Buca di Beppo, the family-style Italian chain owned by Earl Enterprises, has closed its Maitland location, the first in the Greater Orlando area. A statement from the company said the closing, which was effective June 17, was because the lease was coming due.

The restaurant was built on the site that was once the Bubble Room, a storied local restaurant, nearly 25 years ago. The first Florida location was in Daytona Beach, but that location no longer exists. It was originally owned by Buca, Inc., a Minneapolis based company. Robert Earl’s organization acquired it in 2008.

Quantum Leap Winery has found its new home. It will take over the Cottage on Lake Fairview in College Park on Edgewater Drive and the intersection of Fairbanks Avenue.

In a letter announcing the acquisition, co-owner Jill Ramsier wrote, “We are in the process of moving in and look forward to hosting the public beginning, Friday, July 12 for wine, food and Quantum Leap hosted events.” Ramsier noted that the site, popular for weddings, was ideal because of its large indoor spaces that can host large parties. It also has a coveted lakefront location with sunset views.

You won’t see any of the stereotypical trappings usually associated with German restaurants in America, or Germany for that matter, at Schmankerl Stub’n, a new restaurant in Downtown Orlando. No knotty pine or rough hewn timbers cross-hatched on stuccoed walls. No kegs or barrels to be rolled out. The servers don’t wear lederhosen or dirndl dresses, though they do have shoulder pouches like their Bavarian brothers, which, in Germany, are used to carry bills and coins to make change, something unnecessary here because the restaurant does not accept cash.

Instead, the decor is cool and serene, modernistic, with warm wood flooring, stylish light fixtures over booths and the bar, and bare wood tabletops decorated with white hydrangeas. And German-language radio plays in the background with pop music instead of polkas.

The next Scott Joseph’s Dinner Party will be a special one, for a number of reasons. Foremost, it will be the first one at the popular Tap Room at Dubsdread in College Park. What’s more, it promises to go beyond – and surprisingly above – the already good food you’ve come to expect from Tap Room.

You’re invited to join me Wednesday, July 24, at 6:30 p.m. in the Florida Room at Historic Dubsdread. Tickets are $159.75 – that includes tax and gratuity – and can be purchased here.

We’ll start with a reception that will include an amuse bouche and a welcome drink, then we’ll be seated, at 7 o’clock, for the multi-course dinner with wine pairings.

And what a dinner they have planned for us. Here’s the menu:

The James Beard Foundation held its annual awards presentation Monday night in Chicago. The event is often referred to as the Academy Awards for the culinary industry, though not necessarily because both have issues with diversity and tend to recognize restaurants and chefs that already enjoy a certain popularity.

This year’s great hope for Central Florida was Kaya, the Filipino restaurant in the Mills 50 District that already has the distinction of having a Michelin Green Star. Kaya was a finalist for Best New Restaurant, a category that pit it against nine others across the nation. In regional awards, Central Florida competes in Best Chef – South, which also includes Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, Puerto Rico and Louisiana. With Louisiana in the mix, the Best Chef award goes to someone in New Orleans more times than it does not.