Bowigens Beer Company of Casselberry has been voted Best Microbrewery in our Foodster Awards for Independent Restaurants and will be awarded the Platinum placque.
Hourglass Brewing, the Longwood beermaker that recently announced a second location for Orlando, took second place for the Gold.
In all, more than 30 businesses vied for the title of Best Microbrewery Foodster Award.
The final categories for 2017 will be Best New Restaurant and Best Restaurant Overall. Polling will begin next week.
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Recent Restaurant Reviews
I wanted Jade Sushi & New Asian to be better than it was. I expected it, in fact.
I had not been to this Edgewater Drive address since the restaurant was known as Jade Bistro and, in 2003, replaced a rather sketchy Chinese restaurant that I never had the courage to eat at. Jade Bistro, too, leaned more toward Chinese with its menu, though it did introduce sushi, which at the time was showing up on all types of Asian menus, even some non-Asian ones.
Jade Sushi & New Asian places the sushi more prominently, at least in the name. Sushi traditionalists might be disappointed in a dearth of classic rolls and a preponderance of items with cream cheese.
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I recently made a second visit to Cork & Fork, a restaurant in the Belle Isle neighborhood. I made my first visit there two years and three days earlier.
I didn’t write about it then because I found the restaurant, its food and its service to all be equally banal. (The name of the place, too, as long as I’m at it.) Also, it occupied a space that had not been known for keeping tenants very long. I figured it would slink off into obscurity without any help from me.
But it’s stayed on, which is more than Belle Isle Bayou was able to do, though it seems to me the owners of Cork & Fork didn’t feel any need to change the New Orleans centric decor of the previous occupant. So I figured it was time to stop in again and check the place out, to see what has kept it going.
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News
Theo Schoenegger has been named executive chef for the upcoming Disney Springs restaurants Maria & Enzo’s and Enzo’s Hideaway Tunnel Bar. Patina Restaurant Group, which will operate the Italian themed restaurants, made the announcement Wednesday.
Schoenegger had most recently been the chef at Sinatra, a fine dining restaurant in the Wynn Las Vegas. That restaurant featured twists on classic Italian dishes that were favorites of Frank Sinatra, who, according to the statement, Schoenegger cooked for when he lived in New York.
Other Stuff
Has the food truck trend run out of gas?
Once a novelty, food trucks are now commonplace in Central Florida. In 2011, when they first started coming to the area, they were showcased at events and rallies where they were the very focus of the gatherings.
Now you’ll find food trucks on street corners and in parking lots, and often one or two will be parked outside of popular bars, bigger versions of latter day hot dog stands. That comparison may have something to do with the waning of their popularity, but we’ll come back to that.
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I’m making a list and you can check it as many times as you like. It’s time to list all of the restaurants that will be open on the upcoming holidays, including Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve.
Restaurateurs, if you’d like to be included in the listings, send a note to Scott at this link.
It doesn’t matter if you’re naughty or nice – I’ll list anybody. But please, only those restaurants that are offering special meals on those days. (Christmas Day is the exception; if you’re open on Dec. 25, let us know.)
Be sure to include the name of your restaurant, physical and web address, links to menus, times of service on the holidays, and how to make a reservation.
My elves will help compile the list, but they’ll only publlish what you give them, so be thorough!
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