Restaurants in Bloomingdale

Every Thursday, the options for a quick midday meal can start to look grim. This is about the point when many hardworking folks start tentatively peeking into the back corners of the fridge, with disheartening results. Today's Groupon will make sure you're well fed, even into the desolate reaches of the workweek: $10 buys you $20 worth of sandwiches, salads, breakfast, and more at Bernie's Deli.

Located in the Sherwood Forest Shopping Center, Old World Cheese Shop, a longtime staple of the area, forges freshly sliced feasts from food and folklore. The Robin Hood cold sandwich ($6.75) robs from the kitchen and gives to the stomach with delicious ham and turkey, crisp bacon, cheese, and golden dressing stacked between three slices of pumpernickel bread, while the Sir Galahad steamed sandwich ($6.75) is a gallant warrior of roast pork, cheese, and sweet-pepper jelly served hot on an onion roll. Those hungry for tie-dye-tinted trips into the subconscious may opt for the Pita Fhonda pita ($5.95), featuring Old World Cheese Shop's acclaimed tuna salad.

Della's After Dark is the Teen Wolf of eateries, morphing from a demure deli into a swanky spot for savories come sundown. Start with a sweet-potato-and-peanut soup ($5) before forking into lush salads such as the duck confit salad with spinach, walnuts, figs, and more skinny-dipping in a light puddle of pomegranate vinaigrette ($10). Della's menu also offers a variety of protein-based plates, from char-grilled giant squid ($17) to New Zealand rack of lamb with sweet-potato gnocchi ($25). Desserts change nightly; recent sweets include bananas foster and sticky date pudding.

Voted best pizza in town by the Orlando Sentinel for seven years in a row, Pizzeria Valdiano unleashes a welcome avalanche of dough, cheese, tomato paste, and freestyle-snowboarding cherry peppers upon the burgundy-boothed slopes of the restaurant’s interior. The pie-centric menu democratically offers a motorcade of non-pie starters such as fried mozzarella ($4.95) and garlic-bread parmigiana ($3.75) to take down those who lack the drive to take a piece of the cheesy disc. Try an artichoke-hearty pizza Fiorentina ($9.50 for 10", $16.95 for 16"), a peppery pizza piccante ($9.50/$16.95), or a pizza stella ($10.95/$17.95) with melted mozzarella, eggplant, and feta cheese.

Newcomers to Byblos Cafe may think they’ve stumbled into a sultan’s court: belly dancers wind their way past private enclaves replete with plush footstools and gossamer curtains, and heaping trays of charbroiled meats fill the air with the scents of basil and mint. The sultry atmosphere reflects owners Roger and Ziad Estephan’s mission to share their Lebanese heritage, which they do through every minor and major detail.

Beyond the glowing candles scattered throughout the dining areas, chefs draw upon Estephan family recipes to prepare a menu of traditional Mediterranean dishes. They hand roll grape leaves around spiced rice and herbs, and they marinate meats in fragrant blends of olive oil, lemon, and garlic—the base ingredients in Lebanese Febreze. Additionally, Byblos Cafe houses an international market where diners can stock up on Middle Eastern groceries.

During World War I, Greek immigrant Louis Pappas served in the Army as a personal chef to General John Pershing. To give the hungry general some extra nutrition, Louis began adding scoops of potato salad to his traditional greek salads. When Louis returned to the United States, he opened up his own restaurant, Louis Pappas Riverside Café, where he would re-create this signature dish using fresh produce from his own ranch in Tarpon Springs.

Today, Louis Pappas's grandson continues his grandfather's old Florida family tradition at Pappas Ranch. There, he and his kitchen serve up a new menu of fresh seafood, poultry, sandwiches, street tacos, hand-cut steaks, and barbecue dishes whose "family flair" has been lauded by Metromix Tampa Bay. They continue to scoop savory housemade potato salad into their internationally renowned Louis Pappas Famous greek salad, tossing it in massive bowls that serve as many as four diners. Bartenders dole out glasses of locally brewed craft beers and wine or mix cocktails and martinis at the full center bar with flat-screen TVs.

The restaurant's decor channels that of the original Pappas family ranch. In the dining room, spacious booths are surrounded by rustic wooden walls, and outside is a covered outdoor patio.