Category Archives: Restaurant Row

March 7, 2013 · 10:03 pm

Greek Flame Taverna

I’ve been so tired all week. I’m still exhausted from my class weekend last week, and I’m quickly losing all motivation to do anything. School is stressing me out, and I feel like I have no free time. This has been leading me to very sporadic gym schedules. In summary, I blame grad school for making me fat. [end complaining]

So, as a way to motivate myself out of bed and out of the textbooks that are consuming my life, I signed up for Orlando’s Corporate 5k today.

IOA Corporate 5K

I’ve never run a race before, and it’s been quite some time since I’ve run three miles. I hear there’s a lot of walkers, so hopefully that will take some pressure off. However, nothing motivates me more than the threat of looking like a chump in front of coworkers. The race is in a month….I’m really hoping to motivate myself to put on running shoes within that time period. There’s no time like now when I’m at my lowest physical capabilities and at rock bottom in terms of athleticism to sign up for a race.

In contributing-to-my-expanding-waistline news, Kevin and I tried a new restaurant with some friends a couple weeks ago: Greek Flame Taverna on Restaurant Row in the Dr. Phillips area. They were recently voted a top Greek restaurant in Orlando, and they lived up the hype. We went for dinner, so the menu was fancier, but they do offer sandwiches and more casual Greek fare as well.

We started with an order of mussels cooked in tomato and wine sauce topped with feta cheese.

Greek Flame Taverna-Mussels Special

The mussels were delicious and very flavorful. I loved the broth they were swimming in. For my main entree, I ordered baked shrimp and calamari, which came in a spicy broth.

Greek Flame Taverna-Shrimp and Calamari

The spicy kick warmed the back of my throat, and I loved the freshness from big chunks of garlic. This was not a dish for a weak palette. The flavors were very strong, and I really enjoyed them. It came with a side of Greek rice, which helped to mellow out the flavors.

Greek Flame Taverna-Greek Rice

Kevin ordered the rack of lamb with a side of Greek fries. The lamb was cooked perfectly and was incredibly succulent.

Greek Flame Taverna-Rack of Lamb

Greek Flame Taverna-French Fries

The wait staff was extremely friendly, and the atmosphere was a lot more elegant than a lot of Greek restaurants. I really enjoyed our evening there.

Any tips for a first-time racer? How do you motivate yourself?

2 Comments

Filed under Fitness, Greek, Health, Restaurant Row

January 6, 2013 · 8:57 pm

Ending the Holidays

Going back to work last week after the holidays was rough! I don’t think my brain was fully functional at any point during the workweek. Luckily, I made it to both the gym and the weekend, so overall I consider the week a success. Today we took down our Christmas decorations, officially bringing an end to the Christmas season.

Right before everyone was off for Christmas, my department at work partook in our own holiday celebration. As with every social activity at my office, our team’s celebration revolved around food. We started out with lunch at Bravo Italian Kitchen on Restaurant Row. Of course our meal started with some delicious bread, then we were given an option between soup or salad and our choice of entree.

I started with the Italian Wedding Soup, which had meatballs and spinach in a savory chicken broth. The soup was very light and packed a lot of flavor.

Bravo-Italian Wedding Soup

I think I may need to attempt a recipe for this soon. I loved the little meatballs.

For my entree, I ordered Mama’s Lasagna Bolognese. The description promised a giant portion, so naturally, I was pretty excited.

Bravo-Mama's Lasagna Bolognese

The description did not lie. I only managed to get through about half of the dish. The lasagna had layers of noodles with meat sauce and then was topped with alfredo sauce. The alfredo sauce added a nice richness, but overall I found the dish to be too salty. When I went to eat my leftovers the next day, the dish tasted even saltier. The concept was delicious, but there was just too much salt added.

Luckily, dessert came next. They gave our group multiple dessert platters that each had bread pudding, tiramisu and molten chocolate cake.

Bravo-Desserts

They were all delicious, but my favorite was the bread pudding. Lunch was so fun, and our celebration had only just began. Next we headed to the next complex over to Farris & Foster’s, a chocolate shop, to learn how to make our own chocolate.

Farris and Fosters

We each got to make a pound of whatever types of chocolate we chose. We could use chocolate molds, make chocolates filled with any variety of fillings or send items through a chocolate conveyor belt to be drenched in chocolate.

Farris and Fosters 2

The session was a lot of fun. My chocolatier skills leave much to be desired, but in the end, everything tasted great.

Group

Our team outing was such a fun way to kick off the holiday season. I just can’t believe it’s now ending!

What is your favorite type of chocolate? I love dark chocolate paired with something salty.

5 Comments

Filed under Dessert, Italian, Restaurant Row, Sand Lake

December 20, 2012 · 8:12 pm

J. Alexander’s

Don’t forget to enter both my Tuttorosso and Lone Star Steakhouse giveaways. I’ll pick three winners this weekend!

The other day Kevin and I were in the restaurant row area and decided to grab lunch with Kevin’s step mom at J. Alexander’s. They are a contemporary American restaurant chain with locations scattered across the country. They have a pretty similar menu to our beloved Hillstone. I think I actually may have been craving Hillstone because I ordered pretty much my standard go-tos that I would get there. To start, we ordered grilled artichokes, drawing the first Hillstone comparison.

J Alexanders-Grilled Artichokes

The grilled artichokes at J. Alexander weren’t as large as the ones at Hillstone nor were they as flavorful, but they were still incredibly tasty. I really liked the salty seasoning they put on the artichokes.

I ordered the veggie burger, and once again, it just wasn’t Hillstone. For my side, I ordered mac and cheese.

J Alexanders-Veggie Burger

The burger was good, but in my opinion, Hillstone just has the best veggie burgers. The mac and cheese was wonderful. It had bits of onion in it, different cheeses (not your typical cheddar) and the top was nice and crunchy from being baked. I love the pieces of dried out pasta, like the edge of lasagna. I could have probably eaten two ramekins of mac and cheese.

Kevin ordered chicken tenders, and Kevin’s step mom ordered a cheeseburger.

J Alexanders-Chicken Fingers

J Alexanders-Cheeseburger

J. Alexander’s seems to really know what they’re doing with their sides. Their fries are really good, and I’ve also had their loaded baked potato before (delicious). Even though I was feeling the Hillstone vibe, it really is a good restaurant in its own right. The service is good, and it’s great for a classier lunch.

Tomorrow is my last day of work until the new year. I’m excited to launch into my first Christmas as a married woman. I’m still in awe that it’s only five days away. Where did the year go?

What is your favorite type of mac and cheese? My sister makes a great mac and cheese with fontina, gruyere, blue cheese and bacon. It’s heavenly.

2 Comments

Filed under American, Lunch, Restaurant Row, West Orlando

May 14, 2011 · 6:34 pm

Amura

Friday was a very special day because it was Kevin’s oldest brother’s birthday! Happy birthday Nick!

Nick and I share a love for sushi, so of course I was excited at the opportunity to go out for sushi despite the fact that we were at Dragonfly the night before. Sushi two nights in a row is how I should live my life more often.

To change it up, we went to Amura on Sand Lake. I started out by sipping on a berry martini, which tasted a lot like red Hawaiian punch. I was in the mood for something sweet, and this did not disappoint.

We started out with the honey beef short ribs and lettuce wraps. The honey beef short ribs were amazing. The sauce was sweet and coated the ribs nicely. The lettuce wraps had a nice crunch.

For our main entrees, Kevin ordered the yakisoba noodles, which were tossed in a brown stir fry sauce with chicken and vegetables. I snuck multiple bites. The noodles were cooked perfectly and were just thick enough to hold up to the sauce.

Nick, our friend Bryan and I shared an assortment of sushi rolls. We ordered the Rolls Roys roll, which I fell in love with during my first visit to Amura back when it first opened in Sanford. The downtown location doesn’t serve this roll, so I try to make a point to order it whenever I can. It has kani, escolar, tempura crunch and masago stacked in square towers with no seaweed. Its mixed and topped with a sweet sauce, and it just melts in your mouth.

We also order the California roll with real crab meat, a shrimp tempura roll and the Ginseng Stamina roll, which was a spicy tuna roll with salmon and cream cheese.

Although Amura is a little pricey, as are most of the sushi restaurants in that area, each roll does have a good amount pieces, so you always leave full.

After dinner, we topped off the evening by heading across the street to World of Beer to continue Nick’s birthday celebration.

Dragonfly

I’ve been excited about Dragonfly opening in Orlando since I first heard murmurings that it may be coming. The restaurant originated in Gainesville, where I first fell in love with it. Once I moved back to Orlando, I had my choice of great sushi restaurants, but Dragonfly just always held a special place in my heart.

We finally tried it out with another couple, and it lived up to all the expectation and nostalgia. Being off Sand Lake Road with all of Restaurant Row, it definitely catered to a different crowd than the one in Gainesville, which had mostly college students.

I started out with a lychee martini, which was incredibly smooth and just got sweeter as you sipped.

I was so excited when the food arrived that I didn’t even remember to take photos. So please excuse the pictures of half eaten plates.

Kevin ordered beef and chicken off the Robata Grill menu, which featured skewers of your choice. They put three different dipping sauces on the table: orange yuzu, spicy miso and tare.

I ordered a Gator Roll and The Bomb roll and also had a nibble of our friend’s Dragonfly Roll. The Gator Roll had tuna, salmon, cream cheese, avocado and roe. The Bomb roll, my favorite of the night, had tuna, tempura shrimp, snow crab delight, avocado, tempura flakes, spicy sauce and eel sauce. The Dragonfly roll, their signature roll, had tuna, albacore and grouper, is baked with spicy sauce then topped with eel sauce. It was warm and creamy.

When you eat the sushi, you can taste the high quality of ingredients and balance of flavors and textures. Nothing is too overpowering and everything just compliments each other.

A couple rounds of sake also accompanied the meal. It was a truly delicious evening, and I’m so glad that Dragonfly has come to Orlando.

Category Archives: Restaurant Row

Greek Flame Taverna

Ending the Holidays

J. Alexander’s

Amura

Dragonfly

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