The menu here is 100 percent vegan. On a recent visit I ordered a cup of spinach and portobello soup and the ironically named healthy trio for starters. The healthy trio was a reference to three dips: hummus, tomato-mango salsa and a tapenade made with black and green olives. They were served with slightly toasted bread that had big hunks of seeds and grains embedded, plus thick blue corn tortilla chips. It was all pretty tasty. Ethos is across from Ivanhoe Lake and has a large covered patio with perhaps more seating than inside. Indoors the walls are covered with works by local artists, and beyond the ordering counter the room wraps around for additional inside seating.

This is the sort of place I like to come to for breakfast, and when I found myself in Winter Park at an unusually early hour, I stopped in. I ordered the Fairbanks omelet, wtih bacon, ham, sausage, onion, finely diced green peppers, and a few mushrooms folded into an eggy package with melted cheddar on top. It was accompanied by chunky home fries that were nicely crisped but not nearly as greasy as I would have liked them to be.

When it’s on its game, Fleming’s can produce steaks as good as anyone’s. The atmosphere isn’t quite as posh as a Ruth’s Chris, and it isn’t as clubby as Del Frisco’s, but it’s quite pleasant and relaxing. A newer location recently opened on Restaurant Row Orlando, at 8030 Via Dellagio Way. Phone 407-352-5706. If you don’t want to commit to a full meal’s calories or price, consider a meal in the bar area, where a burger (not available in the dining room) is the thing to order.
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While cakes, pastries and other assorted baked sweets are a focus, chef Stuart Whitfield’s menu makes a few forays into savory territory, mainly with soups, salads and sandwiches. A chicken pot pie is offered daily. Well, nightly, only after 4:30 p.m. All of the food I sampled was of high quality and expertly prepared.

However, the experience of eating there is less enjoyable, at least when there is a full house, as when I visited for lunch with a friend. And the process is a bit confusing, even with someone at the front door attempting to explain it.

Hamilton’s Kitchen has a new chef, Marc Kusche, and a freshened menu. It’s like the reset button has been pushed. And now the experience is more along the lines of what I was hoping for a year ago.

Kusche comes to the Alfond Inn by way of the Four Seasons Residence Club Aviara in Carlsbad, California. His menu makes good use of the bounty from local growers and has a nice mix of seafood and meat, though it seems that the former is the forte.

I can’t say that anything in particular has been done with the dining room since it opened last year, but it seemed to be different. It didn’t have that college dorm dining hall feel — maybe it was that it wasn’t as crowded this time, or maybe there have been enough subtle changes in lighting to make a difference. Whatever, it was more comfortable now, even with open kitchen. (It is called Hamilton’s Kitchen, after all.)

I was happy to make the return visit to HK and I’m even happier to now put it on my list of recommended restaurants.

The Hen & Hog is a new quick-serve restaurant in Winter Park that is ostensibly a renamed and relocated reboot of the Mason Jar Provisions that previously was in Thornton Park.

Another player in the gourmet taco game, Hunger Street does a good job with meaty fillings in appropriate tortillas.

There are five levels of spiciness for the sandwiches at Jam Hot Chicken, a walkup window eatery in Winter Park’s Hannibal Square. The middle one is hot, which is what I ordered. I cannot imagine the fiery hell of the next level up, which is labeled hotter, let alone the spiciest one, jam. “You’ve been warned” is written next to that one on the menu. Woe to the person who mistakenly thinks jam means sweet jellied preserves.

This new quick-serve concept specializes in fish tacos and burgers. The fish tacos would be really good if they had some fish in them; the burgers are a tad thinnish. The management doesn’t quite have a finger on how to take orders efficiently — lines just to order can be unreasonably long.