Soccer in the Sunshine State – Orlando City FC vs. Montreal Impact

Since its inaugural season in 2015, the Orlando City FC have generated a lot of buzz in Major League Soccer.  Although their on-field success hasn’t quite measured up to their off-field success, it has always been an interest of mine to watch them play at Orlando City Stadium – a soccer-specific stadium located right in the middle of downtown Orlando.  Fortunately, the timing of my recent trip to Orlando worked out that the Orlando City FC were in town hosting the Montreal Impact.

Orlando City Stadium

Orlando City Stadium is located several blocks west of downtown Orlando in the Parramore District making it relatively easy to get to.  The box office is located at Gate A.  You can’t miss it as it has a beautiful mural of the Orlando City FC’s Lion logo above it, as well as Walt Disney World signage.  Security appeared to not be letting people in just yet when I arrived just after 2pm EST, but made exceptions for anyone looking to purchase a last minute ticket.  Upon entering, you make an immediate left to the box office.  I ended up buying a seat in you will be sent an e-ticket to your cell phone and not a physical ticket.  Make sure you have a fully charged phone with you in that case.

Orlando City Stadium Festival Plaza

With a couple of hours to spare, I decided to just walk around the festival plaza located just outside of Gate A to check out all the action.  Here fans could find different vendors hawking products, partake in some interactive games or just relax with a few beers with their friends.  I didn’t see anything particularly interesting here that grabbed my attention, so I ended up going the Yard Bar – a beer garden located kitty corner from Gate C.  It caught my attention quickly because it is set up like a beach bar with soft, white sand, picnic tables, and umbrellas.  Yard Bar is cash only, but has an ATM machine near the entrance if you require one.  The beer selection is very limited with an average price of $4 US.  There are food trucks available here, as well as classic lawn games, like cornhole, to pass the time.

Upon making my way back to the stadium, I stopped for a few moments to take in the Orlando City FC Supporters march.  It was kind of hard not to with the loud chants, drum beats, and flares that could be seen and heard more than a block away.  Soccer culture is truly one-of-a-kind.  You’d never see anything like this before an NHL, NBA or MLB game, for example.  And NFL culture is really just tailgating pre-game and that’s it.  There’s no cheering or banging of drums or lighting smoke bombs and flares when approaching the stadium.  There’s no sense of “being at war” against your opponents here.  And that’s what I loved about the Ruckus.  They bring that same flair and intensity to each match like other Supporters clubs do in Europe and other parts of the world.

Orlando City FC Supporters set off purple smoke bombs prior to kickoff

Orlando City Stadium is simply beautiful venue.  With a capacity of 25,500, it’s small enough to still retain a bit of that intimacy with the players on the field.  Soccer-specific stadiums are much larger in size in Europe – almost comparable to NFL and NCAA football stadiums.  The Orlando City FC Supporters Clubs sat directly behind the team’s net.  Just before kickoff, a massive plume of purple smoke engulfed the entire stadium for nearly 10 minutes.  My nose didn’t quite appreciate what my eyes saw, but it was good see some typical soccer traditions being kept alive here in Florida.

Orlando City FC vs. Montreal Impact

Sadly, this would be the biggest highlight of the day as the match just went horribly wrong for the home team.  Montreal Impact took an early 1 – 0 lead in the 14th minute when Saphir Taider cut a cross back to a wide open Orji Okwonkwo who buried it past Orlando’s goalkeeper in the bottom left corner.  Less than a minute later, Shane O’Neill made a costly error in his back pass to Orlando’s defense as it found its way into the path of Montreal’s Maximiliano Urruti.  Despite a last ditch effort by Orlando’s goalkeeper to protect his net by aggressively charging Urruti, the ball made its way over to Ignacio Piatti who easily scored his first of two goals of the game with a wide open net.  Without a doubt, this moment summarized the entire match as the stadium full of cheers turned into a stadium full of jeers just like that.

Orlando City FC's Ruan Teixeira gets tripped up on the field

The second half of the match was pretty uneventful until the final minutes when Piatti scored his second goal in the 80th minute to put Montreal up 3 – 0 all be assuring an easy victory for the visitors.  Dom Dwyer brought a little life back into Orlando City Stadium by putting the Lions on the board in the 91st minute of extra time before a melee a few minutes later ended any chance of a miraculous comeback from the Lions.  Montreal ended up winning the match 3 – 1.  Like I said earlier, Orlando City FC has a lot of hype off the field.  But it’s on field performances lacks energy.  Given that it’s only their fifth season in Major League Soccer, one can only hope that Orlando City FC will find a winning formula in due time.

Orlando City Stadium

2019 MLS Season – Week 3

Match:  Orlando City FC vs. Montreal Impact

Stadium:  Orlando City Stadium – Orlando, FL

Date:  Saturday, March 16, 2019

Kickoff: 4pm EST

Attendance:  22,352

Score:  3 – 1 (Montreal Impact)

14 ‘– MTL – Orji Okwonkwo

15’ – MTL – Ignacio Piatti (Maximiliano Urruti)

80’ – MTL – Ignacio Piatti (Harry Novillo)

91’ – ORL – Dom Dwyer (Santiago Patiño, Chris Mueller) 

Ejections:  Zakaria Diallo – MTL – 96’

Sofrito Latin Café – A Little Taste of Venezuela

After landing into Orlando, I headed straight to my hotel hoping that there might be the slightest chance to check in early.  It was only 10:30am EST, so the outcome wasn’t looking too good.  I was told that I could wait around for an hour if I wanted to, but opted to walk around nearby to grab some breakfast instead.  Less than a block away was a nice little restaurant called Sofrito Latin Café – a Latin restaurant that specializes in Venezuelan, Colombian, and Cuban cuisine.  Venezuela is one of my Top 10 countries to visit in the world mainly because of its untapped source of ecotourism, culture, and historical significance in South American history.  However, given its current political climate under President Maduro with its ongoing civil unrest, it’s going to be a long time before I’ll ever get the chance to visit this hidden gem.  For now, Sofrito Latin Café would have to be my “first experience” of this culture.

Sofrito Latin Cafe - A Little Taste of Venezuela

Upon entering the café, you have two choices – sit at the bar and order directly from there or place an order with the cashier near the entrance like you would at a pizzeria and then grab yourself a free table in the dining area.  I wanted to sit outside on the patio, so I placed my order with the cashier, grabbed a small stand with my order number on it, and then proceeded to the back of the café where the patio was located.  Despite the beautiful sunny weather, I was the only person who chose to sit outside on this particular morning.  Whatever.  It just means I sit wherever I wanted to without being disturbed.

Enjoying a cold Polar Pilsen - a Venezuelan beer

Breakfast consisted of a Polar Pilsen and a cachapa.  Brewed by Empresas Polar, Polar Pilsen is a very light and sessionable Pilsner with aromas of grainy and sweet Malts followed by citrus and apple flavours.  Cachapa is a sweet corn pancake filled with Queso de Mano (handmade white soft cheese) topped with cream.  A Venezuelan delicacy, I found the cheese to be very chewy and pungent.  Although I could’ve paid a little extra to add slices of pork or shredded beer on top, I figured a basic cachapa alone would fill me up sufficiently for the next few hours.  The overall cost with tax and tip was just under $20 US, so a bit expensive for a standard breakfast.  However, it gave me some insight as to what the Venezuelan food culture is like.  I just hope I can visit one day to enjoy it directly from the source.

Cachapa - a Venezuelan sweet corn pancake filled with Queso de Mano

The next morning, I decided to go back and order an Omelet de Jamon y Queso.  It’s a ham and Gouda cheese omelet served with applewood bacon, fried yucca and Cuban toast.  For $8.50, it was a good breakfast, but not great.  I paired this up with a Spanglish – a light-bodied American Lager brewed by Miami’s Veza Sur Brewing Company.  It’s an average light-bodied American Lager with a crisp, clean finish.  Although it had very sweet Malt and fruity flavours, much like my breakfast, there was nothing very memorable about this beer.  This just made me appreciate my Venezuelan breakfast from the previous day even more.

Omelet de Jamon y Queso - Ham & Gouda Cheese Omelet

Sofrito Latin Café

8607 Palm Parkway

Orlando, FL 32836

Phone: (407) 778-4205

Email:  info@sofritocafe.com

Hours of Operation:

Sunday – Thursday:  7am EST – 9pm EST

Friday – Saturday:  7am EST – 10pm EST

Flight Report – AC 1670 – YYZ to MCO

Orlando was an impromptu work trip due to some recent internal restructuring.  An extra spot opened up for our biggest trade show of the year, so off I went to get out of this chilly winter weather.  However, the trip got off to a bit of a rough start.  With a departure time of 6:50am EST, I was already running late by not leaving my condo until 4:30am EST.  Although my cabbie got me to Toronto Pearson International Airport within 30 minutes, there was a massive lineup for Security check in when I arrived.  For the first time in years, Security escorted me to a shorter line in order for me to make it on time for my flight.  Sure, that may have saved me about 15 – 20 minutes.  But the lineup for U.S. Customs was even longer.  Overall, the whole process took me close to an hour.  There were people in line with me who had it worse, though, as their departure times were around 6:40am EST and 6:30am EST.  It goes without saying that some of these early morning flights were either not going to depart on time or the lineup for U.S. Customs was deceivingly faster than it actually looked.

Air Canada Flight #1670

By the time I arrived at Gate F61, Air Canada already started boarding passengers on my flight.  No time for me to have breakfast, so I had to wait until we arrived in Orlando for that.  First Class had a 4x2x3 formation while Coach had a 2x3x2 formation.  This was perfect for me since it meant I only had to deal with one person the entire flight instead of two.  The plane had about 50 rows in total and was near full capacity.  Because it was an Air Canada Rouge flight, this meant that the only way you can watch movies is through the Air Canada app on your phone.  Unfortunately, I brought the wrong headset as I left my iPhone ear buds at home.  That being said, I opted to sleep away as much of the flight as possible as I was still a bit exhausted.

Orlando International Airport

With the exception of a few minor incidents of turbulence, it was a relatively smooth flight that allowed me to sleep away a couple of hours or so.  As we descended upon Orlando International Airport, I noticed it was extremely cloudy – much different from the sunny skies that embraced me nearly two years ago.  The landing was pretty rough – and we arrived at our gate 35 minutes later than expected – but there was no rain just yet.  So, I grabbed my luggage as soon as I could and headed to my hotel.  The only plan for today was to make my way to the Orlando City FC match.  But first, I needed to see how early I could check into my hotel as it just a little after 9:30am EST.  Plus, I still needed to grab some breakfast.

Orlando International Airport

AC 1670 – YYZ to MCO 

Operated by: Air Canada Rouge

Aircraft:  Boeing 767-300 (twin-jet); Seat: 46A

Departure: 06:50AM EST – Pearson International Airport (YYZ) – Terminal 1, Gate F61

Arrival:  09:43am EST – Orlando International Airport (MCO)

Flight Time: 2:53; Non Stop Flight – 1116 Miles/1796 Kilometers; Date: March 16, 2019

Buffalo Brews – Sato Brewpub

During our recent visit to Buffalo, Kooks and I decided to check out Sato Brewpub as it combined the best of both worlds in the Queen City – food and beer.  Located right in the heart of downtown, Sato Brewpub is a combined Japanese izakaya and craft brewery.  The concept here is to pair food with beer using particular Japanese ingredients in both a la carte.  In other words, patrons come here expecting an experience that entices their taste buds.  This is not the place to go if you are looking to gorge on an endless supply of Japanese cuisine.

Buffalo Brews - Sato Brewpub

Despite arriving after 5pm EST on a Saturday night in mid-December, we were surprised to find Sato Brewpub to be almost half full.  Kooks and I were in town for a Tran Siberian Orchestra concert, which was really the only major event going on in Buffalo this weekend.  So, I am sure some of the other patrons were grabbing some dinner here beforehand like we were.  It was also an interesting dichotomy seeing Japanese lanterns and decorations adorning the interior of the brewpub, which was located in the basement of what seemed to be a re-purposed early 20th Century factory.

Sato Brewpub - Buffalo's only Japanese Izakaya Craft brewery

I started the night off ordering a Kabocha.  At 4.8% ABV and 20 IBUs, this light-bodied Belgian Brown Ale is brewed with squash.  It was much better than it sounded as it nicely balanced he nutty characteristics of your typical Brown Ale with sweet flavours of squash.  I thought about pairing it up with some kokoro as I missed out on the opportunity to try chicken hearts in Foz de Iguazu, but decided to stick to something more standard in case my stomach decided to turn against me for whatever reason.

Sato Brewpub - Buffalo's only Japanese Izakaya Craft brewery

Ultimately, I ordered the Tori Paitan Ramen.  It was a think and cloudy shio-based chicken broth made with Chashu chicken, green onions, corn, egg, baby bok choy, and garlic oil.  Thinking that would not have been enough to eat, I also ordered a tan-tan bowl as a side dish.  This rice bowl was made with ground pork seasoned with spicy miso, egg, and green onions.  I thought it was okay, but not overly spectacular and could have done without it in all honesty.  The ramen itself was plenty enough to eat for dinner, especially with the partially boiled egg that came with it in addition to the Chashu chicken.  Rabbit In the Moon was a very light Table Beer I ordered after dinner.  At 4.8% ABV and 23 IBUs brewed with puffed brown rice and green tea, it did not disappoint!

Tori Paitan Ramen with a side order of Tan-tan

Overall, Sato Brewpub does a good job filling a specific niche in Buffalo’s culinary scene.  It’s ascetically pleasing with its Japanese décor and rustic basement bar look.  Would I personally come back again?  Most certainly for the beer and the intimate, laid back environment.  As for the food, not so much as it is quite pricey for the portion sizes given – both our meals combined was around $75 US.  My suggestion is to come here for special date nights with your significant other.  Grab a sake, a beer or wine and maybe order a dish or two to snack on before you head off to a concert like Kooks and I did.  Or just come here with your significant other to cap off your evening together if you are looking for something more intimate, but unique within downtown Buffalo.

Buffalo Brews - Sato Brewpub

Sato Brewpub

110 Pearl Street

Buffalo, NY 14202

Phone: (716) 248-1436

Website: https://www.satorestaurantgroup.com/sato-brewpub

Hours

Monday – Thursday: 11:30am – 10pm EST

Friday:  11:30am – 12am EST

Saturday:  12pm – 12am EST

Sunday:  Closed 

Flight Report – UA 281/UA 2420 – AUS – IAH – YYZ

Even though I didn’t get to see much of it, I really enjoyed the craziness that is Austin.  Just the food, drink, and nightlife alone make this city a worthwhile visit.  But, I just scratched the surface here.  The museums, parks, and other attractions that I didn’t get around to on this trip provide a lot more substantial context to Austin’s story.  I have no idea when I will return, but it will definitely be for a longer visit combined with a few days in San Antonio.  This part of Texas is just incredibly beautiful and laid back making it a really relaxing place to vacation.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport

Right then, so onto to my flight home.  I grabbed the first taxi I could find at the Hyatt Regency since a lot of conference attendees were also making their way home around the same time as me.  With a late afternoon flight, I left shortly after 2pm CST.  I thought this would leave me plenty of time to check in until we hit some traffic on IH-35.  Fortunately, it only lasted for a couple of minutes.  The ride itself only took about 20 minutes, so I still had more than enough time to check in for my flight.  It was a chilly 6°C despite the sunny skies appearing above Austin-Bergstrom International Airport.  I’m just thankful that I got to experience a few good days while I was here as it could have been much worse.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport

Check in took only 5 minutes, which gave me plenty of time to explore the airport if I wanted to.  However, since lunch was provided at the end of our conference, I was both full and exhausted at this point.  There definitely were a few interesting dining options here, but I decided to wait until I got to Houston to eat as I had a 2 ½ hour layover there.  I did take advantage of the more liberal liquor laws of Texas, though.  You can drink alcohol anywhere you want within Austin-Bergstrom provided you are at least 21 years of age or older.  With that being said, I grabbed one more local Austin beer for the road – an IPA from Infamous Brewing Company – and just waited at my gate until boarding.  This IPA was very malty and hoppy with flavours of candied yams, lemon custard, and pepper.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport

United Airlines Flight #281 had a formation of 2x2 in Business class with three rows in total.  Economy was in a 3x2 formation with 35 rows in total.  I sat in the very back in Seat 38F.  Upon takeoff, I was a bit unnerved by the amount of turbulence we encountered.  It seemed much bumpier than usual and I felt as if the tail end of the plane was going to snap off for some reason.  Yes, I know that sounds silly.  But, I have been noticing lately how much more sensitive I am to the regular nuances of flight when I am in these smaller planes now.  It gives you a greater appreciation of what these flight crews have to deal with on a regular basis.

A beautiful sunny sky en route to Houston

With a scheduled flight time of 33 minutes, there wasn’t much time to enjoy this first segment of the trip home.  I ended up drifting in and out of sleep instead, but woke up around the peak of the flight to this gorgeous sunny sky.  It was a nice sendoff for me from Texas.  We had time for one complimentary drink and a snack, so I grabbed my usual Mott’s Tomato juice with pretzels.  Upon descent on George Bush Intercontinental Airport, we experienced a dip in the weather as it was cloudy and 3°C leaving me unable to see the downtown area of Houston.  Despite the inclement weather, we had a very soft landing.  Surprisingly, no one clapped for this great landing like tradition dictates.  In any case, I was here in Houston with more than a couple of hours to spare before the second segment of my trip home began.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport

UA 281 – AUS to IAH

Operated by: United Airlines

Aircraft:  Airbus A320 (twin-jet)

Depart: 04:11PM CST – Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (AUS) – Gate 27

Arrive:  05:21PM CST – Houston Bush International Airport (IAH) – Gate C4

Flight Time: 1:10; Non Stop Flight – 245 Miles/394 Kilometers; Date:  November 13, 2018

Ember - One of the best Airport Restaurants in North America

Due to the near fatal mistake I made arriving to Houston a few days earlier, I decided to find my gate first for the flight home to Toronto before looking for a place to eat.  Fortunately, my gate was still in Terminal C.  So, I didn’t have too far to go to.  This time around, I decided to eat at Ember.  It seemed like a fancier place than Bam Bam and had way better service.  I’ll write a separate review on this restaurant, but it is one of my favourite North American airport restaurants to date.

George Bush Intercontinental Airport

After finishing my dinner, I still had quite a bit of time to kill before boarding.  Rather than continue to wait it out at Ember, I decided to make my way near the gate to see if there was a place to charge my phone before boarding.  In fact, there was a whole section of tables with charging stations where people could also order food and drinks while they are at it.  This also included alcohol, so I decided to have one more Texan beer as a final send off to this great State.  This time I ordered a Pilsner from B-52 Brewing Company – a local craft brewery just outside of Houston.  It was very light, hoppy, and crisp.  Not bad for this style of beer!

Departure information for United Airlines Flight #2420

United Airlines Flight #2420 had a 2x2 formation with 4 rows in Business Class with a 3x2 formation in Economy.  The Captain announced that the expected flight time would be a total of 2 hours, 24 minutes with tailwind.  This time around I was willing to pay for the inflight entertainment system.  However, I couldn’t reach down to plug in my ear buds to watch movies.  And I couldn’t ask the elderly Indian man beside me to move so I could plug them in because there was a severe language barrier here.  So, I ended up sleeping for most of the flight against my better judgment.  Not much else to discuss about this flight aside from the rough turbulence we experienced just before landing in Toronto.  Everyone was getting tossed around like we are all riding bumper cars.  It was just a terrible experience.  Aside from that, I was happy to be home, but a little sad as this would be my last flight for 2018.

Descending upon Toronto

UA 2420 – IAH to YYZ

Operated by: United Airlines

Aircraft: Boeing 737-800 (twin-jet); Seat: 24A

Cabin:  First Class – Dinner; Business – Dinner; Economy – Food for Sale

Depart: 07:48PM CST – George Bush Intercontinental Airport (IAH), Gate C3

Arrive:  11:56PM EST – Toronto Pearson International Airport (YYZ), Gate 193

Flight Time: 3:08; Non Stop Flight – 1380 Miles/2221 Kilometers; Date: November 13, 2018