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Orlando Dining
While downtown Orlando restaurants typically cater to power-lunching professionals and after-five urban diners, savvy visitors, too, contribute to their patron base. Here's a trio that runs the gamut from casual to trendy to elegant.
New Yorkers feel right at home when they bite into a slice of hand-tossed pizza topped to perfection with cheese, spices and homemade sauce and baked in brick ovens atThe all-Italian menu includes hot hero sandwiches, calzones, pasta dishes and salads. This popular lunch spot has a devoted following, as evidenced by long waiting lines and interior walls plastered with autographed pictures of celebrities who have dined in. Local food critics have called this the best pizzeria in Orlando.
Upscale Hue is the gathering place of those who want to see and be seen. Chefs here interpret continental Asian cuisine through such tempting entrees as wood-grilled, sesame-glazed ahi tuna or roast duck with tamari sauce. A towering, Bourbon-laced pecan pie topped with vanilla ice cream and caramelized spiced apples is a dessert your whole party can share. Hue's proximity to Lake Eola and Thornton Park makes it an ideal starting point for a night on the town.
With the business district just a stone's throw away, it may be difficult to get a table at The Boheme during the lunchtime rush, but a relaxed, romantic mood prevails in the evening. Chef Robert Mason's imaginative dinner menu reads like poetry: seared Bohemian foie gras, escargot pot-au-feu, Cognac lobster bisque, asparagus-crusted diver scallops, noisette of thyme-seared veal, roasted Chilean sea bass, a study in crème brulee. For the indecisive, the chef has simmered the options down to a flavorful "reduction"--his pre-selected six-course tasting menu. A sumptuous Sunday jazz brunch features salads, sushi, seafood, meats ranging from lamb to venison, eggs Florentine or otherwise, and pastries and sweets. The Boheme's warm and inviting atmosphere, elaborate food selections and wonderful service make it one of the hottest urban, fine-dining restaurants for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
A smorgasbord of restaurants lies just beyond the downtown perimeter. With the smell of fresh-brewed coffee, sizzling bacon and fried potato cakes wafting out the door, it's no wonder Shakers American Cafe is busy the moment it opens for breakfast. The lunch menu features traditional mile-high sandwiches and refreshing house specials like Annie's Apple--two slices of pumpernickel bread stuffed with apples, raisins, bacon, lettuce, cream cheese and melted Swiss cheese. This off-the-beaten-path neighborhood eatery, just minutes from downtown in trendy College Park, appeals to patrons for the wholesome food, friendly service and small-town atmosphere.
Bubbaloo's Bodacious Bar-B-Que, also in Winter Park and Altamonte Springs, has been featured in Fortune and Southern Living magazines and The New York Times, and it has been touted No. 1 for barbecue in television documentaries on Food Network and CNN. So patrons should not be surprised to find long lines for lunch or dinner. Favorites include baby back ribs, the Memphis pulled-pork sandwich with slaw, and the four-meat combo, not to mention numerous sauces with whimsical names reflecting their intensity or lack thereof. Follow your nose to the nearest Bubbalou's, or look for their trademark sign featuring three dancing pink pigs.
Shop while you dine at White Wolf Cafe. Besides what's on the menu, you can buy the décor of this one-of-a-kind eatery in Orlando's antiques district. Creative lunchtime eats include internationally inspired salads--Moroccan, Greek, Galileo and nicoise as well as the café's signature Waldorf; or try the flatbread pizza of the day--Thursdays it's the Tuscan, with prosciutto, roasted peppers, herbs and mozzarella. Dinner entrees like apple-and-walnut-stuffed pork tenderloin or sumptuous sea scallops encrusted with toasted pistachios are equally imaginative. And remember, if you just can't live without that vintage chandelier hanging overhead, ask the waiter to add it to your tab.
The local Foodie Awards named Margarita's Grill "Best Mexican Restaurant" four years in a row, and another publication gave it the same distinction in 2005. Tucked away in a small shopping plaza, this romp through south-of-the-border cuisine is well worth the bit of searching required to find it. Murals of Mexican landscapes, Christmas lights around the perimeter, a scattering of plants and cool terracotta floors create the ambience of a tropical terrace while setting the mood for authentic Mexican food. Try mole poblano, the national dish of Mexico, which consists of chicken smothered in a chili sauce tempered with Mexican chocolate. All selections are cooked to order, so expect a wait.
With the flip of a "Stop/Go" disk on the table, patrons control the Gaucho-costumed carvers parading fire-roasted cuts of Angus beef, pork, chicken, lamb and Brazilian sausage around the dining room at Texas de Brazil Churrascaria. A choice of 14 meats plus two side dishes--mashed potatoes and fried plantains--and a 40-item salad bar with an enticing array of appetizers, salads, soups and extras make for a Texas-size, pay-one-price meal served in the tradition of South American cowboys. Don't let the upscale décor throw you off: The ambiance of this Brazilian steak house is conducive to casual or business dining, with or without the kids.
Sand Lake Road is so saturated with quality restaurants that it has become known as Restaurant Row. At Cedar's Restaurant a slight language barrier between servers and guests does not keep diners from enjoying some of the area's best authentic Lebanese and Mediterranean fare. Take, for example, baba ghanouj, a grilled eggplant appetizer with garlic, lemon juice and sesame cream; or house specialty kibbeh bilsanieh, composed of fried ground beef and cracked wheat shells stuffed with onions and pine nuts and served with yogurt sauce. Sip on wine selected from an extensive list, and end your meal with delicious Turkish coffee. A casual, gardenlike setting and rhythmic background music further flavor this Middle Eastern dining experience.
Seasons 52 is named for the number of weeks in a year, an apropos moniker considering this restaurant's mission is to create healthy and tasty creations using only the freshest ingredients in season. Most of the calorie-conscious entrees are grilled. Pair choices like herb ricotta ravioli or ahi tuna steak with wine chosen from an extensive list--more than 100 labels, with at least 70 available by the glass--that complements the ever-changing seasonal menu. End your meal on a sweet note with a "mini indulgence," a bite-size portion of such desserts as red velvet cake, key lime pie or tiramisu packed into a shot glass. If your plans include wine tasting, socializing or adventurous dining, Seasons 52 is an excellent choice.
Using "the freshest seafood from the oceans of planet Earth," Moon Fish blends Pan Asian, Cajun, Pacific Rim, and Floribean styles to create its unique fish-centered fusion cuisine. The menu includes sushi and raw-bar selections ranging from oysters to duck capriccio. Contemporary surroundings centered on an aquatic-theme offer a whimsical approach to fine dining.
The aromas emanating from the Italian kitchen at Antonio's Sand Lake are guaranteed to make your mouth water. Known for its fish and seafood selections, fresh-baked bread and the 250-bottle wine cellar housing rare and popular selections, this ristorante also offers Black Angus steaks and veal, lamb and pork dishes. You are treated like family at Antonio's, which is why this restaurant and the original north of Orlando in Maitland have a strong following of loyal patrons.
South of Restaurant Row you will find Primo, the inspiration of New England chef and restaurateur Melissa Kelly, who has been featured in Food and Wine, Wine Spectator, Town and Country and O, The Oprah Magazine. She pairs contemporary Italian cuisine with fresh local ingredients for such dishes as island creek oysters Rockefeller with spinach, Pernod and fennel; or lobster on hand-made pansotti stuffed with butternut squash and toasted pumpkin-seed sauce. Primo's wines come mostly from Italy, Spain, and France. For a truly decadent dessert, try the caramelized banana cream Napoleon with vanilla rum cream and macadamia nut brittle. If you're in the mood for alfresco dining, ask for patio seating overlooking the golf course.
Leave it to the resorts of Lake Buena Vista to add celebrity panache to your fine dining experience. Todd English's bluezoo is a concept restaurant developed by chef Todd English, a frequent guest on the Food Network, "CBS This Morning," "The Today Show" and "Bobby Flay's Food Nation." Global coastal cuisines are prepared with the freshest seafood from the waters of the Atlantic seaboard, the Pacific Northwest and Prince Edward Island. Entrée choices might include miso-glazed Chilean sea bass, Cantonese lobster and yellowfin tuna steaks. The décor--from the aqua-blue lights illuminating metal art sculptures to the massive copper cones dangling over the raw bar--is as memorable as the exceptional service and the seafood creations.
A replica of a copper-domed Italian temple at the entrance to The Venetian Room hints at the Old World ambience you will find inside one of Orlando's most romantic restaurants. Intimate seating alcoves line the walls of the cozy dining room, which is richly appointed with dark mahogany, luxurious fabrics and elegant crystal chandeliers. Chef Khalid Benghallem, who was named one of the top 20 chefs in central Florida, blends Mediterranean and continental fare in such selections as pan-fried lump crab cake with mustard butter sauce, tarragon-scented Vidalia onion soup topped with a three-cheese gratin, muscovy duck salad drizzled with fig syrup, roasted squab in a grilled chippolini Madeira reduction, and, for dessert, passion-fruit Bavarian cream with mango frangipane and cassis sauce. The chef's artful culinary creations are well worth the price of a masterpiece.
Have you ever wanted to be treated like royalty? If so, reserve a table at Victoria & Albert's for one of the most elegant dining experiences you will ever have. Personalized service by attendants in formal attire sets the tone for a six-course prix fixe gourmet dinner served at a civilized pace over the course of a 3-hour seating, in the Victorian tradition. Although the menu changes regularly, the chef's interpretations of contemporary American and international dishes are consistently superb. On being seated, guests receive a personalized menu with course options that servers are intimately familiar with. This is splurging at its grandest.
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