A Food Adventure in Tampa Bay

I spent the last couple of days in the Tampa Bay area, managing to travel through seven (I think it was seven) counties in the process. I ate a TON, and most of it was amazing. I had bought a Groupon for The Brunchery in Tampa, so I headed there first. I've got to be honest, after reading all of the good reviews The Brunchery had online, I was a little disappointed. In fact, had I not had the Groupon, I would've been very disappointed. I ordered the lox omelet, which came with home fries and toast, and an iced tea. I'm wondering if maybe their sweet breakfast items are better than their savory ones, as those were the ones most touted online. Nothing I ate was bad, and the home fries were actually pretty good, but the omelet, which was advertised as being full of "lox, onions, tomatoes, and cream cheese," had what appeared to be just salmon inside, not actual thinly sliced smoked salmon (lox!!). Other than that, though, it wasn't bad. I enjoyed my food, and I left full, I just did not get as high a quality experience as I'd expected.

Oh! While this isn't exactly a food-eating adventure, it is still worth sharing. While stopping for Starbucks on my travels, my supreme nose for a bargain (have I mentioned I'm Jewish? Ohhhh stereotypes!) sniffed out an excellent find. There was a gourmet supermarket and deli that was open for its very last day. That made me sad, as once I stepped inside it looked like an amazing place for out of the ordinary cooking finds. However, because it was their last day, they were running a special "we need to get rid of everything" sale. A plastic shopping bag could be filled with products for $10, and a shopping basket for $30. If it hadn't been the last hour of the last day, I could have easily filled a shopping basket or two. However, the pickings were a bit slim, so I stuck with one bag. Boy, though, did we manage to cram a lot in one shopping bag! I can't wait to start looking for recipes to use the random things I purchased (from pure pink Himalayan garlic salt to Java Rub to rose water to mirin); I'd say there was at least $70 worth of stuff in there.

The First Official Food Truck Adventure

I made my first impromptu food truck trip a couple of weeks ago, stopping at a latin truck for a couple of arepas before getting Twistee Treat for dessert. The food was so good, and so exceeded my expectations, that I was instantly hooked on Orlando food trucks and seriously wanting more.

Hence, I spent the next day doing some searching on various food trucks in the Orlando area and boy was I surprised at how popular and diverse they seem to be! After finding the Orlando Food Truck Map, I knew I had to start trying them all. Which, of course, finally brings us to tonight, the very first OFFICIAL FOOD TRUCK ADVENTURRRRREEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!

I had planned to go to the Food Pod on Wednesday night at Firestone Live, but ended up not making it out, so tonight was the first night, and of course the trucks present at the Food Pod were foremost in my mind. I'm not sure why, but the Korean BBQ Taco Box was at the top of my list. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Korean food, and I love tacos. Barbeque is hit or miss for me, but Korean barbeque is an entirely different ballgame and I'm aware of that. However, I just think it was the combination of foods that tickled my mind and made me want to try it SO badly. They closed at 9, though, whereas the other trucks I was considering for tonight didn't even open until at least 10pm. I didn't care; I was a girl on a mission. I made it to the big yellow truck by 8:30 and didn't have to wait in line. I promptly ordered the beef taco box, and stood waiting while they made it up fresh for me. For just under $6, I got a HUGE box of food with amazing smells emanating from it. With my beef taco box in my passenger seat, I quickly zipped through the Starbucks drive thru for iced coffee and headed up Orange Avenue to meet my friend. We had about an hour to kill at that point before the other trucks started opening up, so we dove into the taco box.

The beef taco box consisted of (obviously) a pretty large-sized taco (filled with shredded barbeque beef, lettuce, and some sort of orange saucy deliciousness), two pieces of breaded fried tofu (tofu nuggets! Delish!), two pieces of "fried rolls" as they are called on the website (I have no idea what was in them, but also...SO GOOD), ginger salad, and a chicken wing with spicy sauce. SIX DOLLARS, PEOPLE. So worth it. We quickly devoured the entire thing and contemplated our next move before deciding to do a quick drive around the Orange Ave/Washington St. area to assess our options and decide how much more food our stomachs could hold. After seeing the night's menu for Big Wheel Provisions, we knew that was a must-stop, and even though we located the Treehouse Truck and El Arepaso de Orlando and knew that the Vegan Hot Dog Cart was nearby, we decided just Big Wheel would be enough for tonight. Besides, we had to save something for another night!