especially short ribs, but she let me try a piece, and it was an excellent choice.

Another friend, much more familiar with Lanzhou cuisine than the rest of us, ordered braised honeycomb tripe soup with the same hand-pulled noodles. I enjoy some unpopular organ meats (give me all the liver, beef tongue, beef tendon, and chicken hearts you have!), but I’ve never developed a big appreciation for tripe, despite all the times it has ended up in my pho and I still eat it. It’s a texture thing, but this tripe looked a lot different from the style most Vietnamese restaurants add to pho.

I ended up getting the large sliced beef shank noodle soup because I love lamb shanks so much, and because this one also came with beef skewers on the side. I couldn’t pass that up! The meat was very tender, the broth was a little spicy and very unctuous from all the meat (including bones and fat), and the noodles were nice and springy and chewy. Totally different consistency from Italian pasta or the rice noodles in pho.

Why didn’t at least one of us order a different kind of noodle? The world will never know. (But they also offer rice noodles and ramen, although you can get good-to-great ramen at so many other places.)

Anyway, Walala does something I’ve never seen a restaurant do before. If you eat all your noodles but still have a lot of soup left, they will bring you another order of plain noodles to add back into your soup, and it’s free! It almost sounded too good to be true, but two of us tested it.

And here are the heavily seasoned, slightly spicy skewers of slightly chewy beef. These are individual cubes, not whole pieces, so it was very easy for us to share.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to try the Chinese pickles, but there are so many interesting things on the menu, including new knife-cut noodles they didn’t have on my initial visit (wider and flatter noodles, essentially shaved off the block of dough straight into boiling water, so they end up with beautiful fluted edges), a return trip can be easily justified.

So that’s Walala, although you’re probably hearing A LOT more about it, since it just received a prestigious Michelin recommendation at the recent ceremony last month. I personally have more faith in my own taste and that of my friends, acquaintances, and mutual followers than a non-transparent process and anonymous reviewers from a tire company, but I am still thrilled for Walala and all the other local Michelin award recipients (see my recent reviews for others). Regardless of my own skepticism and misgivings, those awards will drive more business their way, and I don’t begrudge that to anyone. It’s one of the most unique Chinese restaurants in Orlando, and especially if you love noodles like I do, you must get over there as soon as possible.

Smokemade Meats + Eats (revisited)

EDIT: I first published this review on August 29, 2021, but this is an updated, expanded version for May 2025. A lot has changed since Smokemade Meats + Eats was just doing pop-ups, especially in the past month! Read on…

***

Sometimes my parents joke that they have no idea why I like so many different kinds of food that my family never ate when I was growing up. I got curious and wanted to try new things once I was on my own, out of their house, taking the advice of cultured, worldly friends or the Internet hive-mind. Not my dad, though! He likes what he likes, he’s set in his ways, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t on a constant quest for the best too! Just today I reassured my dad that he is a big reason I appreciate food as much as I do. He used to drive all over Miami to find the best Chinese buffets, hot dog carts, New York pizza (by the slice!), bagels, Cuban bistec milanesa, and pastrami sandwiches. He’d schlep up to an hour for a good meal, so that’s where I get it from. We had a heartfelt conversation where I told him that I love all the same foods he loves, but along the way, I just figured out I like to eat other things too. We had one of those “We’re not so different, you and I” moments over the phone.

Well, another kind of food my dad actually likes is barbecue… as long as it is not too saucy or spicy, that is! He got me into barbecue at the legendary Shorty’s in Miami, and we ate there together countless times. Barbecue is a reliable crowd-pleaser and a timeless and true American art form, like jazz, blues, and comic books. Most people have strong opinions and great loyalty to barbecue, but even when we find a ‘cue joint we like, we’re always scanning the sky for scintillating smoke signals, seeking something equally good or even better. And today I think I found that place.

Smokemade Meats + Eats (https://www.smokemade.com/) is a pop-up restaurant that started pitching a tent and serving up Texas-style barbecue at local breweries around Orlando earlier this year. I’m back at work with a heavy teaching load, so between that and the pandemic worsening in Florida, I’ve been laying low, avoiding crowds, and not exploring as much as I would like. But after several months of frustration, I finally made to a Smokemade pop-up at Whippoorwill Beer House & Package Store in Orlando’s Milk District and met Tyler Brunache, the sorcerer supreme of smoke and mystical maven of meat. Tyler, an FSU graduate (which I’ll forgive) started barbecuing in Washington D.C. before returning home to Orlando, and we should all be glad he made that decision. You have to follow Smokemade on Facebook or Instagram and find out where he’ll next appear, so you can try this delicious food for yourselves.

I hated crowds and long lines before social distancing was cool, so I was smart and made it to Whippoorwill Beer House on the early side, before it got overrun with Milk District hipsters. I parked right in front of the establishment (a very pleasant surprise), and Smokemade was already set up in a tent in the parking lot with Tyler, three associates, and a very tenacious bee flying around inside the tent, occasionally landing on them but going unnoticed. Everyone was friendly as they were taking and assembling orders, and nobody seemed perturbed about the bee, even though I warned two of the guys to watch out for it. Those guys are nonchalant AF. I would have gotten the hell out of that tent until the bee got bored and took off. He must have been there because of all the positive buzz online.

Anyway, even with the curious bee, I was one of the first in line, so I was able to order and get my food packed up within ten minutes. Keep in mind that proper barbecue is smoked low and slow — low temperatures for hours at a time. Tyler’s beef brisket is smoked for 16 hours, his pulled pork is smoked for ten hours, his pork spare ribs are smoked for six hours, and his scratch-made sausages are cold-smoked for four hours. Then all the meats have to rest for hours before serving to be at their best, kind of like me. So even though I got my order quickly, it took over 24 hours to get ready behind the scenes. What looks like a pop-up to us takes days of planning, prepping, and perfecting. And looking at drool-worthy photos of Smokemade’s food online over the past few months, it sure looks like Tyler Brunache has perfected his process.

So what did I get?

Well, whenever I try any new restaurant, I always like to order something where I can sample as many different flavors as I can. Here, that was the Texas Trinity Platter ($29), featuring a half-pound of beef brisket, a half-pound of pork spare ribs, and two sausages. Keep in mind, I was bringing all of this home to share with my wife!

When I got home with this massive takeout order, I opened the heaviest box first to reveal the Texas Trinity Platter, and this is what we saw. WOW. But you’re not even seeing all of it here!

The first thing I did was remove that half-pound slice of brisket to portion it out. Look at that gorgeous color, that bark, that marbling! My photo fails to describe just how thick and substantial it is. But it’s magnificent, masterful meat. I asked for our brisket to be a little more moist and fatty, rather than lean. Trust me, it’s better. Texas-style barbecue is never served drenched in sauce, but even though we got several small cups of barbecue sauce, none of the meats really needed it. This brisket stands on its own just fine.

By the way, you can also order a brisket sandwich on a roll for $15, and they look huge.

Underneath, you can see what is essentially a double-order of spare ribs, since I added on an extra half-pound ($9). Hey, my wife and I both love ribs, and I knew she wouldn’t want any of the sausages. The ribs are magnificent. The sweet, sticky, peppery glaze adds tremendous texture and fabulous flavor. These ribs are so tender, not only do they fall off the bone, but I swear I chewed up part of one of the bones, since it was as tender as the meat surrounding it! Today, Tyler offered two different kinds of sausages, his popular cheddar jalapeño sausage, and a hot gut sausage. I requested one of each in the Texas Trinity Platter, and they are both coarsely ground in natural casings (hence the “hot gut” moniker) that give you a satisfying crispy crunch sensation when you bite into them. They were both heavy and dense sausages, and with everything else we tried, I could only eat a small segment of each. The cheddar jalapeño was my favorite of the two, with pockets of oozing orange cheddar and a pleasant heat throughout.

Since I can’t always make it to these ephemeral pop-ups around town, I ordered what I could, while I could. This here is a half-pound portion of pulled pork ($10), not included in the Texas Trinity Platter, but well worth trying. It is much more understated than the brisket, ribs, and sausages, but I’d still totally recommend it. You can also order a pulled pork sandwich on a roll for $11. They were generous with the scratch-made barbecue sauce, which is thin and vinegary, not the usual thick slurry of ketchup, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial smoke flavor like too many sauces.

Barbecue focuses on the meats, but sides are part of the experience. I couldn’t leave without trying three of Smokemade’s sides: coleslaw made with red cabbage and apples, jalapeño dill potato salad, and pinto beans that are spicier and more savory than the typical sweet “barbecue” baked beans served with Southern BBQ. Each of these sides cost $3.50. I liked the beans the most, but the meats are the real reason to chase down Smokemade.
Honestly, my favorite among all these pictured sides were the pickle slices and pink pickled onions in the top left corner of the box, and those actually came with the Texas Trinity Platter! I already love pickled onions (I make my own), and I am starting to consider myself more of a pickle aficionado, but I really liked these. Their puckery, pungent punches complemented the salty, smoky meats very well — even better than the actual separate side items, in my opinion. I asked Tyler, and he said they make everything from scratch except for the slices of white bread that came with the platter.* I don’t know if he would consider selling his pickles and pickled onions in larger portions in the future, but if he offers them, run, don’t walk.

Finally, I couldn’t come home to face my wife without a dessert, so I chose bread pudding over key lime pie (I love it but she doesn’t) and banana pudding. Each of the three desserts costs $4. This was a nice-sized chunk of sugary-sweet, soft, moist bread pudding, featuring cinnamon and caramel flavors. We thought it might have been made with challah bread, as it did taste somewhat eggy. We each had a nice-sized portion earlier tonight, and there is still some bread pudding left for tomorrow (with my wife’s name on it). I’d love to try the banana pudding and key lime pie on a future visit.

You might have noticed this was a lot of food for two people, but I fully expected we would get multiple meals out of it, especially with me packing lunches for work to wolf down between classes and reference interviews, and her being home for the time being. And it was all so good, neither of us will mind eating amazing Texas-style barbecue for another couple of days.

Five years ago, I was lucky enough to attend an annual conference for my professional organization in Dallas, Texas. Of course I had to try the local barbecue, so I sought out the famous and highly recommended Pecan Lodge. It was amazing — easily some of the best barbecue I’ve ever eaten. Maybe the best. I’ve never had anything quite like it in Florida, until now. I never forgot that meal, but I can tell you that Tyler Brunache’s food from Smokemade Meats + Eats looks, smells, and tastes just like that real-deal Texas ‘cue I enjoyed so much in Dallas and dreamed about ever since.

Seriously, don’t sleep on Smokemade, and don’t write it off as a logistical nightmare just because there isn’t a permanent, brick-and-mortar location. Follow the social media, figure out where Smokemade Meats+ Eats will pop up next, get there early so they don’t sell out of what you want, and go with friends so you can sample a little bit of everything on the menu. But be careful out there, and drink responsibly at all these breweries!

Back in 1996, the great singer/songwriter/actor/Texan Lyle Lovett sang “That’s right, you’re not from Texas, but Texas wants you anyway.” Well, I’m not from Texas, and neither is Tyler, and statistically, most of you stalwart Saboscrivnerinos probably aren’t either. But take it from The Saboscrivner: you want this Texas barbecue anyway! Heck, even my dad would.

***

Hey, my longtime readers know I almost never return to published reviews to edit them, but this is one time an exception must be made. In 2024, Smokemade Meats + Eats moved into a permanent location on Crystal Lake Road in Orlando’s Hourglass District, and Chef Tyler Brunache’s food was even better than ever. I have been a few times recently, always for takeout, and I always go out of my way to try all new things to bolster my original review of the pop-up location.

This brisket cheesesteak sandwich was such a treat — not nearly as drippy, greasy, and cheesy as the traditional Philly version, but the chopped brisket was a lot more flavorful and higher-quality than the fatty ribeye that a lot of cheesesteak slingers use. I would have liked more cheese, but no matter what, I would always like more cheese.

Pardon this blurry photo. Smokemade’s smoked cheeseburger deserves so much better. It is a smash-style double cheeseburger with American cheese (the best burger cheese), caramelized onions, and their house-made burger sauce, served on a brioche bun (that steamed and got kind of wrinkly in the foil takeout tray), and it is in my Top Five burgers in Orlando. Easily near the top of the Top Five, if that helps. Magnificent. Even better than the brisket cheesesteak.

Crispy fries were very good too, especially when barbecue sauce is applied to them.

Collard greens were on point. I liked these so much more than any of the original sides I tried and wrote about earlier. They are NOT vegetarian, though, but the smoked meat helps make them so special. I like adding a lot of pepper vinegar to my greens. These didn’t even need it, but it didn’t hurt, either.

Smokemade’s smoked oxtails were also amazing — so much better than the photo below. This was a special on a Saturday, and I considered myself so lucky for showing up while they were available, since it isn’t part of the regular menu, and I didn’t even know what the specials were going to be that day. I love oxtails even more than I love steak — that’s how much I love oxtails. They are definitely one of my favorite dishes, no matter the culture or the cuisine. I’ve always wondered why barbecue places don’t serve smoked oxtails, but I know they are time-consuming to do right. But then again, so is barbecue in general!

And finally, the bombastic beef rib — a favorite of both mine and my wife’s, to the point where we order them anytime I see them on a menu, which is all too rare. Beef ribs are huge, and their prices are usually huge too, but she can get two to three meals out of a single one. Me, not so much. But it is some of the most tender, luscious, fat-marbled, unctuous meat there is, to the point where the bone slides right out, and Smokemade’s beef ribs are no exception. Like the smoked cheeseburger and oxtails, these Black Angus beef ribs are a weekend special, but get there early, because they always sell out.

This was my most recent beef rib that I brought home for my wife a few Saturdays back. I went there on a whim (same day I found the oxtails), and I got the very last beef rib. It was meant to be! I would have been heartbroken if I had missed them.

*In the first part of my review, I mentioned Smokemade used commercial white bread in their pop-up era, but I am thrilled to report that in their brick and mortar location, they bake their own bread now, and it’s brioche, biatch! They serve two slices of soft, buttery brioche with a beef rib, although they get sticky and greasy and juicy, as one would expect, making it even tastier. But the bread is really damn good on its own, y’all. They sell whole loaves of the brioche, pre-sliced, and it is spectacular on its own, or for sandwiches, toast, FRENCH toast, you name it. It’s the best thing since… well, you know.

And finally, Chef Tyler makes the best tortillas I’ve ever had in my life, and I’ve had Mexican food throughout Florida, as well as in San Jose, San Diego, and Los Angeles in California and Dallas and San Antonio in Texas. These are flour tortillas made with beef tallow, and I’ve never had their equal. Chef’s kiss, 10/10, perfect in every way, no notes. You can buy a ten-pack for $10, but as you can imagine, they go quickly. I was all set to make tacos at home with some lean ground turkey, but after trying a solo tortilla, warmed in a hot, ungreased pan for about 30 seconds per side, I thought they were too good to enjoy any way but on their own. Look at this beauty, starting to puff up in the pan:

And here’s the flip side, Daddy-O. Best tortillas ever! Nothing else even comes close. My wife and I have been rolling our eyes and saying “DAMN, SON!” and other even more vulgar phrases to indicate our enjoyment as we nosh on these. Imagine making sopapillas out of them! I guess we could do that, but they are the best tortillas ever and deserve to be tried on their own, at least before you do anything else with them.

I would be remiss if I didn’t report that in April 2025, Smokemade Meats + Eats won a coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand award, meant for “good quality, good value cooking.” That tire company only awards stars to high-end, upscale dining (think steakhouses and Japanese omakase joints), so I am even more impressed when the casual, everyday restaurants I love win a Bib Gourmand. Smokemade got a write-up on the Michelin website, just in case my two-part review here didn’t already make you want to race over there. Heck, I’ve been writing this update over the past few weeks, and now I want to return this weekend! Maybe I’ll see you there, stalwart Saboscrivnerinos!

Kai Kai

This week, I want to talk about Kai Kai (https://www.instagram.com/kaikai.bbq/), Jerry and Jackie Lau’s stall that serves up Cantonese barbecued meats, as beautiful as they are delicious. Kai Kai is located inside Mills Market, the new Asian food hall on East Colonial Drive between Mills and Thornton Avenues in Mills 50, arguably Orlando’s best foodie neighborhood. Last week’s review recipient UniGirl is one of Kai Kai’s neighboring stalls inside Mills Market, and so is former favorite Banh Mi Boy, that Vietnamese sandwich stall sandwiched between UniGirl and Kai Kai.
Before Mills Market opened last year, Kai Kai was located inside of iFresh Supermarket, the Asian market on the corner of East Colonial and Bumby Avenue (next door to Chicken Fire and Lam’s Garden!), but since then, Meng’s Kitchen has moved into the former Kai Kai space inside iFresh Market.

I swear I’m going to move on, but I feel the need to say that Kai Kai is not to be confused with Michelin-recommended Kai Asian Street Fare, one of my favorite restaurants in the Orlando area (just over the Casselberry border in Winter Park). Everybody still with me?

Well, I dare you to walk up to Kai Kai and not be entranced and enthralled by the barbecued ducks and chickens hanging on display… unless you’re a vegetarian, that is.

I appreciate that they have photos of all their dishes on display. I honestly wish more restaurants would do this.

Something else I appreciate about restaurants is when they offer some kind of sampler plate with two or three items to choose from so you can try a few things. I will almost always choose this option, whether it’s an American barbecue joint or a Cantonese restaurant like Kai Kai. If you order a “rice box,” you can choose two or three of the six house specialty meats. I, of course, went with three meats, which only costs $2 more than the two-meat option, so it seems like a no-brainer. I treated myself to roast duck, honey barbecue char siu pork, and soy sauce chicken (from top to bottom in the photo below).

The sliced meats are served over white rice with some garlicky sautéed bok choy, but you can pay a small upcharge for either fried rice or Hainanese garlic rice. I chose the garlic rice, and I have zero regrets. I strongly encourage my readers to do the same. But look at this gorgeous plate of food! It is huge and heavy, so much so that even *I*, chronic overeater that I am, easily got two and a half meals out of it.

Just because this is a feast for all the senses, including the eyes, here is a close-up of that lovely roast duck with crispy, crackly skin, and the tender, sweet, slightly sticky char siu pork beneath it:

And here is that soy sauce chicken, with lightly crispy skin as well.

They also offer honey barbecue chicken, honey barbecue ribs, and “crispy pork,” either in these rice boxes or by the pound or half-pound, but I feel like I made great choices. I’ll have to try the ribs next time, though!

I also brought home an order of beef chow fun — chewy, wide, flat rice noodles (made from scratch by Jackie Lau herself!) wok-fried with tender sliced beef, onions, and green onions in a savory brown sauce. Forgive me for not snapping a “noodle pull” pic, but I ate it too quickly. This is one of my go-to dishes at any Chinese restaurant, especially as a way to evaluate places that are new to me. If they have beef chow fun on the menu, I consider it a good sign, and if they do a good job of it, I feel more confident that anything else that comes out of the kitchen will be equally solid.

Spoiler alert: they did a great job of it.

On top of everything else, Kai Kai also serves Singapore rice noodles (another dish I love, the spicier the better), char siu pork lo mein noodles, young chow fried rice with shrimp, chicken, and pork, duck fried rice, and Chinese sausage fried rice, which I love so much that I will definitely try their version next time. But that’s not all! They also have an entire scratch-made dim sum menu featuring siu mai, multiple dumplings and bao buns, spicy Szechuan wings, and even cucumber salad (regular or spicy) that is probably super-refreshing to balance out all those heavy barbecued and roasted meats and fried noodle and rice dishes.

Obviously I enjoyed the food at Kai Kai, but I’m far from the only one. The latest round of Florida Michelin awards were announced on Friday, April 5th, and Kai Kai received a vaunted Michelin recommendation, alongside its Mills Market neighbors UniGirl and Banh Mi Boy, which both received Bib Gourmand awards. Congratulations go out to Jerry and Jackie Lau, who are absolutely killing it at Kai Kai. I look forward to returning, but in the meantime, there is magic happening in the stall kitchens of Mills Market. Whatever restauranteurs Johnny and Jimmy Tung of the Bento Group are doing to build their brands and spread the word, it is paying off!

California Grill

I’ve joked before that my wife and I are not “Disney adults” or theme park people in general. That said, once in a while, we end up across Orlando from us on Disney property, and food is always involved on those rare occasions. Usually that means meeting visiting friends or my former co-workers out at Disney Springs, but we recently went upscale.

Every year, I task my wife with deciding where she would like to go to celebrate her birthday — anywhere she wants, the sky’s the limit. Sometimes she wants something down to Earth, sometimes she aims a little higher. Some years, I end up bringing in takeout or even cooking for her at home, but I leave the decision up to her and try my damnest to make her happy. This year, she suggested a place we had never been, but both of us had always heard about: the California Grill (https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/contemporary-resort/california-grill/), the high-end restaurant on the 15th floor of the Contemporary Resort at Walt Disney World. The hotel is an example of brutalist architecture that seems like both a time capsule from the 1970s and an idea of what the future would have looked like at the time. Along with the Polynesian Resort next door, the Contemporary was one of the two original hotels that opened when Walt Disney World opened in 1971, and believe me, it looks like it!

The Contemporary is noteworthy to me too, because it was the hotel my family stayed at for our two (count ’em: TWO!) Disney family trips when my brother and I were kids, back in the late ’80s. My family is definitely not “of the travelers,” and trips out of Miami were exceptionally rare for us. I realize Disney has always been a splurge and an extravagance, but it wasn’t until I moved to Orlando as an adult that I realized how big a deal it was that we stayed on Disney property, as opposed to any of the hundreds of independent, off-site hotels between Orlando and Kissimmee. And the Contemporary, which costs and arm and a leg now, surely wasn’t cheap back then either.

A big selling point for my dad was being able to park at the hotel and not drive again the entire trip. A futuristic monorail connects the Contemporary, the Polynesian, the Grand Floridian Resort (a super-high-end hotel that looks like a big Southern plantation, bless their hearts), and the Magic Kingdom and Epcot parks. Of course we rode that monorail as a family, and it might have led to my lifelong love of public transportation AND tours where I can explore as much of an unfamiliar area as possible. That monorail appealed to me more than most of the relatively pedestrian rides inside the parks (keeping in mind that we didn’t ride Space Mountain, and most of the Magic Kingdom rides back then were aimed at really little kids). But I have digressed enough!

So to access the toney California Grill, you check in on the second floor of the hotel and take a seat until they contact you. Then you ride a special elevator up to the 15th floor, where the restaurant is. It is a huge dining room with a long, open kitchen and glass windows all around. One of the major selling points is being able to watch the nightly fireworks through all the windows when they start at 8 PM. Unfortunately, I was only able to score a reservation for 5:20, but they will let you reenter to watch the fireworks if you show your receipt from an earlier dinner.

As is typical at Disney, the service was impeccable. That’s that “Disney magic” in action, where everyone is warm, welcoming, and helpful. Even if I scoff sometimes about Disney, I have nothing but respect for friendly and professional service. We got a comfortable booth (that I requested with our online reservation), and our “cast member” server, the charming Charmaine, wished my wife a happy birthday.

She explained that the California Grill serves a price fixe menu: for $89 per adult diner, each person chooses an appetizer, an entrée, and a dessert from a list of multiple options. We had already studied the menu in advance, being studious little nerds. A lot of dishes included mushrooms, because fine-dining chefs loooove mushrooms, but I’m always on the lookout for them — my culinary Kryptonite.

Charmaine brought us a basket of warm, freshly baked rolls, with the lightest, crispiest exterior crusts and warm, fluffy interiors. I should have photographed a cross-section, but trust me, you would want to shrink down and curl up for the coziest nap ever inside these rolls.

They came with a board featuring soft, salted butter in that fancy shape that only higher-end restaurants use for butter and occasionally ice cream, as well as a bread dip of olive oil, tomatoes, garlic, and herbs. As anyone who knows us might guess, my wife went for the butter and I went for the bread dip.

It wasn’t long before we received our apps. I went out of my way to pick things I knew my wife would want to at least try, hoping to share everything. This was the barbecue American eel roll, a sushi roll with unagi (the fresh and tender grilled eel), avocado, cucumber, “dragon sauce” (a savory, sweet, sticky brown sauce), toasted sesame seeds, and crispy garlic. It was great. I love sushi rolls and I always enjoy eel, but I’ve never seen one served like this, with the whole long tail of the eel.

My wife was really excited about the farmer’s market salad on the menu, and to be fair, neither of us had ever seen a salad like this before: petit mixed greens (normal enough), roasted baby beets (we are both new to appreciating beets), poached pears (she loves pears!), pear gel (fine dining chefs love their gels!), chocolate biscotti (I had always dismissed biscotti as God’s joke on people who like cookies, but props for putting it in a salad), vanilla “pudding” (WHY is “pudding” in quotation marks?!), and citrus vinaigrette dressing. This salad was a huge hit for her, and seeing it on the menu was probably what made up her mind about coming here in the first place. As far as we could tell, the vanilla “pudding” looked and tasted just like vanilla pudding, hold the quotes.

My wife chose the seared halibut for her entrée… just for the halibut. I don’t mind calling it a main course, but I don’t like “mains” on a menu and I especially don’t like “proteins.” This lovely seared rectangular prism was served atop bourbon-brown butter risotto with a slice of fondant sweet potato, sweet potato purée (fine dining chefs also love their purées), sweet potato leaves, kale (she has been on a kale kick ever since that dinner), toasted pecans, and a cranberry vinaigrette dressing. We both wondered if the halibut might be a little overcooked, since the texture was more firm than we expected. I think she liked some of the components of this dish more than the fish itself. A lot of it came home with us, and she invited me to finish it off the next day.

As for me, I chose the pan-seared lamb strip loin, since lamb is always one of my favorite meats (not “proteins”). I requested my lamb rare, and it came back perfectly rare. It was served with roasted root vegetables, baby brussels sprouts, beautiful thin-sliced radishes, and crispy fried parsnip chips over a bed of parsnip-celeriac Purée, with a juniper-cranberry-cabernet demi-glaze (a very rich, delicious, savory-sweet-tart reduction).

I had to take a picture of the “back” of the dish too, because it was such a marvel to behold. It reminded me of the artful plating at the legendary Noma restaurant in Copenhagen (not that I’ll ever go to Noma, or probably even to Copenhagen), where the food looks like little terrarium environments for wee Danish fae. While the lamb was cooked as well as lamb can be cooked, and the demi-glace was awesome, I must admit the dish lacked the strong flavors I always seek. It was on the bland side!

Because I had said in the reservation that we were celebrating my wife’s birthday, Charmaine brought us out a small slice of festive “funfetti” cake, which was unexpected and unnecessary, but sweet. Very, VERY sweet. The icing was pretty heavy and super-sweet.

For her actual dessert off the price fixe menu, my wife went with the chocolate-hazelnut tart, artfully presented with orbs of chocolate-hazelnut praline crémeux served over a long, thin chocolate shortbread cookie, topped with candied hazelnuts and decorated with dots of espresso crème anglaise. I didn’t try a nibble of this one, but she seemed to like it.

I chose the lemon mousse and olive oil-poppyseed cake, which sounds a lot weirder than it actually was. The presentation was gorgeous for the small, rectangular Meyer lemon-olive oil cake, studded with poppyseeds, topped with lemon cream, and decorated with dots of blood orange gel. (Fancy chefs love gels!) The pretty latticework on top was the thinnest, crispiest , most delicate sugar structure, but maybe I’m wrong, because it almost felt like a delicate, crispy cookie.

After the hour drive down to Disney property and the long, luxurious birthday dinner, my wife didn’t feel like sticking around for the fireworks or revisiting the 1988 Saboscrivner family monorail tour, so we headed for home. Both of us agreed that we were glad we went to the California Grill, but nothing amazed or astonished us enough to return. This will be a true one-and-done experience for us — nothing was bad by any means, but for that kind of a schlep, and at those prices, there are old favorites we would rather return to and plenty of other restaurants to try out for future special occasions. That said, I appreciated how pleasant they made our experience, with top-notch service and no stodgy, stuffy, precious pretentiousness.

Don’t worry, folks. After this excursion into fine Disney dining and last week’s review of one of the best meals I’ve ever eaten (in Miami, no less!), I’ll be back to waxing poetic about sandwiches, discovering delis, and obsessing over sardines and mustards soon enough. My vox populi is never gone for long!

The Prince (Los Angeles)

The Prince (https://www.instagram.com/theprincela) is a classy, old-school Los Angeles Korean restaurant and lounge that is most famous for appearing in multiple movies and TV shows over the decades, including Chinatown (one of the greatest L.A. movies, neo-noirs, and movies in general of all time), Mad Men (one of my favorite shows of all time), and New Girl (where it was the characters’ regular hangout). I’ve never actually watched New Girl, but now I am imagining Zooey Deschanel with bangs and glasses, singing a silly old song (maybe “Dream a Little Dream of Me”?) and strumming a ukulele in this dusky, dark red hipster hangout.

Back in November, I was on a work trip to L.A. and had a chance to join some of my amazing co-workers for dinner. I always stay in Koreatown, where my employer is located, and where there seem to be hundreds of Korean restaurants to choose from, at all different styles and price points. I am still very new to Korean food, but the more things I try, the more I feel inspired to branch out and try more. The Prince was walkable from our campus, so since I was already aware of its cinematic résumé and timeless cool décor, I convinced this small group to trust and follow me.

I must apologize in advance for the photos that follow in this review. It’s a gorgeous room, dark and anachronistic, but as soon as I took my first photo to set the scene, a server yelled at me to not use flash photography inside. So I did my best, such as it is, to share the red vinyl booths, the dark wood, the dim lighting, and even these hale and hearty knights standing guard.

Also, I swear I saw Spike Jonze, director of super-creative movies and iconic music videos, dining there, but I wasn’t 100% sure it was him. As much as I wanted to thank him for “Sabotage,” Adaptation, and Jackass, I didn’t want to be That Guy who disturbed his dinner… especially if it wasn’t Spike.

Anyway, our group was a mix of adventurous and unadventurous eaters, so we picked five things that looked good to everyone, and we all shared them. That is my favorite way to dine with friends.

These are the onion rings (RING THE ALARM!) and cheese balls, because you know if I go anywhere and see onion rings on the menu, I have to order them. They were crowd-pleasers, and it was not the first time I had really good onion rings at a Korean restaurant. The cheese balls were even better — perfect, golden-fried, golf ball-sized orbs with melty cheese in the middle, under the breading. I should have tried to get a shot of a bisected cheese ball to show you their molten, sticky, creamy centers, but they went fast!

When you’re introducing Korean food to unfamiliar diners, beef bulgogi is one of those perfect gateway dishes. Bulgogi is a dish of thin-sliced beef (often sirloin steak), marinated in a savory-sweet sauce, and then grilled or stir-fried with onions and green bell peppers. The bulgogi marinade contains soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, and pear juice, which tenderizes the meat. There is nothing spicy or “weird” to scare off the unadventurous diner, so it was another hit at our table. Just FYI: “bul” is Korean for fire, and “gogi” means meat.

We also ordered galbi (sometimes called kalbi), a very similar dish but with beef short ribs sliced cross-wise against the bones, rather than thin-sliced steak. It has a similar flavor due to the marinade, but I already love short ribs in any form — not just the flavor, but the wonderful texture. I especially like the chewy part of the meat right around the bones, which you can just pull off with your fingers if you don’t want to gnaw it off. This was served over onions and scallions, and there wasn’t a morsel left.

I didn’t have any input in choosing this garlic shrimp dish, served with fresh, raw, shredded cabbage, but I was happy to try a couple of the shrimp, which came in their shells and had to be peeled. It was delicious — different from scampi or any other garlic shrimp dish you might be envisioning, but still very satisfying.

I did choose this dish, though: thick, perfectly al dente udon noodles served with mixed seafood: shrimp, mussels, squid, and tiny crab legs (more trouble than they were worth to crack open). The menu describes it as coming in a spicy broth, but it could be served mild upon request. I honestly don’t remember what we decided as a group, but I think we went with spicy and almost everyone still loved it.

Real Korean food aficionados might be rolling their eyes, disappointed that we made relatively staid and familiar choices, but that’s often what happens in a “family-style” group dining situation. I would have loved to try the soondae, since I always love blood sausage in all its other forms, from Argentinian morcilla to British black pudding, but nobody else was on board with this one. It’s all good!

I have no regrets or complaints about The Prince, especially because it is such a part of Los Angeles and Hollywood history. I would not be surprised if there are better Korean restaurants in L.A.’s Koreatown, but the vibes at The Prince are unmatched. Every time I make it out there for work, I try to visit at least one historic, iconic L.A. landmark, whether it’s a tourist attraction, a restaurant, or both. So far, I’m making quite a list. I love my job, and I love L.A.!

Over the Border Taqueria

As a food blogger, nothing makes me feel more like a cool, in-the-know insider than discovering the latest pop-up restaurant, but you have to move fast to catch those before they either explode in popularity or disappear forever. A few parking lot pop-ups I wrote about way back in the day turned into popular area restaurants in permanent locations, including Chicken Fire, Smokemade Meats + Eats, and QuesaLoco — now established local favorites that I count among my personal favorites as well.

I recently learned about the existence of Over the Border Taqueria (https://www.instagram.com/overthebordertaqueria/), Chef Samuel Aguilar’s Tijuana-style taco pop-up featuring authentic al pastor — marinated pork flavored with onions and pineapple and sliced off a trompo (a vertical spit, like the best gyro places do with their seasoned meat). I have written before about my love of al pastor in tacos, burritos, and tortas. It is something I’ll order anytime I see it on a Mexican restaurant menu, to the point where I judge Mexican restaurants that don’t serve al pastor.

This particular pop-up was from 6 to 10 PM on a Saturday at a small mechanic shop, Goodfelo’s, on East Colonial Drive and Dean Road, but Over the Border has even popped up at apartment complexes before. Because I worry about parking and hate long lines, I showed up right at 5:30 and was the first person there. There was a crew of about six people already set up, with a tent, staging tables, a simple charcoal grill with one guy grilling marinated, sliced carne asada, and of course the al pastor being licked with flames on the trompo:

Here are the menus. Tacos come on a fresh corn tortilla (from Tortilleria El Progreso, the Mexican market and restaurant I reviewed in the first year of this blog), lightly crisped up on their flattop grill, and a mulita is like a sandwich of two tortillas with a little cheese melted in between, plus the meat of your choice and the same toppings as the tacos. Tortas are the largest and most expensive menu items: huge and beautiful sandwiches on soft, fresh telera rolls, which are sliced in half and also lightly grilled on the flattop. The al pastor and carne asada are finely chopped, and the orangey-red chorizo sausage is crumbled.

I brought home three tacos: an al pastor taco for myself with the works (diced onions and cilantro and their red salsa and slightly spicy guacamole) and two carne asada tacos for my wife, sin cebollas (hold the onions). I typically don’t order carne asada for myself at taquerias because sometimes it is dry or flavorless or too chewy, or all of the above. I just ate a few morsels that were left on her plate when she finished those two, and I don’t mind telling you, dear readers, that this was the most flavorful carne asada I’ve ever had in my life. It had a complex and smoky flavor, and I’m sure it helped that the meat was all grilled up fresh on the type of grill everyone’s dads cursed over in their backyards.

This was my chorizo mulita, which was also terrific. Chorizo is usually my second or third choice when it comes to meats in a taco, at places like Francisco’s Taco Madness (still my favorite spot for tacos and burritos in the entire Orlando area), Orange Blossom Trail landmark Tortas El Rey, and the aforementioned QuesaLoco, and this chorizo did not disappoint. The shredded, melted white cheese (mozzarella?) gets a bit lost in the shuffle, and the mulita is actually messier to eat than the taco, but I have no regrets.

But this was the star of the show: the al pastor torta on that soft telera roll. I think it was one of the most satisfying things I’ve eaten in a long time, and it’s HUGE.

Here’s an inside shot. The torta contains the meat of your choice, the same diced onions and cilantro, red salsa, and guacamole, plus melted cheese and mayonnaise, which I think is important for flavor, holding the crumbly ingredients together, and as a “sandwich lubricant” to add some additional moisture. And since I haven’t said much about the actual flavor of the al pastor yet… WOW. You can definitely taste all the seasonings — garlic, vinegar, brown sugar, and especially the necessary onions and sweet, bright, tangy pineapple. It has a nice orange color from the achiote paste (made from the spice annatto), which also adds some subtle but important earthy flavor. If you’ve never tried al pastor before, I strongly recommend it whenever you see it on a Mexican menu, but to start with some of the best al pastor and set your expectations high from now on, get it from Over the Border Taqueria, next time they pop up anywhere.

They also had two huge, clear plastic barrels of aguas frescas: jamaica (reddish-purple sweet hibiscus drink) and horchata (creamy rice milk, flavored with cinnamon, sugar, and a bit of vanilla). I brought home two horchatas for myself and my wife after texting her to see which one she wanted. I always love aguas frescas at any Mexican restaurant, and even though fruity flavors are my favorites, horchata always hits the spot, especially for cutting the heat from spicy dishes.

I will note that Over the Border Taqueria does NOT accept credit card payments — just cash, Venmo, and Zelle. I was glad I had just enough cash on me to cover our order, since I don’t use Venmo or Zelle (just Paypal for my collectible wheeling and dealing). But now you can plan accordingly when you go!

So where can you find these pop-ups? Follow Over the Border’s Instagram (I included the link at the very top), and you’ll notice they announce their locations for every Friday and Saturday evening. Right now, those seem to be the only nights Samuel Aguilar and his talented crew are popping up anywhere, so start planning ahead. You won’t want to miss incredible food like this. And trust me — get there early, because the legend is only going to continue to grow (and so will the lines) as more people discover Over the Border Taqueria for themselves. Maybe one day they can figure out longer hours, more nights per week, a permanent location, or even a brick and mortar restaurant, but for now, Orlando is lucky to even experience these fleeting pop-ups. You won’t be sorry, trust me. I guarantee you’ll hear more about them in the weeks and months ahead. This is one time to believe the hype, and if you don’t believe your friendly neighborhood Saboscrivner, my friend and role model, Amy Drew Thompson of the Orlando Sentinel, also wrote about Samuel Aguilar and Over the Border over a year ago!

Prato

The upscale Italian restaurant Prato (https://www.prato-wp.com/) is a mainstay of Winter Park’s tony Park Avenue for good reason. Chef and co-owner Brandon McGlamery (also of the excellent Luke’s Kitchen and Bar in Maitland) has always served top-notch food in gorgeous surroundings. This is not a typical “red sauce” Italian-American restaurant, so don’t expect spaghetti and meatballs or red and white checkered tablecloths. But even though Prato is a cut above, it isn’t snooty or snobby, and the comfort food truly comforts.

I had not been back to Prato in years, due in part to the difficulty of parking on Park Avenue (ironic, eh?) and a lot of bad timing. Sometimes I’d find myself there in the off time between lunch and dinner service, where Prato only offered a limited menu, and one of the most famous pasta dishes in Orlando was unavailable. This review was from a recent visit with my wife for lunch, which I timed just so I could try the legendary pasta for the first time, after years of reading hype about it online.

We started out with pretzel-crusted calamari, fried to golden-brown perfection. I always note that too many restaurants overcook their squid tubes and tentacles until they are chewy and rubbery, but these were really tender, as they should be. We had tried these before, too many years ago, and these were just as good as they had always been. I always appreciate dipping sauces (salsa rosa and grain mustard aioli), but this calamari didn’t even need them. That didn’t stop me from dipping, though!

After how much we enjoyed the beef tartare on a recent trip to Luke’s, we decided to trust Chef McGlamery and ordered the carne cruda at Prato as well, to compare and contrast them. It is raw beef (which tastes great and must be the highest quality to avoid safety concerns), topped with a farm-fresh egg, grated horseradish, and romanesco conserva. I realize romanesco is a relative of the cauliflower that grows in stunning fractal patterns, but I didn’t see any of that vegetable, so I wondered if the menu might have meant romesco, which is a sauce made from cooking down tomatoes, roasted red peppers, garlic, and almonds. It was also served with crunchy toasted focaccia bread slices for scooping up the meat or spreading it onto the toast. We loved it, just as we loved the beef tartare at Luke’s.

Here’s a close-up of that amazing carne cruda. The meat was so tender and flavorful in a way we rarely get to experience, since everyone cooks their meat (and should continue to do so, don’t get me wrong).

I forgot to mention that we came to Prato during weekend brunch hours, being sure to be there as it opened to avoid a long wait. After the savory appetizers, my wife went with a sweet dish: perfect little pancakes topped with freshly made ricotta cheese and blueberry compote (which strikes me as more of a dessert than a breakfast dish, but millions of brunchers will disagree). She adored it.

And I finally got to try the legendary pasta dish, mustard spaghettini “cacio e pepe.” I fully admit to being a red sauce guy, since that’s the Italian food I was raised eating. I am always drawn to rich bolognese and spicy arrabbiata sauces, so I rarely order cacio e pepe on menus, even though it can be so luxurious and decadent despite its relative simplicity (just Pecorino Romano cheese — the cacio — and black pepper — the pepe). This version was anything but simple, though. It included mustard in there somewhere, but it’s subtle, and you definitely won’t detect the brightness of yellow mustard or anything horseradishy, so don’t worry about that. I love mustard (and even review mustards on this blog), so that was the main thing that had me intrigued for so many years.
This house-made pasta also includes balsamic vinegar (another favorite ingredient of mine), radicchio, a spicy and bitter vegetable that looks like red and white cabbage and is sometimes called Italian chicory, and speck, a cured and lightly smoked pork leg (think of ham or bacon) from the cold and mountainous South Tyrol province in northeastern Italy. If you are familiar with geography, you might guess that there is some German or Austrian influence to this particular cured meat, and you’d be right. Also, the mountains are called the Dolomites, but Rudy Ray Moore had nothing to do with it.

This was a gorgeous and delicious pasta dish that surpassed all the hype. I make pretty great pasta dishes at home, but I had never had anything quite like this, and I was so happy to finally try it, after all these years. It was one of my favorite things I ate in 2024, that’s for sure.

I don’t know when we will return to Prato, but as tempting as it always is to try new things on every visit, I am obsessed enough with the mustard spaghettini “cacio e pepe” that I will probably order it again and again in the future. It’s like nothing I’ve ever tried before. Leave it to me to be late to the party and then never want to leave! But I’m sure Prato being great is no big surprise or secret to anyone else in Winter Park or Orlando. It has a swanky vibe that would be perfect for a date night or just a nice dinner out. The hardest parts will be parking nearby and figuring out what to order, but hopefully I have already helped you with the second challenge.

The Taproom at Dubsdread

I moved to Orlando almost 20 years ago, the day after Thanksgiving in 2004, so I feel a bit like a local. I like to think I know the best places to eat, even though there are always new hotspots and a handful of old classics I have yet to visit. One of them, one of the oldest and most classic Orlando restaurants of all, is The Taproom at Dubsdread (https://taproomatdubsdread.com/), the 100-year-old restaurant at Dubsdread Country Club, nestled between Winter Park and downtown Orlando. I had always heard great things about the food, but I avoided it for the better part of my two decades here, despite loving old, historic restaurants. In a city that isn’t known for its history, you’d think I would have checked it out long before now, but the whole “country club” thing kept me away.

I fully admit to being a bit of a class warrior, taking pride in my middle class origins and silently (or sometimes not so silently) judging and resenting the wealthy. Growing up listening to punk and hip hop and watching the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges, and “slobs versus snobs” comedies like Trading Places, Caddyshack, and Animal House probably had a lot to do with that. My parents were even more influential on my class consciousness — two career public school teachers who lived simply, refused to spend beyond their means, felt like they had nothing to prove to anyone, and rarely treated themselves to anything. To me, a restaurant at a country club felt like another world I probably wouldn’t be welcome in (and that my parents would probably disapprove of anyway), so I rejected it before it could possibly reject me. I spent all my time in Orlando avoiding the beloved landmark Taproom at Dubsdread until a work colleague and friend who I think the world of invited me to lunch there. I figured this would be my chance to finally check it out and write an unbiased review for my blog. As the guest of a classy, professional woman, I would be less likely to get into trouble with a snooty maitre d’, a judgmental valet, a surly golfer, or a society matron who resembled Margaret Dumont.

And it was a perfectly nice restaurant, much warmer and more welcoming than I expected. If anything, it was a lot less pretentious and highbrow than Hillstone or Seasons 52, those upscale chains. They didn’t even have valet parking, and the hostess and server were really nice.

My colleague ordered the fresh apple and bacon grilled cheese sandwich, which came with Tillamook cheddar, Emmenthaler Swiss, almonds, and fig preserves, plus a side order of fries. It looked really nice, and it inspired me to invite her to the incredible La Femme Du Fromage later on, since I already knew she liked fancy grilled cheese sandwiches.

We must have met for lunch on a Wednesday, since that is the day they offer a chilled lobster and shrimp roll sandwich as a lunch special. I always appreciate a good lobster roll. I had the best one ever twelve years ago at Neptune Oyster in Boston’s North End neighborhood, and I’ve been chasing that high ever since. This one didn’t quite reach those euphoric heights, but it was still really nice and refreshing, served on the traditional split-top bun and served with a side of onion rings — the “good kind,” as far as I’m concerned, with their golden beer battered exterior. So RING THE ALARM, constant readers — you can get a side order of really good onion rings at a country club restaurant, and for only $4! They’re on the menu and everything; I wasn’t like that rube in the commercial who said “Would ya please pass the jelly?”, embarrassing himself at a fancy dinner party, asking Chef for something lowbrow that they normally wouldn’t serve. Great lunch, great company, great restaurant. I thought even my in-laws might like it, and they don’t like most places.

I returned to the Taproom at Dubsdread more recently during Magical Dining Month, when many Orlando restaurants offer a reasonably priced prix fixe menu with a few different appetizer, entrée, and dessert choices to mix and match, where a portion of the final bill goes to help local charities. This time I went for dinner with two very cool friends, a truly glamorous couple who share my love of good food, but we hadn’t had a chance to get together in years. They were great company, as always, and even challenged me to take better food photos than I usually take. We’ll see if their coaching and constructive criticism helped here — you tell me, stalwart Saboscrivnerinos!

We started with bread for the table, which I didn’t know about when I met my colleague for lunch, but now I know… and knowing is half the battle. The bread was like ciabatta, and the butter was whipped for easy spreading, which I always appreciate. Nobody likes frozen butter that can’t be spread!
Being true foodies, we shared everything throughout this magical meal.

These were buffalo shrimp (not mine), served with some celery sticks. I forgot if the dip was bleu cheese or ranch, but the shrimp were nice, with a slightly crunchy exterior and that mild acidity you get from buffalo sauce.

These were Italian meatballs (also not mine), but the owner was very generous and willing to share. I would have been happy to have meatballs like this over a bowl of pasta or in a sub, and I liked that the tomato sauce was chunky and not watery.

I ordered house-made potato chips topped with crumbled bleu cheese, scallions, and balsamic glaze, a delicious dish that was perfect for sharing. The chips were crunchy, not limp, overly greasy, or even overly salty. Of course, balsamic glaze makes everything better, and I’ve really gotten into bleu cheese lately.

For our entrees, someone ordered a bone-in pork chop that looked good:

And two of us, myself included, ordered prime rib. I like my steaks and prime rib RARE, and I was thrilled that the Taproom at Dubsdread took me seriously. Too many places blast a beautiful piece of meat far beyond rare because they don’t believe us and think we’ll send it back for being underdone. Nope, this is how I like it, especially with lots of creamy horseradish sauce for dipping — the more fiery and sinus-clearing, the better. The mashed potatoes scooped beneath were pretty nondescript. They could have used sour cream and/or cream cheese, bits of the potato skin, onions, or something else to liven them up, but sliding them around in the meat drippings helped resuscitate them a little.

The late, great Russell Jones, aka Big Baby Jesus, aka Dirt McGirt, aka Ol’ Dirty Bastard, famously warbled, “Oh baby, I like it RAAAAAAW!” Well, this prime rib was rare rather than raw, and oh baby, that’s how I like it.

It was time for dessert! I did not order this brownie sundae, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge, and whipped cream served over a warm brownie, but it looked really good. How can you go wrong with something like this?

Two of us opted for the key lime pie, which is always one of my favorite desserts, and the Taproom makes an excellent version. The very smooth, shiny topping was more tart than the rest of the creamy filling below, and I loved it. I go nuts for citrus desserts that are sweet and creamy but also tart, and too often, bakers are afraid to go tart enough.

So I would definitely recommend the Taproom at Dubsdread for a nice lunch or dinner, whether you’re some kind of jet-setting big shot with a sweater tied around your neck or an anti-establishment outsider who wants to subvert every dominant paradigm you’ve ever encountered. I’m glad I finally realized that a country club restaurant could be perfectly pleasant, without running into unpleasant stock characters from old-timey slapstick flicks or ’80s comedies from boomer filmmakers. And enjoying two meals with friends didn’t make me part of any System, so I still feel like the cool(?), nonconformist iconoclast I will always be.