Affordable, Delicious Multicultural Cuisine

Little Saigon, a staple of Orlando's "ViMi" district, has recently undergone a remodel, sprucing up the interior with trendy lighting and a colorful menu. The food is the same cheap and delicious Vietnamese fare it's always been.

My boyfriend's staple is saute chicken with broccoli, green beans, onions, and napa cabbage over rice ($5.95). The sauce is flavorful, the vegetables always fresh, although be warned that portions are small for the average American appetite. We often pad out the meal with a bubble tea - a recent import into the Orlando Asian dining scene. Bubble teas resemble fruit smoothies with dark balls of tapioca floating in the bottom - the tapioca are relatively tasteless and have the consistency of gummy candy. Little Saigon also makes a tasty lemonade but there are no free refills on drinks.

I've often ordered grilled pork or grilled beef on rice ($5.50 for either) with an order of summer rolls. The grilled meats are savory and delicious, served with a large slab of cucumber and slice of tomato I've never been quite sure what to do with, but overall I would recommend a saute chicken dish. I've also tried the soup, but I've had better pho at other Vietnamese restaurants in the area.

The service is almost always speedy, if not overly friendly - kind of a move-you-in, move-you-out kind of deal. (It gets pretty busy around lunchtime, although I've never had to wait, perhaps because of this approach!) When you first sit down, the server will dump a pile of napkins, forks, spoons, and chopsticks on your table, leaving diners to sort them out amongst themselves. However, for the low price, I can't complain, especially during dinner when most Thai restaurants have almost doubled the price for the same food you'd get at lunchtime. Little Saigon is a solid choice in the downtown area.

Vegan? Vegetarian? Gluten-free? Show me the meat? No matter what your dietary desire or requirement, Ali Baba's buffet has something to offer.

Ali Baba is perhaps best-known for its belly-dancing shows in the evening. I hear these are excellent but this is a budget traveler's review and dinner can get expensive. The buffet goes up in price the later in the day it gets. Lunch is a good deal; takeout even better unless you really eat a lot. Takeout is $6.95 per pound if you include meat; $5.95 per pound for vegetarian. Naturally, we just fill two containers, one with most of the vegetarian dishes, although we include a little rice in the meat one so they don't think we're too cheesy. If you eat in, the lunch buffet is $8 or $9 for meat-eaters and a dollar less for vegetarians. Tip: If you get takeout, don't take the meat on the bone. It'll drive up the price.

And what do you get for your dollar? Among the many highlights of the buffet are the Mediterranean salad with cucumber, tomato, and mint (excellent with the falafels); as many big olives as you can eat; Greek salad; baba ghannouj and hummus, along with a few other dips; a relatively plain saffron rice and a fancier rice that varies; several soups and stews; a tandoori-type chicken; and of course, kebabs. My personal favorite is a warm, savory eggplant dip with egg in it. Most items are clearly labeled as to whether they are vegetarian, gluten-free, etc. They even have dessert - chocolate cake, baklava, and fruit, although I've never tried their baklava as it always looks a little sad.

The service is good although since it's buffet you won't need much of it. The dining room is one large, open space that can get pretty noisy. Overall, a delicious and off-beat option in the Orlando dining scene.

If you're looking for an abundance of cheap, non-chain, ethnic food for lunch, Sanford is not the city of choice. It is, however, a good place for thrift store shopping. And you need a good meal when you're thrift store shopping, I tell you. Thank goodness, the Willow Tree Cafe is here to fulfill my sausage-and-sauerkraut needs.

The Willow Tree is right on First Street, the main drag of historic Sanford, with indoor and outdoor dining. If the weather is nice, I always opt for outdoor dining - people-watching is fun - but if you're there on a weekend, sit away from the speakers unless you want mediocre covers of Jimmy Buffet and Van Morrison playing in your ear - I've gotten there just before the live entertainment showed up and been stuck sitting a little too close for comfort.

The Willow Tree's extensive menu includes a variety of sandwiches and German specialties. I'm partial to the sausage platters, which come with a choice of German sausage, sauerkraut, and their potato salad, which is warm, mayo-free, with bacon. The red cabbage side dish is almost as good as my German grandmother's. My friend usually orders a sandwich called the Red Baron. Their daily soups are often the highlight of the meal. Lunch prices are standard - around $6 for sandwiches, $8 for the basic sausage platter, and a few fancier dishes for $10-12. Of course, they offer a variety of beers to wash down all that pork, as well as Republic of Tea teas. I'm a big fan of flavored tea so I consider any restaurant where I can get tea a plus. Service varies from the excellent to the passable - I had terrific service there once from a young guy with a sexy accent, but I also have had a waitress who took eternity to bring the check.

So, bring your appetite for pork and cabbage and "come on down to the Willow Tree cafe" - which is, by the way, some of the words to what I guess is the official restaurant theme song you may be regaled with as you eat by the aforementioned live entertainment.