Orlando favorite K Restaurant Wine Bar has been named to the inaugural Good Food 100 Restaurants list, one of only three Florida restaurants named.
Unlike many of the other restaurant lists that appear throughout the year, the Good Food 100 doesn’t necessarily mean the food is good at any of the restaurants listed, though we certainly know that that is the case with K. Neither does the list have anything to do with reviews or judges or even popularity.
Instead, the list, which is compiled by Good Food Media, is a recognition of restaurants that are transparent with the purchasing and sustainable business practices. In other words, it honors the restaurants that not only say on their menus that they “buy local” and source only sustainable and responsible meats, seafood and produce but those that are willing to prove it.
“It’s very detailed,” Keven Fonzo, K’s chef and owner, said of the application process. Applicants were made to complete a survey that listed all of their food purchases and the food producers. It also required verification of purchase orders for the six categories being tracked, including bread; flours and grains; dairy and eggs; meat and poultry; fish and seafood; and fruits and vegetables.
Many of the ingredients Fonzo uses are not only local but hyperlocal — he grows vegetables and herbs in the back yard of the College Park restaurant.
But he says that he can’t run the restaurant exclusively on local sourcing. Some of the things he still relies on from out of the area distributors include porcini mushrooms, truffles, foie gras and olive oil.
Otherwise, he’s happy to show you the bills of lading for local fish and meats and fruits and vegetables and other ingredients.
The Good Food 100 list isn’t exclusive to a type of restaurant. It is open to quick serve, fast casual, casual dining, fine dining, and even food delivery services.
The overall purpose of the list, according to a release from Good Foods, is to give consumers more information when making their decisions about where to dine.
Besides K, the other Florida restaurants named to the list were Mattison’s and Indigenous Restaurant, both of Sarasota.
