Feeling a little adventurous? In this episode of Compliments of the Chef, John Park of Umi Japanese restaurant in Winter Park demonstrates how to make the raw and spicy Tuna by Tuna roll featured there. Watch the video below and then get out your knives and bamboo roller.

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Corey Crawford, chef de cuisine at Fiorenzo’s, the Italian restaurant at Hyatt Regency Orlando, shows you how to make Chicken & Ravioli, one of the restaurant’s signature dishes, in this episode of Compliments of the Chef.

Watch the video, then gather all your ingredients and give it a try.

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Umi Japanese Restaurant in Winter Park is featuring a special cocktail for the season: Fall Apple Cider Sake Sangria. General manager Blake Cain shows you how to make it in the video. The full recipe is below:

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Chef Jared Gross of Urban Tide at the Hyatt Regency Orlando demonstrates how to prepare the Salmon Pastrami that he features at that terrific seafood restaurant. The recipe is below, so take a look at the video then gather the ingredients and give it whirl.

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Below is the recipe for Chicken & Waffles from TR Fire Grill, Compliments of the Chef, Bob Gallagher.

Watch the video to see how it’s done.

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Circo, the Italian restaurant from legendary New York restaurateur Sirio Maccioni, who also owns Le Cirque, is coming to Orlando later this year. I was in New York recently and dined at Circo’s original location on West 55th Street.

The food is solidly good, and it will be nice to have another upscale Italian restaurant in the area, especially one with a pedigree such as this one.

One of the restaurant’s signature items is its Thirty Vegetable Soup, one that it popular with regulars for good reason. True to its name, the soup indeed includes 30 distinct vegetables (we’ll not argue the classification of tomatoes here).

I managed to snag a photo of the recipe. (Don’t tell anyone where you got it.) If you’re feeling ambitious, give it a try.

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Here’s a drink recipe that’s timely by two.

Wendy Lopez, executive chef at Tapa Toro, has come up with a special drink recipe that is fitting for this week’s double holidays. You’re already aware of one; the other is Christmas.

The big one, of course, is National Sangria Day, celebrated and observed on Dec. 20. Lopez’s recipe for Apple Pie Sangria will cover them both.

The key to this recipe’s success is the simple syrup. Simple simple syrup is made with equal parts water and sugar. For her Apple Pie Sangria, Lopez makes a more complex simple syrup using apple juice and other seasonings of the season.

Here’s the recipe:

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For this installment of On the House, we have another delicious cocktail from our friends at The Whiskey:  The Whiskey’s Mike Lassahn says it’s sort of like an Old Fashioned but not.

Check below for the recipe and a video of Mike demonstrating the proper way to make the cocktail.

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The Shrimp & Grits is one of the most popular dishes at Oceanaire Seafood Room, and today our friends at the Pointe Orlando restaurant share the recipe so you can try it yourself.

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This week’s Compliments of the Chef is the result of a reader request from Jim Heekin regarding a favorite side dish featured at the now-closed Txokos Basque Kitchen at East End Market before original owners Henry and Michele Salgado sold it to focus on their Spanish River Grille restaurant in New Smyrna Beach:

Wrote Jim: “When the Salgados left Txokos, the restaurant stopped serving the fabulous Fabada bean side dish. Any chance that Henry would share with you his recipe for that terrific dish? He isn’t serving it at Spanish River Grille.”

Well, Jim, I have two bits of good news for you. First, yes, the Salgados were more than happy to share the recipe, which you’ll find below.

Second, the fabada bean dish is indeed being served at Spanish River Grille, accompanying one of the fresh fish dishes, such as bronzini, a current offering, or the Crispy Skin Snapper, as seen in the photo from SRG above. So you can visit and still get a taste of how it’s done.

In the meantime, here’s the recipe, compliments of the chef.

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