Had to get my cajun food fix, so that means heading down to Pinellas Park to the Cajun Cafe on the Bayou.  Their crawfish etouffee is what keeps me coming back.

It has just the right amount of spicy without being too much for my wimpy taste buds.  There are plenty of crawfish in the dish and it has this creamy, tomatoey buttery texture to it.  Mmm, mmmm, good.  It also comes with a little side salad.

Loren went for a bowl of gumbo and a salad today.

He actually had his eye on some crab cakes, but they were out of them today.  He enjoyed the gumbo and made sure to save some room for dessert.

I’ve become a convert when it comes to whiskey bread pudding.  This stuff is awesome.  For the longest time, I wouldn’t try it thinking the alcohol taste would be too strong, but all you really taste in this dish is a buttery, cinnamon goodness.  We barely ate half of it and the rest came home with us.  For $34, we both left with happy taste buds and full tummies.

Cajun Cafe on the Bayou
8101 Park Blvd
Pinellas Park, FL
727-546-6732

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I was off work today for MLK Day, so we headed into Dunedin and ate lunch at Tom Yum Thai & Sushi.  This is one of those places that I really like.  The service and food are both very good.

Our lunches started off with a little salad and soup.

I liked the dressing on the salad and the chicken & rice soup had a nice flavor.  They even brought mine out without scallions since I had asked them not to put scallions on my pad thai.  I really like places that make that connection.

Loren got the spicy tuna bowl for lunch.

It was a beautiful color and he liked the dish.  He said it wasn’t killer spicy, which was good and there was plenty of tuna on the plate.  I ordered the Pad Thai bento box.

Besides the Pad Thai, it had an egg roll, California roll, three pieces of sushi & three pieces of sashimi.  The fish, tuna, salmon & escolar, was really fresh and tasty.  Everything on the plate was good and it was definitely too much for me to eat in one sitting.   For $23, definitely one of the tastier lunches we’ve had in a while.

Tom Yum Thai & Sushi
104 Patricia Ave
Dunedin, FL
(727) 953-9898

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We were headed to a matinee show at Ruth Eckerd Hall and figured we could get a quick to bite to eat at Athens Restaurant in Safety Harbor before the show.  Loren went for a Greek salad and I opted for breakfast.

He said his salad was ok (especially after adding my bacon) and I liked the French toast.  I asked for cheese in my eggs and would have liked for it to have been mixed in instead of just on top, but otherwise they were ok.  For $15, it was a quick, decent meal.

Athens Restaurant
226 Main St
Safety Harbor, FL
727-726-3471

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Chilly day in Florida today, so we caught an early movie and then got some BBQ take out from Eli’s BBQ in Dunedin.

$27 got us a full rack of ribs, cole slaw & baked beans which will feed us for both lunch & dinner today.  Eli’s got it going on when it comes to ribs.  They are fall off the bone tender with just the right amount of smoky goodness.  There’s a reason there’s always a line here for the two days a week he’s open.  It’s cash only and definitely worth every penny.

Today there was also a sign out front for free hamburgers & hot dogs on Monday, 1/16/2012 starting at 10am until they run out in celebration of MLK Day.

Eli’s Bar-B-Que
360 Skinner Blvd
Dunedin, FL
(727) 738-4856

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Panos Kouzina has changed owners and they’ve renamed it Bella Kouzina.  It looks the same inside and the menus haven’t been changed yet, but there was definitely a difference in the food.

We both decided on the clam chowder to go with our entrees.

The chowder was pretty good.  Not quite as creamy as other places, but it had a good flavor to it.  The bread was tasty.  I seem to remember it being a lot more garlicy here before though.  For his entree, Loren got the Pork Medallions.

He said the pork were very tender and tasty.  The dish was served with rice, but he sort of wished it was served with a vegetable as well to round out the meal.  I ordered the chicken marsala with a side of fettucine alfredo.

My plate was very plain looking.  The marsala sauce was very thin and looked like chicken stock, though it absolutely tasted like marsala.  It had a nice sweet flavor, though I’d just never seem a marsala dish that looked that color before.  (Here’s a photo of the last time I ordered it)  The chicken was ok, though, very plain.  It didn’t even have any sort of breading on it whatsoever.   They also hit on a pet peeve of mine by not giving us steak knives to cut our food.  I’m sorry, but butter knives just don’t cut it, literally.

Surprisingly, Loren liked the taste of the fettucine alfredo more than I did.  There was just something off about it.  I don’t know if it was the type of cheese in it or if they added some additional herbs.  All I know is that it just didn’t do it for me.

Unfortunately, our waitress ignored our table quite a bit.  We were done eating long before she ever stopped by again.  And once she brought us boxes for our leftovers, she disappeared again.  The owner ended up clearing the dishes off our table.  We didn’t even get asked if we wanted dessert.  Total bill was $30 with a drink.

Bella Kouzina
3101 SR 580
Safety Harbor, FL
(727) 797–2667

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The more we go to Salsa’s Mexican Restaurant in Oldsmar, the more we’re liking it.  They’ve definitely gotten better over time with both the food and the service.

Tonight Loren went for the chicken fajitas.

The chicken was very tender and there was enough of it for two meals.  He had plenty of tasty leftovers for the next day.  I tried something different tonight, the Pollo Empanisado which came with nacho cheese sauce, rice, beans, salad and tortillas.

Underneath the chicken in the photo is another piece of chicken.  I was surprised at how much food there was in this dish.  The chicken was incredibly tender.  We both remarked at how thin it was and yet still tender and tasty.  The guacamole and cheese sauce added that little something extra.  I’d definitely order it again.  Total bill with a drink was $27.

Salsas Mexican Restaurant
3970 Tampa Road
Oldsmar, FL
813-749-7159

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