Random Taste for Thursday 3/1/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the EIGHTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Honeybee Sweetery
Location:  Ft. Lauderdale
Meal:  Lunch
Drink:  Hot Chocolate (plus an amaretto cookie)
Appetizer:  n/a
Main:  Royal Great Britain Panini
turkey, beef pastrami and muenster cheese PLUS bacon on a Rosemary Schiacciata
Side(s):  bag o chips and a macadamia nut cookie
Dessert:  strawberry shortcake (European style)
Server:   Emilia
Website:  https://www.honeybeesweetery.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Honeybee-Sweetery/271830559917400

Not only do we get our first A of this year (the latest in the year of the three we've done so far), but this adorable "sweetery" is also going down in the record books as the BEST coffee shop of those in which we've eaten in all three years.  To see why you should make it a point to stop by (make note of their hours) for a coffee, or a sandwich, or a dessert (or all three), check out their Troy-score below: 

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (be prepared for bright yellow -- lots and lots of bright yellow -- 'cause it is EVERYwhere ... and not necessarily in a bad way, seeing as how this little place managed to ooze happiness ... so much so that even the font on the little handwritten placards identifying products seemed happy to me ... the knick-knacks and bee decorations can be a bit overwhelming, but I can all but guarantee that you'll still be finding things you missed the first time you looked around the room ... if there's one complaint [and there IS just one point being deducted in this category], it's that this shop might benefit from a Coco Chanel moment of looking in the mirror and maybe taking one thing off [I recommend some of the mannequins, which can be a bit creepy no matter how brightly they are dressed])

FOOD:           10/10 ("do what you do, and do it well" sure goes a long long way ... and whether that meant expanding the bread options to include a delicious rosemary schiacciata [which I googled afterwards to learn was a Tuscan flatbread] ... using only quality deli cuts of meat ... creating cleverly named meat-n-cheese combinations [although you can still make your own combos] ... serving the foamy hot chocolate with a little amaretto biscuit ... giving the customer a freshly baked cookie as a side ... wrapping up the desserts so they could easily be taken to go ... this place did it all and did it well)

SERVICE:      10/10 (walking in and looking around, you may think that all the bee paraphernalia is the star ... or the food ... or the drinks ... but here's the simple truth -- the best thing about eating here may just be Emilia ... sure, she's super-friendly, but it's her ability to properly set expectations ["that sandwich will take a few extra minutes" or "the desserts are European style so they aren't as sweet"], her attention to detail and her skill at being able to put herself in the customers' shoes [knowing to apologize when the store music system went down and it got awfully quiet since we were the last customers of the day] ... all that made us feel like she was a family member determined to make sure we got to enjoy that which she [or actually her father in the back] lovingly prepared for us)

BACON:         10/10 (is there ever a more pleasant thing to read at a sandwich shop than "add bacon to a 6" sandwich for $1.00/add bacon to a 12" sandwich for $2.00"? ... and, of course, since they offer breakfast all day long, bacon shows up in many a sandwich on that side of the menu [one of which was ordered by my tablemate and is pictured below, and yes, that's bacon AND sausage surrounding the egg] ... speaking of photos, the main one is proof that you get your full dollars' worth when they line up so many strips on top of the panini innards)

BONUS:         7/10 (+3 for the giant bee that can only make you smile [see selfie shot], +3 for the sign on the door as you exit that thanks you for being an amazing customer, and +1 for being a place to which we will return -- maybe even every time we make the trip out to the Old Time Pottery down the road [which is pretty darn often])

TroyScore:  46 out of 50 -- aka 92, an A

 

Random Taste for Thursday 2/22/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the SEVENTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Ethos Greek Bistro
Location:  Wilton Manors
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  Mykonos Mule
Appetizer 1:  Pork Belly
hickory smoked grilled strips
Appetizer 2:  Zucchini Croquettes
shredded carrots manouri, dill & mint fried to golden brown
Appetizer 3:  Grilled Octopus
sashimi grade Mediterranean octopus, char-grilled
Appetizer 4:  Bread Plate
with oil
Main:  Faroe Islands Salmon
a “boutique” style salmon, grilled & finished with a lemon caper sauce
Side(s):  "greens" (kale?  spinach?) and (flavored?) rice
Dessert:  n/a
Server:   I thought he was JB but maybe he was JP 'cause the receipt said johnpier
Website:  https://www.ethosbistro.com/wilton-manors/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/ethosgreekbistroWM/

Here we are, three years into this series and there are still some "firsts" resulting in an expansion of the category list on the right hand side of the blog.  Specifically, last week was the first Hungarian eating establishment ... and this week is the first Greek one!  What we still haven't seen yet is the first A of this third year ... although this place came close, it didn't quite get there BUT it is actually the highest score of 2018 to date.  To see what number that is as a Troy-score, keep on reading:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (not only is it right "on the drive" [code for "great for people watching"], but the layout is very open, so if you're not lucky enough to get on the patio right next to the sidewalk, the "inside seating" is still set up in a way that it feels like an extension of that outdoor area ... I know this to be true despite taking a seat at the table that was facing toward the bar and kitchen ... I will say that we were lucky being a party of three at a fourtop table, because there was so much good food to order with the small plate concept and only a limited amount of space to place it on the table -- were we a group of four, it would have been too small [which is the reason for the point deduction]).

FOOD:           9/10 (coming from Chicago, I expected to see some flaming cheese ... but my disappointment in not having any of that delicacy in this Greek bistro was swept away once I got my hands on those shared small plates -- healthy tasting zucchini croquettes [on a pile of classic Greek creamy goodness of a dip], perfectly textured charred octopus, and oh-my-that-pork-belly [see the bacon category below] ... followed by a hot [temperature hot] and flaky hunk of salmon in a delicious salty [but not too salty] mildly lemon-y sauce ... although my Mykonos Mule was meh, that was more because I rushed my drink decision at the beginning of the night ... the single point lost in this category is for the sides that accompanied my salmon, which simply [and oxymoronically] "stood out" for not being memorable) 

SERVICE:      8/10 (here's what I liked -- at this meal, we were reconnecting with a friend who finally made the big move from Chicago to the FTL [as *we* did four years ago], and so we were in no hurry to order, which wasn't a problem for our server despite how busy the place was, and the interactions with him were friendly and efficient all night long ... here's what I *didn't* like -- because we were ordering in stages [drinks then small plates a bit later followed by big plates], we held on to the menus, and had to argue with another server who was flying past and tried to reclaim them [a point deduction] ... also our server cleared the table at the end of the evening which included a tablemate's mostly untouched bronzini dish [seen as served below -- along with the orzo paella eaten by another] -- it was untouched because he found pin bones in it -- and there was no conversation inquiring as to why said server was clearing a mostly full plate of food [hence the second point deduction])

BACON:         10/10 (had I been dining by myself instead of in a group setting, there's every chance that I would have ordered a small plate of pork belly, followed by a second small plate of pork belly, followed by a conversation with the management as to whether I could order my main course on a big plate with nothing but pork belly ... in other words, pork belly for the win -- and for all the points in this category)

BONUS:         7/10 (+3 for the server casually upselling the drink orders to be doubles ['cause alcohol makes everything better], +3 for that same server offering up the bread plate once he saw that we were the "eatin' type", and +1 for being a place to which we will return -- maybe even to their original Coconut Creek location next time)

TroyScore:  43 out of 50 -- aka 86, a B

Random Taste for Thursday 2/15/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the SIXTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Uncle Lui's Restaurant
Location:  Sunrise
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  Not a Coke (Maybe a Root Beer?)
Appetizer 1:  Chicken Livers
sautéed with onions. tomato and green peppers
Appetizer 2:  Corn Chowder
Appetizer 3:  Bread Basket
Appetizer 4:  Potato Pancakes
served with butter, sour cream, and applesauce
Main:  Hunter Schnitzel
veal cutlet sautéed with mushrooms in a sour cream-paprika sauce
Side(s):  Spetzle PLUS Red Cabbage and Cream Spinach (the last two served family style)
Dessert:  Home Made Apple Strudel
with whipped cream
Server:   the Bodnar family's son (I'm guessing)
Website:  http://uncleluisrestaurant.com/?home
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/Uncle-Luis-Restaurant-118161088199185/

Ever since one of the first tastes in this series from when it started back in 2016 resulted in a disappointing German meal (I won't put them on blast again here, but you'll find it easily on the blog using the helpful hyperlinks on the right side) ... and ever since we've been mentioning that experience to our frequent tablemates JL/AL ... THIS restaurant has been offered up as THE place for the most authentic food of its kind in the area.  Admittedly, it's authentic Hungarian food as opposed to German, but the similarities in cuisine are clearly evident -- although, what with me having Prussian ancestors on my father's side, I want to make sure to not stir up any ill will from centuries ago.  To that point, here's where this family business ended up with their Troy-score:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (oh Florida and its strip malls so full of restaurants ... where one never knows what one will find when one walks inside, and, in this case, one will find a brightly lit square of a room with a classic European style woodwork and pics from the home country blown up large on the walls [as seen in the accompanying photos] ... not pictured are the half a dozen wooden china cupboards filled with figurines and Herend Porcelain [which I now know is a Hungarian source of pride] ... if anything, it just might be a little TOO bright [a point deduction] and some mood lighting might go a long way)

FOOD:           9/10 (not since we did our last thing in an Italian restaurant [and by "thing", I mean order enough to feed everyone on the family tree all at once] have we seen so much food on the table ... and rare is the time that I can't clean my plate, but I took almost half of my main meal home with me 'cause I was already so full of potato pancakes, rolls, soup, livers, etc., etc. ... of course, no matter how good everything was [and it was!], in my opinion, no place will be able to score perfectly in this category without carrying CocaCola products [hence the point deduction]) 

SERVICE:      9/10 (we're pretty sure that it was the son of the family that took our order ... and we're just as sure that it was the momma who brought the dishes from out of the kitchen as soon as they were ready [everything was served piping hot that was supposed to be] ... and things were fine until the end of the night, when we awkwardly found out that they closed at 8 and NOT 9 when they started to turn the lights out, and so the half hour we stayed in conversation with those in our party was actually long after they were all ready to go home ... and so I have to deduct a point that they didn't *say* anything about our staying past closing time -- which I would have thought would have been the proper course of action prior to turning off the lights)

BACON:         9/10 (seeing as how it wasn't disclosed exactly how the momma made everything taste so delicious, I'm figuring that there's more than a good chance that she was using some szalonna (Hungarian fatback bacon) in some of the sauces ... had anyone in our party ordered the calf's liver, we would have seen the one dish on the menu that included bacon ... but no one did [note that the garlic chicken and chicken paprikash that they *did* order are part of the photos below] ... all that said, I wouldn't have minded if the liver it had been with was that chicken liver appetizer [which explains the point deduction in this category])

BONUS:         6/10 (+3 for those portion sizes and all that authenticity [so much paprika!] and +3 for bundling dessert in with the meal)

TroyScore:  42 out of 50 -- aka 84, a B

Random Taste for Thursday 2/8/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the FIFTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Over Easy Cafe
Location:  Oakland Park (Wilton Manors)
Meal:  Brunch
Drink:  Orange Juice
Appetizer:  n/a
Main:  The Waffle Slam
1 Belgian Waffle, 2 Eggs (I chose scrambled), 2 Bacon, 2 Sausage
Side(s):  n/a
Dessert:  n/a
Server:   Michael
Website:  http://www.overeasy.me/home.html
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/The-Over-Easy-Cafe-76681947405/

How many times have I stepped foot inside the local UPS store to ship something somewhere?  Probably a dozen, since making the big move here back in 2014.  How many times did I notice that a few doors down in the same complex was a diner (and you *know* we love diners in this series)?  Zero.   But thanks to a google search on a Sunday when we woke up wanting brunch, 
we were able to find this place that's been around since 1995.  It advertises itself as being family owned and I have a sneaking suspicion that every single employee (from the greeter to the grill guy) might just be related.  Below is how this family fared in the Troy-score:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (sure it's small and cute and basic, with only a handful of booths and just over a dozen stools around a counter ... but that's exactly what you'd expect from a Florida strip mall eating establishment [*everything* down here is in a strip mall] ... they effectively use the old giant mirror trick to make it seem like it's bigger than it is ... and the sea decorations painted right on the wall were just the right amount of kitsch ... the problem comes in that it's so small, that the customers inadvertently get involved in the diner drama [see home-fries-gate below] or in the diner business [we got "trained" along with the new girl because we couldn't escape hearing that back and forth])

FOOD:           8/10 (I am happy to report that this diner had spreadable butter [frequent readers know that I have a pet peeve at breakfast/brunch when the butter pats are all but frozen] and that they trusted me with a whole bottle of syrup instead of a tiny carafe ... and while things didn't look all that amazing, they tasted just fine -- even those simple looking eggs -- although a point is still coming off the top because of the plain plain waffle that arrived [how's about a little dusting of powdered sugar or something? ... the first photo is how it landed on the table, and the second one is after I helped it be a little more camera-ready] ... a second point is also deducted because that plain plain waffle tasted like it might have sat in the iron a touch too long) 

SERVICE:      8/10 (the whole experience ended without issue, but it began a bit awkwardly due to home-fries-gate ... aka that time where we were told that they were out of home fries, and so we asked for alternatives, and then accidentally ordered home fries again, which was greeted with an exasperated sigh, an Anderson-Cooper-talks-to-Kelly-Anne-Conway style eye-roll and more attitude than was deserved for that "offense" -- only to find out later that they apparently were never out of home fries after all ... first impressions really really count -- so it's double the deduction)

BACON:         9/10 (if I only hadn't been in the mood for breakfast that day, then most surely I would have ordered the "inside out bacon" "cheddar burger" [quotes shown as printed in the menu], which was described thusly:  2/3 lb Burger Stuffed with Bacon & Cheddar and Topped with Bacon & Cheddar served on Toasted Challah Roll [caps shown as printed in the menu] ... that item alone shows a proper respect for the pig-candy and is almost worth all the points ... just one point is being deducted because that breakfast bacon could have been a little bigger/thicker/tastier)

BONUS:         7/10 (+3 for the menu option being bacon AND sausage instead of bacon OR sausage, +3 for what my tablemate ordered [picture below] of some southern style sausage gravy served over sausage and biscuits, and +1 for being a place to which we will return 'cause that "inside out bacon" "cheddar burger" is calling my name)

TroyScore:  41 out of 50 -- aka 82, a B

Random Taste for Thursday 2/1/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the FOURTH of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Ikea Restaurant
Location:  Sunrise
Meal:  Lunch
Drink:  New Nordic Fruit Water, Cola flavored
Appetizer:  Garlic Bread
Main:  Swedish Meatballs
Side(s):  Mashed Potatoes with Gravy and Mixed Vegetables
Dessert:  Almond Cake
Server:   Cafeteria Style
Website: http://www.ikea.com/us/en/store/sunrise/Food_Restaurant
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/IKEASunrise/

So many times we've wandered through the carefully constructed maze that is the Ikea experience, marveling at how much one can fit into such small living spaces, wishing we knew Swedish so we could interpret all of the names (or at least understand some of the stick figure style images) -- and yet never before (not back in Chicago from whence we came nor here in the SoFlo where we've been since early 2014) have we been tempted to partake of the items in the cafeteria.  Oh sure -- we've smelled a good thing or two as we passed by on each visit ... and you can't exactly miss the meatball signs scattered throughout the place -- but still we didn't stop.  That ended this week when we decided to cash in my "free birthday meal" email before it expired at the end of my birthday month (what can I say -- it pays to be "friends and family").  Keep on reading to see how it fared in the old Troy-score:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (hidden away in a corner of the building with great big windows that showed a view of a giant American flag [and the roof of the parking garage], the seating area offered a number of different sections to break up the crowds and was kept clean despite a high turnover ... and I have to be honest, one thought that crossed my mind as I sat there was that, in the zombie apocalypse, I would want to get my people to clear out the closest Ikea to set up camp there ... anyways -- the one point lost comes from the fact that the seats seemed a little small and weren't Americanized to handle our larger bodies)

FOOD:           7/10 (there were choices for chicken balls and veggie balls, but anyone who knows me already knows that I went for the meatiest of the meatballs from Sweden -- the traditional ones, which were perfectly sized to pop in your mouth whole and which were properly gravied for added flavor ... although I normally don't take gravy on my mashed, getting some on the classic scoop of instant potatoes was the right decision ... and that almond cake was very rich AND very delicious ... the problems though [each resulting in a point deduction] -- the garlic bread was "well done" on one side and barely done on the other, the lingonberries were missing from my plate and that new carbonated soda drink was all fizz in a cup that dissolved into a liquid in a very odd way)

SERVICE:      7/10 (it was literally a cafeteria set up ... wait in line, grab a tray, fill it up with goodies, get to the hot food line and make your choices and then pay your way out of the corral to pick a seat ... so in all, there were only brief interactions with the person who put the meat on your plate, the person who put your sides on your plate and the person who took your money ... in this scenario, the first one got it right, the second one got it all wrong [almost giving me the wrong plate of ... gasp ... veggie balls] and the third one made it better by wishing me a happy birthday as she scanned my email ... so 2/3 positive interactions leads mathematically to a score of 6.67 [rounded up to 7])

BACON:         5/10 (I didn't see bacon anywhere -- not even in the breakfast menu items ... but maybe there were some bits on the salads [there *were* lots of salads, even if I didn't select any] ... because I try to be culturally sensitive, I literally googled "do swedes eat bacon" and the interwebs say that they do -- although clearly they eat more fish than anything else ... so I'm going to give my "culturally sensitive score" of 5 in the hopes that some chief Ikean somewhere reads this and considers adding bacon balls to the ball list)

BONUS:         10/10 (+3 for the little girl who passed by our table at the end of the meal with her daddy, singing along to the "Let It Go" song on the speakers just as we were trying to figure out what tune it was, +3 for my tablemate's dish of chicken fingers and fries [pictured below] which showed up as an adult plate with big pieces of specially breaded chicken and fresh hot fries, +3 for starting the cafeteria line "dessert first", 'cause, you know, priorities and +1 for being a place to which we will return [not that we're running back ... but we will be Ikea-ing again sometime soon ... and we are "friends and family" after all])

TroyScore:  38 out of 50 -- aka 76, a C

Random Taste for Thursday 1/25/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the THIRD of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Giardino Gourmet Salads
Location:  (new to) Ft Lauderdale
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  Coca-Cola in a can
Appetizer:  Boccata Sandwiches
one Curry Turkey and one Wild Alaskan Salmon Capperi
Main:  My Way Salad
romaine base with broccoli, cucumber, shredded parm (?), double dose of bacon with a scoop of roasted chicken topped with country garlic dressing and herb parmesan croutons
Side(s):  n/a
Dessert:  n/a
Server:   Victor and the guys
Website: http://www.giardinosalads.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/giardinonorthftl/

Eating healthier is always a good thing -- and sometimes one gets a hankering for a salad on a hot day here in the FTL.  Funny thing -- before the big move down here when we were just vacationing in town, we actually went looking for a grocery store salad bar one afternoon and couldn't find one (and we didn't know the area well enough to find the Sweet Tomatoes on the outskirts of town).  Since then, Whole Foods expanded to include a section -- but now with a brand new location of an existing (mostly FL) chain, the area just got an even better option.  And when I say "brand new", I mean the official grand opening is still a week or two away!  For an accounting of the Troy-score, see below:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (clean ... bright ... gigantic food-porn style photos of everything on the menu ... a little bit of soft jazz playing on the sound system -- plus absolutely everything looked brand new -- and that's 'cause it literally was! [as referenced above] ... I have a hunch that a mathematician created the menu, because the amount of permutations of potential options is mind-blowing considering there are 10 bases with 42 toppings from which to choose and 16 possible addable scoops to be dressed 21 different ways with 7 flavors of croutons that could be put on top for extra crunch ... which leads me to my single point deduction 'cause all of those possible paths toward a gourmet salad made my brain hurt)

FOOD:           8/10 (you know how sometimes you just have to marvel at how those little Chinese take out boxes seem to be bottomless pits of never ending food? ... somehow these bowls of gourmet salads perform the same way ... the ones pictured are actually the piccolo size [a bit smaller than the basta] and halfway through the meal, it looked like the same amount was still there ... [by the way, the additional salad that is shown here is the country cobb] ... we did observe that different employees took different approaches to the portioning [one did level scoops of everything and one did overflowing scoops] so a point is lost for the inconsistency there and a second point comes off the total because the homemade croutons, while delicious, are simply too big to get on the fork WITH anything else)

SERVICE:      8/10 (it was a nice touch to offer a sample of the soup while the customer is deciding what to order and every subsequent interaction -- including carrying your tray out to your table for you -- came off as authentic and was executed with a smile ... the deductions come from having ordered shredded parm for my salad cheese of choice but being given cheddar instead and for the fact that clearly everyone is told to greet the customer as soon as they walk in the door ... the only problem with that is there were at least five folks working that night, and the greetings got a little jumbled and felt a little bit aggressive [hence the point deduction] ... maybe there can be just one designated greeter moving forward?)

BACON:         10/10 (here's how you get a perfect score on the bacon section ... you provide real pieces of bacon as a choice instead of processed bacon bits ... you let your customers pick bacon TWICE when listing the ingredients they want in the salad ... you let your customers even add a scoop of bacon as a SOUP topping [yes I said SOUP!] ... and you hire employees who are overheard saying "I loooove bacon" as they build the product ... and you do all of that under the auspices of a healthy eating place)

BONUS:         7/10 (+3 for those special bite size sandwiches on potato rolls -- which you should consider the next time you need any catering [something the place offers], +3 for some delicious salad dressing choices [creamy cheese dressing and guacamole dressing are both on the list of things to try next time] and, to that point, +1 for being a place to which we will return [but NOT on a Sunday, since that is the one day a week that they are closed])

TroyScore:  42 out of 50 -- aka 84, a B

Random Taste for Thursday 1/18/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the SECOND of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Stone Crab & Seafood Festival
Location:  Ft Lauderdale
Meal:  Lunch
Drink:  Coca-Cola bottle (my own)
Appetizer:  Jumbo Lump Crab Cake with Corn Salsa and Remoulade Sauce
Main:  Tuna Platter
Side(s):  Yellow Rice (with a surprise piece of sausage hanging out in the pile)
Dessert:  Shaved Ice
Server:   Grille 401 Las Olas, SeaShore Seafood and Tikiz (app, main and dessert respectively)
Website:  https://www.goriverwalk.com/greater-fort-lauderdale-events/stone-crab-seafood-festival
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/events/594444477345974/?active_tab=discussion

Another weekend ... another festival (dare I say ... 2018 just may be the year of the festival when it comes to this blog series).  This time, the shindig was held downtown right on the riverfront in a park that holds many an event year round ... and it was packed.  Like too many people packed.  Like long long lines packed.  Like one errant human away from a riot packed.  Luckily, no riots broke out and the humans mostly behaved themselves ... but it was so poorly organized (or else so overwhelmingly attended) that I *almost* ditched it after showing up and seeing the scene in favor of the chalk festival a few blocks away -- except, full disclosure, I had attended that first and it only had three sad food trucks next to a homeless encampment that seemed to reprise the Hoovervilles of the Great Depression.  For a full tally as to how this festival fared in the Troy-score (and managed to set an all time new low rating), see below:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (Esplanade Park, as a prominent feature on the Riverwalk, is a pleasant enough promenade most days for most things -- including other events we've attended there ... and despite the crowds, you still can't beat enjoying an outdoor festival in the middle of January right next to the beautiful water ... so long as you worked your way to the outer edges once you got your food, you could enjoy the scenery much better ... the one point deduction comes from the live music that was playing as it looked like they were two young girls who might have been made to perform against their will)

FOOD:           7/10 (although there's an underlying theme of disappointment in this post, I want to clearly state that THE highlight of the afternoon was, without a doubt or any hesitation on my part, that appetizer crab cake ... it was served fresh and hot with a nice crunch and that cold corn relish had a perfectly seasoned sauce that wasn't too kicky but still served to amplify each bite ... the points start to come off for the other parts of the meal -- a tuna steak, happily steaky and not flaky but that was barely warmed through and lacked any seasoning [-1], a lobster roll that looked delicious that I almost had from that same stand except they ran out serving the last one to someone just a few people in front of me in line [-1] and a self-serve shaved ice food truck with a sign that promised my very own gum ball at the bottom of my dessert that simply wasn't there [-1])

SERVICE:      3/10 (let's face it -- it was a tangled throng of people in lines, lines and more lines, with no guidance from any festival planners... so it seems only fair to deduct one point for each ten minute interval I spent patiently waiting to get a little closer to a vendor and its wares [for those of you who do not want to do the math, that was a full hour I spent waiting between two lines] plus a deduction for a bit of a bait and switch with the marketing saying there would be dishes for $5 implying a tasting opportunity that simply wasn't the case universally with all vendors)

BACON:         5/10 (I'm pretty sure I saw some bacon at the drunken oyster stand [a place which I begrudgingly had to pass on due to the aforementioned poor line management] ... but I saw it nowhere else ... with the fact that bacon and seafood aren't a typical pairing [although they *should* be], we'll award half the points in this category out of sensitivity to the cuisine)

BONUS:         9/10 (+3 for the sheer size of that main dish though, even if it did need some extra seasoning, +3 for the stone crabs [at just one stand] which looked delicious on other people's plates but were too expensive for my budget [$28 for two "knuckles"] and +3 for that crab cake appetizer dish which really did make my experience that day worth all the first world struggles of the afternoon)

TroyScore:  33 out of 50 -- aka 66, a D

Random Taste for Thursday 1/11/18

Here we go again for the 3rd year ... a brand new set of tastes for 2018 ...

 here's the FIRST of FIFTY tastes of FLORIDA 

(coming to you on sequential Thursdays.  All.  Year.  Long.)!

Establishment:  Chinese Lantern Festival
Location:  Lauderhill
Meal:  Dinner
Drink:  Coca-Cola bottle
Appetizer:  Egg Roll
Main:  Combo Platter
(chicken on a stick served with noodles and shrimp rice)
Side(s):  n/a
Dessert:  Funnel Cake
Server:   Chan (from Chan's Chicken on a Stick!)
Website:  https://www.chineselanternfestival.com/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/events/1406907156054273/

In the land of SoFlo, where it's pretty much always summer, there's *almost* always an opportunity to go find a festival.  Tonight, as per the FB event description, our destination was "a new and spectacular family friendly event ... the Chinese Lantern Festival produced by Hanart Culture ... a totally immersive experience among Chinese culture, multi-hued 'The Wild' animal lantern displays, live entertainment, authentic Chinese food, hand-made gifts by Chinese craftspeople, and more."  As for how the first (but not the last) festival of the year fared in the Troy-score category, see below:

AMBIANCE:   9/10 (to be fair, the festival is mostly about the festival and not exactly a "foodie" event ... but you can't quite beat eating at a picnic table in a pavilion where an authentic ancient Chinese shadow puppet show is being performed nearby ... this, after ambling around the lake on a path filled with the brightest of lit-up cloth covered wire creatures [the last picture below doesn't quite capture the beauty but might give a sense of the scope of it] ... the point lost is because of the cost of the activity, just a little too expensive for what was experienced [thankfully, Groupon helped with that])

FOOD:           7/10 (as you can hopefully see from the main photo, this wasn't some kebob of chicken on that stick -- it was a great big piece of Chinese chicken fresh off the grill with a good charred taste to compliment the light sauce ... the noodles were super saucy [although it reminded me vaguely of a lighter Thai peanut sauce] and the vegetables mixed in were plump and juicy ... that being said, there is a point lost for the shrimp that were more texture than flavor when it came to the rice, another point lost for excessive noodle juice that mixed in with everything else on the plate and a final point lost for a funnel cake that should have stayed in the fryer for another minute or two)

SERVICE:      5/10 (since it was a festival, there wasn't exactly much interaction with employees at either stand ... and that's understandable ... but what wasn't understandable was the fact that half of the vendors were a no-show, as seen in the second to last photo in this set ... so since we only had half the choices from which to select a meal, we can only provide half the points in this category)

BACON:         5/10 (with a limited menu [as explained] plus the fact that bacon isn't necessarily a typical ingredient in Chinese cuisine, we'll award half the points solely out of cultural sensitivities [although, let me tell you, I could be a millionaire if I could figure out how to make some bacon flavored funnel cake batter ...])

BONUS:         9/10 (+3 for an egg roll that was not overstuffed with cabbage and therefore tasted great [and I normally don't eat them], +3 for the all the beautiful displays and the artistic performances that were at the core of the festival in the first place and +3 for offering funnel cakes in January)

TroyScore:  35 out of 50 -- aka 70, a C