Quote:
Originally Posted by delima2000
Everybody here misses food from their hometown me too. So if you can take a survey of those types for food you should have a winner. I myself miss a good old Detroit Coney Island (there is a place in Clearwater that serves Detroit Coney Island but it is so far away),white cream of broccoli soup (no cheese) like from Olgas and of course white castles.
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You must be another Michigander! A Coney Island or an Olga's Kitchen would be awesome!
Of course, when you talk about Coney Islands, you risk starting religious wars about Detroit-style vs. Flint-style or Lafayette vs. American. I'm non-partisan because I like both main styles. Personally, I like to go to places like Capitol Coney Island in Flint because they have both Detroit-style and Flint-style. I order one of each with some shoestring fries and am a happy man. And I love a "loose burger with Coney sauce", too. And my wife loves the onion rings. The closest we get down here is when Koegels on the Road comes to town (which they did a couple of weekends ago) and I can buy several pounds of Koegels Viennas with Natural Casings and a frozen tube or two of Koegels Coney sauce and make them on my own.
To make me
really happy though, you'd have to sit me down in an Olga's Kitchen. For those not fortunate enough to have eaten there, Olga's can be thought of a Mediterranean Lite. They make gyro-style meat and serve it on a soft pita bread that is made to order by a funky little machine they invented. The gyro-style meat is good, but the bread is utterly heavenly. Every type of meat I've ever tried on it makes for a fantastic sandwich. Their curly fries are great and my wife adores their spinach pie.
Needless to say, when we get back to Michigan, we eat at Olga's and one Coney Island or another as often as we can manage. We have missed them both not only since moving here but during the 20 years we spent in North Carolina.
Somebody mentioned Calabash-style seafood, which is popular in North Carolina and South Carolina (where the town of Calabash still serves it proudly). I'd easily got for a Calabash-style restaurant as well.
Another place we liked in both Michigan and North Carolina was a proper Mongolian Barbecue. At those places, you grab a bowl, fill it with raw meat, veggies, rice, egg, etc., drizzle over some kinds of oils and sauces and throw on a variety of seasonings and have the cooks sear it on a very hot, circular cooking surface. Throw in some rice (white or browned) and tortillas and you have meal custom-made to your particular tastes. Very, very yummy.
If you read this forum, you'll see a lot of people (myself included) complaining about the very mediocre Chinese restaurants at many of the shopping plazas around The Villages. It's just my opinion, but I think the Bourbon Chicken at the Chinese places in most mall food courts blows away anything I can get at any of them. There has been word that a P.F. Changs is suppose to come to Brownwood, but I haven't heard of any activity on that for months. And "Asian Fusion" may not equate to "Good Chinese" in a lot of people's minds.
If it has to be a fast-food place, I would like some place other than the chains currently here. We used to eat at the El Pollo Tropical outside Zoo Miami whenever we visited the area and just love it - grilled, lean, marinated chicken with Cuban-themed sides. Since moving here, the El Pollo Tropicals we've tried in Orlando have been fairly greasy and with so-so side dishes. Maybe they've all gone downhill or maybe that particular location was exceptionally good, but I'd love one of those if was as good as that location.
And where to put a new restaurant? In the heart of already-popular areas like around the town squares? In an existing location that didn't survive the pandemic? Somewhere on 44 or south of 44 to take advantage of the explosive growth at the south end of The Villages? Personally, I'd like to see some more choices on 466A and lots more choices on 44. There's only one developed retail area south of 44 and it looks like it's already filling in.
As far as the original poster, I wish you luck. Restaurants are a tough business. Do you copy what is already popular in an area or try something new, risking total failure for a chance at incredible success? Do you go high end for that quite small number of folks that clamor for high-end dining, low-end to get anybody and everybody or somewhere in the middle to try to get reasonable turnover with acceptable profits? I don't envy you but I wish you success!