A sad day at Paco's

It was a somber meal at Paco’s today. The notice on the door read the Marj had lost her battle with cancer on 4/11/2009. I have many fond memories of Marj and Paco’s. In fact, I choose to go to Paco’s today to celebrate my 20 years at Florida Hospital. I thought that I should go some place for lunch that held many memories for Florida Hospital and the many friends that I’ve gone to lunch with over the years.

I can remember the lunches with Fred G my first director at Florida Hospital. Then there were the meals with Dave R and Bill Z where we argued the merits or doing something this way or that way. There have been periods where I have not gone to Paco’s as often as I’d like, mainly because of the parking here at the hospital. But I always return for the friendly atmosphere and good food. At Paco’s you are always made to feel at home.

I can remember one meal I had at Paco’s where my order had been somehow misplaced Marj came over and said “I’m so sorry but we can’t find your order” I gladly gave it to to her. While I was eating my meal Marj came back over and told me this was on the house, “you can just leave when you are finished”.

While I was just a customer Marj made me feel at home, on most days she came over and said hi and chatted for awhile. She will truly be missed.

The Taco Maker - dj

The Taco Maker
2212 Aloma Ave.
Winter Park, FL 32792
"Finally Here Fresh Made Food!!!"
www.tacomaker.com


A friend suggested that we go to Taco Time on Aloma Ave, in the old KFC building.



It was a Taco Bell wantabe that has not quite made it yet. I had the Special number 1 - two tacos beef or chicken, soft drink, and of all things fries. I substituted chips and salsa. The menu item number 1 was about $5.00.

I had the chicken tacos they weren't bad, but nothing special. Another person in our party did not want their second beef taco so I had it. It tasted more like a taco but still was not special.



We were for some reason expecting a more authentic Mexican meal.

La Luna

La Luna
151 Center Lane
Gallatin Gateway, MT 59730
(406) 995-3280

La Luna's Moto "Experience Gourmet World Cuisine in a casual & Relaxing Enviroment" is a fitting one. The menu choices range from Mexican to Thai to Japanese to Italian.



I choose the "Enchiladas filled with shredded chicken topped with jack cheese and baked to a bubbly perfection." This came with a side of beans and rice.


The meal started with Eric the owener/chief coming out and taking our order. At the door were photo books he had made of the surrounding area. Including photos of the fish he has caught and released. Some several times as proven by the photos.

Chips and homemade salsa were provided while we waited for our dishes. The salsa was nice.


Our dishes arrived shortly. They were presented nicely. The beans were cooked just right as was the rice. The three enchiladas looked wonderful. I had chosen the mole sauce. Which was a deep brown with a nutty taste. Very good.



I have visited La Luna several times over the last 7 years while visiting Big Sky it is always the culinary highlight of any visit

Ted's Montana Grill

Ted's Montana Grill
105 W Main St
Bozeman, MT 59715
(406) 587-6000



I had the pecan encrusted trout, with onion rings and cole slaw. The trout was a large portion but was very greasy I thought, while the onion rings were fried perfectly not a drop of greasy. The cole slaw was passable.

For our appetizer we had the tomato soup. It was excellent!


The setting was very nice it was in the tallest building in town. The old Baxter Hotel sign on the roof had been painted out. The restaurant was on the ground floor and very attractive. The lobby of the old hotel was grand indeed.



While I did not like my fish I enjoyed the service and the setting. Next time I'm in town I try the cedar plank cooked salmon

2009 Foodie Awards

2009 Foodie Awards

Il Paradiso Cafe - dj

520 West State Road 436
Suite 1112
Altamonte Springs, Fl 32714
Phone - 407.262.9000
Fax - 407.331.9001

“Where Naples Meets New York in Florida”

http://www.paradisocafe.com/index.html

I discovered Il Paradiso Café while driving east on 436 in Altamonte Springs one day last week. I was at the stop light at Montgomery and 436 and looked over in the Ashby Square Mall shopping area and noticed what seemed like a new Italian Restaurant in the location where an Italian deli use to be. I said to my self that I would have to stop in. The following week we made a visit.

When we arrived at the restaurant we looked over the menu posted at the door. It seemed like an inviting place. When we walked in we were warmly greeted by the hostess. She showed us to our seats. The waitress soon arrived. Then we were greeted by Sal the chief, he told us all about his special for the night. Sal was born Salvatore Cristiano in Naples, Italy. He seemed very proud of his restaurant as well he should we would soon find out.

I opted for the Manicotti which arrived with bread and a salad with the house dressing. My wife did not see exactly what she wanted on the menu so we called Sal over and he was glad to make any thing she wanted. She had vegetarian pasta that included sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms, broccoli in an olive oil sauce on penne pasta.

We heard singing in the kitchen as our dishes were being prepared. It reminded us of a trip to Venice where we also heard singing in the kitchen.

The salad arrived and the balsamic vinaigrette (Paradisco vinaigrette) dressing was to die for. As we were finishing up our salad I noticed Sal peering over at us from the kitchen to see if we were ready for our main course.



Our Pasta dishes arrive shortly. Mine was very good. I always have manicotti my first trip to a new Italian restaurant because I have found if they can make the cheese filling firm but moist they can make any other Italian dish. This was perfect. My wife’s pasta dish was also very good with just enough garlic and sweet sun dried tomatoes.




I have not yet decided what I’ll have on my next visit but I took the take out menu so I could study it in depth.

After our meal Sal came over to make sure everything was to our satisfaction. It was! This is definitely my new favorite Italian restaurant.

Rating ****
Service: ****
Value: ****

Paxia Alta Cocina Mexicana - dj

2611 Edgewater Drive
College Park, FL 32804
407.420.1155
http://paxiarestaurant.com/
“Modern world meets traditional Mexican cuisine”

Paxia is a new Mexican restaurant in College Park it opened around June 1, 2008. They took over the old Moe’s location on Edgewater drive. I read about it in the Orlando Weekly yesterday and stopped by for lunch today.

The restaurant looked very modern with vivid colors on the walls and cloth table cloths – covered with butcher paper. The menus were uncluttered with just a few items. Items that you would expect at a Mexican restaurant, there were 6 priced at $7.00 to $7.50.



Were greeted with a smile and chips and salsa were not far behind. The chips were nice and the salsa was also good.


From the menu I chose the Chicken Enchilada at $7. Others at the table chose Flautas $7.25, Soft Tacos $7.50, and Burritos $7.50. The wait was a little longer than I would have expected considering the number of people in the restaurant.

When our plates arrived they looked quite nice. All of the dishes we ordered came with bean and rice. The rice was rather unremarkable, nowhere near as good as say El Portros . The beans needed salt and there was none on the table. My enchiladas were good but again nothing special.


The tacos the one of our dining partners had were soggy he said he would not be returning. The flautas were not very filling was the comment I heard.

This a place that I wanted to be good. Maybe I'll stop back by in a few months to see if it has improved.

Rating: **
Service **

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