Eating at the Crooked Bayou

In honor of today being Fat Tuesday, I borrowed a restaurant review of the Crooked Bayou in Downtown Orlando from my Watch Me Eat Blog. With Jockamos out of business, Crooked Bayou is the only restaurant that I know of in the Central Florida area that specifically specializes in Cajun food. Crooked Bayou is a tiny little place on Central Blvd that seemed to be more bar than restaurant. They had some cool stuff in the tiny space like a big tree made out of bent rebar in the center of the restaurant and a window to an old painted advertisement on the neighboring brick building.

I started by ordering a cup of Jambalaya. It was really good, with plenty of chicken, andouille sausage, and shrimp along with the rice. According to Wikipedia, this was Creole Jambalaya since it was tomato based rather than Cajun Jambalaya that is tomato free. It was definitely some of the best Jambalaya that I've eaten.

I ordered a Cajun Crawfish Po'boy to follow the Jambalaya. The crawfish were tiny, but the sandwich was still really tasty. There was plenty of seasoning on the crawfish, which were placed on pressed french bread with lettuce, tomato, and tarter sauce. A pickle and potato chips were served with the sandwich.

Longwood Arts & Crafts Festival 2008

I went to the Longwood Arts & Crafts Festival on November 22, 2008. It was a good time walking around Downtown Longwood, looking at the old houses and what people were trying to sell. Much of it was actual handmade arts/crafts, while a lot was also mass produced junk made in China that people were trying to pass off as their own.

Here's Warren Ave covered with vendors.


This old house was for sale, and so was the VW Bus. I noticed that a whole lot of old historic houses were for sale in Downtown.


Kettle Corn, pork rinds, fried potatoes, and the historic Bradlee Mcintyre House in the background.


The old Longwood Hotel. Now it's offices.


Someone was selling hypnosis CDs. If I'm reading this sign correctly, it sounds like these CDs can cure your fear of children. I actually listened to these people trying to sell some stop smoking CDs to someone. It's $10 a CD, and you should buy multiple CDs. The CDs will work a whole lot better if you are using a patch or taking pills to help you stop smoking at the same time. Go figure. Hypnosis is great for making someone act like a chicken, but I have issues when someone is trying to say it can cure all of the real problems listed on the sign.


The Inside-Outside House.


Historic Church.


I enjoy taking pictures of the food stands at these type of events. The food always seems to be very photogenic, and the artists don't get upset with me taking pictures. I didn't eat any, but these pictures may still end up on my Watch Me Eat Blog.

Eating Seafood in Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park

I climbed the lighthouse and then I ate seafood while at the Bill Baggs Cafe Florida State Park on Key Biscayne...

Cheyenne Saloon

As a cross post from my Food Blog, I am posting this here on the Florida Everyone Forgot Blog. Not necessarily for the food, but more for the great building that this restaurant is housed in...

I ate at the newly reopened Cheyenne Saloon on Church Street in Downtown Orlando on July 4th. Back before the Orlando theme parks built their nighttime entertainment complexes (Pleasure Island, Boardwalk, Citywalk, etc), Church Street Station was one of Orlando's most popular attractions. This area was filled with shopping, restaurants, and clubs. There was other types of entertainment here as well, like a Q-ZAR Laser Tag, a haunted house called Terror on Church Street, and a large arcade. At nighttime there would be street performers juggling in the streets, and the area was always packed with people. Slowly, the crowds began to disappear and all of the activity on Church Street began to close. For a while, Church Street was completely dead with almost nothing open in the area that was once bustling with people. Slowly though, it seems to be coming back to life. A skyscraper with a few restaurants called The Plaza has recently opened on the site of the old Bumby Building, where Terror on Church Street once was. Another building called 55 West is almost complete. It looks like this building will have street level shopping as well.

One of the more recent happenings on Church Street was the reopening of the Cheyenne Saloon. This was one of the original clubs on Church Street, and when it reopened with an added restaurant, I had to try it. It is in a wonderful building, and the food was good too.

The restaurant is on the second floor of a western themed club, all in a massive building with great stained glass windows, balconies weaving all around the upper floors, and western paraphernalia all around.

The menu was somewhat small and consisted of all barbecue, but I didn't have a problem with it. I had a pulled pork dinner that was served with a choice of sides. I chose mashed potatoes and collard greens.


A basket of biscuits was brought out first. They came with butter and honey as a topping, but they really didn't need anything and tasted fine the way they were.

My pulled pork came out soon after. The pork itself was good. It wasn't as finely shredded compared to the pulled pork I've gotten elsewhere and was pulled into bite sized chunks instead. It was very tender and was served with barbecue sauce on the side. The mashed potatoes tasted very boring, and definitely needed gravy, or at least some salt. The collard greens were tender and very tasty, compared to the occasions when sometimes collard greens are bitter and stringy instead.

I thought the Cheyenne Saloon had good barbecue, and the building was a nice plus...

Cape Florida Lighthouse

The Cape Florida Lighthouse is located on Key Biscayne, just outside of Downtown Miami. The 95 foot tower has wonderful view of the surrounding state park, the Atlantic Ocean, Downtown Miami, Stiltsville, as well as the rest of the surrounding areas. The lighthouse is in Bill Baggs State Park, which has some really nice beaches, as well as some good waterfront restaurants...

Mole Cricket

Mole Crickets are insects that burrow under perfectly manicured lawns and chew on the grass roots, therefore destroying the perfect lawn.

I came across this mole cricket one night, and then allowed it to go free and wreck havoc on perfect lawns. I always could have cooked the mole cricket for a snack instead...