After a long wait, here is part two of my trip to Florida. If I remember correctly, we left off on the smushed treats from Versailles Bakery. Luckily, this doesn't happen again in this post. But, without further ado, here is the rest of my trip.
The morning after the smushed desserts incident, we had to wake up early to head back to John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. We had scheduled a snorkeling tour, and we had to get there at 9 o'clock. Once there, we got our flippers and wet suits, which came in clutch later. Although they were stinky, they kept us warm in the cold water. After getting our gear, all we had to do was wait for the departure time. Once the time came, the boat left quickly from the dock and we arrived at the reef in half an hour. Right after getting off the boat, we were surrounded by fish. They came in all sizes and colors, and some were very funny looking. There was one fish I saw which was blue, but had the teeth of a rabbit. But, the coolest thing I saw there was probably a barracuda. It was long and shiny, and its mouth was wide open so you could see its teeth. When we finished snorkeling, the cold really hit. To keep warm, I had to keep the wet suit on. Soon after, we began our return to the visitor center, but were surprised by a group of guests. It was a pod of dolphins! The captain cut the engines, and we just watched them for a while. After 10ish minutes, we left the dolphins to be. When we arrived back, it was approaching 1, so we headed out for lunch to the Fish House.
When we entered the restaurant, the vibe changed in a good way. The inside was ocean themed, and it was very nice touch. The restaurant also had a seafood counter, which showed me that the fish was fresh. We quickly sat down and ordered our food. We got the cold appetizer platter, blackened mahi, and fish and chips. The food came out quickly and it was piping hot. For myself, I ordered the sampler which came with their smoked fish dip, shrimp ceviche, and smoked fish dip. All of this was served with tortilla chips. Now let me tell you up front, this was absolutely delicious. Both of the smoked fish had a smoky flavor which did not overpower. You could still taste the delicate taste of the fish, and it somehow became even better when dipped into the mustard sauce. The ceviche was also great, as the shrimp had a nice briny and acidic flavor. It was also the perfect texture, in which it had a slight bite at first but melted later in your mouth. Next up, I tried the mahi mahi. It had a nice kick from the spices, and it was so incredibly juicy and tender. This created a perfect bite with the rice. Finally, I tried the fish and chips. The chips were just standard, but the fish was not. It had a nice airy and crispy crust, but the meat inside was like a fountain. Juice spilled out everywhere and it was just as tender as the mahi. If you are ever in Key Largo, I highly recommend this spot. There was no wait, and the food was absolutely delicious.
After our delicious lunch, we headed back to South Beach. For the rest of the day and into the night, we wandered down the streets and it was beautiful. When we had walked for around 5 hours, we decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel. But, as we started walked back to our car, we noticed a sandwich shop named Botta. We looked at the menu and it was too good to pass up. They import all of their meat and cheese from Italy, and they make fresh bread in house. How could we ever pass this up. But, we were still full from lunch so we ordered two sandwiches for the four of us. We got The Botta, which came with porchetta, garlic sauce, giardiniera, and percorino toscano as well as the L'Amante, which came with mortadella, stracciatella, and crushed pistachios. If you couldn't guess already, both sandwiches were delicious. They had a perfect balance of creamy, fatty, acidic, and meaty. The sandwiches were packed with meat and you could taste the quality of the ingredients. The bread was also crunchy, and supported the fillings very well. Although $20 for a sandwich sounds crazy, the size and taste of the sandwiches at Botta will make you change your mind.
The next day, we spent our last full day in Miami. It was raining, which was unfortunate, but the show has to move on. We spent the morning in Miami's Design District, starting with the Institute of Contemporary Art. Although I like most art museums, this one was not it. The art made little sense even with explanations, and in my opinion, had little technique behind them. After the disappointing visit, we wandered around the district and even got to test drive a Tesla. At this point, we headed to our next stop of the day, Bayside Marketplace. On our drive there, we made a quick stop at Fireman Derek, as many people have said they have the best key lime pie. While there, we had to order a slice of pie, as well as a slice of cookies and cream cheese cake. Compared to the two slices of pie I had earlier on the trip, this one was much better. Although none of it was life changing, every component of the pie was better from the filling to the graham cracker crust. The cheesecake was also very good. It was rich and decadent, and it tasted like a souped up Oreo in the best way possible.
After some mid-day dessert, we headed down to Bayside Marketplace. Although the mall was huge, there wasn't much stores that I like there. But, it was fun to walk around. We spend a few hours there before we walked our way into downtown. While strolling, it was starting to get late in the afternoon. That's when I saw Jamaica Corner. They had a advertisement outside the restaurant which was a 6$ jerk chicken plate. How could you beat that price. It was a steamtable restaurant with a cozy feel inside. The owner loaded the plate up with rice and peas, steamed cabbage, plantains, and of course jerk chicken. The rice was more on the dry side which I enjoyed. The beans also had a small bite, which added great texture to the meal. The cabbage was just okay though. Nothing special but not bad. Next up, the plantains. They were juicy and sweet, but they were mushy. This was probably due to them sitting inside the hot plate. Now onto the jerk chicken. It was absolutely fantastic. I'm not sure if its authentic or tastes authentic, but I can say that it was delicious. The chicken was juicy and tender, and fell right off the bone. There was a nice spice which probably came from the scotch bonnet, and a slight sweetness. You could taste the smoke and all the seasonings and aromatics. The flavor was basically dancing around in my mouth. I left Jamaica Corner happy and full, while paying less then 10$. A deal you can't beat. If I worked in downtown Miami, I would be here almost everyday. When we left the restaurant, we walked a little bit more before heading to South Beach one last time. For the rest of the day, we just walked around and enjoyed our time.
When we woke up, we decided to spend our last full day in Florida as touristy as possible. As soon as we left the hotel, we started our return trip to Dallas, but made a quick pitstop in Ft. Lauderdale. There, we spend a few hours playing at the beach and taking beach pics. I also tried sugarcane juice for the first time, which I thought was gross. After that, we headed up to Orlando where we spend the rest of the day. Because it was so late in the day, we decided to just spend the day at Disney Springs. Because the sun went down so early, it was so beautiful when we got there. The Christmas lights were still up and the holiday spirit was still alive. Since we skipped lunch, we were hungry. To suppress the hunger, we got a apple pie churro. It was pretty basic, as the apple pie flavor did not come through, but it was still good.
We then spent some time watching the live singers and looking at the stores there. We each got a cute souvenir like a Winnie the Pooh keychain before deciding to get dinner. We stopped at CILANTRO URBAN EATERY and Disney's Candy Cauldron. In total, we got a candy apple, Cuban sandwich, and a lechon burrito. Now for the lightning review. The candy apple was delicious. I thought it would be too sweet, but the tartness of the apple really balanced it out. The outside coating wasn't gummy either, and had a nice snap.
The Cuban sandwich was also pretty good. The bread was toasted and buttery, and the pulled pork inside was juicy. The ham didn't have much flavor though, but the sweet pickles made up for it. The sweet and salty components of the sandwich were perfect contrasts. The cilantro sauce was also delicious. It was creamy and fragrant, which was a perfect addition to the sandwich. But the plantain chips were bad. They had little flavor, had no crunch, and seemed stale
Finally, the lechon burrito. The burrito was a decent size, but for 15$ it was still a little overpriced. The inside of the burrito was delicious though, as the components of the filling really complimented each other. The lechon inside was the same as the pulled pork in the Cuban, and it was still nice and juicy. Finally, the tortilla had a nice crisp to it, which added some much needed texture.
After our quick dinner, we wandered around some more and went into the shops. My favorite one we went to was probably the M and M store. There, we made a container of candy to bring home. At this point, it was starting to get late and we had a full day of driving ahead. We all agreed it was best to head back to the hotel, so we started walking back to the car. On our way back, we passed by The Smokehouse at the House of Blues. I noticed that they were selling turkey legs, which was one of my favorite things I ate the previous year when we went to Disney World. So, we got one to share between the four of us. I was so excited to eat it, but the leg fell flat. Although it was smokey, it had nothing else going for it. The leg was dry and the skin had a weird texture. Lets just say I was highly disappointed. But, the artificial snow on the walk back made up for it.
The next day, we spent all of it driving. But, the road was beautiful so it wasn't too bad. After driving for 10 hours, we finally reached Clinton, Mississippi. We quickly checked into the hotel, before finding a restaurant to eat at. After a little bit of online searching, we decided to eat at Froghead Grill. The restaurant was quirky on the inside, with real frogs and frog decorations inside. We were quickly seated, and the service was great. For the meal, we ordered the catfish platter, Philly cheesesteak po'boy, shrimp and grits, and a shrimp po boy.
First, the catfish platter. The batter was nice and crispy, and it was well seasoned. I liked how the cornmeal batter gave it a uniform coating, with no crust falling off. The fish catfish inside was also ultra juicy, but it did have a slight fishiness. For my sides, I got the cheese grits and coleslaw. The grits were not that good. They were a bit dry, and had little flavor. The only thing that I enjoyed was the cheese. On the other hand, there coleslaw was great. It had a nice crisp, creaminess, and sweetness which was just delicious.
Next up, the cheesesteak po'boy. The beef was crispy and juicy, as well as being a little smokey from the grill. Although the cheese didn't really come through, the meat was enough on its own. The shrimp po'boy was also delicious. I think they used gulf shrimp, but they were nice and tender, with the cornmeal batter really coming through. The sandwich was also fully dressed, which helped bring a nice freshness to the heavy meal.
Finally, the shrimp and grits. Like the other seafood we had, the shrimp was cooked perfectly. It was plump and juicy, while also being tender. Once again, the smoke flavor came through. But, the grits were not it. Compared to the side of grits, it was better. There was more seasoning, but also a lot more salt. This made it impossible to finish all the grits. Imagine eating a heavy, dense, and ultra salty food in large amounts. But, our overall experience here was good. The po'boys, seafood, and coleslaw were all good, but skip the grits. After a good meal, we headed back to the hotel to get some rest, as our drive home was the next morning. As the morning came, we pushed through the last 8 hours of driving before finally getting home.
With that, this was everything I did on my trip to Florida. It was a super fun vacation filled with great eats. In total, I tried three new cuisines, and they were all delicious. I do want to apologize for how delayed this post was. I had a lot of school the past few weeks, so I was unable to work on the blog. But, next week, a new recipe will be dropping, so be on the lookout for that. But, once again, thank you for taking some time and reading my posts. If you enjoyed it, there are plenty more blogs that I will be working on and positing. So, I guess I'll see you in the next one.
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