Celebrate Record Store Day this Saturday at Orlando’s Best Record Store, Park Avenue CDs.  They’ll have tons going on including some of your favorite food trucks and a bunch of other cool things.  Bring 4 non-perishable food items to donate to Second Harvest Food Bank and you’ll get 10% off your entire order!  Give back, shop local!

Do you need a better reason to abandon your usual Taco Tuesday plans than to join Yelp Orlando and the Florida Film Festival for a Taco Tuesday Tweet Up at the Enzian Theater?  I didn’t think so!

From 6-9 pm tonight, head over to the Yelp VIP Lounge next to the Eden Bar and mingle with fellow FFF fans and Tweeps while gettin’ your taco on.  Everyone knows that fun follows Yelp and we’ve heard there’ll be prizes, too.

See you there!

Next week is gearing up to be a big week in the “Taste of” category.

Start with Taste of Winter Park on Wednesday, April 18, at the Winter Park Farmers’ Market featuring a bunch of your favorite Winter Park eateries including 4 Rivers, Cocina 214, Mellow Mushroom, Winter Park Fish Co. and so many more. Tickets for Taste of Winter Park are all-inclusive and can be purchased here.

Next, get geared up for the weekend by spending your Thursday evening at Taste of College Park, where restaurants like K, The Tap Room, Citrus and more will be serving up their edible delights at the Historic Dubsdread Ballroom.  There will be food, wine, live music and a silent auction!  Tickets for Taste of College Park can be purchased here.

Ready, set, eat!

Head to Uptown Altamonte Saturday, April 21, for Winestock Uncorked.

The event, which runs from 6-9 pm, will feature live music from Blender and Dave Capp, wine and food from various restaurant partners.

Save $10 and buy tickets online for $30, or buy day-of for $40.

The first Vera Bradley store in Central Florida opens Friday, March 23, at The Mall at Millenia! Exciting news for sorority girls and soccer moms everywhere! (Kidding, I don’t actually know who buys the stuff, but I know it’s everywhere.)

The new store is between Everything But Water & Gordon’s Jewelers.

Cannot wait for this show!!!  Will you be there???

Relive the 80s Saturday night with an Art Show at Redlight Redlight!

The show starts at 8 p.m. and will feature 80s-inspired art, all for sale during a silent auction.

Along with some of the best draft beer (they have 23 drafts to choose from!) in Orlando, you can also enjoy music by Red Soda starting at 9.

Redlight Redlight
745 Bennett Road
Orlando, FL

Food + Wine + Music + Orlando = Weekend fun!

Next weekend, more than 40 Orlando-area restaurants will gather at Lake Eola for the Downtown Food & Wine Fest.  You can pair your eats from places like Dexter’s, Ember, Taverna Opa, The Meat House (and more!) with wine from Arroba, Beringer, Sebastiani (and more!).  And, don’t worry, if you’re not a wine drinker, you can enjoy more than a dozen craft beers, or mixed drinks from the Libation Station.

David Cook headlines Saturday night followed by the Little River Band on Sunday with many familiar musical acts in between.

Tickets are $10 in advance, $15 at the gate, and can be purchased at Mercedes-Benz or Centennial Bank locations throughout Central Florida.

Don’t bring your pets, any outside food or drinks or coolers, but do bring cash and lawn chairs or blankets.

Say Bye Bye!

Out with the old, in with the new! The old Amway Arena will be imploded Sunday, March 25, at 7:30 am. Road closures around the old arena start at 5 am, and neighboring areas should expect a series of “bangs” like those heard on the Fourth of July.

Wanna see the implosion, but don’t live nearby?  Watch it live on Central Florida News 13.

For more details, check out this handy guide from the City of Orlando.

The preview dinner of the opening of Orlando’s very own Fogo De Chão (say it with me:  fo-go dèe shoun) was incredible. Guests were met at the entrance by the restaurant’s flawless valet staff (complimentary, by the way!) before making their way into the beautifully styled contemporary bar and restaurant. The crowds were bustling, but the bartenders were friendly and quick to mix my order, what else, a Caipirinha … Brazil’s national cocktail. With its fresh lime and cachaca, it’s the perfect way to start the ‘Southern Brazilian Steakhouse’ experience.

What happened next was complete sensory overload.  The star of the food-coma pre-show is Fogo De Chão’s enormous salad bar.  And, not the salad bar you’re thinking of in your head right now, a la Ruby Tuesdays.  We’re talking fresh cheeses, unbelievably huge stalks of asparagus, roasted tomatoes, salads, and everything in between.  We took our server’s advice and went light on the salad to prepare for what was yet to come.

Next thing we knew, Gauchos (named for the way the meat is prepared) were approaching our table ready to slice one of 15 types of fire roasted meat prepared in the restaurant’s kitchen. It’s quite an experience, but one absolutely worth having.

We ate ’til our bellies were beyond full, but couldn’t resist trying the delectable desserts … there are many to choose from.

If you’re not sold by now, you should be.  This isn’t just dinner, Fogo De Chão is an experience.

Visit the new Orlando location:

8282 International Drive
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 370.0711