Bradenton Eats

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:15:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 17:05:00 +0000

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 16:44:00 +0000

Woody's BBQ: Lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Sun, 09 Jul 2006 17:00:00 +0000

Woody's BBQ
3142 State Road 70 E, Bradenton
(941) 755-1446
www.woodysbarbq.com

Not being one of my favorite places to eat today proved no exception. Started off with of the best things on the menu, the corn nuggett appetizer. They came out hot, crispy, and with a horseradish sauce that just downright tasty. Worried if I could actually a burger to order I asked the waiter, "Can I order a burger to order?" which I was told I could so I proceeded to order a medium-rare Bacon Cheddar Burger. Once arriving to the table I was not overly surprised to find the burger quite charred and once cutting in half seing a very well done burger. After relaying this to the waiter I was asked, "Do you want me to see if I can do anything about that?" well I'm not doing this for my health! He came back to tell me the manager said this would take 15 minutes for a new burger (maybe that's why it was well done) and that I could have free dessert. He then asked if I would like a side while I waited for the rest of the party to finish, so I had a baked potatoe that was good, nothing fancy just butter and sour cream, and the waiter removed the charcoal burger. Now to the dessert, after going to the dessert case and ordering I was looking forward to the huge slice of pie to come. Well it was huge but the only peanut buttery thing of the chocalate peanut butter pie was the limited amount of sprinkles on top. Other than that the pie had ..... really good whipped cream. That being said the chocalate was different, not sure how to describe it but mass produced and weird come to mind.

Cold Stone: Dessert

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 23:15:00 +0000

Coldstone Creamery
1900 Main Street, Sarasota
(941) 330-1880
www.coldstonecreamery.com

This is the first of the two Cold Stone locations in the area. Trying something a little different tonight we tried the Pina Coolada drink which we had done with Soymilk, sorbet, pineapple and cocunut syrup. This was quite light and delicious, and flavorwise you would have never know that it contained no dairy. On the more traditional side once again we had the birthday cake remix which as always with its cake batter ice cream, brownie, hot fudge, and sprinkles was just amazingly delicious.

Two Senorita's Mexican: Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 22:01:00 +0000

Two Senorita's Mexican
1355 Main St, Sarasota
(941) 366-1618

This is one of the two Two Senorita's Restaurants in the Sarasota area, the better of two according to most. While the waitress shared a little too much of her personal life with us, the service was excellent, the chips and salsa and drinks were never empty. The salsa was quite tasty, with good flavor though a little runny, not very spicy but good fresh tasting flavor. I ordered the Taxco which was quite good with a beef taco, a beef enchilada, and a chicken enchilada. All quite tasty and above average compared to other mexican restaurants in the area. We also had the steak fajita nachos which were as we remembered quite tasty even though the meat was a little dry.

Peach's: Breakfast

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 15:00:00 +0000

Peach's
7315 52nd Place E, Bradenton
(941) 752-3366
www.peachsrestaurants.com

A mainstay of Bradenton and Sarasota families breakfast and lunch favorites is Peach's. This location is in East Bradenton by SR 70 and I-75. If you've been in the area for anytime you'll probably know someone eating there, or a youth working their, the service is always very personable and today was no different. An order of Eggs Benedict with home fries was quite tasty and filling. The english muffin was still crispy, the ham thick sliced, the egg a little runny (perfect for Eggs Bene) and the Hollandaise sauce nice and smooth. The home fries are hot crisp and seasoned and really good in the extra sauce left over from the Eggs Benedict. With some of the best chicken salad this side of moms's kitchen, the chicken salad salad is always tasty. A bed of crisp lettuce with all you favorite salad fixings sits a huge mound of their delicious chicken salad. Nothing two fancy, just finely chopped, extra creamy, and nothing too overpowering. This salad covered in ranch, almost wants to make you eat healthy, naw! there's no fun in that.

Gio's Fabulous Pizza and Martini Bar: Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Sat, 08 Jul 2006 00:02:00 +0000

Gio's Fabulous Pizza and Martini Bar
4805 Cortez Road W, Bradenton
(941) 792-3388

After driving all over town to find a place to eat and making no decisions we decide to try the pizza place that everyone talks about but we've never tried. The restaurant is dark but once your eyes adjust it's just right, the restaurant is small so the tables are a little cozy but the place looks great and you forget that your in a strip mall restaurant when you sit down. Atmosphere: A+. As do alot of the italian restaurants lately they start you off with bread and olive oil and seasonings. The bread that was fresh was very good, some was stale and took some work to even bite through, their EVOO was very good, fresh, and seasonings excellent. We decided to split a pizza so we started off with fried mozzerella appetizer. The cheese was excellent as was the red sauce it sat in. We were hopeful this would be the same sauce they used on the pizza as it was very tasty but not overpowering. The pizza was delicious and if you are a fan of thin crust than you'll absolutely love this pizza. Extremely well balanced, we had pepperoni and italian sausage and nothing took away from anything else the flavors just added to each other, delicious!

Grandma Yoders

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 16:00:00 +0000

Grandma Yoder's
5896 53rd Ave. E., Bradenton
(941) 739-2918

A friday lunch tradition(friday is the only day they have carrot cake). The special of the day (I believe it is every friday) was the fish sandwhich, chips, and a 1/2 slice of pie. The fish was delicious as always, hot, crispy, and a nice fresh bun. We also had the full order of the meatloaf manhattan, meatloaf (was a little dry today) between Grandmas bread (best bread in bradenton) covered with brown gravy and also comes with mashed potatoes. This is a great meal normally that was just good because the meatloaf was dry, luckily their gravy helped out alot. The 1/2 slice of their chocalate peanut butte pie came and was bigger than full slices at most places (this is typical, huge pieces of dessert). Good fresh crust, homemade whipped cream, chocalate, peanut butter, hmmm, hmmmm, delicious.

Disney's Whispering Canyon: Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 01:00:00 +0000

Disney's Whispering Canyon
Walt Disney World's Wilderness Lodge
Orlando, Florida
(407) WDW-DINE (939-3463)
Disney Dining Finder Website

This trip to Orlando was in celebration that we now once again have air conditioning in the truck. If you remember last weekend we were going to go to Orlando to eat and decided half way there that it was just too hot and we didn't want to do all that driving in this hear. Well now that's not a problem so we thought we'd test out the AC to our second favorite restaurant at Disney. This the Whispering Canyon Restaurant located in the Wilderness Lodge. This was our second time here and we got the exact same things we did the first time. They have a chipolte chicken pasta that is very good, hot, but not too hot, and big enough you can take half home. And what would probably qualify as their signature dish is the all you can eat skillet. This starts off with a so-so salad, not that anyone ordering this would actually want salad. And then comes the skillet which has ribs, pulled pork, bbq chicken(on the bone) smoked sausage, mashed potatoes, and baked beans, and all of this is all you can eat. Not to mention that one of their on the menu drink specials is all you can drink milkshakes (vanilla, orange, chocolate, and strawberry) and these are actually quite good though I'm sad to admit I could only drink two shakes this trip. Food is great, service was good last time, so-so this time (admitedly the waitress said this was her first day on her own), but an all around good time, the kids will love it. Make sure you ask for ketchup, and let me know how it was!

Lee Roy Selmon's: Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:00:00 +0000

Lee Roy Selmon's
www.leeroyselmons.com
6510 Cortez Road, Bradenton
(941) 798-3287

Once again we ordered the Combo nachos and once again they didn't come out the way we ordered them. This time they finally got the tomatoes right but they forgot the combo part of the combo nachos. It had the chicken(which was a little try tonight) but forgot the pulled pork. As I've said before when these nachos finally come out completely the way we order them the first time I'll be very happy and I'll expect them to be very good. As we weren't in a real hungry mood we split the nachos and decided to go straight to dessert. We had a Peach Cobbler and I believe it's their Super Sundae. The Peach Cobbler had good taste but the peach's were hard, it's like they weren't all the way ripe and not cooked enough to soften them, good taste but needed work. I just loved the Sundae it had vanilla ice cream (Blue Bell) covered with Captain Crunch(my favorite cereal) hot fudge, peanut butter fudge, whipped cream, and a peanut butter cup. I swear I made this as a kid, and I may have to start doing that again.

Bern's Steak House Dessert Room: Dessert

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 02:30:00 +0000

Bern's Steak House
1208 South Howard Ave, Tampa
(813) 251-2421
www.bernsteakhouse.com

As this is in a separate room(in fact everyone gets their own room) and it's own bill I figured I'd give it it's own post. The suberb service continues from the Steak House to the Harry Waugh Dessert Room. From the coffee with each bean individually roasted to the huge selection of desserts this sure to be a favorite of everyone! On the specials menu was the Rasberry Zinger which was an excelletn combination of rasberry and coconut. Suprising delicious and amazingly prepared. And same as the last time I had the Chocalate Caramel Bread pudding. While this does take 20 minutes to prepare (baked fresh) it worth it! As described on their menu: Homemade brioche, toasted pecans, and chocolate chips surrounded by a rich creamy caramel custard. That just doesn't capture the fresh baked warm gooey yummy dessert that it is topped with fresh whipped cream. All I can say is.....YUM!

Bern's Steak House: Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Mon, 03 Jul 2006 01:00:00 +0000

Bern's Steak House
1208 South Howard Ave, Tampa
(813) 251-2421
www.bernsteakhouse.com

This is dining the way it should be, they accept reservations, seat you early, and the ultimate in service. Not being sure what we wanted for dinner we first thought of the Chart House on Longboat Key. After deciding that was nice but not great, we knew Bern's would be the place to go. We had Diet Coke to drink which is priced by the glass, no free refills here (for the price of their meals I think they can afford to give free refills.) If wine is your thing this is the place to go, with over 6900 unique wine labels they are sure to have something to match your tastes even if it won't match your budget (most expensive bottle $10,000). We started off with the Yellowfin Tuna Tartar, oh this is so good. You have tried tuna and liked it at your favorite local restaurant or sushi place, it has nothing on this. So Good! We split the 17oz Chateaubriand (with garlic butter), this is from the tenderloin like a filet but cut and cooked differently, and has more flavor. Learn about Art in Steaks. This comes with a salad that is beyond fresh, the best french onioin soup you'll ever have, baked potato (the waiter prepares this tableside for you so you don't have to burn your fingers gettin it ready), vegetables (this time was a carrot and another vegetable with Gran Mariner, very good), and fried onion straws. This is more than a meal, it is an experience, if all service and food was up to this quality, there would never be the need for food and restaurant critics again.

Johnny Carino's: Lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 16:30:00 +0000

Johnny Carinos
3005 University Parkway, Sarasota/Bradenton
(941) 351-8883
www.carinos.com

This has to be one of my least favorite Italian restaurants but the price was right as we were invited to go here. As normal the service had at least one mess-up, this time I ordered the Italian Nachos (one of my favorties here) without tomatoes or olives, it came with both. While they sent this back to the kitchen it is quite the tradition that a mistake has been made by the kitchen that involves someones waiting on their meal.

The Cheesecake Factory: Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Sun, 02 Jul 2006 01:45:00 +0000

The Cheesecake Factory
2223 N West Shore Blvd, Tampa (International Plaza Mall)
(813) 353-4200
www.cheesecakefactory.com

The original plan and reservations were made for one of the Disney restaurants in Orlando, after leaving we decided that was more driving then we wanted to do for dinner, so the decision was made for The Cheesecake Factory. Now you have to realize that before last Sunday we had never been to the Cheesecake Factory, we've heard everyone talk about it but we're never willing to deal the 1 1/2 to 2 hour waits that are typical. Showing up at 9:00 PM our wait was only 45 minutes so we decided to have a coffee from Starbucks and walk around the now closed mall. At 43 minutes we were buzzed and sat soon after that. We had good service which is always a plus and had the Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp and Oscar's BBQ Chicken sandwich. These were both very good and came out exactly as described and ordered. The Bang Bang Chicken and Shrimp is Thai based and has lots of great coconut and curry sauce all over the plate, it's to die for! Even though we were at the Cheesecake Factory we decided no cheesecake and had the Tarimisu instead. We agreed this was some of the best Tarimisu that we had ever eaten and we've had our fair share. Worth the wait and as the name would imply, great desserts!

The Coach and Horses: Snack

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 19:45:00 +0000

The Coach and Horses British Pub and Restaurant
6240 N Lockwood Ridge Rd, Sarasota
(941) 358-1353

This was our second time here and it was choses because of the close proximity to the dollar theater located in the same strip mall. As we were hungry, 45 minutes early, but not really enough time to go anywhere else we saw the menu outside and figured we could find something to snack on. We got the Chili cheese fries and these were actually quite tasty. Big crisp crinkly fries, chunky chili, and two kinds of chesse melted all over it all. For the price this was a ton of food and definetly a worthy snack before the movies.

Cold Stone: Dessert

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Sat, 01 Jul 2006 02:00:00 +0000

Coldstone Creamery
www.coldstonecreamery.com
7476 Cortez Road W, Bradenton
(941) 761-3252

After going dinner and then out to the beach for walking and talking we all decided to go to Coldstone's for dessert. If you don't know about Cold Stone you start off with your base flavor of ice cream (I recommend Cake Batter) of the 30 they have and then they mix in your favorite Mix-ins (someone was creative) on a cold stone(again) so the ice cream doesn't melt. Basically it's a make your own specialty ice cream, the kids love this one! They have three sizes Like it(small), Love it(medium), and Gotta have it (large), and the whole crew sings if you tip them. Fun little songs, great dessert, and it'll make ya smile. I'm pretty consistent with getting the Birthday Cake Remix (cake batter ice cream, brownie, sprinkles, and hot fudge) I've loved this one since my first trip to Cold Stone. Today I changed it up and got peanut butter instead of hot fudge, oh yeah, that was tasty. I don't remember what everyone else got, but everyone enjoyed it. Starbucks is two doors down and there is lots of outdoor seating, though this place get pretty busy.

Lee Roy Selmon's: Dinner

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 23:00:00 +0000

Lee Roy Selmon's
www.leeroyselmons.com
6510 Cortez Road, Bradenton
(941) 798-3287

This is a relatively new restaurant that opened the Tuesday before Fathers Day. They must be good because this was our third time here. Eating here on the weekends (or any of the Outback, Bonefish chain) is to utilize their call ahead seating. Call at least an hour ahead of time and your wait time will be half the walk-up time or less. 6 of us at 7 pm when the wait 50 to 60 minutes and our wait was 10 minutes, that's a great thing. I get the sweet tea here as well, good stuff, brewed and southern sweet, just the way I like it. Started off with the full order of combo nachos (all of their appetizers are also available as half orders) ordered with tomatoes and okra (yea, it was a little weird but it's pickled spicy okra so same tase as jalepeno just different consistency) on the side. Came with the tomatoes on them, not happy about that, but these nachos are awesome. Cheese, queso, pulled pork, chicken breast, and some seasoning that just makes this one of a kind awesome. I got the southern twisted chicken which is smashed potatoes, maple bacon creamed corn, cheese, grilled chicken, and sour cream (comes with tomatoes normally, I requested none). This is another one that your never really sure if you like but just keep eating because it's good. 4 of the 6 of us got this and everyone like it. Number 5 got the hall of fame burger, medium rare. They have great burger but haven't perfected cooking them, consistency is lacking. Always taste great just not cooked to order. Number 6 got the pulled pork sandwhich but was not a fan of the bbq sauce on it. They have huge meals and all 3 times eating here haven't had room for dessert at the restaurant, there's always next time.

Grandma Yoder's: Lunch

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 16:00:00 +0000

Grandma Yoder's
5896 53rd Ave. E., Bradenton
(941) 739-2918

This is one of our favorite restaurants for a home cooked style of meal in Bradenton, Florida. They are your typical Amish style restaurant with great breads, sandwiches, and DESSERTS! They have some of the best sweet tea in Bradenton so we almost always get that. For lunch it's always a toss-up between Aunt Tina's Chicken sandwhich or their manhattans. Today it was Aunt Tina's chicken sandwhich for both of us, it's so good with the homemade bread, huge grilled chicken breast, cheese, bacon, and thousand island dressing. Oh so good! The sandwhiches were huge so no dessert today, but Friday is the best day because it's carrott cake day.

Let's Eat!

noreply@blogger.com (Derek) — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 04:25:00 +0000

The first of many posts to come of eating on day in and day out basis in Bradenton, Florida. There are numerous restaurants to choose from and this will be a journal of words and pictures as we eat our way around Bradenton, Sarasota, and the other cities of Florida.