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Best of Orlando (R) 2025

Aug 20-26, 2025 / Vol. 39 / No. 43
Digital Edition

Cover Story

Welcome to the Best of Orlando® 2025!

Welcome-ah back-ah (backs away from the ledge of bad Mario impressions) … ahem. Welcome to the Best of Orlando® 2025 awards: a downright fantastical world of unbelievable feats and characters and realms all within the Technicolor land of the 407! To match the competitive ferocity of this year’s digitized voting, we chose 8-bit hyperreality, arcade-style,…

by Orlando Weekly Editors

Legal Public Notices 8/27/25

Orlando Legals Legal Public Notices Extra Space Storage will hold a public auction to sell personal property described below belonging to those individuals listed below at the location and times indicated: September 9, 2025 at 12:00 PM Extra Space Storage, 292 W Central Pkwy, Altamonte Springs, FL 32714 (407) 378-6671. Krystal Lincoln-Gonzales:Furniture,Victoria’s secret. Michael Manfredi:Household goods.…

by Jerrica Schwartz

Orlando, Get Ready to Climb: High Point’s Grand Opening Party is Here

Orlando—it’s time to chalk up and celebrate! High Point Climbing & Fitness has officially landed in Florida, bringing with it the largest indoor climbing gym in the state. And what better way to kick things off than with a party? On Thursday, August 28th, from 6–9 pm, High Point is throwing an epic Grand Opening…

Best Sendoff: Terri Binion Farewell

When local Americana icon Terri Binion moved away this spring, it left a major hole in the Orlando music landscape. But the farewell event at Will’s Pub organized by fellow legend Kaleigh Baker said just as much about our scene as it did Binion’s legacy. Before a capacity crowd, a glittery cavalcade of the area’s…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Bowl of Pho: ‘Boujee Pho’ at Z Asian

Don’t let the name rile you. This phrou-phrou pho is the finest bowl of the Vietnamese staple being served in the city right now. Filet mignon and roasted bone marrow aside, it’s the herbs procured from chef Huong Nguyen’s brother-in-law’s family in Vietnam — they have a farm there — that lend this bowl its…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Sizzler: Koyla Sunday grill

While Koyla Pakistani BBQ, just down the street from the Florida Project motel, is short on looks, there’s real beauty in its fare. To the side of the restaurant, under a tent, sits a long rectangular grill with hot red coals beneath dripping skewers of beef and chicken, scenting the air — but only on…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Splurge: Whole Maine lobster at Nami

While Nami is not for the slim of means, executive chef Jason Beliveau makes it a more-than-worthwhile splurge. Case in point, the whole Maine lobster ($120): a two-in-one affair featuring a platter of tail and crusher claw with a separate bowl of lobster fried rice deepened with smoked chili and bound with soy-cured egg yolk.…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Comeback Trend: Wine bars

The trend that swept the nation in the 1990s like a Jerry Maguire catchphrase is back and better than ever, what with such linger-worthy spaces as Quicksand, Lorelei and Sparrow turning oenophiles into moan-o-philes in 2025. Each bespoke build-out expands on what predecessors Digress, Modest, Grape & the Grain and Wine Bar George started in…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Spooky Ink: Kali Mari

If you, the discerning horror fiend, want to justify your love for the genre with a commitment that goes beyond a subscription to Shudder and repeat visits to Halloween Horror Nights, have we got the tattoo artist for you. Orlando’s Kali Mari, owner of Amaranthine Tattoo Studio on Edgewater Drive, specializes in the creepy, kooky,…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Emotional Rescue: Liberation Cat House

Liberation Cat House, founded by Jessica Harper, has been doing the good work for local felines since 2017. The small, nonprofit organization works to rescue and rehabilitate at-risk cats and kittens in the area, with an emphasis on safe adoption. (At least one Orlando Weekly staffer can vouch for their careful process from personal experience.)…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Countdown Clock: H Mart

How best to describe H Mart to a non-believer? Like a Korean SuperTarget crossed with the best mall food court that ever existed, maybe. Look, if you aren’t already part of the cult, step aside — that’ll leave one more parking space for the rest of us. H Mart has been playing with our hearts…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Hashbrowns: UniGirl

Yes, onigiri are the draw at William Shen’s snack house inside Mills Market, but when the Japanese curry hashbrowns (of the sort you’d find at a konbini or 7-Eleven in Japan) are available — get ’em. They’re hot, crispy and coated in a sweet-salty-spicy seasoning that’ll have you wanting another right away. So just order…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Wild Hair Adventures: Anna Bonadonna

If you’re already thinking about the perfect hairdo to complement your outfit for EDC, get Educe Salon on the horn and ask to speak to Anna Bonadonna. This stylist to the stars can transform your hair into a construct of dizzying architectural wonder, a pool of sinewy braids or a lush shag. (Or anything in…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Posh Piercing: Megan Modify

Orlando-based professional body piercer Megan Davenport is ready to lend a little glitz and glam to your piercings. The in-demand artist, working out of the women-owned Aurum Veil Adornment on Turkey Lake, will adorn your new piercing with dazzling high-end jewelry: think implant-grade titanium, niobium, glass and gold. Aurum Veil Luxury Piercing, 5907 Turkey Lake…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Sisters of No Mercy (for Dust and Grime): Sisters Sparkle

Traveling cleaning service Sisters Sparkle brings both a careful eye and zero tolerance for clutter and mess, and an undeniable verve and swing while they do it. These “deep-cleaning divas” (real-life sisters, no less!) guarantee a spotless dwelling executed with style. Check out the videos on their Instagram — set to a tastefully curated galaxy…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Hocus Pocus: Spiral Circle turns 50

Occasional and painfully misguided goofball protesters (eternal outrage is even more important than eternal salvation for some people these days!) aside, surely we can all cheer esoteric bookshop Spiral Circle hitting the half-century mark. This New Age mainstay, a longtime purveyor of books, crystals, tinctures and host of all manner of spirit-centering events, holds the…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Baguette: J’Adore the French Bakery

When Teddy and Sophia Dumoulin arrived in Florida last year, their intent was to establish a bakery just like the one they ran in the quaint French village of Saint-Geniès-des-Mourgues. Eh bien — mission accomplie. At their Altamonte boulangerie, baguettes “de tradition” are made using high-quality French flour from Grand Moulins de Paris (along with…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Full-Spectrum Hair Color: Emily Velasco

If Manic Panic is a little too humdrum for your increasingly avant personal aesthetic, hairstylist Emily Velasco has you covered. Velasco, part of the ArtistryxCreative group at Sola Salon SoDo, works in vivid and brash colors on any hair, in any combination — they’ve even done plaid hair. You’re only restricted by your own imagination!…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Goblin Mode: Goblin Market

Goblin Market, the discount art market with a (pointy-eared) difference, is drawing bigger and bigger crowds only a year in. This delightful local artisan and vendor showcase is more quirky and eccentric than most, featuring a plethora of vendors peddling art, baked goods, jewelry, keepsakes, apparel, toys and food, along with diversions like drag shows…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Dog Park for Gastronomes: BarkHaven

It’s a place to give one’s canines, be they furry or pearly, a proper workout. For dogs, an off-leash play area lends to the sights, sounds and scents of hounds a-humping, schnauzers a-sniffing and whippets a-whizzing. But on the other side of the fence, an ambitious menu by Citricos alum Chris Hernandez has guests pawing…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Community-Minded Aesthetics: MurgaSkin Labs

The medical estheticians at MurgaSkin, the medical spa founded by Dr. Eddie Irfan Murgasen and Ahmad Ayyash, pride themselves on having created an “inclusive space” as part of their practice — and they really have. The queer-owned and queer-friendly business balances beauty enhancement with inclusivity and education. MurgaSkin Labs, 4016 Edgewater Drive, murgaskinlabs.com

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Making the Best of the Most Terrible Day: CodaPet

Self-described as “compassionate in-home pet euthanasia,” CodaPet offers a service that no one wants to think about, but it’s good to know it exists. This network of local veterinarians will come to your home when it’s time to say goodbye to a beloved cat or dog, thereby sparing you and your pet the stress (and…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Star Turn: Isaiah Falls

Young Orlando R&B artist Isaiah Falls is crystallizing into a new pop icon with breathless velocity. His big breakout only happened last year, when 2024’s Drugs n’ Lullabies landed on lots of high-profile tastemaker lists; it has since garnered tens of millions of plays. On the heat of that fire, Falls unveiled his latest release…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Intersectional Microgrants: The Contigo Fund

The Contigo Fund was founded in 2016 in response to the Pulse nightclub tragedy. The nonprofit gives micro-grants to local LGBTQ+ organizations, infusing cash directly to innovative queer leaders and grass-roots startups working to ensure every person, no matter who they love, what they look like, where they’re from or where they live, has equal…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Living Tribute: Jim Fest

Proof that we’re getting wiser as a city: We’re appreciating our history before it’s, well, history. In the Orlando music scene, there are few documentarians greater than rock photographer Jim Leatherman, whose ongoing work spans four decades. This year, Joshua “Danger” Dobbs — himself one of the most devoted keepers of our music history with…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Medieval Moshpit: Florida Dungeon Fest

Hey nonny no? The inaugural Florida Dungeon Fest was an intriguing highlight of early 2025, bringing practitioners of dungeon synth — think John Carpenter meets Dungeons & Dragons and old 8-bit arcade games, all with a healthy dose of metal theatrics — from all over the country to Orlando to ply their medieval musicks. The…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best ‘Poised for the Breakthrough’: Fast Preacher

2025 is shaping up to be Daniel Hanson’s year. The Fast Preacher frontman has had a great run of late: opening for Etran de L’Aïr at The Social last September, sharing the stage with Future Islands at The Beacham in May, and making a summer appearance at Dog Days Fest in Savannah. His creative streak…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Wake: The final night of the Hammered Lamb

The scene at Ivanhoe Village staple and LGBTQ+ haven the Hammered Lamb had a distinctly party-at-the-end-of-the-world feel to it, with folks tightly packed in, dancing, reminiscing, drinking and crying. Open since 2013, this Ivanhoe Village staple drew in Orlandoans with late night hangs, drag shows, train shots and Bloody Marys that consistently topped our Best…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Place to Shop ‘Til You Rope Drop: The Happiest Market

We all know that our city is theme park central, but we bet you didn’t know that there’s a niche pop-up market that specifically caters to amusement park devotees. The Happiest Market is a once-a-month market specializing in unique theme park-inspired products sourced from local small businesses. There’s no place like The Happiest Market to…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Orlando Music Scene Class Reunion: Redlight 20th Anniversary Fest

Because craft-beer trailblazer Redlight Redlight was founded by people deeply embedded in the Orlando music scene, they celebrated their 20th anniversary with not simply a party but a mini music festival. And because it’s Redlight, it was a hall-of-fame lineup that brought defining 2000s legacy bands back home from far away (Gasoline Heart) and back…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Beignets: Voodoo Bayou

After just one bite of the sugar-coated, deep-fried artery-hardeners served at Voodoo Bayou, your conscience, colon and cardiovascular system will demand you refrain from tearing into the sublimely flaky Crescent City confection again. But try as you might, you just won’t have the heart (perhaps literally) to say no to another bite. Before you know…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Comeback: Blue Bamboo Center for the Arts

This independent jazz haven went from being squeezed out of its fringey original location in late 2023 to making a grand reopening this summer in the high-profile space of the former Winter Park Library. Not only is it now in a prime location, it earned the very coveted and public spot by beating out Winter…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Place to Find a Uniquely Floridian Trinket: Happy-Go-Lucky

Earlier this year, Audubon Park saw the opening of Happy-Go-Lucky, a sister shop nestled inside Hellcats USA. Even with such compact real estate, Happy-Go-Lucky has room for seemingly endless one-of-a-kind pieces from local vendors and vintage goodies that are Sunshine State-centric. If you’re looking for a fun knick-knack or bauble to spice up your life…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best 4(07)AD: Strangelace

Orlando musician Eva Strangelace has lived many musical lives locally, whether with Call In Dead, M.A.C.E. or Caustic Bats. But we’re irresistibly drawn to her latest eponymous project, Strangelace, wherein the transgender hellraiser displays a much more somber and reflective side — composing solo cello and voice soundscapes that are nothing less than hymns for…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Final Girl: Scream Queen Trivia at Conduit

A terrifying new entrant to the local trivia scene is the Scream Queen, who hosts a chillingly high-stakes horror quiz night at Conduit. Themes of previous nights have included “wishes gone wrong” and “love beyond death,” with film clips screened (screamed?) in between for good measure. The Queen, Janecka Olen, knows the devil is in…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Pour That Tells a Story: Quicksand

In less than nine months since opening, Quicksand has become not just a welcoming and luxurious natural wine bar but a third space for many, led by Heather LaVine of Golden Hour and her dedicated team. Thoughtfully designed and offering hundreds of wines, LaVine’s bar features an inviting patio with tables large enough for game…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Analog Time Machine: Alfie’s HiFi

If you weren’t around “back in the day” when vinyl was king, this far-out listening lounge and bar is the closest thing to a time machine. Alfie’s HiFi has all the accoutrements of the perfect disco: mood lighting, physical media, OG wallpaper, cocktails sure to make you feel groovy — and mirrorballs that spin in…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Place to Run Into a Grand Slam Champ: USTA National Campus

Since the United States Tennis Association’s National Campus in Lake Nona opened to the public back in 2017, scores of the world’s top tennis players have either trained at or called this sprawling 100-court facility home. And for tennis (or Tennis Channel) junkies, there’s no better place in town to bump into the sport’s greats…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Way to Make I-4 Traffic Even Worse: Epic Universe

This year brought with it Florida’s biggest theme park news in years: Universal Orlando opened the doors — or portals — to its newest park, Epic Universe, this summer. There are five immersive worlds, over-the-top themed environments, crazy new rides, film franchise-inspired eats — truly a theme park-goer’s dream. Our only gripe? I-4 was absolutely…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best (Ax) Murder on the Dancefloor: Barbarella at The Trap

Downtown nightclub innovators Barbarella decamped from their Orange Avenue locale presciently ahead of the nightlife clampdown and upped sticks to Orange Blossom Trail. Their latest move, though, is to Winter Park’s ax-throwing joint The Trap, formerly the (chef’s kiss) Booby Trap. Barbarella mainstays like their new-wave weekend nights and goth soiree Memento Mori are back…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Late Night Spot That Isn’t a Bar: Starbaby

It began as an idea shared between siblings Hai and Kelley Truong: a late-night boba-pop up that would hybridize Asian-style cafés and European late-night café culture. Only 12 people were there on opening night last summer, but since then, Starbaby has evolved into a vibrant weekly gathering hosted at Koko, owned by Tammy Truong. Thursday…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Art Gallery to Get Your Steps In: Corridor Art Trail

Looking at art and improving one’s cardiovascular function are no longer opposing activities, now that the city of Orlando has the Corridor Project’s Art Trail. Covering just over eight miles along the Downtown Connector between the Orlando Urban Trail and the Cady Way Trail are displayed eight works by local artists. It’s a healthy twist…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Hoedown: Boots at The Renaissance Theatre Co.

If you climb in the saddle, be ready for the ride. Boots, the summer sensation schemed up by the Renaissance Theatre Co. quickly became Orlando’s best hoedown. Ren director Donald Rupe and his compatriots dreamed up something spectacular: a 360-degree country show in an authentic saloon built from the ground up, featuring a live band…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

Best Interstellar Expedition: Space Station

Forced relocation has been the death of many a beloved business here in Orlando, where ever-more voracious landlords emphasize profit over community worth. When the Space Station left their longtime Coolidge location, the outlook seemed grim. But they found a great new spot in SoDo that suits their hybrid screen-printing/arts gallery/venue operations very well. They’ve…

by Orlando Weekly Staff

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