Food Finds on Vacation in Orlando

   We are total food nerds, so when we go on vacation we want to eat the foods of the town. Orlando has so many great places to check out, it was tough to decide where to go.

   On our first afternoon we headed to Downtown Disney to find lunch and ended up at Ragland Road Irish Pub. We tried their chicken and chips, chicken battered like fish would be. Hubby got a Guinness  to try as well. It was delicious and set in a fun restaurant. That night we went out to get some dinner and weren’t sure what we would find.  We went to a pizza place called Anthony’s that surprised us with an amazing pizza. Now no pizza could be considered a bad one, but there are definitely some good ones and some amazing ones. This one was up there with the amazing ones.  We choose the Philly Cheesesteak and I was happy to see that there was a lot of meat that was seasoned, and cut into strips instead of looking more like ground beef. It had a nice thin brick oven crust that was thin and perfectly crispy.

   Our first day at the park we visited The Three Broomsticks. It was fun to visit where Harry, Hermione, and Ron ate and drank their butterbeer. The food was theme park quality and we had to wait a very long time to get any food.  That night we went to a place called Cowfish! Located on Universal’s City Walk we didn’t even have to leave the park to check it out. They server burgers and sushi, as well as their own creation of Burgerushi…yes burger into shushi. We were not brave enough to go all out with the burgerushi we did however try sushi for the first time. We both got a bento box that included a mini cheese burger, sweet potato fries, Thai cucumbers, edamame, and 4 pieces of a roll of our choice.

   I got the Mark’s which had fresh tuna, jalapeño, cream cheese, kani, scallions inside, coated with panko and flash fried. Topped with Japanese mayo and sriracha. Served with ponzu dipping sauce I got it minus the jalapeno, the dipping sauce was so good even with the fries, I loved the creamy texture that it had, and it wasn’t even too fishy.

   Hubby got the Firecracker which had Shrimp tempura, kani inside coated with tempura flakes, topped with yellowtail, salmon, spicy mayo, masago, tobiko and scallions. Served with ponzu dipping sauce. He loved it and even ate all the slices of fish on the top of it. The burgers were also delicious even though they were tiny, we could taste the freshness of the meat.

   Our second day at Universal we headed out of the park and back to City Walk to go to the worlds largest Hard Rock Café. We both tried a burger and they were huge and tender. Plus who doesn’t love to look around a Hard Rock. We tried a restaurant called Pei Wei that night, which is owned by PF Chang’s and makes great wok centered meals for a good price. We ate there two times! There is one in Little Rock so I’m excited to have some more. I tried the Pad Thai noodles the first time and the second I got the honey chicken, they were both delicious and right on point with what I thought the flavor should be.  Hubby got the Mongolian both times and it smelled great!!

   The next night we cooked at the condo and made a delicious pork and mushroom noodle stir fry.  There was a whole foods right up the road from the house so we got some beautiful fresh mushrooms. It turned out pretty good.

   Wednesday we took some time to relax and enjoy Orlando. We had lunch at one of the malls, trying a philly cheesestake stand. While it was way over priced it was pretty tasty. That night though was our “fancy” meal. After much consideration we decided that The Ravenous Pig would be the best choice. A big draw was that all their meats are cured and smoked in house, the owners are also the chefs, and the menu changes based on what the best ingredients they can get are.

   To get the full experience we realized we would need to do a full three courses plus a drink, and it was totally worth it!  To drink I had a wine recommend by the bar tender and Hubby tried a Bacon Old Fashion, both were fantastic.

   For our starter we choose from their board selections and got the charcuterie which had venison pepperoni, coppa (cured beef), Italian sausage, and pork rillettes (a paste like texture) served with some toasted bread, pickled vegies, and fresh stone ground mustard. All of it had wonderful flavor, I really enjoyed the pork rillettes and coppa, each with a wonderful meaty flavor.  

   For the main course I tried a Spare Rib with smoked eggplant puree, drunken cherries, duck fat doughnuts, and cherry jus. I loved every bite of it, and nothing but the cherries were left when I was done. Hubby had the Steak Frites, a flat iron steak marinated in porcini and served with truffle fries and ramp aioli.

   Then it was time for dessert, being an unique restaurant their choices here were not the typical desserts so we had to branch out and try new things.  Hubby tried the Tart, dark chocolate ganache with espresso pearls, a lemon sauce, and olive oil ice cream which turned out to taste pretty good. I got the cake after miss reading the description thinking I would get a vanilla cake.

   I got a pistachio cake, vanilla bean Chantilly, candied pistachios and a white chocolate rose sauce. The flavors worked so well together it practically melted in my mouth.  It was our most expensive meal ever, but it was worth it. We had a great time, the experience was wonderful and made even better with a great waiter. I hope we get to go back sometime.

   That was about it for our food adventures in Orlando. We had so much fun eating our way around town, and next time we go we will try the great places we missed this trip. Have you found any amazing food while traveling? I would love to hear about it in the comments!