2nd Annual Holiday Hop

We did another actual Restaurant Hop. It has become a Christmas tradition with Megan and I, this year we included our boys too, Dave and Chris joined us. We chose to hop along Baldwin Park's main street this year, so on December 23rd we wandered along New Broad St.

Things were a bit interesting with 4 people, we all got a little less, but we could afford to try more places this time, so that was cool. You should know that Megan and I prefer to eat Vegetarian type of cuisine, no Poultry, Pork or Beef where as Chris and Dave are meat lovers.

Just read the posts below to hear about our experience at each place.

Colibri Mexican Cuisine

Name: Colibri Mexican Cuisine
Location: Baldwin Park, FL
Meal: Main Course

Server: Rose
History: The third stop on our restaurant hop
Menu: Typical, unoriginal, priced as expected.
Food: The complimentary chips and salsa were yummy, the salsa was spicy which we liked. We ordered Chicken Fajitas and a Fiesta Combination with an Enchilada, Burrito and Quesadilla. They were all good and it was a lot of food, but there wasn't anything original or exciting about them. The Combo Platter was plenty for two to split and wind up comfortably full.
Atmosphere: Again, nothing original. A typical type of place with a nice view of the lake, they had outdoor seating which it was too cold to use, but seemed like it would be great when nice out.
Cost: $35
Conclusion: In line wih the rest of our evening we found this place to be typical for a Mexican joint, maybe a bit on the more affordable side. 3 out of 5 Stars.

Grouper & More

Name: Grouper & More
Location: Baldwin Park, FL
Meal: Salad & Appetizers

Server: Lauren
History: This was the second stop on our restaurant hop.
Menu: The menu was typical seafood fair, however we decided that it was typical of a beachside menu, without the fresh quality but with higher prices.
Food: We ordered a Chicken Ceasar Salad as well as Fried Conch Fritters and Fried Zuccini. They were out of Zuccini so they gave us Hushpuppies for free. The food was all decent for fried seafood dishes, they both came with a Chipotle Ranch Dipping Sauce which was nice. The salad was a typical ceasar salad with a large portion of chicken on top.
Atmosphere: The atmosphere was very disappointing, it was that of a typical strip mall restaurant, high ceilings, nondescript furnishings, everything was very generic. Considering the prices of the food, we would have expected more.
Cost: $20 (the $6 hushpuppies were free so no included in this cost)
Conclusion: We weren't impressed. The overall agreement is that it was not original and overpriced. 2.5 out of 5 Stars.

Jack's Steak House

Name: Jack's Steak House
Location: Baldwin Park, FL
Meal: Appetizers

Server: Blake
History: This was the first stop on our 2nd Annual Hop
Menu: You can actually check out their menu online as well as order online by going to their website. The selection was diverse and yummy sounding, on the higher end of the price scale, but not unfair for the quality of food.
Food: We settled on the Lobster Macaroni and Macadamia encrusted Brie. Both were excellent.

The lobster pasta could have been an entre for Megan or I, so the serving size was great, though it was served room temperature, almost cold, which we though odd. The sauce was almost like a lobster bisque, there were large peices of lobster in it as well which was nice.

The Brie was just delightful, light, sweet and salty. It was served with crackers and fruit which we made good use of.
Atmosphere: The interior is small and there is a large bar, yet it still manages be have a classy and warm vibe. It was chilly outside but we imagined the outdoor seating would have been quite nice as well. It definitely has date night potential.
Cost: $25
Conclusion: Overall, very nice. We would all like to return soon. 4 out of 5 Stars.

Notes: Jack's is only open for dinner and Sunday Brunch, they are located on the square with the gazeebo next to Publix.

The First Hop

I grew up in College Park where the main strip is Edgewater Drive. My Best Bud Megan too has spent most of her life living near this strip. Edgewater seems to have an endless stream of shops and restaurants opening and closing, though over the past couple of years the movements seems to have settled. It recently dawned on Megan and I that we haven't eaten at most of the places along the strip in our own 'hood. As our Christmas gifts to each other, Megan and I decided to do somthing new. We went Restaurant Hopping down the strip. We started around 7pm with the plan to have a four or five course meal, stopping at a new restaurant for each course. Groovy idea huh? We originally joked about pretending to be food critics in order to lessen the blow to the servers that we weren't ordering much. We went so far as to joke about bringing pens and paper and creating alter egos for ourselves. In the end however we went as our boring old selves. The funny part is that in the end, we didn't need to falsify the facts to get great service and have a blast.

Click on the restaurant names to read our review: Taste, Harmoni, Julianna's and K.

Megan and I always have a good time, no matter what we're doing. But this night was an especially memorable event, at least for me. I'd love to go back and try all of the places again to see how they rate the second time around.

Taste

First Course - Appetizers
Location - Taste
Server - Lisa
Ordered - Herbed Goat Cheese Spread with Crackers & Ahi Tuna Tartar
History - Taste has been in College Park for years so we were both really looking forward to trying it out. The interior was nice, but while we weren't shunned, we weren't made to feel especially welcomed. Taste serves tappas (mini dishes) so we figured it would be the perfect place for appetizers and because the menu is set up for it we decided not to tell the server about our plans to hop around.
Menu - After looking over the menu we weren't overly impressed with their creativity. We felt like most of the combinations offered were typical and actually had trouble finding things we really wanted to try. In the end we settled on two dishes.
Food - Both dishes lived up to the restaurant's name and were tastey, but we felt they didn't live up to our expectations. The goat cheese was creamy but a bit bland and there wasn't enough to go around to the small handful of crackers we received. The Tartar was decent but again, not a very large portion and rather bland. In the end we did tell the server about our hopping and she mentioned Julianna's down the street had nice cooks...hmmm, we were hoping for good food but we'll see.
Total Cost - $19
Conclusion - 2.5 Stars

Harmoni

Second Course - Salad
Location - Harmoni Bistro
Server - Kelly
Ordered - Spring Mix Salad with almonds, goat cheese, manderine oranges topped with tahini, honey and orange juice dressing
History - Harmoni is a bit controversial around College Park. You see it sits on the ground level of a new condoplex that was recently built right on the main strip in the small quaint College Park district. The condos are large, imposing and required the destruction of some neat old buildings. For this reason the locals have been a bit hesitant to explore. Meg and I decided to check it out and were extremely imperssed. There is a market adjacent that provides and ecclectic and fun selection of food and affordable wines. The Bistro had a really nice vibe with a high ceiling and gorgeous stained wood beams exposed. The somehow managed to keep in intimate and not too loud though. In trying to decribe the atmosphere we could only come up with 'The new College Park' which should be taken as a huge compliment.
Menu - The menu was full of delectible choices. In fact we had to remind ourselves that we were there for salad and even then we had to really work to narrow it down to one. We told the server up front that we were hopping and she was very excited for us and even offered to split our dish in two.
Food - The salad was perfect. The goat cheese nice and fresh, the salad dressing really made the whole thing work though. So creamy and sweet. We found ourselves developing a whole menu around the salad dressing alone, pizza, ahi tuna, yogurt popsicles...yum! We told our sever of our addiction to the dressing and she returned with two take home tubs of the dressing all bagged up for us - free of charge. I was able to make five more salads with my dressing alone.
Total Cost - $10
Conclusion - 5 Stars

Julianna's

Third Course - Entree
Location - Julianna's
Server - Mike
Ordered - Shrimp, spinach and three cheese tortellini in a portofino sauce
History - Julianna's used to be a tea room and neither of us had paid it much attention until it was commended at both Taste and Harmoni. The atmosphere was cozy though our server was awkward and lacked personality.
Menu -We struggled with our choice to have our entree at Julianna's because of their lack of vegetarian friendly dishes. We found a few options though and narrowed it down to one. We told the server of our evening of hopping and while he seemed a bit miffed he did split our dish into two plates without our asking.
Food - While they made our pasta we received compimentary bread and hummus which suprised us. The hummus was tastey though we agreed probably best in small portions due to the heavy garlic. We're sad to say that we really weren't impressed with our main dish. For starters the portion was very small for an $18 dish. We each received three shrimp and less than ten small tortellini. We agreed that the tortellini tasted like it could easily have been the kind you can get frozen in bulk at Costco. The saving grace was that the owner came out as we finished our dish to ask how his place compared to the rest of our hops. We were honest and told him that the salad was the best so far. He proclaimed "ahh, that is because you didn't have my salad dressing! I will bring you a sample of my home made dressing." And he did. I tried it later and again, wasn't too impressed - sorry :( We do want to give this one another chance though. Total Cost - $22
Conclusion - 2 Stars

K

Fourth Course - Dessert and Drinks
Location - K
Server - TJ
Ordered - Apple Pi a'la mode, Lava Cake & Alliance Australian Shiraz '05
History - Megan had heard of K before and had tried their sister restaurant, Nonna before. There have been many eateries located on the corner where K now sits, all of which I had found to be over priced and unimpressive so I was a hard sell from the start. We knew though going in that K was going to be pricey, Nonna is a bit cheaper and seems to be where the owner experiements on ideas for K.
Menu - The dessert selection was actually very tempting. A nice mix of fruit, excellent chocolates and other various sweets. We followed the servers recommendation though and went with a classic and of course chocolate. We briefly browsed the rest of the menu and both saw several things we would like to be able to afford to try.
Food - The applie pit was yummy, not too many apple chunks, lots of gooeyness. Though we agreed the chef was a bit heavy on the crust to filling ratio. The lava cake was the real gem though. Chocolate cake with a gooey hot sauce center, served with raspberries and mint it was irresistable. We agreed it was a close contender with my Mom's brownie pudding. We also ordered a glass of Shiraz (what girl can have chocolate without some red wine!?)
Total Cost - $31
Conclusion - 4 Stars