We hadn’t been out to The German Restaurant in Holiday in a long time and every time we go back we wonder why we don’t go more often.  The food is so hearty and fresh.  They started us off with some warm bread and I can’t resist the potato pancakes.

It’s such a simple dish, but has the right amount of crisp and soft in the same bite.  Next up was some goulash soup and salad for Loren and the chicken soup for me.

The chicken soup had that homemade flavor to it, but the noodle were a bit mushy.  The goulash soup had an interesting flavor to it.  It’s got some spices that you wouldn’t normally associate with German food, but Loren licked the bowl clean.  For his entree, he went for the Farmer Sausages with potato salad and red cabbage.

He liked everything on the plate.  The sausages were cooked perfectly and had a nice smoky flavor.  I can’t resist ordering the Jaegerschnitzel with spaetzle.

This is one of my all time favorite meals.  The pork is cooked perfectly with this amazing buttery coating on it.  The mushroom gravy is thick and flavorful and the spaetzle is so yummy.  There’s way more on this plate than I can eat in one sitting, so leftovers are an added bonus.  And there’s just no walking away with out a piece of black forest cake.

Moist chocolate cake with a creamy filling.   Delish!  The service is very friendly here and you never walk away hungry.  Total bill with a drink was $59.

The German Restaurant
2616 US Hwy 19
Holiday, FL
727-937-7400

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I met my sister and niece in Orlando today and we had lunch at Royal Thai.  We were seated out on the bright indoor patio.   We had the Pad Broccoli, the Pad Khing, and the Red Curry.  All of the dishes were fresh and tasty.

My sister said the red curry was pretty spicy and had a lot of flavor.  The ginger was prominent in the Pad Khing and I enjoyed the sauce in the Pad Broccoli.   Overall, pretty good Thai food at a reasonable price.  Total bill was $25

Royal Thai Restaurant
1202 N. Semoran Boulevard
Orlando, FL 32807
407-275-0776

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We stopped by Savory Street for a fresh and tasty breakfast this morning.

Loren got the Spanish burrito and I went for the ham, egg & cheese croissant.  The croissant was buttery and fresh and I had to hold myself back from ordering some of their other pastries to go.  Loren enjoyed the burrito.  It had chorizo, eggs, and cheese and a fresh salsa.  Total bill was $15.

Savory Street
411 North Orange Ave
Sarasota, FL
941-312-4027

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I have an obsession with Ipswich fried clams, so when I see them on a menu for a restaurant, we have to go eat there.  Madfish Grill in Sarasota is supposedly the only place in town that carries them.  They weren’t very busy when we arrived around 6:30pm which was fine with us.  We started off with some bread & the lobster fondue.

The fondue was tasty with the toasted Cuban bread, but we didn’t like the strips of crunchy whatever it was that they put on top of it.  They tasted ok and we tried to remove most of them, but they sort of melted into the fondue so you couldn’t get a clean scoop without getting some of the now mushy garnish.  It was just unnecessary.  For his entree, Loren got the grouper Florentine.

The asparagus was perfectly cooked and still crunchy, so he really liked that.  The grouper was also perfectly cooked, but after just having the fondue, the cheese sauce was a bit much.  It also had mashed potatoes on the bottom of it.  He was happy and very full.  The whole belly clams were the only thing on my mind.

The clams were delicious.  Just like I remember from when I was a kid in New England.  The fries were ok, but the cole slaw was too tart for me.  I needed a touch of sweetness, so we got the chocolate lava cake.

Pretty standard lava cake with ice cream and whipped cream.  Tasty end to a a tasty meal.  Total bill with a drink was $68.

Madfish Grill
4059 Cattlemen Rd
Sarasota, FL
941-377-3474

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We were on our way to Sarasota and stopped at the Sage Biscuit Cafe for brunch.  It was really busy this morning.  We had about a 20 minute wait for a table. They have seating both outside and in & since the outside seating was in the shade we were ok sitting out there.  Everything on the menu sounded good and we finally settled on breakfast for me & lunch for Loren.

He ordered the salmon BLT with the cucumber salad for his side dish.

He really enjoyed it.  The salmon was perfectly cooked and the cucumber salad had chick peas and herbs and other veggies plus a tasty dressing on it.  He couldn’t stop eating it.  I went for the Sage Biscuit breakfast platter.

There was more than enough food on this plate and everything was well seasoned and tasty and only $9.99.  The biscuit was amazing.  It had a wonderful savory flavor to it.  So many restaurants serve very plain breakfast potatoes, but these had a delicious spice mixture on them.  The French toast was thick and filling.  I was stuffed by the time we were ready to leave.  Definitely a place we’d return to next time we’re in Bradenton.  Total bill with a drink was $25.

The Sage Biscuit Cafe
6656 Cortez Rd W
Bradenton, FL
941-792-3970

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