Food & Drink Bakery - Breakfast/Brunch - Burger - Caribbean - Chinese - Coffeehouse - Diner - Dive Bar - Doughnuts - French - Greek - Happy Hour - Hook-up Bar - Ice Cream Shop - Indian - Irish - Italian - Latin - Lesbian Bar - Mexican - Middle Eastern - Pizza - Pub - Smoothies - Southern Food - Sports Bar - Steakhouse - Subs - Sushi - Thai - Teahouse - Vegetarian/Vegan - Vietnamese - Wine Bar - Wings - Late Night - Barbecue - Gay Bar
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Best Bakery 2nd: Publix Bakery 3rd: Raphsodic Cooperative Company |
Best Lesbian Bar 2nd: Pulse 3rd: Sip |
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Best Breakfast/Brunch 2nd: Ethos Vegan Kitchen 3rd: White Wolf Cafe |
Best Mexican 2nd: El Potro Mexican Restaurant and Catering 3rd: Tijuana Flats |
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Best Burger 2nd: Graffiti Junktion 3rd: Johnny's Fillin' Station |
Best Middle Eastern 2nd: Bosphorus Restaurant 3rd: Cedar's Restaurant of Orlando |
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Best Caribbean 2nd: Mama Millie's Jamaican Cafe 3rd: Waitiki Retro Tiki Lounge |
Best Pizza 2nd: Anthony's Pizzeria & Italian Restaurant 3rd: Planet Pizza |
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Best Chinese 2nd: Panda Bistro 3rd: Pei Wei Asian Diner |
Best Pub 2nd: Fiddler's Green 3rd: Redlight Redlight |
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Best Coffeehouse 2nd: Starbucks Coffee 3rd: Drunken Monkey Coffee Bar |
Best Smoothies 2nd: Tropical Smoothie Cafe 3rd: Smoothie King |
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Best Diner 2nd: Christo's Cafe 3rd: 5 & Diner |
Best Southern Food 2nd: Johnson's Diner 3rd: Crooked Bayou |
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Best Dive Bar 2nd: Bar-BQ-Bar 3rd: Redlight Redlight |
Best Sports Bar 2nd: Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar 3rd: Sportstown Billiards |
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Best Doughnuts 2nd: Dunkin' Donuts 3rd: Bakery Plus |
Best Steakhouse 2nd: Ruth's Chris Steak House 3rd: Linda's La Cantina Steak House |
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Best French 2nd: Chez Vincent 3rd: Paris Bistro |
Best Subs 2nd: Jimmy John's 3rd: Firehouse Subs |
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Best Greek 2nd: Taverna Opa 3rd: Cypriana Restaurant |
Best Sushi 2nd: Seito Sushi Japanese Restaurant 3rd: Fuji Sushi & Teppan |
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Best Happy Hour 2nd: Chili's Grill & Bar 3rd: Antigua |
Best Thai 2nd: Napasorn Thai Restaurant and Sushi Bar 3rd: Sea Thai Restaurant |
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Best Hook-up Bar 2nd: Independent Bar 3rd: The Lodge |
Best Teahouse 2nd: Infusion Tea 3rd: Dandelion Communitea Cafe |
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Best Ice Cream Shop 2nd: Jeremiah's Italian Ice 3rd: Mochi Frozen Yogurt |
Best Vegetarian/Vegan 2nd: Dandelion Communitea Cafe 3rd: Loving Hut |
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Best Indian 2nd: Memories of India 3rd: Kohinoor Indian Restaurant |
Best Vietnamese 2nd: Viet Garden 3rd: Lac Viet Bistro |
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Best Irish 2nd: The Harp & Celt Restaurant and Irish Pub 3rd: (tie): Raglan Road Irish Pub 3rd: (tie) Claddagh Cottage Irish Pub |
Best Wine Bar 2nd: The Wine Room on Park Avenue 3rd: Funky Monkey Wine Company |
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Best Italian 2nd: Antonio's 3rd: Carrabbas Italian Grill |
Best Wings 2nd: Gator's Dockside 3rd: Ker's WingHouse Bar & Grill |
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Best Latin 2nd: Numero Uno Restaurant 3rd: Pollo Pio Pio |
Best Late Night 2nd: Steak 'n Shake 3rd: Denny's |
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Best Gay Bar 2nd: Pulse 3rd: Revolution Nightclub |
Best Barbecue 2nd: Bubbalou's Bodacious BBQ 3rd: Sonny's Real Pit B-B-Q |
Writer's Picks
Best beer evangelist
Mike Smith
www.floridamicrobev.com
You've surely noticed that the beer selection at your local public house has gotten considerably better over the last few years. One of the people you can thank for that is Mike Smith. As the public face of Florida Micro Beverage Distributors, Smith is the guy who's getting that Hoppin' Frog IPA, Left Hand Milk Stout and Shipyard BlueFin Stout into bars that a half-decade ago thought they were catering to beer snobs by serving Michelob AmberBock. Firmly in the camp of small-scale craft brewers, Smith is on the good side of the beer wars, putting on events like the Beer Bomb Bike Tour, beer dinners and even beer golf in order to get people to think past the Bud/Miller/Coors conglomerates when it comes to drinking.
Best do-it-yourself coffee
Mysore coffee at Udipi Café
1275 S. Highway 17-92, Longwood
407-696-7775
It's worth the first-degree burns to your fingers just to sip the chicory-tinged Mysore coffee at Udipi Café. That's because its full flavor is attained by repeatedly high-pouring the scalding brew by hand in long arcs from a tumbler to a metal bowl to aerate and produce the beverage's characteristic milky froth. The coffee is brewed using a slow-drip extraction process similar to Vietnamese coffee but with beans picked from India's Blue Mountains and roasted and ground in the Garden State. Jerseylicious.
State. Jerseylicious.Finest example of British imperial decadence on a plate
Sticky toffee pudding at
Best of British Pub
8324 International Drive
407-264-9189
www.bestofbritishpub.com
Just a taste of the incredible toffee sauce slathered over a square of buttery sponge cake helps one appreciate the once-mighty British Empire's much-maligned culinary tradition. Offer heartfelt (literally) apologies to your arteries, then revel in this post-fish-and-chips indulgence. A pool of divine English cream and an ample side of custard guarantee you'll be weighed down by a few not-so-sterling British pounds.
Best festival fillers
Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival
www.orlandofringe.org
For some people, the best reason to attend the Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival is for the food court set up on the "Green Lawn of Fabulousness" in Loch Haven Park. This year's menu was particularly tempting: The Loving Hut tent sold $1 slices of watermelon in addition to robust vegan dinners. Raphsodic Cooperative Company provided fresh-baked vegan goodies, such as the "toasted almond rosewater sammie." Elite Soul Food's fried catfish with sides of macaroni and cheese, collard greens and corn bread was worth the cooked-to-order wait time. On the greasy side, fried peanut-butter-and-jelly "clouds" at Pete and Peg's Roadhouse Grill were a killer complement to the healthier fare.
Best hot chef
Hari Pulapaka, Cress Restaurant
103 W. Indiana Ave., DeLand
386-734-3740
www.cressrestaurant.com
You might make a case for the Ravenous Pig's Julie Petrakis, but Cress Restaurant's Hari Pulapaka is the, ahem, whole package. He's got book smarts, cook smarts and he looks smart — female patrons often turn to mush in his presence. His charming and humble disposition, brilliant smile, facial scruff and smoldering brown eyes spark an innate sizzle that parlays to the plate. What can we say? The man's a dish — and a hot one at that.
Best lunchtime sanctuary
Fiorella's Cucina Toscana at the Westin Imagine
9501 Universal Blvd.
407-233-2950
www.fiorellasorlando.com
A hotel restaurant that's quiet, serene and calming? In Orlando? Off I-Drive? Lunacy! Yet there Fiorella's sits, in all its tranquil glory, on the sweet-scented ground floor of the Westin Imagine Hotel. The restaurant is a haven, particularly during lunchtime hours, when nary a conventioneer graces the restaurant's beautifully modern dining room decorated with glass works by local artist Charles Keila. Upside: a slew of rustic Tuscan lunch specials for $9.99. Downside: the secret's out.
Best catch
"Bruce Gore" wild coho salmon at Winter Park Fish Co.
761 Orange Ave., Winter Park
407-622-6112
www.winterparkfish.com
Caught by hook and line, then stunned, bled, cleaned and frozen at sea within 15 minutes, the "Bruce Gore" wild coho at the Winter Park Fish Company offers an unparalleled option for eco-conscious seafood lovers. The appellation is a reference to the famed fisherman whose Triad Fisheries has set the standard for sustainable, humane and hygienic fishing practices. Simply put, this grilled salmon is the finest catch in town.
Best down-home dessert
Sweet potato pie at Lowe's Good Eaton Soul Food
429 E. Kennedy Blvd., Eatonville
407-647-7955
Pecan pie may be Paula Deen's pick, banana pudding a downright Southern bonne bouche and red velvet cake a sugary showstopper, but, dagnabbit, if sweet potato pie ain't the finest in the land! Lowe's pastry trumps them all, thanks to an even-handed use of nutmeg and cinnamon. An extra splash of vanilla results in a pie so lip-smacking good that, in the words of owner Shea Lowe, "It'll make you wanna slap yo' momma upside the head."
Best unexpected condominium cultural casserole
Mucho Tequila and Taco
s 101 S. Eola Drive
407-843-9676
www.muchotequilaandtacos.com
Following a series of short-lived concepts on the first level of outer-Thornton Park's condo-topian ghost town wasn't going to be easy, but the Beacon Hill Group made a go for the slightly raunchy when it opened a loosely Mexican-themed rec room of inexpensive food and hard liquor. It appears to have paid off. Just north of fast food, but just south of what's left of Orlando's flipping money, the balance delivers more on the irony than it does in the service or the food. Blaring '80s metal echoes off a yellowed saloon-wall template, drifting out the door to the jarring juxtaposition of South Beach whiteness. Somewhere in the collision of two worlds you'll find a fair approximation of Orlando.
Best realization that gays would rather drink than eat
Stonewall Neighborhood Bar
741 W. Church St.
407-373-0888
www.stonewallorlando.com
Originally opened as Stonewall Bistro with a little help from some city grants, this former restaurant already stood at the bottom of a rather steep cultural hill, thanks to its inauspicious location in the heart of Parramore's blight. Over the past year, though, the Bistro part became increasingly irrelevant. Stonewall, named after the famous gay rebellion, put on its nightlife frock, reworked its interior to a Bewitched living room and grew into the gay bar it was probably always meant to be. Theme nights abound, but a swelling core of displaced regulars has turned the new Stonewall into a great neighborhood bar in a bad neighborhood.
Best icing on a theater experience
Amanda's Cakery cupcakes at the Garden Theatre
304 W. Bay St., Winter Garden
407-347-5366
At the Crimes of the Heart production last November at the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden, in addition to the old-fangled popcorn machine in the lobby, cupcakes were for sale from nearby Amanda and Mary's Bakery. The wholesome taste — the rich vanilla, in particular, topped with a not-too-sweet frosting, delicately dusted with sprinkles — matched the scenery of the quaint theater. The small business that created the cakes has gone through some changes and now does custom orders only — so when calling the Garden Theatre box office, make sure to encourage an encore.
Best Goldilocks sandwiches
Kappy's Subs
501 N. Orlando Ave., Maitland
407-647-9099
Let's admit it: Publix subs cost far too much for too little, and Subway just plain doesn't know how to construct the things, "artists" though they be. Since the '70s, walk-up joint Kappy's Subs, conveniently located across from Publix on 17-92 in Maitland, gets it just right. For a few bucks, they provide the perfect, belly-filling amount of tasty sandwich in a reasonable amount of time from behind an actual grill. Not everything they offer is quite so economical — we're looking at you, underwhelming french fries — but who says perfection comes without sacrifice?
Best pasties
Piccadilly cheddar and onion from the British Shoppe
809 N. Mills Ave.
407-898-1634
www.thebritishshoppe.com
Leave the bangers, beans and mash to Aldous Snow, but when it comes to pasties, there's only one stop you need to make: Club Harem! (We kid.) The Europhiles at the British Shoppe on Mills have what you need when it comes to the British approximation of what the rest of us call "food." Because they're imported directly from the source, most of the UK delectables are frozen, which doesn't matter a lick when it comes to the cheddar-and-onion pasties, which are like calzones but more, you know, proper. The sizable treats run a respectable $4.35 and also come in traditional Cornish beef.
Cornish beef.Best New Orleans-style dining experience
Crawfish etouffee at The Bistro on Park Avenue
348 N. Park Ave., Winter Park
407-539-6520
www.bistroonparkavenue.com
The enchanting courtyard of the Hidden Gardens encloses classic French Quarter flavor as the Bistro dishes up suppertime Cajun specialties like spicy crawfish etouffee ($25 including salad and yeast rolls) and homemade oyster stew ($8). Tastes like it's straight out of maman's kitchen.
Best artistic display of shrimp
Shrimp-stuffed wonton at Wazzabi Sushi
1408 Gay Road, Winter Park
407-647-8744
www.wazzabisushi.com
The tasty masterpiece is so exquisite you almost don't want to eat it — almost. Crispy, crunchy deep-fried wonton on the outside, succulent tender jumbo shrimp and cream cheese on the inside, followed by a tangy zing of Maui onion sauce. The bottom of the martini glass where this burst of culinary inspiration rests is painted with a lethal stroke of wasabi that's sure to clear the sinuses.
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