THe only seafood here which is worthy and fresh is shrimp, as southern fish is warm water and small, and tuna is young as they migrate north to feed in the colder waters of the north atlantic to get to size so forget about fresh cold water atlantic fish as a regular staple.

If you want to start a business in demand, start a true NE/NY style pizzeria,
and you will mint money. .

cooking at home is your best bet, and if you as specific about food as you type, you shouldhave plenty of time to learn to cook like at home,

We will go in with anyone on flying in some fresh alaskan salmon from Seattle Washington in the late spring , once a year, whole fishes packed in ice. . once a year for the grille. . beats North atlantic and farm raised everyday all day. .

I agree about a true NE?NY style pizza. I suppose the hardest part would be getting the true flours, meats, cheeses, and sauces from suppliers in New England and New York. Just hungry thinking about it!:mmmm:

Interesting that no one brings up good “Mexican” - I guess that’s more of a western states staple - Still miss a really good Breakfast burrito, authentic street tacos, New Mexican-style green chili, and salsa that isn’t dumbed-down to taste like mild ketchup. I can make all these dishes and more myself, but occasionally it’s nice to go out and have really good Mexican food.

Sadly, I can say that the Villages is not known for its food…..mediocre at best.

I grew up in the Merrimack Valley area and feel your pain on the Roast Beef Sandwiches. I miss Harrison’s and Riley’s.

The Chinese food is ok. there are a few in various shopping centers to try out. Can’t say I have a favorite or tried them all.

I’ve resorted to making my own pizza so nothing compares to that. Get ya some pizza dough from Publix, the toppings of your choice and throw it on a hot gas grill. Cook for about 3-4 minutes, throw it under the broiler to brown the top and you are good to go.

You don’t need a fancy oven, just a hot grill.

Oh I'm a pretty good cook. Mostly famous for my BBQ. But some things I just haven't got the time for or haven't found the right recipes. Store bought pizza dough hasn't been great. Once I'm fully retired maybe I'll take the time to perfect a crust.

Chinese wings have been my favorite, but the kind that arent' breaded and seem to maybe have some ginger and soy sauce flavor to them. But I hate deep frying at home. Too much oil to deal with.

And well, roast beef, it'll just be 2 of us so making a roast to use for sandwiches may be off the list.

Nevertheless, while I enjoyed Chophouse, I make a much better steak. Anything on a grill and I'm good to go.

I hate to say it, but the best Mexican food in The Villages is at Taco Bell. They have the best tacos, correctly made with ground beef, and they have actual taco sauce, which is non-existent in any other Mexican restaurant. Who wants tacos made with low quality beef cubes, no taco sauce, and you can't even pick it up?

I think you would need high quality fresh mozzarella and a good tomato sauce made from imported Italian tomatoes.

Oh come on Stu. You are from NYC. You don't need fresh mozzarella. Matter of fact, fresh mozzarella is on Neopolitan pizza, not NYC pizza. Whole milk shredded mozzarella is the way to go. In addition, the sauce is usually just ground San Marzano tomatoes, maybe a bit of garlic and oregano. Nothing too complicated. :). It's the crust I haven't mastered. Heck didn't Disney even bring in NYC water to make their NY pizza crust?

Not a hater, nor an insulting nasty type at all. But....LOL... sorry, I just don't think you are going to like central Florida AT ALL. However, if you stay, and you finally accept your fate, that you must give up some good things but other very attractive things (low property taxes, no state income tax, fantastic natural environment of spring fed rivers, hiking, kayaking, snorkeling, air generally free of industrial manufacturing plant "odors", and so on) take their place and the food "back home" is not forgotten, but the new mediocre replacements become an acceptable trade off. Pizza, genuine Chinese, or Hong Kong style, no not really. Orlando has a district with some really authentic Vietnamese cuisine, pretty close to the real thing. So, you might enjoy what is available... some great Bar-B-Q, some authentic southern dishes (visit the location not far from Gainesville where Marjorie Rawlings wrote the classic novel The Yearling), and have some great and authentic Greek food in nearby Tarpon Springs... We do what we can to forget what we don't have....LOL ! The FRESH caught snapper and genuine grouper at the coast is GREAT and Florida shrimp can not even be compared to the farmed Taiwanese variety served in big city restaurants... and in some right here... you have to be "careful"... LOL ! Good luck, you'll find some items to take the place of what you've "left".

You can get almost everything online, but probably in quantities you may not want.

The sauce will be in #10 cans, the flour (bromated high gluten) will be in 25 or 50 lb bags. Most higher end shops use Grande Mozz which is usually only available from food service companies.

There's no point in buying pastrami at all if you can't bring it home and grill the slices with swiss cheese on toasted rye, some raw red onion and for people who require condiments - Gulden's mustard.

One simply does not consume cold pastrami. It is sacrilegious, and borders on heresy.

There are only two taquerias that I know of, north of 466 between 301 and 441. I frequent one of them, and it's incredibly popular among Mexicans. I've mentioned it before but - they've become more popular since I first went to them a year ago. So I'm hesitant to remind anyone. The lines are reasonable (except during the lunch rush) and I'd selfishly like to keep it that way.

We were in New England last week and went to Regina at Foxwoods. OMG, so far above anything here in the Villages!

To the OP: the real deal, the "true story" is - The Villages lacks diversity in food, because The Villages is low on diversity in residents. It's predominately white, almost all English-as-First-Language, predominately "somewhere other than the cultural and ethnic diversity of the Northeastern/New England states." This is Vanilla country. If you want diversity in food, you need to go some place where they have diverse people.

I find the cheese they put on pizza here pretty tasteless same as the sauce. We have tried making our own pizza and never thought we had something any good.