Heaven on a Plate - Goodfellas Cheese Calzone

Cheeze! One of my absolute favorite foods, especially combined with bread, garlic and melted to perfection. Goodfellas is one of my college favorites that I will drive the 30 minutes for any day. The pizza is excellent, but the cheese calzone is the absolute best you will ever have.

It sounds so simple, but they blend the perfect amount of mozzarella, ricotta, garlic, and olive oil into a toasty bread shell. It is oozing with an insane amount of cheese that floods out when you cut into the crust. This is truly unlike any other calzone you have ever had. Sure they make them with any filling you like, but trust me - the plain cheese is so good you won't need anything else to distract your taste buds.

Goodfellas is a no-frills family pizza restaurant. Make sure to eat here if you are simply craving something cheesy and delicious ;)

Sweet - My Favorite Guilty Pleasure

Cupcakes are all the rage right now, and it seems like wherever you go a new gourmet cupcake bakery is popping up! Being that baked goods are my ultimate weakness, I can't go by one without trying a bite. I have tried so many different cupcakes around the country and most places make you regret wasting the obserd amount of money that these places charge.

One place is unlike any other, and I am soooo lucky that this place is in Orlando. Sweet - by Good Golly Miss Holly is in Waterford Lakes by UCF. I am so sad that this place was not around when I lived on that side of town! However my waist line is thankful that it is a 30 minute drive to get a heavenly bite of these amazing cupcakes.

Make it on Monday for $1 mini cupcakes for a special bargain :) That's the great thing about Sweet - they have a mini size that lets to try several of the flavors, rather than getting full on just one!

So many of the flavors are my favorite, its hard to pick just one :) They have the perfect balance of cake and frosting. The best part about it is the frosting is not super sweet, it is utterly delicious. I'm not a big fan of frosting to begin with, but this is the only place that I will actually eat all of my frosting with my cupcake. Each flavor is totally unique and outstanding.

Red Velvet, PB & J, Coffee, Chocolate Mint, White Raspberry, Toasted Coconut, and Lemon are only a few of my favorites.

In this picture are Toasted Coconut (left) and White Raspberry (right) in the mini size. 

If you are looking for a place to indulge, make sure to visit Sweet! It is insanely good, and will be sure to fulfill your craving for something delicious :)

Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives Favorite - California Tacos in Tampa

Being obsessed with the Food Network has its advantages. I've learned where some of the best places to chow down across the county are! One of my personal favorite shows, Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives has inspired several stops on many different trips. Recently I was watching an episode that featured California Tacos in Tampa, I was so excited that I made a point to stop on a recent work trip for lunch.

If you have ever visited southern California I hope that you have been lucky enough to try Wahoos, its AMAZING! Its a fresh taste that you just don't find on the east coast too often. Alot of that has to do with corn tortillas, which rock in my opinion. Well, California Tacos has the BEST tacos that I have ever tasted - YOU NEED TO GO HERE!

Don't let the shack like order window scare you!

This place is really in the middle of no where, just outside the USF campus. Its in the parking lot of a army/navy surplus store, but don't worry - everything is cooked fresh to order. The person taking my order was super friendly and walked me through everything as I mentioned I had never been here before. Come hungry because the portions are HUGE! The speciality is fish tacos, but being that I don't eat seafood, I opted for the next best - the pork taco and the chicken taco. Each were unique, the pork was super flavorful and the chicken was grilled with peppers and onions. Both were topped with crunchy cabbage and fresh pico. I have to tell you, I even ate the pico it was so good! Check out my tacos!

They have a $10 minimum for credit card purchases so I was "forced" to have a fresh churro for dessert. It was so delicious and covered with cinnamon and sugar like a good churro should be!

California Tacos is a MUST GO for anyone who is looking for a taste of the west coast on the east coast. You won't find anything more fresh, authentic, and especially DELICIOUS than this place. Thanks Guy Fieri for the heads up!

BRAVO! Italian Restaurant - Delicioso!

Bravo! is an absolutely delicious italian restaurant nestled into the Delagio in Orlando off of Sand Lake in Dr. Phillips. Its a great choice if you are looking for something in a moderate price range for a nice night out. They have a great outdoor patio which is where we sat for dinner. This is a sister restaurant of Brio, the Tuscan grill at the Millenia Mall. While its a chain, it is unique enough to deserve a review!

We started with the most delicious bruschetta I have ever tasted. Being that I don't like raw tomatoes, I am always hesitant around this appetizer. The Portobello and Boursin Bruschetta was to die for! It featured caramelized onions and provolone in addition to the mushrooms and Boursin cheese. It is making my mouth water now as I think about it. Its THAT good :) Here is a picture of this amazing app

It was fresh and super flavorful. Make sure to get this, no questions asked!

Of course we indulged in the warm fresh bread that was brought to our table with our beverages. Sure you can get bread anywhere, but what you can't get everywhere was the delicious sun dried tomato oil for dipping! This oil was so flavorful I could have drank it. It has a unique blend of herbs and spices in it, with a hint of parmesan cheese. FANTASTIC (and free!). My husband had the ceasar salad, which was crisp and fresh with a creamy and peppery dressing. I chose the chopped salad, which was very fresh and flavorful.

For our entrees, I chose the Pasta BRAVO! which was a rigatoni pasta, with grilled chicken, mushrooms, and a tasty red pepper cream sauce. The portion looks small when its presented, but it is very filling! It is rich, creamy, and full of smokey flavor. If you like vodka sauce you will love this dish!

Pictured below is the Balsamic Chicken which my husband claims was one of the best chicken dishes he has EVER eaten! That's a big compliment coming from him. He could drink balsamic vinegar straight, and found that this chicken was so rich in balsamic flavor that he was practically scraping the plate. If you like grilled chicken and balsamic flavor, then this dish is one to be sure to try!

So, if you are looking for a casual, delicious, and tasty place to try some non-traditional italian dishes check out BRAVO! Cucina Italiana - you won't be disappointed!

Sangria! Or should I say nectar of the gods?

To celebrate one of my good friend's graduation we went to Ceviche in Downtown Orlando. I have been on a downtown trend :) This was my first time visiting Ceviche, however I have always wanted to try it! Its right on Church Street across from one of my favorite places, The Dessert Lady (we'll talk about that another time).

If you know me, and hopefully you do if you are actually reading this, you know I did not inherit my parents genes when it comes to alcohol consumption. I am usually the one drinking a diet coke when I am out with friends. This time was a little different...

I have never tasted a sangria this DELICIOUS! It was super super super sweet, which is something that I loved. I am not a red wine drinker at all, but I have started being drawn to sweet white wines. Whatever Ceviche does to make their white sangria taste so amazing, I don't know, but I can certainly say I will be going back for more! I had almost 4 glasses I think...

The food at Ceviche is a little blurry for me, which is to be expected after the amount of sangria I drank. Ceviche is tapas, so smaller portions. The girls that I went with and I all decided to get 2 items each. I chose a delicious salad with warm goat cheese, which was some of the yummiest goat cheese I have ever had. Again, it could have been the sangria talking, but it was warm and delicious mixed with the roasted red peppers and greens. I also had filet medallions with a sherry mushroom sauce which was good.

We were treated with a complimentary dessert, which was a special creme brulee, which tasted almost like ice cream. I am not sure how they did it, but it was fabulous! It was not served in a traditional ramekin, however a deliciously edible chocolate shell. It was so tasty!

I can't wait to go back to Ceviche with my sister in law when she visits from Chicago! Its a must go for a date night or a night out with the girls!

Pine 22 - A Unique Downtown Burger Bar

So about a month ago we visited Pine 22 in Downtown Orlando, which was a place that a friend of mine suggested. Downtown Orlando is often a place that I hesitate to go to simply because parking is difficult to find and I never really know where to go for a good bite to eat. I regret not checking this place out sooner! Its fun, trendy, casual, and most of all TASTY!

This is a burger bar, so you can choose from their pre-selected specialities or you can make your own. I love being able to make my own burger and put all the random topping I want, so that's the route that I went. I selected the beef burger of course, on an onion roll. For my toppings, cucumber (a first on a burger for me), a balsamic glaze, Boursin cheese, and raw onion. I played it conservative and went with the house fries. This burger was so fresh tasting! It was hardly greasy and tasted almost healthy, if you can imagine that. The fries were just OK, a little bland actually.

I am definitely going to hit this place up again to try more fun creations. It is a fun place to walk to, and a walk around Lake Eola is needed for sure after stuffing yourself with a burger and fries. It's certainly a place to hit up if you are into trendy spots with yummy create your own type foods :)

Take a peak at my burger! YUM!