For nearly 15 years, chef Leroy Bautista has been steadily growing the concept named after his two sons, Nic and Luc. What started out as a successful jam and preserves business in Miami grew into a scratch kitchen in Longwood serving handhelds, rice bowls and breakfast items. Now it’s blossomed into a downtown Orlando eatery — Nic & Luc’s All-Day Eatery — which, well, closes at 3 p.m. and is only open on weekdays. Chronometric incongruities aside, come 8 a.m., fresh pastries are laid out, Lavazza coffee is brewed and Bautista, in his crisp chef whites, patrols his pristine kitchen ready to serve suits inside the PNC Bank building. Yes, Nic & Luc’s sits on the ground floor of the bank’s glass-and-steel tower, but it’s becoming a draw for the flip-flopped and baseball-capped as well, and why not? The inviting space that once held the Daily News Deli & Grille is bathed in natural light and has a serene energy, thanks to floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking green spaces.
That light helped illuminate a thick, photo-worthy slab of challah French toast ($14), the result of an overnight soak in vanilla-bean custard before being browned in butter then baked. Bautista serves it with a house whipped cream and (real) maple syrup, but given his penchant for preserves, we tacked on a superberry jam ($2), comprising strawberries, raspberries and blueberries, to enjoy with that enjoyable toast.
The French toast is a Nic & Luc’s fave, but when I ask Nic about his own favorite dish on the menu, he singles out the shrimp and grits ($18) as a must-have. Prior to starting Nic & Luc, Bautista was a corporate and executive chef in New Orleans and all but mastered the dish. Granted, it was born in the Lowcountry, but it’s become a NOLA staple and Bautista gives it a proper creolizing by sautéing the colossal buggers from the Gulf in a lot of Cajun butter and serving them over creamy stone-ground grits. You’d be hard-pressed to find a better version in this town.
There’s a limited daily production of prime rib dip ($18), so if it’s available, go for it — but know that the shaved meat in between slices of Olde Hearth’s baguette is out-of-the-fridge cold, so when the sandwich is dipped into warm jus, it creates a culinary dissonance. Not that my dining pal minded at all. A rustic potato salad was the perfect pairing.
Gym rats will undoubtedly gravitate toward the colorful and beautifully constructed rice bowl ($17). Of note is the bowl’s most important ingredient — the jasmine rice. The long grains are fluffy and separated, not dull and clumpy. Purple cabbage, shredded carrots, spicy chickpeas and kimchi occupy quadrants of the vessel around a sunny egg. Scallions, cilantro and mint provide bursts of brightness, with crushed peanuts adding a pleasant crunch. “I’d come back just for this,” says the pal about the meat-optional rice bowl, seconds before sinking his teeth into an enormous brown-butter chocolate chip cookie ($6). “This might be one of the best cookies I’ve ever had in Orlando,” he declares of the luxurious round.
I wish I could say the same about the croissant ($5), which looked stunning but lacked any semblance of flakiness. Thick, not paper-thin layers, made this a weighty pastry, not a delicate one. So I indulged in a peach buttermilk donut muffin ($5.25) with my Americano — pass on the shelf-stable pods and ask for steamed milk if you so desire — while making mental notes on what to eat on my next visit. My mind settled on the fig and feta tartine ($15), pork and hash ($17) and Southern fried chicken po’boy ($16).
The main hurdle here, of course, is getting people to come to this somewhat out-of-the-way spot inside the PNC building. But once they do, Nic & Luc will make bank.
Nic & Luc All-Day Eatery, 201 E. Pine St., 407-237-7801, nicandluc.com.
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This article appears in June 24-30, 2026.
