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After the
drive up to Orlando for Come Out with Pride, Gay pride
weekend (annually in October) we were looking for some hearty food
that we knew we could count on to fill us up before a long night of
covering events at
Parliament House,
Pulse
and
Revolution. (See the LGBT Pride
photos using these links,
Pride Festival
and
Orlando Pride Parade)
We had
heard the new Hamburger Mary's in Church Street Station
was open and so off we went.
Church Street
Station is located in downtown, which makes it central to most of
Orlando's Gay and Lesbian bars. Also nearby are a variety of hotels,
our favorite is
The Grand Bohemian.
Since this is a
franchise, the menu is standard to all of Hamburger Mary's locations
throughout the United States. We have all time favorites including
the Blue Boy burger topped with blue cheese and bacon,
Mary's Meatloaf and the chicken sandwich provocatively named
Mary's Breast. We also like the salads especially the Julius
Caesar Salad and Mary Contrary's Garden Salad.
Since it's been a
while since we were in a Hamburger Mary's, we thought we'd try some
different things. The Crispy Caramel Chicken Salad came with
fresh mixed greens, tomato, bacon, shredded cheese and ranch
dressing. The chicken was breaded, fried and served with caramel
on top. While it wasn't exactly what we envisioned, it was
nonetheless very good and perfectly prepared. The comment was made
that it was a total surprise, in a good way!
Since I'm a fan of
any chicken and tarragon combination the Cran-Chicken Salad
Sandwich looked like it would hit the spot and it did! Made
following Mary's "secret" recipe we can tell you it included
scallions, cranberries of course, tarragon and just enough
mayonnaise to keep it from being dry. One thing that always annoys
me is an overabundance of mayo and these guys got it right!
The dessert menu
includes Fried Twinkies, Brownie Sundays and the very
unique Mary Tyler S'mores that you make yourself with graham
crackers, marshmallows and chocolate all ready for you to heat up
over your own flame. We've had the S'mores and the brownie and we
decided we'd be seeing enough fried twinks later in the night, so we
passed on dessert.
The entire
experience was great from start to finish. We were immediately
seated, our server (whose name escapes me) was friendly and very
helpful. The atmosphere is cool, a sort of Jetsons meets
retro 60s with a hint of Scooby Doo, lots of fun colors, banquettes
galore and plasma TVs all over the place.
One of us stumbled
on the way out and fell into Church Street which brought about a
round of laughter from the crowd outside! A hysterical ending to our
great meal (we hadn't even been drinking LOL) and the perfect
beginning to a great night.
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Hamburger Mary's Orlando
110 West Church Street
Orlando, FL 32801
321-319-0600 |
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