MEET PATTI The Dessert Lady, Ms. Patti Schmidt, has always had epic confections at her bakeries — every cake is moist, popping with flavor, and topped with the creamiest of frostings. No chalky fondant here, frosting fans! Orlando has seen two Dessert Lady locations close, but one re-opened late last year on Restaurant Row in […]
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Highlights: Epcot Flower and Garden Festival 2013
Florida Fresh and other familiar Epcot International Food and Wine Festival booths make welcomed appearances at this year’s Flower and Garden Festival. The cover bands and stellar topiaries are fun, but spotlighting each country’s seasonal fare is a big plus! Mr. Forkful and I wandered counterclockwise around the World Showcase. First was Florida Fresh with […]
2013 Florida Film Festival Hosts Cask & Larder Whole Cookery Feast
One of the runaway culinary hits from last year continues to be Cask & Larder Southern Public House. The Ravenous Pig team, Chefs James and Julie Petrakis and Chef Dennis Bernard, not only deliver unforgettable nose-to-tail eats and desserts made from regionally sourced ingredients, but Brewmaster John Raike also throws down with some mighty ales, […]
Cigar City Brewing at Whole Foods Market Lifestyle Center
Cigar City Brewing continues to thrive from its home in Tampa, Florida, with limited, unique batches of unforgettable beer. Locals and northwest brewpubs alike utter Cigar City Brewing’s name with reverence. (Thanks, Kathleen!) Whole Foods Lifestyle Center hosted a Cigar City Brewing tasting last July, during which a few Cigar City Brewing reps shared several […]
Siro Urban Italian Kitchen in Lake Buena Vista
Tucked away in the back corner of the Marriott World Resort lobby is Orlando’s newest Italian restaurant helmed by Chef Greg Picard and Chef Anthony Burdo. The casual, open layout with rustic wood-top tables and warm lighting was inviting. The long table layered from end-to-end with antipasti and dark wood full-service bar didn’t hurt either. […]
Quick Bite: The Bohemian Baker
Let me introduce you to an outgoing, whirlwind of a lady named Holly Luisi. She is a well-travelled personal chef and caterer originally from the American Mid-West with bouncy, golden hair and a warm smile. We met through a mutual friend — Judi — last year for a few cocktails and, of course, food. She bowled me over […]
Miss Elaine’s at Lake Lily Farmers’ Market
Somehow, I almost forgot that triumphant sense of waking up early enough on a Sunday morning for a farmers’ market. Sure, it was an hour and a half before the end of the market that day, but I was determined. (My idea of early on a weekend doesn’t really jive with the norm.) The farmers’ […]
Cask & Larder in Winter Park
After an exciting and exhausting 2012, nothing could wrap up the year better than a trip to the Chefs James and Julie Petrakis’ (The Ravenous Pig, Greens & Grille) Orlando tribute to Southern cuisine and craft beers, Cask & Larder. Adam and I pulled a late-night run weeks after their grand opening, and we were thrilled by their late […]
Pho 88 Vietnamese Restaurant in Mills 50 District
Cold night, hot pho — you can’t go wrong with hot pho. The made-from-scratch broth can be beef, chicken, or fish-based and should be boiled for the better part of day. Think of the difference between mom’s homemade soup and two-minute bouillon-based ramen. Big difference, right? Pho 88 is a no-frills, family-owned Vietnamese pho place […]
Quick Bite: Epcot Canadian Beers
Not all the Festival beers are at the Canada Marketplace. Le Cellier features Sapporo Holdings Limited’s Unibroue ales from Chambly in Quebec, Canada, on their menu year-round. Once a year, three of those beers come out to play at the Canadian popcorn wagon. Once these Unibroue brews are gone from the wagon, they will only be […]