I’ve been thinking back lately about my early days of reviewing restaurants in Orlando, and revisiting those that are still around. There aren’t many, but Chatham’s Place, which I first reviewed for Florida magazine in the Orlando Sentinel on Oct. 22, 1989, is still serving its fine cuisine 35 years later, despite its odd location – in an office building offset from Dr. Phillips Boulevard – and even though many other fine dining restaurants long ago closed or went more casual.
When I first visited Chatham’s Place, it had just moved to its current location from Windermere, where it was known as Chatham’s Fifth Avenue Gourmet Deli. Louis Chatham and his brother Randolph were the chefs, and their mother, Bettye, ran the dining room with grace, good humor and a heap of Southern hospitality.
Randolph died suddenly in 1992, and Louis slowly lost interest in running the restaurant without him. In 1996, the Chathams sold the restaurant to Tony Lopez, one of Louis’ chefs; Maurice Colindres, the maitre d’; and Carol Conwell, a weekly regular customer who had taken job as hostess.
Lopez is still the chef and now the sole owner. Colindres died in 2018 and Conwell in 2006.
I was delighted to find that the Florida Black Grouper, which was such a favorite from that first review that I could still remember its taste 35 years later as I made my reservation, was still on the menu. Still good, too, though the current version may not be quite as memorable. It was a smallish fillet – four ounces – and topped with pecan butter with just a slight dusting of cayenne to counter the sweetness. Good, but not worth the market price of $75. (It was $17.25 in ’89, which would be about $45 in today’s currency.)
One of my dinner companions ordered the duck breast ($59), but instead of the demi-glace with blueberries that it usually came with had the pepper sauce recommended by our server. It was the best thing I had that evening, the sliced meat cooked perfectly and perfectly tender. The peppery sauce was a better choice, I thought, than the blueberry would have been.
Another fellow diner had the Chicken a la Bruce, an herb-crusted breast toped with tomatoes and house-made mozzarella, accompanied by a large raviolo filled with ricotta cheese. Good, but definitely overpriced at $59.
Rack of Lamb was nicely done, served with a rosemary jus, announced with a large fresh sprig.
The Beef Carpaccio was a standout appetizer, the thinly sliced angus beef loaded with arugula and shaved parmesan, with just a drizzle of truffle oil.
Escargots were elegantly served in a vessel fashioned out of a wonton wrapper, the chewy snails awash in parsley butter.
A tableside preparation of rigatoni and pancetta tossed in a giant parmesan wheel was more show than substance.
For dessert, souffles, ordered early, were the big hit.
Our server was professional and accommodating of all of our requests.
The dining room is small and dark. When it first opened, it had 68 seats. Its website now says the main room now seats 50. The open kitchen juts into the room and there’s an upright piano, at which a pianist sat, under one of its windows. Tables are covered with white cloth, but I found the blue-striped bistro-style napkins a bit chintzy. If I’m going to pay 75 bucks for a piece of fish I’d like a proper linen napkin, please.
By the way, Bettye Chatham now lives in the Florida panhandle and will celebrate her ninety-fifth birthday on Sunday. Louis left Central Florida after selling the restaurant but returned for a time to open Louis’ Downtown in the former Dr. Phillips House. He is now retired.
Even after the Chathams left, the restaurant maintained a family-run atmosphere. It doesn’t feel that way now. I couldn’t help thinking that perhaps Chatham’s Place had gone the way of other restaurants in this area and now courts the expense-accounted convention trade over locals. It happens. But I still am glad to know that it holds on to its tradition of offering fine dining. Such restaurants are a dying breed.
Chatham’s Place is at 7575 Dr. Phillips Blvd., Orlando (map). It is open for dinner Tuesday through Saturday. The phone number is 407-345-2992.
