This hasn’t been a great year for north-of-the-border restos in Central Florida. We’ve seen Union Burger, Coffee Culture Cafe & Eatery and many a Yogen Früz shutter, but that hasn’t deterred one upscale upstart from making a splashy entry into our ever-competitive market.
Earls Kitchen + Bar is now open in the Mall at Millenia and, thankfully, bears little to no resemblance to the space’s former occupant – Blue Martini.
In fact, I was more than a bit surprised at the impressive level of detail in the design as well as the artwork curated by Alya Poplawsky and Katy Bakker of Winter Park’s a|k|art, including:
- a large mural by local artist Andrew Spear
- a contemporary piece by Thrush Holmes titled “Anarchy Painting”
- a Lyle Owerko photo by the entrance from his “Boombox Project”
- a series in the lounge titled “Punks” by Pascal Vochelet procured from Art Basel Miami Beach
The design of the lounge toward the back of the restaurant is precisely the sort of throwback aesthetic I want in my own home.
Not bad for a chain restaurant bent on breaking the mold of chain restaurants. Says Mark Hladik, Regional VP for Earls US, “Our philosophy is to ‘unchain the chain‘ by positioning ourselves as a collective of independent and individually compelling restaurants designed with the location, culture, people and local ingredients in mind.”
A few of us got to sample some of their globally inspired fare at a media event, and we were more than content with executive chef Simon Zanotto‘s offerings.
Earls Kitchen + Bar opens today for lunch and dinner, and will stay open until 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays. They offer a weekend brunch as well.
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This article appears in Sep 21-27, 2016.
