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Spotlight: Scott Joseph Reviews Hungry Pants

Photo courtesy of Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide
Photo courtesy of Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide

This review is abridged for broadcast. Find the full version of the review at Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide on this page.

I have no idea why it’s called Hungry Pants. And I can’t say what it is that makes these particular pants so peckish. That will just have to remain a mystery.

The owners of Hungry Pants describe it as offering “a plant-curious menu in a fast-fine setting.”

Plant-based foods are not made with animals or animal products. So, beans, legumes, vegetables, fruits, grains, seeds, nuts. Vegans essentially follow a plant-based diet, but not all people who try to adhere to a plant-based diet consider themselves vegans. They might, for instance, wear a leather belt or deign to put honey in their tea (tea qualifies as plant based). Plant-based dieters tend to eat that way for health reasons rather than in the name of animal rights.

Hey, maybe the name of the restaurant is just a typo and they meant to call it Hungry Plants.

According to the owners, the restaurant is 100 percent plant based 80 percent of the time, perhaps said with tongue in cheek (tongue not being plant based). In other words, meat is also available. So even if you opt for one of the menu items that is completely meat free, you may add supplemental meat protein. That way you don’t have to give up meat cold turkey, so to speak.

Speaking of turkey, I had the Turkey Reuben, which featured a generous serving of thinly sliced breast meat with purple sauerkraut and melted swiss cheese on toasted pumpernickel bread. A nice sandwich, and the turkey wasn’t the least bit cold.

My lunch companion chose the Shiitake Soba Noodz, chilled noodles, not as thick as traditional soba, with bok choy, shiitake mushrooms and bacon fashioned from shiitakes. All perfectly plant based and then, boom, she added a poached egg, which sort of made the whole dish. (And no, it wasn’t poached eggplant.) The noodles were a bit too chilled for my taste but were better as they warmed a bit.

Hungry Pants took over the space in SoDo that used to be the diner Carol’s Place. The dining room is brightly lit and nicely decorated. There are even some framed pantaloons on the walls.

Our food came out fairly quickly but that could change if the place gets busy. If that happens, just keep your pants on.

Nicole came to Central Florida to attend Rollins College and started working for Orlando’s ABC News Radio affiliate shortly after graduation. She joined WMFE in 2010. As a field reporter, news anchor and radio show host in the City Beautiful, she has covered everything from local arts to national elections, from extraordinary hurricanes to historic space flights, from the people and procedures of Florida’s justice system to the changing face of the state’s economy.