OPENINGS and CLOSINGS:
Nearly five years after it was announced, Oviedo’s Food Factory — sorry, uh, The Food Factory Foodie Collective — will finally open Wednesday, July 26, at 4 p.m. Along with the Factory Bar, “micro-restaurants” The 1 Cantina and The Local Hen will also open. Other announced micro-restaurants, including Kai Asian Street Fare and Buttercrust Pizza, will begin serving in the ensuing weeks … The Current Seafood Counter has soft-opened in College Park. Owner Mike Smith is encouraging patrons NOT to order takeout, as it compromises the quality of the seafood. The menu features fried and blackened seafood as well as sandwiches, pastas, salads and non-seafood items … Sapporo Izakaya & Ramen has opened in MetroWest at 2320 S. Kirkman Road. Sapporo offers nine different types of ramen, including a spicy Kyushu tonkotsu and a Korean kimchi ramen, as well as mini rice bowls and appetizers like fried cheese hot dogs, bao and takoyaki …
Zymarium Meadery will finally open Aug. 19 at 1121 N. Mills Ave. on the corner of Lake Highland Drive … Look for Primrose Lanes Restaurant and Bowling Club, with ex-Luke’s executive chef Jason Campbell at the helm, to open the first week of August — inspections permitting, of course … Sizzling Korean BBQ & Hot Pot has opened in the old Shining Spice space at 3096 Aloma Ave. near the intersection of State Road 436 in Winter Park … More hot pot news: Malubianbian Hot Pot will open at 5062 W. Colonial Drive … Over in Hunter’s Creek, Latin sushi joint Daddy Ninja has opened at 500 E. Osceola Parkway … Look for Mares Real Peruvian Cuisine to open in the space that recently housed Fortuna Bakery & Cafe next to Farm & Haus in Winter Park. Mares also has a location in Hunter’s Creek. No opening timetable has been announced … Also in Winter Park, The Coop has closed. Owner John Rivers, who also owns the 4 Rivers Smokehouse chain, says he shuttered his Southern comfort eatery as he couldn’t justify renewing the lease at current market rates.
NEWS and EVENTS:
Swine & Sons will take over the kitchen next month at the Milkhouse effectively bringing an end to Cichetti Kitchen and its modern Venetian bar bites, a concept initially started by Pizza Bruno’s Bruno Zacchini … Soseki, the 10-seat modern omakase concept in Winter Park, is now offering a lunch service Saturdays at 12:30 p.m. Cost is $85, with an option to add caviar service for an additional $65 and a sake flight for $45.
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Five years later, the Food Factory Foodie Collective is set to open with seven micro-restaurants
This article appears in Jul 19-25, 2023.
