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.

We recently learned of a new location opening of Pei Wei, a member of the P.F. Chang’s family, in Altamonte Springs. Specifically, the restaurant is located just near the Altamonte Mall in the same area as Season’s 52. We don’t get to that area of Central Florida too terribly often, but hey…anytime food’s involved we make our best effort to be there.

Weekend before last I decided to give it a try and made the trip over for some lunch (take out). Of course, I had to go with some of my favorite: Ginger steak with broccoli. And brown rice. Yum! (Since I was alone I also ordered another dish to save for a later meal over the weekend. That’s right…chicken cashew.)

The place was pretty packed when I entered the dining room. But there was staff at the front door to ensure efficiency with all of the patrons coming in. I didn’t have to wait long to place my order, and my to-go orders were ready for the taking relatively quickly.

Location deets:

Pei Wei
355 E Altamonte Drive #1000
Altamonte Springs, FL 32701
407.834.0752

If you’d like to keep up with everything going on at Pei Wei you can Follow them on Twitter. You can also find the vacation nearest you by visiting the Pei Wei website.

Have you been to this new location of Pei Wei yet? What are your thoughts?

In the spirit of full disclosure, we were provided with gift cards to experience dining at this new location.

I realize this post isn’t necessarily featured on something in Central Florida, but Merritt Islando/Cocoa is sorta central-ish…right? Anyway, one of my dearest friends lives in this area, and I recently paid her a visit accompanied by a yummy lunch at a tiny place called Wabi Sabi (sorry, couldn’t locate an official website).

Now, I’d actually been here before with the same friend but I recalled it being quite tasty, so I was looking forward to it. Of course, I went with a noodle dish (me thinks it might be time to try something new at places like this!):

 Everything else on the menu looked really good, and the dishes the rest of my party ordered looked great. While I couldn’t find a website for Wabi Sabi I did find a menu posted online. You can check-it-out here if you’re interested in seeing what sort of dishes are offered. And you can see what folks are saying about this place over on Yelp.

Location deets:

Wabi Sabi
455 N. Courtenay Pkwy.
Merritt Island, FL 32953
321.452.0507

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

Food. Here I am. Again. It’s seriously a miracle I don’t weigh 300 pounds by now. But for real, I tried out this new place called Urban Hibachi recently, upon the urging of a friend.

I’ll preface by saying I’m happy and open to try this place again. And I’m not one to ever use this platform to bash a place, that’s for certain.

On the day I went for lunch with a friend (not the one that recommended it), the experience was less than desirable. I will admit we went right during rush hour–around noonish–but the dining room was a madhouse. Sure, we were seated right away…after asking if we should seat ourselves…but we sat at our table for about 15 minutes before even being addressed or offered a drink. Not a good first impression, I’d say.

Being the relatively patient person I am, I waited it out and eventually put a drink order in, along with a food order.

Now, I’ll give the place props – they have pretty good food. At least, the dish I ordered was/is. Of course, it’s a noodle dish.

In looking over their menu, too, it looked like they had some really good dishes to offer, including sushi. Lots of it.

Location deets:

Urban Hibachi
3042 W. Sand Lake Road
Orlando, FL 32819

Interested in visiting and trying Urban Hibachi out for yourself? View their menu prior to going. Be warned: their website plays music. Also, the site is way nicer than the in-store experience. Good marketing, I suppose!

If you’ve been, or end-up going, I’d be very interested in hearing about your experience.

You know I like Thai. Mexican makes me happy. Japanese is also one of my favorite ethnic foods. Heck, food just brings a smile to my face (we know I certainly talk about it way more than Kim does!). And I’m always happy to find a new place to try.

Recently I was made aware of Oishi Japanese Restaurant, essentially situated on the corner of International Drive and Central Florida Parkway. It’s a very cute venue, and the dining room is quite festive and authentic.

Oishi Dining Room

The day I dined it was during lunch, and candidly was not at all busy; however, I have the sense the crowds pick up during dinner and on the weekends.

So, of course I went with a noodle dish. I just can’t seem to help myself. And when my dish arrived I was every bit of happy as I was hoping I would be:

Of course, mine was just one of many dishes. Oishi offers up very many sushi dishes, katsu, tempura, and more!

Location deets:

Oishi Japanese Restaurant
11025 International Drive
Orlando, Fl 32821
407.465.0088

Interested in trying out Oishi for a meal? Check out their menu before heading over. They also post coupons on their site, so be sure to look there before you go! And if you’ve ever been we’d love to hear about your experience. For any of our friends in the Tampa area, or if you’re ever in Tampa for the day or for the weekend, Oishi has a location there, too.

Konnichiwa!

Last week via Twitter we noticed a local eatery and favorite of many Central Floridians, Ichiban, stating they are closing for [very secretive] renovations. We confirmed with the restaurant they are officially closed–as of yesterday–for about five to seven weeks.

The enhancements…err…shall we say tease of enhancements…sound quite exciting. Guess we’ll just have to wait and see!

Yes, it’s me talking about food. Again. I just can’t help myself. And when it’s Thai food…well, it’s one of my favorite ethnic foods.

Not too long ago a work colleague of mine mentioned a delicious thai place over near the Florida Mall, so I instantly asked for a lunch invite. And lunch we did.

Viet Thai Cafe is in a little strip of a shopping center that could easily be missed if you weren’t paying attention. Nearly on the corner of Orange Blossom Trail and Sand Lake Road (I know, the fanciest of Central Florida locations!) and almost directly across the street from Saffran, you sorta gotta know exactly where this place is located (address is posted below).

When you walk inside the restaurant, the dining area isn’t much to write home about. But it’s quaint and clean, and the kitchen is an open concept so you can witness the chefs at work. When it comes to Thai food I’m pretty much willing to try anything–and the spicier the better–but I’m definitely a sucker for some drunken noodles. So that’s exactly what I ordered for myself.

Looks pretty delicious, right? And it was. My dining mates ordered different dishes and they said they were yummy as well.

Dining Room Decor

Pretty standard thai menu, and I’ll definitely be going back or heading over for some take-out.

Location deets:

Viet Thai Cafe
1925 Sand Lake Road
Orlando, FL 32809

At the time of this posting Viet Thai’s website was down for maintenance (boo!), so if you’re so inclined to find out more info I’d recommend seeing what folks say on Yelp!

Have you ever visited Viet Thai Cafe?

I was strolling down Park Avenue in Winter Park a couple of months ago after having lunch with some friends (I know, I’m a little late getting around to a post), and walked past this new restaurant that had a pretty cool interior. Although I was just “window shopping” at the time I knew I’d have to return very soon to check this place out. So I did just that a few days shortly thereafter.

Prato is one of the newest culinary additions to the collection of restaurants sitting alongside Park Avenue. (Candidly, I can’t even recall what was in its location previous to this. Anyone?)

Prato Dining Room

Prato Bar

Prato Bar

At the time my friend and I really only stopped in to meet-up with some folks we know, and grab a couple of drinks. The people we met ate and said the food was decent. A little too “uppety” for their taste, but hey…we’re in Winter Park, right? If you’ve eaten a meal at Prato we’d love to get your thoughts on the food offered.

Before you head out you can view Prato’s menu and see if they have any dishes that appeal to you.

Location deets:

124 N. Park Avenue
Winter Park, FL 32789
407.262.0050
Prato-wp.com

Of course, to keep up with all things Prato you can find them on Facebook and Follow them on Twitter.

In the amount of time I’ve lived in Central Florida believe it or not it was only just recently that I finally made it to KRES Chophouse on Church Street in downtown Orlando. I’ve been aware of the establishment for years, obviously, and have walked by the restaurant many, many times. Right around the New Year I went for dinner with a couple of friends, and overall it was a really nice experience.

I wasn’t terribly hungry at the time so for my meal I opted for a bowl of French Onion soup and a wedge salad (I have a slight addiction), and honestly both were quite delicious. The soup had a wonderful flavor and was full of tasty bread.

French Onion Soup

Wedge Salad

The one thing that wasn’t the greatest part of the experience was the service. I think our server might’ve been sick at the time, and he wasn’t very attentive or really even that friendly. I definitely expected more out of that aspect given the upscale dining and atmosphere.

Thinking about heading to KRES sometime soon for a nice meal? Take a peek at KRES’s menu before you go. I warn you, though, it will make you hungry!

Location deets:

17 West Church Street
Orlando, FL 32801
407.447.7950
kreschophouse.com

Have you ever dined at KRES Chophouse? We’d love to hear about your experience.