Old timers will remember when the behemoth building at 3001 Curry Ford Road in Orlando was home to a restaurant called South Seas Seafood. It was quite popular when I moved to town in 1988. I reviewed it the following year and was surprised that anyone could have liked anything about it. The restaurant was sold shortly after that and the new owners operated it for a time under the same name.

They eventually changed the name to Blue Whale, but the quality of the food did not improve. The space then became a huge sports bar, in 1992, called Sports Dimensions. But that never caught on.  The building then became home to nonfood businesses, including a clubhouse for a Puerto Rican group.

As I drove by the other day, I couldn’t help but notice that the structure was being torn down (I’m a trained observer). Food will once again be available from that address — a Wawa will rise once the rubble is removed.

{jcomments on}

Let’s give away another $50 gift certificate to Luma on Park or Prato, what do you say?. I’ll have a drawing Friday for a $50 gift certificate. Winner can use it at either restaurant. Winners, as always, will be selected at random from among the list of recipients of my newsletter. Nothing to buy, no labels to collect — it’s just my thanks to you for being a reader.

If you’re already receiving my newsletter, you’re already entered. If you’re not signed up, click this link and you’re in; just that simple.

The drawing will be Friday evening, so don’t delay. I’ve got lots of great things planned for 2013, and newsletter recipients always get first shot at SJO Dining Deals and Scott Joseph’s Supper Club events. Also, I’m getting ready to open up registration for my first Pop-up restaurant of the year. It will be announced in the newsletter first, and it may sell out before a general announcement can be made. Just sayin’. I promise you, it won’t be just another annoying newsletter — I only send it out when I think you need to know about something.

Share this link with a friend who might also be a fan of good food and great dining.

{jcomments on}

Updated to include Chef’s Table at the Edgewater.

Even though it isn’t until tomorrow, Christmas is so yesterday, at least in terms of planning. If you haven’t made your dining reservations for tomorrow and you’re determined not to cook, you may be destined to make do with the string of popcorn on the tree. (Do people still string popcorn on the tree, or is that just asking for cockroaches in Florida?)

Anyway, it’s time to be thinking ahead to New Year’s Eve, which is one week from tonight (but you probably knew that already). Dining out on New Year’s Eve is a tradition for many people. Some prefer to have a celebratory meal before heading out to a party to watch the ball drop, which is not as naughty as it sounds. Others plan their visit to a restaurant to coincide with the midnight celebration.

Whichever is your choice, I have a few recommendations for you to consider. Here’s the list so far (click the links to the restaurant’s website for more details and to book), and I’ll add to it during the week as I hear more. 

(more…)

I am standing in front of my class at UCF’s Rosen College of Hospitality Management administering the final exam. The class — FSS 3008 in the course directory — was titled “Culture and Cuisine,” and over the past 15 weeks we’ve gone around the world, discussing various countries, their people and their foodways (the definition of foodways was on the first quiz).

I had great fun learning how to teach a college course. I enjoyed all the students, a great bunch of young adults — 44 of them, about twice as many as I expected — who were serious about learning. They were curious, ambitious and asked great questions. And I loved being called Professor Joseph. I just might change my byline.

I am grateful to the members of the restaurant community who took the time to come speak to the class and at times demonstrate their native cuisine. Among them were:

(more…)

Oh, Zagat. Why do you even bother with guidebooks in cities other than New York? You obviously don’t have a clue how to moderate the findings of your famous surveys.

Zagat has just released the 2013 Orlando City Guide. Technically, it’s the first one, though it is not the first Zagat publication to feature Orlando. I should know, I was an uncredited editor of a couple of editions of Zagat Surveys that included Orlando several years ago.

I say included Orlando because the New York based Zagat folks did not think that Orlando warranted a guidebook of restaurants of its own –never mind that at the time we had over 4000 restaurants in the immediate area. So they lumped Tampa, Daytona Beach, Sarasota and St. Petersburg along with Orlando into one volume. From a practical standpoint, it was unusable. I was pleased that my name wasn’t on it.

(more…)

A couple of weeks ago I spent an evening in downtown Orlando and had such a wonderful time that I wanted to tell you about it — because apparently very few of you know what downtown has to offer. What made it all so enjoyable were two bartenders and a piano player.

I started off at the Grand Bohemian, the elegant hotel across from City Hall and the rising performing arts center. (Can’t wait for the performing arts center to be finished; Mr. Mayor, may I push the plunger to detonate the implosion of the Bob Carr?) Anyway, here’s the first secret that most people don’t know: if you’re concerned about where to park in downtown Orlando, just pull up to the valet lane of the Bohemian and let the nice fellows there park your car for you. If you’re going in for dinner, the valet parking is complimentary. If you’re going in for drinks, it’s only $6, which is less than what you’ll pay at many of the lots in the area.

(more…)

The work week has just begun and you’re already looking for it to be over, aren’t you? Well, here’s something to do this Thursday: Toast! Winter Park Village. This is an event at WPV organized by Mpact Orlando. Think of it as a big happy hour, but with shopping, too. Seven of WP Village’s restaurants and shops will be part of the event and will have specials for the participants. In fact, your $20 admission fee will get you a beer, wine or cocktail at each one of them. I haven’t done the math, but that sounds like a pretty good deal. Participants include Brio Tuscan Grill, Truffles Grill, Walk on Water, Taps, Valdiano, Lime Fresh, and Publix. Besides the imbibables, there will also be other goodies.

Plus, bring an unwrapped toy and you’ll also get a card for a free appetizer. Most of the shops will be open, and the evening will include live entertainment and maybe, just maybe, a visit from Santa.

Toast! Wine & Spirits Walk is Thursday, November 29, from 6 to 10 p.m. at Winter Park Village, 400 N. Orlando Ave. Registration is at Truffles Grill. Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door, and you can order them online at this link.

But how about this — I’m giving away five pairs of tickets. We’ll have a drawing Tuesday afternoon, with the winners selected from among the recipients of my newsletter. If you get the newsletter, you’re already entered to win. If not, you can sign up by clicking this link. Need not be present to win. I’ll notify the winners by email tomorrow afternoon.

In homes all across Central Florida, the turkey carcasses have been picked clean, the last drop of gravy has been sopped up by the final roll, and containers of leftovers are waiting to be used for sandwiches and casseroles throughout the week.

Unless you went to a restaurant for your Thanksgiving meal.

In that case, there is no picked-clean carcass, nor none of the attendant mess. You didn’t have to fret over the making of the gravy — “It needs more broth.” “No, it needs more flour.” — and you weren’t forced to eat another green bean casserole from the cousin who always says he’ll bring something but never makes a special effort.

But then you also don’t have the leftovers, which some might argue are the best part of Thanksgiving. So I’m wondering, from those of you who chose to go out for dinner this year, where did you go, how was the experience, and would you recommend the restaurant to others? The last question is important because many folks will be faced with the same decision in just a few short weeks when Christmas Day comes along.

So help out your fellow floggers and tell us how your dinner went, and whether you’d do it over again. Please leave your comments below.

Thanks!

{jcomments on}

So then there’s the review in the New York Times by Pete Wells of Guy’s American Kitchen & Bar. (If you just said, “Huh, what are you talking about?” congratulations on waking up from your coma.) Wells’ review, published Wednesday and linked to here, is still today the most-viewed and most-e-mailed article at NYTimes.com. It has been the topic of news and talk show interviews, including rebuttals from the restaurant’s owner and food television personality, Guy Fieri.

As reviews go, they don’t get much more negative than this one. It was written almost entirely of rhetorical questions addressed to Fieri and worded to register high on the snark meter. Sample: “Why is one of the few things on your menu that can be eaten without fear or regret — a lunch-only sandwich of chopped soy-glazed pork with coleslaw and cucumbers — called a Roasted Pork Bahn Mi, when it resembles that item about as much as you resemble Emily Dickinson?” Or “Hey, did you try that blue drink, the one that glows like nuclear waste? The watermelon margarita? Any idea why it tastes like some combination of radiator fluid and formaldehyde?”

(more…)

Looking for something to do this weekend? You have two chances to go to a single malt scotch tasting (do the math).

Our two Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bars are offering a four-course dinner with three of the courses paired with Glenfiddich Scotch Whisky, the 12 year old, 15 year old, and 18 year old. The whiskies get older as the meal progresses, something I can relate to.

The dinner costs $95 per person, not including tax and gratuity, and will be offered tonight, Friday, Nov. 16, at the Restaurant Row Fleming’s, 8030 Dellagio Way, Orlando, and Saturday, Nov. 17, in Winter Park, 933 N. Orlando. Ave. (corner of Lee Road). For reservations call the Orlando restaurant at 407-352-5706 or the Winter Park store at 407-699-9463. Check the end of this article for the menu.

Also, don’t forget that Eat Local Week concludes this weekend with a full day of events in Central Park’s West Meadow in Winter Park. You can get some more details here.

So get out, eat, drink — report back here on Monday.

Here’s the menu for the scotch tastings:

(more…)