Monday meals

Vito’s Chop House

Address
City
Phone
Price

8633 International Drive
Orlando
407-354-2467
$$$$

Vito’s Chop House is a first-rate operation, a highend steakhouse with a touch of Tuscany. The atmosphere is masculine but comfortable, the service is practiced and sure, and the steaks are of the finest quality and an omigod size that will have you requesting a takeout container before they’re even placed in front of you.

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Whiskey

Address
City
Phone
Price

7563 W Sand Lake Road
Orlando
407-930-6517
$$

The space that held Cricketers Arms didn’t sit empty too long after that British pub closed. It’s now called The Whiskey, and you’d be forgiven for thinking that any place with such a name is more about the drink than about the food. But based on my recent visit, that isn’t the case at all.

Oh, it’s very serious about the drink part, especially with cocktails featuring the eponymous liquid. There is an interesting craft cocktail menu with some intriguing entries.

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Whisper Creek Farms: The Kitchen

Address
City
Phone
Price

4040 Central Florida Parkway
Orlando
407-393-4755
$$

The folks at the JW Marriott recently opened two new entities, Whisper Creek Farm: The Kitchen and Whisper Creek Farm: The Brewery.

You’ll notice The Kitchen as soon as you walk through the front door of the hotel. It’s just off the lobby, to the right. The Brewery is a little harder to spot. In fact, you’d need a staff person to escort you through the warren of corridors and passageways to the kitchen office where the vats, tanks and necessary gauges have been set up in a corner. It’s definitely not a show brewery such as the one at Cask & Larder.

But the Kitchen is on full display, and what it’s churning out is surprisingly ambitious. I say surprisingly because when it was first announced it was downplayed somewhat, as though it would be more of a bar-menu venue.

But while portions are meant to be more of the small plate size — or, reasonable portions, as I like to think of them — the items are well above the ranks of bar snacks.

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White Wolf Cafe

Address
City
Phone
Price

1829 N. Orange Ave.
Orlando
407-895-9911
$$

This is a funky little place in Orlando’s Ivanhoe Row district of antiques shops. When it first opened, in 1991, it was part cafe, part antique shop. But it was clear most people were coming for the sandwiches and salads than the collectibles, and eventually the cafe overtook the antiques store. The atmosphere may be more of an allure than the food, although most of it is quite acceptable. Still, most people see it as a fun meeting place than an eating place.

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Wine 4 Oysters Bar & Bites

Address
City
Phone
Price

1957 S. Alafaya Trail
Orlando
407-507-7952
$$

Wine 4 Oysters Bar & Bites is a charming little restaurant on South Alafaya Trail in the Shoppes of Eastwood. It’s a small storefront space with a few tables and chairs along one wall and a bar on the other. That the spaces at the bar seem to fill up before the tables lets you know that this is a neighborhoody kind of place.

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Wine 4 Oysters Dr. Phillips

Address
City
Phone
Price

7645 Turkey Lake Road
Orlando
407-377-7568
$$

Wine 4 Oysters Bar & Bites, the restaurant and raw bar from East Orlando, has opened its second location in Bay Hill Plaza on Turkey Lake Road in the Restaurant Row District. There are some differences between the two W4Os: the new location has a full liquor bar but a more compact menu, though the roster of oysters is still robust.

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Wine Bar George

Address
City
Phone
Price

1610 E. Buena Vista Drive
Lake Buena Vista
407-490-1800
$$$

Not your typical wine bar. It’s two stories, serves some serious food, and it’s all overseen by a certified master sommelier, George Miliotes, who loves to introduce his guests to new wines. If he makes a suggestion, take it.

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Wolfgang Puck Bar & Grill

Address
City
Phone
Price

1514 E. Buena Vista Drive
Lake Buena Vista
407-815-2100
$$$

The website admits that the dining experience is meant to be Spago-like, though they chose not to name it such, even though there are now five Spagos worldwide. But the food is classic Puck, with touches of his native Austria and of course the designer pizzas that made him famous.

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World of Beer Downtown

Address
City
Phone
Price

431 E. Central Blvd.
Orlando
407-270-5541
$$

The location is the former Lee’s Lakeside, once considered the jewel of downtown dining. It would have been nice to see an upscale/casual restaurant go here, but this franchise has turned the space into a pleasant gathering spot. Unlike many other Worlds of Beer, this one has a more extensive food menu, including full entrees. Not the greatest food you can find in the neighborhood, but when steak frites only costs $15, it’s hard to quibble.

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Y.H. Seafood Clubhouse

Address
City
Phone
Price

8081 Turkey Lake Road
Orlando
407-440-4979
$$$

The initials in the name of Y.H. Seafood Clubhouse, a new restaurant in the Restaurant Row district, are easy to explain: They stand for Yummy House, a Florida Chinese restaurant group with a handful of locations.

The Clubhouse part isn’t quite as clear. For me, clubhouse evokes rustic, almost slapdash digs. But Y.H. Seafood Clubhouse borders on elegant, a bright and glittery room with walls of tall golden panels with delicate floral patterns and tables covered with crisp white cloths. (The space, in the Whole Foods plaza on the southeast corner of Sand Lake Road and Turkey Lake Road, was originally O’Charley.)

The Seafood part of the name speaks for itself. Although this is a Chinese restaurant, its menu focuses on the region of Canton and its coastline on the South China Sea.

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