Taste! Central Florida, the annual fundraiser benefitting Coalition for the Homeless and Second Harvest Food Bank, raised a record $273,000 at its Aug. 10 event. One hundred percent of the proceeds Stay in the area and are designated toward ending childhood hunger. It’s a bit dispiriting that the walkabout event featuring food stations from dozens of area restaurants has been going on for more than three decades.
Kudos, also, to Patina Restaurant Group and its Disney Springs restaurant The Edison, which hosted the first Bartenders Bash on Aug. 22 and raised $7,000 for Give Kids the World. The Bash, sponsored by Bacardi, challenged eight local tenders of bars to create cocktails for judging. The Edison’s Chelsea Gilpin, with the home court advantage, took the judge’s award for her Dirty Banana cocktail. Blake Cain of Mather’s Social Gathering in Downtown Orlando won the popular vote for his Curious Saturn.
If you’ve been putting off visiting Chuck Lager, the small tavern and restaurant chain from celebrity chef Fabio Vivani that opened on International Drive in April, you waited too long – it closed Aug. 20. A post on the chain’s Facebook page said that it was “grateful for the support we’ve received from our guests and the Orlando community” but did not offer a reason for the quick shuttering. One wonders if a recent shutdown order following a restaurant inspection might have been a factor.
Winter Park’s Ethos Vegan Kitchen has closed after 17 years of meatless meals. No explanation was given. One wonders if a recent shutdown order following a restaurant inspection might have been a factor.
You might recall that Ethos’ shutdown order was initially and incorrectly reported by the Orlando Sentinel to have been issued to the Hammered Lamb. The mistake happened because Ethos had originally occupied the Ivanhoe Village space where the Lamb now lives. The Hammered Lamb’s owners took the high road after the bad publicity, but it’s facing new woes now with the ongoing construction of Orange Avenue affecting its – and others’ – business. As such, the Lamb has announced that it will close on its two least popular days, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, until the construction is over, presumbably sometime before 2028.
Speaking of health inspections, the Virginia Boar’s Head deli meat plant that has been linked to an outbreak of listeria, is said to have mold, leaky pipes and flies on site. The only way that could be a worse public relations nightmare is if they touted that Boar’s Head meats are featured at Chipotle.
Garp & Fuss, the Winter Park restaurant in the Hidden Gardens off of Park Avenue that has been mysteriously closed for several months, has just as mysteriously reopened.
So maybe Artisan’s Table, which has posted a “closed temporarily” notice, actually will reopen.
I fully acknowledge that I’m easily annoyed – hey, for a critic it’s sort of an attribute – but I can’t be the only one irritated by multiple texts from restaurants asking me to type 1 to confirm my reservation and 2 to cancel it. The most recent one I got was about an hour after I made the reservation online. Consider that to be the confirmation. Stop texting me.
