Food Truck Pod Recap

This past Wednesday there was a Food Truck Pod behind Firestone Live, 70 West Concord. I believe this is the fourth of these events. This one was different as they were serving mixed drinks and beer in addition to the Big 6 food trucks. Bud, Bud Light, Blue Moon, Heineken, Stella Artoire, Yuengleng, New Castle, Bacardi, Smirnoff, and other liquors.

Some notable unique foods at this gathering were the Cajun Chicken Wrap with coconut rice from The Crooked Spoon, the spicy calamari po'boy from Big Wheel Truck and the BEARGRRRR AKA Krispy Kreme Bacon Luther Burger from Treehouse truck.

Cajun chicken wrap-cumin coconut rice with black eyed peas, mango salsa, sweet plantains, crunchy potato sticks.

THE PINK PANTHER Salad. Strawberries, blueberries, avocado, feta cheese, raspberry vinaigrette on a bed of spring mix from Treehouse Truck

Luther: cheese n bacon in between 2 Krispy Kreme donuts.

In the weeks to follow they will be adding live music to the event. Very exciting!

Frank's Bar BQ Food Truck Hoffner

Yesterday I went out in search of unknown food trucks and I found one!

Frank's Bar BQ Food Truck is on Hoffner in the parking lot of the Nice & Easy Bar, between 436 and Conway. He serves West Indian(St. Thomas) style BBQ with a latin influence. He's been there over 3 years, he previously had a spot on Goldenrod but moved to his current location.

I tried his coleslaw which was good but standard style except he puts a few raisins in it! that made my day. He also gave me a sample of his pork with BBQ sauce, it was really tasty. The outside had a nice crust and the inside was soft and had great flavor.

He also serves Pinchos which are meats grilled on a skewer, Pina Coladas, smoothies, hamburgers, fries and chicken. See pics for menu.

Frank's Bar BQ Food Truck
5470 Hoffner Avenue, Orlando, FL 32812-2501
407-952-8077
Hours:
Tuesday-Thursday noon-9pm
Friday-Saturday noon-11pm

Casa De Chef

Casa De Chef
Cuban Sandwiches, Burgers, Rice Bowls
Their Facebook
Menu thanks to Watch Me Eat
#1 location:
5518 Edgewater Dr, Orlando, FL 32810
Monday tru Friday 8am till 7pm

#2 location:
Colonial/Fern Creek Chevron Station
1601 East Colonial Drive, Orlando, FL 32803-4803
Friday 6pm till midnight
Saturday 11am till midnight

BBQ Shack in St. Cloud

BBQ Shack
4201 13th Street, St. Cloud, FL

They are next to the Wendy's in the plaza where the Goodwill store is on the corner of Kissimmee Park Rd and 192/13th St.

Printable List of Orlando Food Trucks

Check out this word doc we created. You can download it(click here to download) and print it using word or google docs. If you print it two sided all the food trucks will be listed on one two sided page. That way you can carry it in your car with you and when you are driving around and the hunger strikes just check the list!

El Brazero Taco Truck Apopka

El Brazero Taco Truck
2901 Us Highway 441 Apopka, Florida 32712
(321)228-6140
Mon-Sat 10am-6pm

Found this truck last month but it was closed, finally got to stop by today and try their El Pastor taco, only $1.50 and tasty, comes with Onions and Cilantro. She also gave me the option to add my own hot sauce, either green or red. I had the green and it was a little spicy but really good flavor.

They were doing good business even at 4:45 pm when I stopped by today. It's run by a nice lady and her husband. They are open everyday except Sundays when they cater the Soccer games in Tavares.

They have tacos made from Stewed Pork Steak, Chicken, Chorizo, Marinated Pork and even Tongue!
They also have Tortas(mexican sandwiches) $5 and Quesadillas $5

If you find yourself up by Apopka/Plymouth they are in the parking lot of the Diamond gas station on the north east corner.

I'm hoping they can come out to one of the food truck events soon.

El Punto De Tripletas NEW FOOD TRUCK 436 and Old Cheney

One of my informants reported a new food truck to me yesterday. Lauren from http://nomfest.blogspot.com/

El Punto De Tripletas
at the Rahal Citgo Gas Station((407) 380-5063)
1112 North Semoran Boulevard Orlando, FL 32807-3533

Right Across from Royal Thai

They have 4 different kinds of Cuban sandwiches:
Tripleta - Steak, Pork, Ham $6
Cuban - Pork, Ham, Swiss $6
Pernil - Roast Pork $5
Bistec - Steak $5

they are cash only and they do provide seating

Hours:
Monday 11am-9pm
Tuesday-Thursday 11am-10pm
Friday-Saturday 11am-3am Late Night!
Sunday 3pm-7pm

New Restaurants in Orlando

I'm always hunting for new restaurants in Orlando, here is a list of what I've found lately:

Roy's Burger Express
http://www.yelp.com/biz/roys-burger-express-orlando
5306 North Orange Blossom Trail
Orlando, FL 32808
(407) 253-4995

Dylan's Deli, New Restaurant in WP Near Rav Pig French themed sandwiches, quiche, flan, paninis http://www.dylansdeli.net/
1198 Orange Ave Winter Park, FL 32789-4908
(407) 622-7578

Terrace 390
http://terrace390.com/
390 N. ORANGE AVE. ORLANDO, FL
407 425 2445

The Rusty Spoon - American Gastropub http://www.therustyspoon.com/
55 W Church St Orlando, FL 32801 (407)401-8811

Delmonico's Italian Steak House http://www.delmonicositaliansteakhouse.com
6115 Westwood Blvd Orlando, FL 32887
(407) 226-2662

Cuba de Cuba - http://www.yelp.com/biz/cuba-de-cuba-orlando
63 Orange Ave Orlando, FL 32801

Mediterranean Deli and Gyros http://www.yelp.com/biz/mediterranean-deli-and-gyros-orlando
9430 E Colonial Dr Orlando, FL 32825
(407) 271-8937

Junior Parrilla columbian burgers on vineland http://www.yelp.com/biz/junior-parrilla-orlando

Matteos - Idrive: http://www.yelp.com/biz/matteos-of-orlando-orlando

Sleeping Moon Cafe - 436 and Aloma: http://www.yelp.com/biz/sleeping-moon-cafe-winter-park

Roddy's Deli on East Colonial at Lake Pickett - http://www.yelp.com/biz/roddys-deli-orlando

Food Truck Heaven Tuesday, May 3 · 5:00pm-Midnight Plaza Theater on Bumby

Wow! another great food truck event.

Tuesday, May 3 · 5:00pm - 11:30pm

The Plaza Theatre
425 N. Bumby Ave Orlando, FL 32803 (Map)

Orlando's finest Food Trucks, Live Music, Beer and even a Kids area! Tuesday May 3rd from 5pm - 12am sample eats from over 15 of Orlando's top culturally diverse food trucks! Free admission! Live Entertainment! Great Brews in the Beer Garden! Fun for the Kids! Get to The Plaza Live to discover Food Truck Heaven!

RSVP and invite your friends on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=142603755807922

RSVP on Yelp:http://www.yelp.com/events/orlando-food-truck-heaven

PRESS RELEASE JUST ADDED! 4/26

A great night of Orlando's finest Food Trucks, Live Music, Beer and even a Kids area! Tuesday May 3rd from 5pm - 12am sample eats from over 15 of Orlando's top culturally diverse food trucks! Free admission! Live Entertainment! Great Brews in the Beer Garden! Fun for the Kids! Get to The Plaza Live to discover Food Truck Heaven!

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
...
Food Truck Event Celebrates Cultural Diversity

ORLANDO, Fla. – April 26, 2011 – The Plaza 'Live' Theater, Orlando's premiere live concert venue, has teamed up with Kenny and Denny’s BBQ to put on a food truck event like no other: Food Truck Heaven! Starting at 5 p.m. on May 3, 2011, The Plaza will be hosting Food Truck Heaven, a 'mobile food court' of sorts, where hungry patrons can sample a variety of culturally diverse culinary delights all in one location.

"If you love ethnic cuisine, food trucks, and beer, this is the event for you," says Ken Cornell of Kenny and Denny's BBQ. "Come and try food truck fare from around the world."

Food Truck Heaven will feature Peruvian, Southern BBQ, Jamaican, Mexican, Columbian, Venezuelan, New England-style, and All-American cuisine. It will be great to see all the different food trucks from the diverse cultures of Orlando come together like a culinary United Nations

Local food trucks participating in the event include Las 4 Estaciones Orlando, CK Jerk Shack, Taco Loco, Jauncho’s Grill, Arepas el Cacao, Shipyard, Jazzydog, and Mr. Softee Ice Cream, to name a few. The beer garden will feature Corona, Heineken, Stella, and a variety of other beers and wines. "This is a great opportunity for food trucks who have been in business around Central Florida for years to serve the mainstream, so people can taste the cuisine and learn about their culture," says blogger Julius Mayo Jr.of Droolius.com

Other local vendors who will be participating in Food Truck Heaven include: Tia’s Plantain Chips; Demeter’s Harvest (selling fresh salsas and dips); Luther’s Produce (local produce farmer); Universal Spiritual Elements (selling empowering Quartz Crystals/ precious stones & jewelry); Pleasant Earth Soap Co. (selling handmade healthy soaps); and De la Cruz (featuring amazing artwork).

Face painting, caricature drawings, and a drum circle will provide entertainment for the entire family. Giving World Percussion's Jason Isla will be available starting at 8 p.m. to lead the drum circle, provide additional drums, and encourage children of all ages to join the fun. Local musicians Jared Goldberg, TBA, Legacy, and Everyday Ghosts will also perform.
"I expect an evening of great culinary and musical diversity, and a shared community experience," says DJ Jessica Pawli of WPRK 91.5.

The Plaza is located at 425 N. Bumby Ave., in Orlando. Admission to Food Truck Heaven is free, and there will be plenty of 8-foot tables for customers. However, chairs will be limited, so patrons are encouraged to bring their own folding chairs.

For more information about this expanding event, to offer suggestions, or to see the latest food trucks added to the lineup, visit Food Truck Heaven on Facebook at http://tinyurl.com/foodtruckheaven-fb Food truck vendors interested in participating can contact Ken Cornell at 407-923-6152.

About The Plaza 'Live' Theater
The Plaza 'Live' Theater is Orlando's premiere live concert venue, offering a wide range of concerts, comedians, and cultural events. The Plaza has been making renovations in all aspects, which include replacing the seating in the main hall with removable seating, allowing for a wider range of talent. A newly revamped concession area also features hot sandwiches and arepas made to order by Kenny & Denny's BBQ.

Contact:
Ken Cornell
Co-owner Kenny and Denny's BBQ
spacejamerzs@yahoo.com
407-923-6152

Rangetsu Japanese Restaurant in Maitland

Last friday Ran-Getsu of Maitland had a sneak preview cocktail party. I stopped by and sampled some of their appetizers. They are having a soft opening with a limited menu today for locals if you call you may be able to get a reservation. They don't open formally until later this month.

One of the tastier and more interesting appetizers was sweet potato wedges in a sweet tamari type sauce. Also the beef skewers were magnificent, the beef was super tender and you could just tell this was top notch meat.

Some of the more interesting things I see on the menu are:

French Bread Cheese Gratin - Gorgonzola and Gruyère sauce baked over french bread
Cajun Edamame
Kimchi Tofu
Wagyu Kobe Steak

It'll be great to have another find dining choice in Maitland, now if we could just find something to fill the old Steak and Ale spot across the street.

901 South Orlando Avenue, Maitland, Fl 32789
407-345-0044
Lunch Daily 11:30am-2:30pm
Dinner 4:30pm-9:30pm
Orchid Lounge 11pm-2am

Parking is behind the restaurant, turn into the circle on lake lily and valet or pass that area and parking is in the lot just past the circle.

Their website rangetsu.com is sparse on the details right now so here is the menu:

Trattoria Toscana

This is a cozy little restaurant across from the old Park Ave CDs location. It's right next to Tutti Fruitti.

Went on a Sunday night and sat outside, it was real pleasant and our Colombian waiter was very knowledgeable about the food and very attentive.

You have to go try the bread! there is something amazing about it, It has a very fine crisp crust probably brushed with a little oil before they cook it. Noone else in town has bread like this.

Try sitting at the bar which is right across from the stovetop so you can watch them making each dish. Have a few drinks before your meal while you watch them prepare the meals and then pick one you like the look of.

We ordered the appetizer platter which had sliced meats, olives, roasted peppers, ate about 3/4s of it because it was so huge and took the rest home.

I ordered the Ravioli di Aragosta which is filled with Lobster in a white wine garlic sauce with plum tomatoes. I prefer really rich sauces and cream sauces but this one was recommended. The sauce was flavorful but not as strong as I prefer, it was a very unique sauce.

According to the waiter the guy who started this restaurant also started Bravissimo and a few other places around town and then sold them.

On another visit I ordered the pink sauce on side to dip the delicious bread in. That sauce is so rich and amazing

I'll highly suggest you go try their delicious dishes, overall it was a very nice meal and experience.

a copy of their menu is posted here: http://www.urbanspoon.com/u/menu/1479348?p=0

521 S Park Ave Winter Park, FL 32789
(407) 644-0009
Lunch Tuesday-Saturday
Dinner Tuesday-Sunday

Orlando Food Blogs

Here is a list of Orlando Food Blogs focused on restaurants.

Unofficial Restaurant Review

Chow Down Orlando

The Feisty Foodist

Foodbidden

Tiny Taster and the City

Tastes Of Orlando

The Educated Palate

We All Gotta Eat

Forkful

http://www.dafoodie.com/

http://www.scottjosephorlando.com/reviews/

http://watch-me-eat.blogspot.com/

http://www.tastychomps.com/

http://droolius.com/

http://megayummo.com/

The Primlani Kitchen

Flavorful Excursions

the short and tall of food

http://eatingorlando.blogspot.com/

http://orlandofoodforthought.blogspot.com

http://lakemaryfoodcritic.blogspot.com/

http://eattyphonehome.blogspot.com/

http://www.orlandofastfoodcritic.com/

Not Updated in a long time:

http://placestoeatorlando.com/

http://themadfoodguy.com/

http://restaurantmom.blogspot.com/

http://www.onfoodandeating.blogspot.com/

Which restaurant in Orlando has the best Pho?

Which restaurant in Orlando has the best Pho? I've heard Lac Viet, read this article Searching for Hanoi's Ultimate Pho from Smithsonian Magazine: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/Searching-for-Hanois-Ultimate-Pho.html

See listings for Pho on Yelp Orlando: http://www.yelp.com/search?find_desc=pho&ns=1&find_loc=Orlando%2C+fl

SOBT Latin Food Truck Crawl, Part 1

This past Friday night we explored the food trucks along South Orange Blossom Trail. I had heard there was a grouping of them at a placed they called Comida Latina, but when we tried to find it we only discovered single trucks in separate parking lots. Later after talking to some of the truck owners we found out Code Enforcement had split them up, none are allowed to be in the same parking lot it seems. It actually works out fine because many of them are very close together, only a few parking lots away, you can do a bit of a food truck crawl, try a couple things at the first one, walk down to the next parking lot and there is another, and so on.

The first we tried was Arepas El Gran Saman, all the Arepas were $5 and they had a decent number of selections some with just cheese and others with meat and cheese. We got the Pernil(roast pork) Arepa with cheese. The cheese was nice white strongly flavored shards, I'm not sure what kind but it was good. There were 4 different kinds of sauce Ajo(Garlic), Ketchup/Mayo combo, a yellowish one, but the best one was green and spicy though I could never figure out what it was made of. They were pretty busy when we got there about 10:15 pm but the line moved quickly.

Arepas El Gran Saman
9803 S Orange Blossom Trail Orlando, FL
Sun-Thurs 7pm-4am
Fri-Sat 7pm-5am
407-286-6025

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2 parking lots north was Dominican Chimi. This truck wasn't as busy so we got a chance to talk to the owner. His name was Luis and he was an older guy, he's the one who told us about how the trucks got split up by Code Enforcement and how it was really nice before when they were all together it created a little sense of community and the families loved it.

We tried a couple of different Pinchos(meat skewers) and his Chimi sandwich. His sauce bottles were more oil based than the last one. The Pinchos were spiced well and not overcooked, they had an Adobo/Garlic salty flavor, they were served with a small piece of grilled bread which was nice. The Chimi sandwich was excellent, it had a white sauce, lettuce and meat and I really enjoyed it.

Dominican Chimi
Menu
9785 S Orange Blossom Tl Orlando, FL 32837
Fri-Sun 8:30 pm - 1 am
407-535-1151

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Third we went to the next parking lot north, La Tripleta subs and more..., this truck was in front of a restaurant of the same name, there was a large line to order from this truck and we waited about 15-20 minutes. We ordered a tripleta sandwich, a couple corn fritters(Sorullitos de Maiz), and fritter stuffed with ground beef(Alcapurria).

The only sauce they had here was the Ketchup/Mayo combo that all these trucks seem to have. The Alcapurria was not impressive, I've had Alcapurrias in Puerto Rico so nothing really compares. The Sorullito was a better but I would have prefered an Ajo sauce like the Arepa guy had. The best thing here was the sandwich, we cut it up in three but that made it pretty messy. The Tripleta was good but Dominican Chimi's sandwich was better.

La Tripleta Subs
9741 S Orange Blossom Tl Orlando, FL 32837
Wednesdays 6:30pm-midnight
Thursday-Saturday 6:30pm-4am
407-432-7671

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Finally we were all pretty full but we wanted to check out another truck further south from the other 3 that we had spied on the drive in. Turns out this truck had an unexpected cuisine, Peruvian! This truck is called "Las 4 Estaciones"(The Four Seasons).

I have a good fried who is from Peru so I have tried a number of Peruvian dishes over the years. There aren't a lot of Peruvian restaurants in Orlando so when I find one I immediately text my friend about it. He was pretty happy when I told him. I was also quite excited because this truck served something I have never found in Orlando, Anticuchos. When I used to quiz my friend about Peruvian food he would always mention Anticuchos which are skewered beef hearts usually cooked over a fire or grilled. I did find them once in Washington DC and they were very tasty. I was much too full from the previous 3 trucks to try them here but I will be back on SOBT Latin Food Truck Crawl, Part 2!

I did find a little room to try their Flan(Leche Asada) which was not as sweet as I'm used to but it was very good in it's own way. You could really tell they roasted the Flan in an oven and it made a nice thick dark shell on top. Also they served it in a glass bowl which is a unique investment for a food truck. We also tried a small Guava Batita(fruit shake). It was decent and pretty sweet but I'd prefer it more milky, I think it was just fruit and ice.

The owner, Juan, was real excited to talk to us and we asked him all about his different dishes. They had a picture of their signature Las 4 Estaciones sandwich on the truck that looked super amazing. I believe it was a pork cutlet with sausage slices on top and a number of other toppings. Since this was the truck we got to try the least amount of food from, it's the one I'm most excited to go back and eat from. Juan also told us about at least 4 more food trucks further south, it was getting really late and there was just no more room in our bellies, but we will be back to explore some more one weekend real soon, maybe you can join us?! :)

Las 4 Estaciones Orlando
Peruvian
9867 South Orange Blossom Trail Orlando, FL 32837-8917
407-488-4336
Friday-Saturday 6pm-4:30am
Sunday, Tuesday-Thursday 6pm-3am

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Thanks to Julius/Droolius for tirelessly exploring with us, he's a much more adventurous and skilled cameraman than I, so check out his blog for some excellent pictures of it all. http://droolius.com/