Thursday, July 23, 2009

Eating outside Downtown Disney

On our road trip, we spent July 1-6 in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., home of the Walt Disney World Resort and theme parks, but avoided eating at any of the restaurants in Downtown Disney.

On our first night there, we ate dinner at Flippers Pizzeria, which is in a shopping center across the road from Disney World. Our salad and pizza were good, but I especially appreciated the glasses of wine priced at $3.49-$3.99 (you won't find that in New Jersey).

We ate dinner twice at Havana's Cafe, a Cuban place in a nearby shopping center with an Orlando address that serves big portions. We enjoyed whole red snapper swimming in garlic sauce, fried green plantains (tostones), black beans cooked with rice (congris) and white rice with black-bean soup, called Moors & Christians (moros y cristianos).

For lunch one day, we stopped at Fuddruckers, near Flippers Pizzeria, but I was disappointed they had run out of the drug-free ostrich burger I love to order in Paramus. The fish sandwich was artificially-colored farmed salmon. So I had the antibiotic-free buffalo burger and heaped on sliced jalapenos from the small salad bar.

2 comments:

  1. Try:
    The Orlando Ale House
    7379 W Colonial Dr
    Orlando, FL 32818-6507

    It is where the locals go. Great Burgers and cold beer. What else could you want.

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  2. Thanks for the tip. Of course, what I'd want to know is where the beef in The Orlando Ale House's burger came from and whether it was raised with antibiotics, hormones and animal by-products. And do they have a fish sandwich for those who don't want beef? The time is long past for judging food only on how it tastes, though that seems to be lost on most food writers and restaurant reviewers.

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