CitySurfing Orlando

If you’re like me and you’ve been waiting for a west side location to all of these food truck gatherings, you’ll be happy to know that it looks like Dr. Phillips will be added to the list by the end of the month.

The DailyCity.com is organizing one that will be held at the Jewish Community Center (JCC) parking lot starting August 31, 2011, and then every Wednesday after that. The event will run from 4:30pm to 9pm.

The initial Dr. Phillips Food Truck Pod so far has six trucks lined up: Bigwheel Provisions, Treehouse Truck, The Crooked Spoon, Korean BBQ Taco Box, WInter Park Fish Co and the Yum Yum Cupcake Truck.

The JCC is located at 11184 S. Apopka-Vineland Rd, about a mile up the road from the intersection of Palm Parkway and Apopka-Vineland, by Walt Disney World.

So, if you live on the west or southwest side of Orlando and have been wanting to check out some of Orlando’s food trucks, this makes it a lot easier.

Tucked away in a corner of Phillips Crossing (where Whole Foods Market is located) in Dr. Phillips is a new-ish eatery that serves up tasty Tex-Mex, relatively fast, at prices that won’t give you sticker shock.

That place is Lime’s Mexican Grill and both times I’ve visited, I’ve enjoyed my meal.

While Lime’s is a sit-down eatery, it follows more of a cantina-style way of ordering. You line up at the register, order from the menu, pay, and then within 10 or 15 minutes, they bring out your order to your table.

I had the queso burrito with chicken ($7.99), which was a two-hand sized item stuffed with grilled chicken, beans, rice, jalapenos and melted queso cheese. You can also have it with ground seasoned beef or for $1.50 more, grilled steak. My roommate had the steak version, and we both enjoyed the burritos. My other friend, Carol, had the tortilla soup ($3.99), which had a tomato-based broth, and declared it one of the best versions of the soup she’s had. She also had a single ground beef taco ($3), which she enjoyed.

One thing I really liked about Lime’s Mexican Grill was the hot sauce bar, which had at least 30 bottles of hot sauce, from sweet and mild to peel the lining off the roof of your mouth hot. The restaurant also has four flavors of its own brand of hot sauce. I particularly enjoyed the garlic-habanero one.

The second is the salsa bar. Again, offerings included both mild and hot flavors, as well as a black bean & corn version and a pico de gallo. Since all of our dishes were served with chips, we had a chance to try most of the salsas, and a good deal of the hot sauces.

We decided to forgo alcoholic drinks, but they do have frozen margaritas (regular flavor) and frozen sangria, along with beer and mini-bottles of wine. I should also mention they do have a Monday through Friday happy hour, from 4pm-7pm, where beer and the frozen drinks are discounted between $2.50 to $4.

Speaking of discounts, be sure to check in on Foursquare, as there are sometimes dining deals when ordering.

So far, the only thing I haven’t liked is the seating. There are a few booths, but most of the interior seating is bar tables with stools that I have to climb up into, due the fact I have short legs. There are some regular restaurant tables, but they’re mostly outside.

Other than that, I enjoyed eating here and would do so again. Check it out if you’re in the neighborhood.

Seems that Louisiana is slowly invading Orlando, at least in the culinary world. Recent openings of eateries like Tibby’s New Orleans Kitchen (from the Tijuana Flats people) in Winter Park and Mojo Cajun Bar and Grill downtown have been a big hit with folks wanting some Cajun cooking.

Now the southwest side of Orlando will get a little of that cuisine when Hot N Juicy Crawfish opens at 7572 W. Sand Lake Road in Dr. Phillips Restaurant Row area (near the the intersections of Sand Lake Rd and Dr. Phillips Blvd).

Hot N Juicy Crawfish’s signature menu items include blue oysters, an assortment of crab, shrimp and their namesake dish—fresh Cajun-style crawfish. These seafood items are then prepared with your choice of seasonings to your preferred spice level. The menu also includes sides like corn, potatoes, sweet potato fries and rolls.

The restaurant was recently featured on the Travel Channel’s ‘Man vs Food’ series, where Hot N Juicy trainer Noemy Avalos teaches host Adam Richman the right way to eat their signature crawfish, served on a bag to keep it hot and juicy down to its last bite.

Orlando will be the fourth location for the company, which also has two Las Vegas locations and one in Washington, D.C. It is set to open sometime this month (June 2011).

For more information, check out the Hot N Juicy Crawfish website.

I was flipping through my Facebook feed and a saw a mention of a new burger joint in Dr. Phillips “restaurant row” (the area around the intersection of Dr. Phillips Blvd and Sand Lake Rd). Twisted Burger was the name and the Facebook comments were overwhelmingly positive.

The next day, my roommate and I swung by for a late afternoon lunch.

|: The Twisted Burger

The place was empty when we arrived, but we put that down to the fact that it was new. It did get busier as we finished eating – but I’m getting ahead of myself.

Twisted Burger is part counter service in that you order at the registers, but then they deliver the food to your table.

I ordered the Triple B Burger ($5.99), a 1/3 lb burger topped with bacon, pepperjack cheese, BBQ sauce, chopped red onions, tomato, lettuce and pickles. Rhonda went with the Twisted Burger ($5.99), a 1/2 lb burger with cheddar cheese, chopped red onions, tomato, lettuce, pickles, Twisted Sauce, mayo and mustard.

One thing that stood out about the burgers is that the patties are actually a blend of meat – seasoned burger, brisket and short-rib. The resulting taste was in the neighborhood of a really good steakburger; hearty and different, but still a burger texture.

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Back on August 19, 2009, the nationally-known Pinkberry frozen yogurt chain opened their first Orlando location in Dr.Phillips.

We were there to cover the grand opening, and I can vouch that every flavor I’ve tried has been yummy.

Now they’re spreading their fro-yo love to the Orlando Premium Outlets – International Drive (formerly Prime Outlets) at the northern end of I-Drive by Universal.

The new location is set to open April 1, 2011. In the meantime, you can follow them on Twitter @PinkberryFla.

And of course, still enjoy delicious Pinkberry at The Marketplace at Dr. Phillips (corner of Dr. Phillips Blvd and Sand Lake Dr).