Credit: courtesy image

Restaurant openings & closings:

Suffering Bastard, the Sanford tiki bar by Lorelei Wine Bar/Death in the Afternoon owners Arthur Booth and Julian Burgos, will move from its current space inside Tuffy’s Bottle Shop to the former Balloon World space at 828 N. Mills Ave. in Mills 50. The move is slated to happen before the end of the year … Prairie House Coffee Co., run by sisters Jade Dinsdale and Alexa Maisonet, who hail from the Canadian Prairies (Manitoba, to be specific), has opened a second location at 2541 Coolidge Ave. in College Park just a few doors down from the Gnarly Cuban … After 11 years of serving Altamonte Springs, Santiago’s Bodega has closed.

Zaza Cuban Comfort Food will move into the space that long held Brick & Fire Pizza at 1621 S. Orange Ave. sometime this year … Not too far away, Sabai Thai Street Food will commence serving its Siamese dishes in mid-March out of the old Dragon King space at 3333 S. Orange Ave. in SoDo … Chicago-based chain Fat Rosie’s Taco & Tequila Bar will open March 5 in the Waterford Lakes Town Center. The festive restaurant specializes in scratch-made tacos, fajitas and a three-pound “El Patron Gordo” burrito … Fragaria, specializing in plant-based, New Zealand-style ice cream (vanilla ice cream blended with real fruit in a specialty machine to produce an airy, velvety soft-serve) has soft-opened in the old Melt Brownie/Sourdough Bread House space at 110 N. Orlando Ave. in Maitland.

Palestinian food truck operation Zayn & Co. will open a booth in the back patio of Digress Wine next month offering Arabic coffee beverages, tea, baked goods and more. Zayn’s owners will also debut Mashawi, a food truck specializing in Palestinian-American street eats including shawarma, falafel and smashburgers with a twist, in Digress Wine’s parking lot.

Local food events:

Friends of the Farm, an outdoor farm-to-table dining experience, goes from 2:30-5:30 p.m. Sunday, March 1, at the 4Roots Farm Campus. The multicourse dinner will feature dishes by Nikk Burton (The Monroe), Michael Cooper (The Osprey/Osteria Ester), Hari Pulapaka and more. Tickets are $385. Visit 4rootsfarm.org for more.

Rapper Blvck Svm returns to Palm Beach Meats March 7 for a Michelinman listening party and high-end dinner featuring seven courses presented by chef B.J. Wright. Each course will draw inspiration from the lyrical drive of the album. Cost is $249 ($294 with drink pairing). Visit @palmbeachmeats407 for more.

The 32nd Annual Taste of Oviedo is also March 7, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Oviedo Mall parking lot with scores of food and drink vendors, food trucks and live entertainment. Admission is free, though VIP tent tickets are available for $25. Visit owsrcc.org for more.

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This article appears in Feb. 25-March 3, 2026.

Orlando restaurant critic. Orlando Weekly restaurant critic since 2006.