Best Calamari in Orlando

A new baby and fish tacos..

2009-05-31T19:30:00.004-04:00

It's been a couple months since our last post but I promise you, we've got a valid excuse. On April 13th, we welcomed our new baby girl Harlow Josephine to the world. She is our first child and simply a delight to have around. Needless to say, dining out will be a little tricky for us with a newborn to look after, but we're gonna do our best to keep the reviews coming and continue our search for the best calamari in central Florida.

In an earlier post, I talked about our conversion to pesco-vegetarianism and how much success we've had with it. We're always looking for great recipes to use at home and i thought I'd share this one that we absolutely love. It's not calamari, but instead a delicious version of fish tacos. Often a favorite amongst the surfing crowd, this dish is best served with a cold corona and lime after a day at the beach...enjoy.

FISH TACOS - WHAT'S FOR DINNER TONIGHT from WHAT'S FOR DINNER TONIGHT

Firkin & Kegler is Firkin....

2009-03-19T00:06:00.006-04:00

Crap food but a Firkin good time!

Instead of making babies like the creator of this blog, my wife and I went out to make some noise at the bowling lanes at Firkin & Kegler. But before we started hurling balls down the lane we needed some high octaine grease energy.

With this post as evidence I found the perfect item to provide such energy. While the wife settled for some sausage pasta (top corner) I dove into the fried squid, for $8.95.

While the picture doesn't look half bad I must reveal the truth. First, you see that white space on the plate? The calamari actually took up that entire area, but as I took this picture it actually shrunk; similar to when you over cook something in the microwave. Second, it must have been cooked in the microwave because it was very dry and contained white areas that crunched like a thick and stale Tostitos chip. However, there were a few pieces that had a nice crunch and tender inside, but finding one was like panning for gold. While the lemon did add some color and intensify the flavor of my drink, it was the cocktail sauce that saved the day. Relentless dipping into the cocktail sauce provided the means to finish the dish!

After the meal we headed over to the lanes and had a Firkin good time! The best calamari has eluded us yet again!

Broadway Ristorante & Pizzeria...a 2-fer!

2009-01-29T10:35:00.008-05:00

This review is the result of quite a few recommendations to try a central florida franchise that goes by the name Broadway Ristorante & Pizzeria, or more commonly known as "Broadway Pizza." We visited the one located on alafaya trail, just across the street from the University of Central Florida. We were particularly interested in this place because of what we had heard about their "buffalo calamari", dipped in buffalo hot sauce and served with blue cheese. Even though our main goal with this blog is to seek and find Orlando's best calamari in it's purest form, it's nice to try a new or different take on an old classic now and then.

We sat ourselves and scanned the appetizer menu to quickly find that we had a dilemma on our hands. Broadway offered the buffalo calamari as well as a traditional version, so once again in the name of science we did the logical thing and ordered both! So here's our Tuesday 2-fer, even though it's actually Thursday. ;P

The Traditional - $7.25

The traditional calamari came out and was presented very well. A nice round white plate with sprinkles of Oregano and Parmesan cheese and the calamari laid out on a bed of fresh lettuce. A customary steaming cup of marinara perched in the center and of course the lemon slices waiting to be drizzled. There was definitely enough to satisfy two people, so for $7.25, Broadway is definitely giving you your moneys worth. Now came the most important part, the taste. The calamari itself was very good, cooked well, not chewy or rubbery in fact very tender. As good as this review sounds so far, there was a problem, and I'll get back to what the problem was in just a minute...

Buffalo Spice - $7.75

Now for the buffalo spice calamari that we had heard so much about. It too came out presented very well with the big white plate, the bed of lettuce, and sprinkles of what looked like paprika or ground red pepper. The calamari was noticeably seasoned with a glimmering red sheen on it very similar to what you would see on a fresh order of hot wings. A cup of bleu cheese accompanied our squid along with the lemon slices on the side. After taking a few bites, it was easy to see how this could be such a fan favorite and how the additional .50 cents gets easily justified.

The calamari was tender, not rubbery just like it's traditional counterpart, and the buffalo flavoring was excellent. It truly was a very nice departure from the normal stuff, however it too suffered from the same "problem" that I will now get into since it applied to both orders.

I'm going to take a stab here and guess that Broadway Pizza (University) only has one deep fryer in the kitchen. Why would I make such a guess? Because both orders of calamari were soggy, there was absolutely no crunch to them at all. What does this have to do with having only a single fryer you may ask?

Well soggy calamari is the result of oil temperature rapidly dropping from too much calamari (or any other frozen food) being added to the deep fryer at one time. Most calamari in restaurants is kept frozen or refrigerated of course to keep it fresh and to extend it's shelf life. The chef may have decided to drop both orders in the same fryer so they'd be ready at the same time which is understandable, but it really did a disservice to both orders.

For many of you that have had Broadway's calamari and are thinking, "mine is never soggy, what is this dummy talking about?" I understand your viewpoint, but remember you probably only ordered one plate and it's unlikely that someone else in the place ordered the calamari at the exact same time, so the oil probably maintained the right temperature.

All in all, we really liked Broadway's take on calamari and would definitely go back again. The sogginess was a downer but the buffalo spice version definitely gets points for originality. We will add it to our list of favorites and as always keep the suggestions coming and as always, happy dining!

New recruits and a different take..

2009-01-26T11:08:00.004-05:00

As much as we love calamari, we do understand the health hazards of eating an overabundance of fried foods. We like to think of it as an occasional treat, so that's why we feel it's so important to get the good stuff when we decide to indulge. As much as we'd like to have a fresh review posted here every couple of days, they will most likely be a little more spread out than that.

To make up for this, we've turned to one of our best resources, our friends! We've gotten a great response by many friends about the blog and a number of requests to post reviews as well. We're happy to say that we've added two other guest reviewers that we hope will be posting here very soon.

Getting back to the whole fried food aspect, we do feel that calamari is best served fried as an appetizer even though you can find it in many other forms out there. Calamari salads are very common and can also be very tasty, however it's almost like trying to compare sauteed onions to onion rings, both good but completely different experiences. So until the next review, here is yet another video recipe that explores one of the alternative methods of preparing calamari...enjoy.

Calamari for vegetarians..

2009-01-20T15:42:00.004-05:00

Lisa Marie and I have both been "pescatarians" or "pesco vegetarians" for a little over a year now. You may ask why there are two separate terms for this lifestyle, well I found out that many hardcore vegetarians may actually get offended by the phrase "pesco vegetarians" because it implies that it is a type of vegetarianism.

Personally, I've never found offending a vegetarian to be any real threat to my own safety or anyone else, but I guess I can understand their protest. Simply put, we eat like vegetarians, but we also include fish or other invertebrate seafood in our diet. I think if we tried hard enough, we could go 100% vegetarian, but giving up sushi and calamari, just doesn't seem to make life worth living!!

When making the lifestyle switch to a healthier vegetable based diet, you do find yourself exploring many new ideas for dinner and this happens to be one that we love. I like to call it "calamari for vegetarians" because it reminds me of calamari, but is obviously quite different in taste and texture, but still very delicious.

It's actually fried Cauliflower. Fried cauliflower is a middle eastern dish which as you may know, middle eastern cuisine is heavily rooted in vegetarian style cooking. We've made this dish at home quite a few times and it never disappoints. Here is a recipe for fried cauliflower very similar to the one we use. Try it out, it's cheap, easy, healthy (even though it is fried), and very interesting....enjoy!

Giovanni's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria

2009-01-19T15:09:00.007-05:00

This review is a little off-beat from how they will typically be done for a couple reasons. It was kind of a surprise review if you will, since it wasn't really planned ahead. Lisa was on her way home from work Sunday night and decided she wanted to pick up an order of calamari along the way.

Keep in mind she is 6 months pregnant so her decision may have been triggered by someone else tugging at the old hunger strings! The other reason that this review is a little different is that we are doing it from home, so the presentation of the calamari won't be in it's best form and we take that into account during the review.

Giovanni's is just a couple miles from the house, so it was an easy choice for Lisa to stop there and pick up an order. The calamari is priced at $8.95 which is about average around town, we usually find it between $6.95 up to $11.00 depending where you go. She got it home, opened it up and our first reaction was, "wow that's a lot of calamari"! The quantity was enough to satisfy two hungry adults which is very good for the price. (the picture is a little deceiving, that tin was about 3 inches tall).

The next thing we noticed was that the pieces however were a little on the small side. The breading also wasn't sticking to the squid as well as it should, you'll know this is the case when you are done and the plate is covered in little crispy crumbs. This could very well be the result of the calamari being placed into a sealed container after cooking which traps steam and might of contributed to the tiny bit of sogginess, thus making the breading lose it's grip.

There was a minor hint of rubbery texture, but nothing out of the ordinary. Calamari is rubbery in texture by nature, so it should be expected, but you'll definitely know if you've gotten a hold of the bad stuff.

All said and done, I think the lesson we learned that night was, if you are going to order out for calamari, don't expect it to be the same as it would dining out. It will lose some of it's crispiness and might even be a little soggy, so don't get the expensive stuff, look for something more moderately priced and you won't be as disappointed. We will being going back to Giovanni's to give it a proper review and believe that it will do much better next time around...so stay tuned.

Already getting emails!

2009-01-16T16:46:00.004-05:00

Thanks to those of you who have already emailed us with some great suggestions on places to try here in town. Some of you have some very interesting takes on how you like your calamari. One reader told us how he always demands that his calamari be tossed in buffalo sauce and served with blue cheese dressing just like chicken wings! We found that to be a very unique idea. Until we get more reviews up next week, we'll be adding little tidbits here and there, so in the meantime, here is yet another video clip of how to make your own delicious calamari at home. This one provided by expert village which has thousands if not millions of videos on how to do anything! enjoy and have a great weekend!

Deep Fry Calamari -- powered by ExpertVillage.com

Vito's Pizza and Pasta of Waterford Lakes

2009-01-14T15:20:00.017-05:00

So here it is, our first official review! This weeks journey took us to a nearby pizza joint located in Waterford Lakes on the east side of town called Vito's Pizza and Pasta. My job is located near UCF so this place was close enough that we could go there during my lunch break. Waterford Lakes Town Center is a well sized shopping center located on Alafaya Trail near the East-West Expressway.

Vito's (formerly known as Papa Joe's) has a casual atmosphere and ample seating whether you prefer a table or booth. I found their menu online before we decided to visit so we were unpleasantly surprised to find that the price of calamari had been raised to $9.99 vs. the $7.95 listed online. "Meh, what the heck" we figured, since this was for scientific research! :).

After only a few minutes of waiting, our waitress delivered it and wow, what a let down!! A very small plate that could hardly satisfy a party of two. So things are already getting off to a rocky start. The presentation wasn't too bad as you can see from the photo, even though there was a smudge of marinara on one side of the plate.

Now came the important stuff, how did it taste? Well, to be kind, I'd say it was very good if I were eating a Goodyear tire. Very rubbery in texture, greasy, and not seasoned very well at all. I asked the waitress if it was breaded and seasoned in-house or prepackaged and she assured us that it was prepared in-house.

All of the restaurants we review obviously won't make our "best of" list so one other criteria we decided to use for judging was whether we would ever come back for the calamari. Unfortunately for Vito's the answer would have to be no. The pizza and pasta might be great here but for the quality and price, sorry Vito, we gotta give ya the big thumbs down on the squid...

Gathering reviews and finding recipes..

2009-01-14T10:07:00.006-05:00

Lisa Marie and I are in the process of gathering reviews for you and will have them on the site soon. We've visited many places here in Orlando and have some great suggestions, but didn't have this blog up and running back then. We'll be going to some of our favorite places soon and will have full reviews on all of our favorites as well as some places we haven't tried yet. In the meantime, I've searched the web for any good video recipes and have found a couple. Here is a great one from VideoJug. I'm not a big fan of mayo, but to each his own.

We're off and running!

2009-01-13T13:24:00.000-05:00

Hello, and welcome to our little blog about a BIG subject, CALAMARI!! My wife Lisa Marie and I are both huge fans of this crispy treat and always go out of our way to find some of the best around town. We both realized that there wasn't a bunch of information on the web about who had the best in town, so we decided to take matters into our own hands. We'll frequently post a review of a local Orlando establishments' take on this crunchy, chewy delicacy and report our findings. Each review will consist of a photo, description, price, and any other quirky details about each place that we visit. If you think you have a bead on the best calamari in town, please feel free to contact us and make a recommendation. Better yet, feel free to do your own review and be a guest author, just make sure you cover all the basics and get a photo! Happy dining!