Steak in the City - DJ

1012 West State Road 436
Altamonte Springs, FL 32714
407-788-steak (7832)
www.Steakinthecity.com

If you are in the mood to gorge yourself at an Argentine steak house this is the place. There are 3 menu choices: Option A Mediterranean Salad Bar, Argentinean Grill, and drink $13.99, Option B adds 2 drinks and dessert $20.99, Option C is salad bar only $9.99. They have a tired pricing structure with prices about two dollars higher on the weekends and two dollars more at dinner on week nights.

The salad bar had an array of items to choose from. These included such things a Russian potato salad, cheese, Couscous salad, tuna salad, carrot salad, and about 15 other items. The items that I sampled were all good.


We were there with a party of about 30 people. So we got special treatment. Usually you have to go up to a window and order you food. They brought us platters of food out. There were two chimichurri sauces to accompany the meat, both were excelent. The first platter was twice baked potatoes; this was probably the best thing I had here. They had been stuffed with sour cream and topped with cheddar cheese that had been melted under a grill. Next out came some thinly sliced beef that I thought was a bit tuff. Next came some overcooked chicken that was very dry. Sweetbreads arrived that I passed on. Next were ribs. I cannot remember all the things that were brought to the table. Most people that I talked to thought the meat was either tuff or overcooked. I tried ordering a few things from the window, the salmon was almost unidentifiable. The flavor of the meat was overpowered by the marinade that it had been cooked in.


This is a place best left to a special occasion; they had no problem accommodating our group of 30 even giving us a special price. I heard at least two other parties singing happy birthday. I would not recommend it for a casual lunch on a busy weekday.

Rating: **
Service: ***
Price: $13.99

What others are saying:
http://www.orlandoweekly.com/dining/review.asp?rid=12965

Café Annie’s - DJ

131 N Orange Ave Suite 102
Orlando, FL
407.420.4041

I was at Downtown Mini visiting my car which was not quite ready to be picked up from the service department. So I went next door to Café Annie’s for lunch. Café Annie’s was formally in the store front that is now occupied by Downtown Mini. They had to move back in 2002 when Mini came to town.

When you walk in the door you know this will be a good meal. The smells coming from the cafeteria style line entice you to the back of the restaurant to place your order. I arrived at an off moment and there was no line, but as I finished there were 15 people in line.

Today I choose a platter which comes with a meat and two sides. I had the chicken kabob, with a side of buttery corn, and garlic smashed potatoes. The chicken pieces were grilled to perfection; they had been smothered in a garlic/oil sauce. The corn which was of the frozen variety was sweet and buttery. The Smashed potatoes had large pieces of potato still intact, but they were still smooth. The potatoes had lots of black pepper and just a hint of garlic.

You can always count on Annie’s for a good Greek meal.

Rating: ***
Service: ****
Price Platter/drink: $9.48

Spice Cafe - DT

7536 Dr Phillips Blvd.
This could be the beginning of a curry phase for me. I told DJ that other than my wife’s curry dressing and the curry chicken wings at the church potluck this weekend, I had never been to an Indian restaurant. Several people within earshot piped up simultaneously “Spice Café”. I guess it must be good. It’s difficult to keep my expectations in check when it comes recommended by the crowd. I have nothing to compare this to so I truly did not know what I was about to experience.
Located across from the Albertson’s on Sand Lake and Dr. Phillips (I know, it’s not Winter Park), you will find this store in an upscale shopping strip. For lunch you can order from the menu or choose from several dishes already prepared at the counter. I had no idea what to get so I pointed to the chicken in a tomato cream sauce and hot mushrooms and onions in a dark broth. I determined later that I must have ordered the Chicken Tikka Masala. Lunch is served with basmati rice and toasted pita bread or “nan”. I was able to sample the Butter Chicken, another tomato and cream basd chicken dish as good as the Masala. I sat eating my meal thinking how will I describe this. I just have no idea how it was prepared. I can’t even compare this to another Indian restaurant. So I just let go and enjoyed. The mild tomato cream sauce is a busy mixture of spices and flavors that I couldn’t even begin to inventory. The mushrooms and onions were cooked in a broth of garlic and curry and… other stuff… resulting in a rich, medium spicy complement to the chicken and rice. So for not knowing what to order, I threw the dart at the Spice Café menu and I was not disappointed.

Service: friendly
Portions: plenty
Atmosphere: clean, comfortable
Chicken Masala, vegetable, rice, nan, water: $7.40

Potluck - DT

Potluck. Love it or hate it, I’m usually not disappointed. You could say I’m just easy to please or I have friends with eclectic culinary skills. Either way, we had a potluck lunch at church on Sunday and I discovered something remarkable and simple that I wanted to share. While helping clean up after the meal, there was left over fried chicken sitting next to what was a crock pot full of Curry Chicken. After considering how much I had already eaten, I decided I had room for one more so I poured some of the remaining curry stock over a chicken wing. OMGoodness! The curry stock is simple:
½ cup of butter
1 cup of honey
2 tsp salt
2 Tsp yello curry
Just simmer this in a small saucepan then pour over a pot of fried chicken wings, cover and shake. I plan to tweak this recipe a little so please let me know if you try this at home. I’d love to hear how you improve on this.

Grain Chain at FH - DJ

Scofield Drive
Orlando, FL

I had lunch at my desk today, Lemon Pepper Rotisserie Chicken from the Grain Chain. I had them add the vegetables from the daily special rice pilaf, broccoli and carrots. The chicken was moist and actually quite good. The vegetables were of the frozen variety, the carrots spongy but sweet.