Hello LilyOnTheLam.Com Readers!
Yesterday, I wrote my Top Tampa Recommendations for September 2015 blog post from Naga Tea near the USF campus in Temple Terrace, Tampa, FL. Today, I am writing my blog from DI Coffee Bar on Davis Islands, Tampa, Florida. For those of you outside of Tampa, the "DI" stands for "Davis Islands" and not some homage to Princess Di. (Just an FYI!)
I like the decor and atmosphere of DI Coffee Bar, but the prices are on the super luxe side. Is this Paris? Monaco? But to DI Coffee Bar's credit, they started offering items that you cannot get on the island which keeps me coming back even if the prices cause me to twitch a little.
For example, this awesome pressed basil pesto sandwich with prosciutto and mozzarella on Cuban bread.
The very nice barista told me that people go INSANE for this sandwich. Well, (1) I am already self-diagnosed clinically insane. (2) Really? I think you're a little too enthusiastic. But true to her word, this sandwich rocks! Melty, pressed, savory goodness! I had to humbly admit to the barista that she was absolutely, 100% right about this crazy good sandwich. And as a true Leo, I only like to talk about times when I am right. (Which is 99.93% of the time, for the record!)
Another time I was at DI Coffee Bar, they had biscuits with excellent country ham and pimento cheese. I can't just pick up something like this at Starbucks!
Some of the Yelp reviews question the acidity/bitterness of the coffee at DI Coffee Bar. I enjoy the cold brew coffee, but I have found that at times the Miami-based Panther Coffee DI Coffee Bar uses is on the high acid/sharp/bitter side. I think I am used to more mellow local coffees like Buddy Brew and my favorite Kahwa coffee. But if you enjoy a hearty punch of coffee, then I think you will enjoy DI Coffee Bar's beverages.
They also sell a selection of some types of TeBella tea (which has a full retail store located across the street from DI Coffee Bar). I love TeBella teas, so when I am not in a strong coffee mood I can still enjoy hanging out at DI Coffee Bar with a tea. (They also sell juices and alcohol beverages too!) And for those who want food on the go, DI Coffee Bar offers a cold case with prepared foods for a quick grab and go meal. (Or better yet for a wider selection, go next door to the new Tasty Roots - healthy prepared takeaway food store and peruse their to go items.)
So now that I have acquainted you to the latest place my MacBook Air and I are hanging out, let's talk about the true star of today's blog post: POTATOES. As in Mrs. Potato. Let me elaborate ...
In July, I was working in Hortolandia and Campinas in the Sao Paulo region of Brazil. Which by the way, Hortolandia while nice is also known for its five prisons ... so as soon as my work was done, I high-tailed it to Rio De Janeiro to see the Brazil that I have seen in movies all my life. I was NOT disappointed. Rio is wonderful with a side of beautiful with a heaping dollop of amazing. I can't wait to go back again.
I spent my days walking along Copacabana Beach and Ipanema Beach ... and yes, I had the song "The Girl From Ipanema" running on a constant loop in my head the entire time I was in Brazil.
I have a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, French and Italian and a highly limited understanding of Portuguese. All this means that when I was in Rio, I would basically repeat everything I said in English, Spanish, French, Italian and then I would jam it all together to make a faux-Portuguese sentence. I am sure I was highly annoying, but I think I deserve an A for effort!
Until I was on a tour to Corcovado to see the Christ the Redeemer statue up close and personal, I never really thought about what "Rio de Janeiro" meant. January River. It hardly describes the beauty of this place.
In my travels in Brazil, I basically ate my way through several cities. There were several Brazilian buffet restaurants, so I enjoyed being able to pick and choose small servings of EVERYTHING and then pay by the weight of the food. I felt this was the best culinary tour possible and I was able to try so many dishes this way. Gluttony on a budget!
About 1 1/2 weeks ago, I went to Orlando to see Katya and Trixie Mattel from Season Seven of RuPaul's Drag Race. Katya is sober after his own struggles with addiction.
I was going through a particularly trying time and I watched an episode of RuPaul Drag Race where Katya spoke of his struggles with addiction and sobriety. His words spoke directly to me through the screen and I felt renewed and hopeful. If Katya could do it, so could I.
So when I met him in person - even though we were being rushed through the photo line - I gave him a hug and told him that his sobriety inspires me. He grabbed my arms, looked me right in the eye and gave me the most wonderful, sincere thank you. I was very touched by his candor. I wish him the best in parlaying his 15 minutes of reality TV show fame into a profitable career.
But BEFORE my heartwarming meeting with Katya, I had dinner in Orlando ... not just any dinner. A Brazilian inspired meal. While I have been to Orlando many times and have many local favorite places (The Ravenous Pig, The Tasting Room at Chef's Table at the Edgewater Hotel, Briarpatch Restaurant, Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine, etc., etc.), I wanted to try some place new for this Orlando visit.
Now before I continue, I must tell you that of my many sordid addictions - my carb and sugar addiction is the biggest monkey on my back. It whispers to me daily with a siren's song of freshly baked bread and pastries. I have made a concerted effort to stay away as much as I can from these animalistic urges for the past six months, but it has not been easy. If I had my way, I'd swan dive into a vat of cream puffs and eat my way out. (And I'd love every single second of it!)
It is with this insane love of all things starchy carb that led me to one day Google "rosti potatoes" and Orlando. It's my equivalent of shooting up in an alley. The struggle is REAL, people. The struggle is real!
To my surprise, Orlando has a Brazilian restaurant called Mrs. Potato where they serve baked potatoes AND ... get this ... discs of rosti potatoes stuffed with a wide variety of fillings! I'm sorry, but did Jesus just answer my carb-laden prayers?
How is it possible such a wonderful restaurant exists and WHY have I not heard of it before?? With my love of potatoes, you would have thought I just would have psychically just known about such a splendid restaurant! Like a dog who can smell fear and crazy, I should be able to just automatically smell potatoes within a 200 mile radius.
So I drove to Orlando and my first stop was the Brazilian restaurant, Mrs. Potato. It is at the end of a long strip mall, which is true for many places in Florida. I swear our state bird is a strip mall. Or a stripper. God bless Florida.
Mrs. Potato is decorated with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head toys, which made me feel very homey - especially in theme park-laden Orlando, Florida.
The restaurant has a few tables in front of a counter where you order, however they also have a side atrium with many more tables. You order up front and they bring your food to your table. Easy peasy. The staff is very nice. The restaurant clean. The prices inexpensive. Win - win - win.
When I walked into Mrs. Potato, I saw that in true Brazilian fashion they had a small buffet of Brazilian foods that you pay for by what your plate weighs. I felt like I was back in Campinas! They had such traditional food as pastiles (also spelled pastel) which are like deep fried meat or cheese stuffed ravioli. A traditional Brazilian street food of which I ate probably forty while I was in Brazil! But I was on a mission - I wanted POTATOES!
In addition to baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes and stuffed rosti potatoes, you can also up your potato quotient by getting the Catupiry Rosti which looked like a disc of stuffed rosti potatoes with a lattice design of mashed potatoes. Potatoes on top of potatoes? I am in love! They also sell hamburgers, but come on - who goes to Mrs. Potato and doesn't get a potato? Not this potato-lovin' gal!
The two most popular rosti potatoes at Mrs. Potato are the Brazilian beef jerky and cream cheese stuffed rosti potatoes and the Calabresa Brazilian sausage and cheese stuffed rosti potatoes. I decided to go for the sausage rosti potatoes. Now the big disc of shredded stuffed potatoes can take 20-25 minutes to cook, so be prepared to wait when you order. I sat at a table and enjoyed my Brazilian passion fruit nectar.
While I waited for my golden disc of rosti potatoes, I noticed that I was the only one in the restaurant not speaking Portuguese! I took this as a very good sign of Brazilian authenticity right there in Orlando. A very handsome waiter brought me my dinner ... look at it's loveliness.
Now this is an individual serving, but let's be honest - a family of four could have enjoyed this massive wheel o' potatoes. It was HUGE. Another server asked if I would like garlic sauce with my rosti potatoes. Um, sure?
An ice cold squeeze bottle of a mayo-like garlic sauce was brought to my table. It was very pungent but delicious!
The rosti potato disc was stuffed with slices of sausage and lots of cheese. If you are a potato addict, this is your drug. I was in potato heaven with this deliciousness from Mrs. Potato. The outside was crispy and crunchy. The inside was hot potato goodness laden with strings of melted cheese and the very slightly spicy sausage that had a deliciously fatty mouth feel. Yum, yum, yum.
I am very glad that Mrs. Potato is located in Orlando and not in my backyard in Tampa, Florida. Because if it was reasonably close by, I'd be eating rosti potatoes every single night. I would like to bring a bunch of friends to Mrs. Potato and make them each order a different kind of rosti potatoes so that I can try a bunch of different varieties! (Seriously, this is what friendship with Lily is like - forced marches to starch-laden restaurants where I tell you what food you're going to order! Don't you want to be my BFF?)
If you are in Orlando, you have to check out either the Brazilian buffet or the wide variety of heavenly potato options at Mrs. Potato! And if you're in Tampa, check out the pressed sandwiches at DI Coffee Bar. Dress nice and look cute, because you never know if the potato-lovin' coffee drinker sitting next to you typing furiously on a MacBook is yours truly!
As always, thank you for reading!
Yesterday, I wrote my Top Tampa Recommendations for September 2015 blog post from Naga Tea near the USF campus in Temple Terrace, Tampa, FL. Today, I am writing my blog from DI Coffee Bar on Davis Islands, Tampa, Florida. For those of you outside of Tampa, the "DI" stands for "Davis Islands" and not some homage to Princess Di. (Just an FYI!)
I like the decor and atmosphere of DI Coffee Bar, but the prices are on the super luxe side. Is this Paris? Monaco? But to DI Coffee Bar's credit, they started offering items that you cannot get on the island which keeps me coming back even if the prices cause me to twitch a little.
For example, this awesome pressed basil pesto sandwich with prosciutto and mozzarella on Cuban bread.
 |
| Pressed sandwich and an iced cafe con leche |
The very nice barista told me that people go INSANE for this sandwich. Well, (1) I am already self-diagnosed clinically insane. (2) Really? I think you're a little too enthusiastic. But true to her word, this sandwich rocks! Melty, pressed, savory goodness! I had to humbly admit to the barista that she was absolutely, 100% right about this crazy good sandwich. And as a true Leo, I only like to talk about times when I am right. (Which is 99.93% of the time, for the record!)
Another time I was at DI Coffee Bar, they had biscuits with excellent country ham and pimento cheese. I can't just pick up something like this at Starbucks!
 |
| My inner Paula Deen was very happy with this biscuit with ham and pimento cheese! |
They also sell a selection of some types of TeBella tea (which has a full retail store located across the street from DI Coffee Bar). I love TeBella teas, so when I am not in a strong coffee mood I can still enjoy hanging out at DI Coffee Bar with a tea. (They also sell juices and alcohol beverages too!) And for those who want food on the go, DI Coffee Bar offers a cold case with prepared foods for a quick grab and go meal. (Or better yet for a wider selection, go next door to the new Tasty Roots - healthy prepared takeaway food store and peruse their to go items.)
So now that I have acquainted you to the latest place my MacBook Air and I are hanging out, let's talk about the true star of today's blog post: POTATOES. As in Mrs. Potato. Let me elaborate ...
In July, I was working in Hortolandia and Campinas in the Sao Paulo region of Brazil. Which by the way, Hortolandia while nice is also known for its five prisons ... so as soon as my work was done, I high-tailed it to Rio De Janeiro to see the Brazil that I have seen in movies all my life. I was NOT disappointed. Rio is wonderful with a side of beautiful with a heaping dollop of amazing. I can't wait to go back again.
I spent my days walking along Copacabana Beach and Ipanema Beach ... and yes, I had the song "The Girl From Ipanema" running on a constant loop in my head the entire time I was in Brazil.
I have a rudimentary knowledge of Spanish, French and Italian and a highly limited understanding of Portuguese. All this means that when I was in Rio, I would basically repeat everything I said in English, Spanish, French, Italian and then I would jam it all together to make a faux-Portuguese sentence. I am sure I was highly annoying, but I think I deserve an A for effort!
Until I was on a tour to Corcovado to see the Christ the Redeemer statue up close and personal, I never really thought about what "Rio de Janeiro" meant. January River. It hardly describes the beauty of this place.
In my travels in Brazil, I basically ate my way through several cities. There were several Brazilian buffet restaurants, so I enjoyed being able to pick and choose small servings of EVERYTHING and then pay by the weight of the food. I felt this was the best culinary tour possible and I was able to try so many dishes this way. Gluttony on a budget!
About 1 1/2 weeks ago, I went to Orlando to see Katya and Trixie Mattel from Season Seven of RuPaul's Drag Race. Katya is sober after his own struggles with addiction.
 |
| Katya! |
 |
| Even upside down, Katya is AMAZING |
So when I met him in person - even though we were being rushed through the photo line - I gave him a hug and told him that his sobriety inspires me. He grabbed my arms, looked me right in the eye and gave me the most wonderful, sincere thank you. I was very touched by his candor. I wish him the best in parlaying his 15 minutes of reality TV show fame into a profitable career.
But BEFORE my heartwarming meeting with Katya, I had dinner in Orlando ... not just any dinner. A Brazilian inspired meal. While I have been to Orlando many times and have many local favorite places (The Ravenous Pig, The Tasting Room at Chef's Table at the Edgewater Hotel, Briarpatch Restaurant, Bosphorous Turkish Cuisine, etc., etc.), I wanted to try some place new for this Orlando visit.
Now before I continue, I must tell you that of my many sordid addictions - my carb and sugar addiction is the biggest monkey on my back. It whispers to me daily with a siren's song of freshly baked bread and pastries. I have made a concerted effort to stay away as much as I can from these animalistic urges for the past six months, but it has not been easy. If I had my way, I'd swan dive into a vat of cream puffs and eat my way out. (And I'd love every single second of it!)
It is with this insane love of all things starchy carb that led me to one day Google "rosti potatoes" and Orlando. It's my equivalent of shooting up in an alley. The struggle is REAL, people. The struggle is real!
To my surprise, Orlando has a Brazilian restaurant called Mrs. Potato where they serve baked potatoes AND ... get this ... discs of rosti potatoes stuffed with a wide variety of fillings! I'm sorry, but did Jesus just answer my carb-laden prayers?
How is it possible such a wonderful restaurant exists and WHY have I not heard of it before?? With my love of potatoes, you would have thought I just would have psychically just known about such a splendid restaurant! Like a dog who can smell fear and crazy, I should be able to just automatically smell potatoes within a 200 mile radius.
So I drove to Orlando and my first stop was the Brazilian restaurant, Mrs. Potato. It is at the end of a long strip mall, which is true for many places in Florida. I swear our state bird is a strip mall. Or a stripper. God bless Florida.
Mrs. Potato is decorated with Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head toys, which made me feel very homey - especially in theme park-laden Orlando, Florida.
The restaurant has a few tables in front of a counter where you order, however they also have a side atrium with many more tables. You order up front and they bring your food to your table. Easy peasy. The staff is very nice. The restaurant clean. The prices inexpensive. Win - win - win.
When I walked into Mrs. Potato, I saw that in true Brazilian fashion they had a small buffet of Brazilian foods that you pay for by what your plate weighs. I felt like I was back in Campinas! They had such traditional food as pastiles (also spelled pastel) which are like deep fried meat or cheese stuffed ravioli. A traditional Brazilian street food of which I ate probably forty while I was in Brazil! But I was on a mission - I wanted POTATOES!
In addition to baked potatoes, baked sweet potatoes and stuffed rosti potatoes, you can also up your potato quotient by getting the Catupiry Rosti which looked like a disc of stuffed rosti potatoes with a lattice design of mashed potatoes. Potatoes on top of potatoes? I am in love! They also sell hamburgers, but come on - who goes to Mrs. Potato and doesn't get a potato? Not this potato-lovin' gal!
The two most popular rosti potatoes at Mrs. Potato are the Brazilian beef jerky and cream cheese stuffed rosti potatoes and the Calabresa Brazilian sausage and cheese stuffed rosti potatoes. I decided to go for the sausage rosti potatoes. Now the big disc of shredded stuffed potatoes can take 20-25 minutes to cook, so be prepared to wait when you order. I sat at a table and enjoyed my Brazilian passion fruit nectar.
While I waited for my golden disc of rosti potatoes, I noticed that I was the only one in the restaurant not speaking Portuguese! I took this as a very good sign of Brazilian authenticity right there in Orlando. A very handsome waiter brought me my dinner ... look at it's loveliness.
Now this is an individual serving, but let's be honest - a family of four could have enjoyed this massive wheel o' potatoes. It was HUGE. Another server asked if I would like garlic sauce with my rosti potatoes. Um, sure?
An ice cold squeeze bottle of a mayo-like garlic sauce was brought to my table. It was very pungent but delicious!
The rosti potato disc was stuffed with slices of sausage and lots of cheese. If you are a potato addict, this is your drug. I was in potato heaven with this deliciousness from Mrs. Potato. The outside was crispy and crunchy. The inside was hot potato goodness laden with strings of melted cheese and the very slightly spicy sausage that had a deliciously fatty mouth feel. Yum, yum, yum.
I am very glad that Mrs. Potato is located in Orlando and not in my backyard in Tampa, Florida. Because if it was reasonably close by, I'd be eating rosti potatoes every single night. I would like to bring a bunch of friends to Mrs. Potato and make them each order a different kind of rosti potatoes so that I can try a bunch of different varieties! (Seriously, this is what friendship with Lily is like - forced marches to starch-laden restaurants where I tell you what food you're going to order! Don't you want to be my BFF?)
If you are in Orlando, you have to check out either the Brazilian buffet or the wide variety of heavenly potato options at Mrs. Potato! And if you're in Tampa, check out the pressed sandwiches at DI Coffee Bar. Dress nice and look cute, because you never know if the potato-lovin' coffee drinker sitting next to you typing furiously on a MacBook is yours truly!
As always, thank you for reading!
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