Articles by Faiyaz Kara
37 stories found. Showing page 1 of 2.
Rolling in dough: Two area pizzerias offer a contrast in pies
9/10/2009 | By Faiyaz Kara
Pizza Fusion 7563 W. Sand Lake Road Orlando, FL 32819 407-351-3360 http://www.pizzafusion.com/orlando Scalini's Pizza 'n Pasta 5106 Dr. Phillips Blvd. Orlando, FL 32819 407-291-9...[MORE]
Chaat rooms
On The Side | 8/27/2009 | By Faiyaz Kara
I spent many a childhood Sunday sitting in front of the console watching Godzilla flicks and eating bowl after bowl of chana batata – a curried mix of chickpeas and potatoes blended with black-eyed-p...[MORE]
Bite 2009 - Chef's night out: A look into how local chefs experience restaurants from the diner’s side
4/30/2009 | By Faiyaz Kara
Monday night is always date night for Cress Restaurant chef Hari Pulapaka and his wife Jenneffer. Shutting the doors to their intimate DeLand boîte once a week allows the charming culinarians...[MORE]
BEST OF ORLANDO 2009
7/16/2009 | By Jeffrey C. Billman, Trevor Fraser, Faiyaz Kara, Bao Le-Huu, Billy Manes, Lindy T. Shepherd, Justin Strout, Bob Whitby, Jessica Bryce Young
select a link below Holy crap! We asked you to vote for Orlando’s best people, places and things, and did you ever respond. This year we got 2,678 votes in our readers poll, almo...[MORE]
ATTENTION, HOLIDAY SHOPPERS
On The Side | 12/11/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
Deep pockets are essential when shopping at Nordstrom, but if outbound cash flow has you dizzy, a stop at the store’s secluded café this season is in order. Though it’s more fast-casual ...[MORE]
FEAST OF EDEN: The Enzian's new main feature is worth catching
12/4/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
If it’s at the movies, as André Breton once observed, that the only absolutely modern mystery is celebrated, then the noted Surrealist would’ve been amused by the Enzian Theater’s appropri...[MORE]
DAIRY QUEEN
On The Side | 12/4/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
Could Orlando follow in the footsteps of L.A. and have an all-out frozen yogurt war? Things are getting a little heated in the battle for fro-yo supremacy, with College Park’s CeFiore and Winter...[MORE]
OFF THE GRIDDLE
On The Side | 11/13/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
You may not have ever sampled the El Salvadoran pupusa, but if you’ve enjoyed Venezuelan arepas or Mexican gorditas, then you’re likely familiar with the Central American nation’s most popular foo...[MORE]
BIG SUGAR
On The Side | 11/6/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
After maneuvering through the labyrinthine roadways inside the Waterford Lakes Town Center, then downing some quaggy shepherd’s pie for dinner, I was looking forward to a superlatively sugary fina...[MORE]
GET SMART
On The Side | 10/23/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
It’s clear the moment you walk through the doors of this renovated Taco Bell that the owners of the Green Day Café don’t want you to be an American idiot, at least insofar as your diet and ...[MORE]
POPULAR CULTURE
On The Side | 9/11/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
When it comes to guilt-free sweets, nonfat frozen yogurt has been a go-to treat among health nuts since the 1970s. In recent years, a sugary adulteration eliminated the natural flavor of the cool ...[MORE]
MMMM'GOY
On The Side | 9/4/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
I found myself uttering the common Cantonese refrain m’goy (or “thank you”) repeatedly at Tasty Wok, a modest corner noodle house where roasted birds dangle as freely as modifiers in a high school ...[MORE]
DON'T GO HUNGRY
On The Side | 8/21/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
Having to dodge your way through cars, soccer moms and the occasional tree-hugging organophile scooting across the parking lot as fast as his socked-and-sandaled feet will take him may not be your...[MORE]
FASTER, PUSSYCAT! POO! POO!
7/31/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
So the world’s most expensive coffee is passed through the digestive tract of the same creature linked to the SARS outbreak – don’t let that stop you from, ahem, dropping $30 and...[MORE]
BEST OF ORLANDO 2008
7/17/2008 | By Avery Beckendorf, Jeffrey C. Billman, Faiyaz Kara, Seth Kubersky, Bao Le-Huu, Billy Manes, Ian Monroe, Deanna Morey, Lindy T. Shepherd, Justin Strout, Jessica Bryce Young, Bob Whitby
Can you believe another year has passed? It seems like only yesterday that we were printing our fabulously popular Best of Orlando issue – which by the way is the original and best Best of Orland...[MORE]
JUNGLE EATS: An urban slant to midday noshing.
6/19/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
If there’s one thing downtown suits need more than a cutthroat attitude to sustain them in the dog-eat-dog world of corporate America, it’s a quick and delicious noontime meal to susta...[MORE]
PRIDE IN PARRAMORE
On The Side | 6/5/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
At first glance, a gay-owned business in the heart of Parramore may seem as incongruous as an Idaho senator in a Minneapolis airport bathroom, but not so in Buddy Dyer’s vision of the new P...[MORE]
MEAN GREENS: In Winter Park, salad days are here again
5/22/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
Winter Park locals hungering for a grease-free nosh now have two additional eateries in which to satisfy their pangs for edible botanicals. Virgin Olive Market and Eden’s Fresh Co. may not b...[MORE]
SMALL POND: BALDWIN PARK FISH-AND-CHIP SHOP LURES LOCALS
On The Side | 4/10/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
Across the street from Colibrí sits Grouper & More, a fish-and-chip shop with all the appeal of a motel lobby and the smooth-jazz stylings of the bus station downtown. Picturesque Lake...[MORE]
SERIOUS SYRIAN
On The Side | 3/6/2008 | By Faiyaz Kara
The Bay Hill Shopping Plaza, on the northeast corner of Sand Lake and Turkey Lake roads, is quickly becoming a destination for foodies with global palates. India (Memories of India), Vietnam (Rice Pap...[MORE]
37 stories found. Showing page 1 of 2.
199 reviews found. Showing page 1 of 10.
India Kitchen
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 10/21/2010
There may not be a more fragrant, or infernal, cuisine than the dishes native to the Chettinad region of Tamil Nadu. South Indian cuisine is aromatic and gut-blazing by nature, but those kooky culinar...[MORE]
Line Drive Burgers
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 10/14/2010
It’s hard enough being an independent restaurant these days, let alone an indie burger joint in chain-riddled Lake Mary. But Line Drive Burgers, a baseball-themed diner, is taking a stab at converti...[MORE]
Saigon Flavors
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 10/7/2010
Aiming higher than the spate of casual Vietnamese eateries lining Colonial Drive, Oviedo’s Saigon Flavors certainly has the sultry mood, decorative panache and intimate space that sets it apart from...[MORE]
Bananas: A Modern American Diner
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 9/30/2010
After all the hyperbolic, vitriolic, sometimes alcoholic words we had heard and read about Bananas (the diner, not the Woody Allen flick or the fruit), we were justifiably frightened but fired up to...[MORE]
Portobello Trattoria
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 9/23/2010
It’s no secret that Portobello’s days as a proud destination for top-notch Northern Italian fare have long been over. So, after a protracted period that saw the Downtown Disney dining spot fully emb...[MORE]
Greek Flame Taverna
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 9/16/2010
There’s no love lost between the Greeks and the Turks – invasions, wars, cultural boasts and religious differences have all helped to fan the flames of animosity between the two proud nations. So ...[MORE]
Dragonfly Modern Izakaya & Sushi
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 9/9/2010
Rumor had it that in recent years, Dragonfly – Gainesville’s much-lauded modern izakaya – had lost some of its luster in its effort to maintain “it spot” status among the college town’s cognoscenti....[MORE]
India 4U
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 9/2/2010
The Curry Corridor got a whole lot spicier in the past year with Bombay Café, Masala-Wok and India Kitchen opening their aromatic rooms to diners on South Orange Blossom Trail. Now India 4U, the secto...[MORE]
Genuine Bistro
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 8/26/2010
People – like cheese, wine or steak – tend to mellow with age, and Barrie Freeman is no different. The woman responsible for shaping downtown Orlando’s nascent dining and nightlife scene in the early ...[MORE]
Shula’s 347 Grill
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 8/19/2010
We were told the wait would be 25 minutes, which wasn’t surprising given it was Saturday night and that we hadn’t made reservations at Shula’s 347 Grill, a casual spinoff of the Don’s chain of upscale...[MORE]
Thai Blossom
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 8/4/2010
“Life is uncertain – eat dessert first,” the saying goes. In hindsight, we probably should’ve eaten dessert first after making the trek out to Winter Garden’s Thai Blossom. Given all the buzz around t...[MORE]
King Cajun Crawfish
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 7/28/2010
“Smell my fingers,” my dining comrade commanded after decapitating a freshly boiled crawfish, thrusting her cayenne-tinged digits into my face. The scent of garlic, spices and the sea made me want to ...[MORE]
Keke’s Breakfast Café
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 7/21/2010
As classic American diners give way to more modern renditions, the wails of purists can be heard resonating from stainless-steel-and-Formica–heaped graveyards scattered about the city. People still la...[MORE]
Habibi Fine Lebanese Cuisine
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 7/7/2010
No lamb?, I incredulously asked myself. Poring over the streamlined menu at the counter of Habibi Fine Lebanese Cuisine, I noticed beef and chicken were well-represented, but the staple meat defining ...[MORE]
Fish ’N’ Loaves
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 6/30/2010
Faith. Some have it; others lack it. In this line of work, a leap of faith can mean the difference between an ordinary and an extraordinary meal. To wit: Adventurous forays into exotic cuisines have, ...[MORE]
Efes Turkish Cuisine
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 6/24/2010
Before you relegate Efes Turkish Cuisine to the realm of restaurant irrelevance for its Sanford locale, consider this: No other Turkish restaurant in the greater Orlando area offers a more Ottoman bac...[MORE]
Delightful Island Café
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 6/16/2010
If T.S. Eliot had been around to take in the concrete scrap heap of East Colonial Drive and its brutal environs, he might have been prompted to pen a variant of “The Waste Land”: June is the cruelest ...[MORE]
Anna’s Polish Restaurant
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 6/9/2010
Restaurants specializing in Eastern European cuisine no longer seem content simply to attract homesick expats pining for a hearty meal. Judging from the popularity of such places as Polonia, Lacomka a...[MORE]
Amazonas Latin Grill
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 6/2/2010
I’ve known about Amazonas Latin Grill for quite a while, but their cafeteria-style method of service didn’t make me want to rush to visit. Also, I assumed, quite wrongly, that because Amazonas was loc...[MORE]
Big Fin Seafood Kitchen
Restaurant review: by Faiyaz Kara | 5/26/2010
You can tell that size matters to Bobby Moore. The local restaurateur seems to believe that good things come in big, sometimes gargantuan, packages. Step inside the Big Fin Seafood Kitchen – his 11,00...[MORE]