I just learned via Orlando Sentinel’s Food Editor Heather McPherson’s Twitter that Central Florida staple steakhouse Barney’s Steak & Seafood is closing its doors for business after 30 years. The economy and recent renovations are cited as the cause. I had a meal there several years ago and the food was definitely good, but quite honestly the atmosphere would appeal more to my grandparents’ crowd.

If you’re a fan of Barney’s and want to get one last meal in then you’d better hurry – they close this this Saturday (4/18).

You can read the article on OrlandoSentinel.com by clicking here.

Location:

1615 East Colonial Drive
Orlando, FL 32803
407.896.6864
http://www.barneyssteakhouse.com/

(Location: The Lodge in downtown Orlando. They continue to entertain me.)

Update: Thanks to @jules19, @dsashin and @kilz, it’s confirmed that UrbanThink! Kids will be opening tomorrow, April 15, in College Park.

The new bookstore will feature twice-daily story time!

All I can think of now is the Shop Around the Corner in one of my favorite movies, “You’ve Got Mail.” So cute!

Actually, this should be an Overheard on Twitter …

Word is that the popular Downtown Orlando bookstore, UrbanThink!, is opening a children’s bookstore in College Park.

I ran by the location tonight and it looks like they’re close to opening up.

We’ll keep you posted on the opening.

UrbanThink! (for kids?)
1309 Edgewater Drive
Orlando, FL 32804

… Or, Ten Thousand of them to make a great store.

I’ve received gifts from Ten Thousand Villages from friends, but never had the pleasure of visiting their store before today.

Ten Thousand Villages is one of the world’s largest fair trade organizations. It has succeeded in representing artisans from all over the world and establishing a marketplace for their handmade products in North America.

Products such as this hand-carved Indonesian Resting Woman statue are just the sort of thing you’ll find at Ten Thousand Villages.

Support artisans throughout the world and find a unique gift, too.

Ten Thousand Villages
346 Park Avenue (Near the end of Park diagnol to Panera)
Winter Park, FL
Phone: 407/644-8464
Open 10-6 M-S, 10-5 Sunday

A couple of months ago klynn reported that Virgin Megastores are closing all their locations. I am devastated – one of my favorite things to do in Central Florida was to take an afternoon trip to Virgin and spend way too much money. Now I’m going to have to find a new multi-media outlet to throw my money at. It’s still being said that the Downtown Disney location will close its doors at the end of May.

With the oncoming closing of the store there’s a huge sale going on:

• everything up to 30% off
• Music, DVDs and books are 20% off
• electronics 10% off

So if there’s a CD you’ve been dying to add to your collection, your movie catalog isn’t quite full, or you just want to watch that killer U2 concert over-and-over, now’s the time kids. Better hurry before all the good stuff gets gone.

* photo courtesy of Orlando Attrations Magazine blog

Do you think perhaps they’re just really big fans of Italian rice?

My search for the perfect food in Central Florida may be over. Yes, I still love Colibrí; it’s my jam. But last night I went to a new Mexican place with some family members, and I’m still thinking about how delicious the food was.

This place I’m head-over-heels for is Agave Azul and it’s located on the corner of Kirkman Road and Conroy Road, ironically in the old PR’s location.

Believe-it-or-not this is one of the few times I actually didn’t have my camera with me so I wasn’t able to take any photos capturing the atmosphere, but I did manage to take a picture of my burrito when it arrived:

You really just need to take a look at their menu right now. Sure, you’ll find some “standards” on but one of the things I really enjoyed were the more unique dishes (most of which I’m too picky to try myself!).

The one major drawback of Agave Azul for me personally is the location. While it’s definitely a restaurant that caters to the local community, getting there can result in getting tied-up with the Universal traffic (depending on time). But I think it’s totally worth the effort.

There were also ALOT of kids (Saturday night) which some might consider a “drawback,” but at least that shows the establishment is family-friendly!

If you enjoy Mexican food I really encourage you to give Agave Azul a shot at least once. And if you do please let me know how you like it.

The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner but you might want to visit their website prior to going just to confirm days and exact times.

Important information:

4750 South Kirkman Road
Orlando, FL 32811
407.704.6930
www.agaveazulorlando.com

I’m not sure how many of our readers–if any–enjoy the “Tagged” series, but I myself get a kick out of all the customized tags riding around on vehicles. In fact, it wasn’t ’til I started doing this for the blog that I realized just how many people have customized tags.

Anyway, yesterday was a real jackpot for me in the tag department. I get some of them, but the others are like…huh?

Diner #1: There’s a service in my neighborhood that comes around and cleans-up the dog poop from yards.

Diner #2: Wow, that’s a crappy job.”

(Location: Brix restaurant in downtown Orlando.)

A few weeks ago, akeorlando & I had lunch at the Village Tavern before heading over to International Drive to check out Ripley’s Believe or Not.

I was psyched to find out that cheese grits were a featured side item (hey, we have to celebrate small victories, right?) on the menu. So I decided to order them with another favorite of mine: the wedge salad. The meal was delish, and we both enjoyed the experience.

So Friday night after a shopping trip near Millenia, I decided to stop in to check out their dinner menu. Again, I went for the wedge salad and paired it with the crab cake appetizer plate. Everything was copacetic until I dug into the first bite of my salad only to find a long black hair neatly embedded in the lettuce.

I think it’s fair to say that the rest of the meal was doomed from that point on. I’m kinda bummed that the incident ruined my view of what started out to be a new favorite dining spot, but dollars to dine out are precious these days and if you offer nothing else as a restaurant, you should at least be consistent. Hopefully, consistently good.

Check out the Village Tavern for yourself, but beware of the hair.

4157 Conroy Road
Orlando, FL 32839
Located in front of the Mall at Millenia
407/581-1740