Home - Scott Joseph Orlando Restaurant Guide

Luma On Park

Written By Administrator On September 15, 2008

Luma On Park is Winter Park at its snazziest

Luma On Park had a rocky start. It came to town with a sort of arrogance that suggested that as long as they had a tony atmosphere it really didn’t matter if the food was any good. After all, what did the Central Florida rubes know about good food?

We knew plenty, and we weren’t falling for the smoke and mirrors attitude of this restaurant group out of Atlanta.
The message was received. The original chef returned to Georgia, or elsewhere, and in his place we got Brandon McGlamery, a talented chef with credentials that reach from the French Laundry in California to Guy Savoy in Paris who didn’t just let his resume speak for itself.

Luma’s menu is divided between small plates and full entrees. While this is one of the pricier restaurants on the Avenue, one could make a meal of small plates and leave without a significant dent in the wallet.

Try the calamari fries ($9) or the crispy duck salad ($11), which went beyond a mere salad with the inclusion of a duck leg confit.
If you want to go for a full entree, try the Kobe flank steak ($26) or the black grouper ($27).

Service is exceptional and the decor is Miami spicy. But, thankfully, the attitude is strictly Central Florida friendly.

Jiko – The Cooking Place

Written By Administrator On September 15, 2008

Jiko — The Cooking Place at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge finds its voice

Jiko When Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge first opened nearly eight years ago, its signature restaurant, Jiko, left a bland impression. The name is Swahili for The Cooking Place, and the menu was supposed to focus on South African cuisine. But what was offered was a cuisine without a country. Soon after, Anette Grecchi-Gray, one of Disney’s pioneering women chefs, took over and started making improvement. Now, Grecchi-Gray has left the company and left the restaurant in the hands of chef Brian Piasecki, who admitted when he took over Jiko that he had never been to Africa and knew little about the cuisine. Whatever he did to educate himself seems to have worked. Jiko now serves food that is creative and well-executed, a fusion of styles and techniques that utilize the seasonings and spices associated with African cuisine.

I liked the berbere-braised lamb shank ($27), a sizeable hunk of meat, slow-cooked so the meat was fall-off-the-bone tender. The berbere is a spice mixture of chilies, ginger, coriander and other flavors associated with Ethiopian cuisine. The rub gave a spicy note to the mild lamb. Arctic char ($31) was another favorite, a fatty-fleshed fish with characteristics of both trout and salmon (in flavor — not in appearances; that would be an odd fish indeed). The fish was mild flavored and spiced up with fennel pollen salt. It was accompanied by mealie pap, a South African staple of cornmeal mush. Some good appetizer choices are kalamata olive flatbread ($9), or ostrich schnitzel ($13) — try ordering that one five times real fast.

Service was of the type that Disney is well-known for. And be sure to give the wine list a good look-see. It’s the largest collection of South Africa wines in North America. Ask for a taste of the Delheim Gewurztraminer, which goes perfectly with the Portland Pier scallops ($31) and its accompanying spicy eggplant kottu.
The restaurant was designed by Jeffery Beers and is a salute to the opening scenes of The Lion King. The columns are supposed to represent the decorative neck-stretching rings worn by Swahili women, and the light fixtures are floating sculptures of birds that get smaller as they disappear in the distance.
Of course, you do have to put up with the occasionally under-dressed tourist, but Jiko has become one of Disney’s better dining choices.

Thai Lotus Cuisine

Written By Administrator On September 11, 2008

First bite: Thai Lotus Cuisine in Winter Park; have you been?

There’s a concentrated grouping of casual restaurants on that corner of Aloma Avenue and Semoran Boulevard in Winter Park. You’ve got Tex-Mex, Mex, sports bar, Polish/European and 24-hour breakfast.
Now you can add Thai. Thai Lotus has taken over a space that looks as though it was once a sandwich place with a long ordering counter that is unused.

Instead, guests sit at tables and wait for someone to take an order. On a recent lunch visit that was a considerable wait, especially for the only other occupied table in the restaurant. The young couple sitting across the room from me were extraordinarily patient with the man who kept forgetting things they had requested.
The regular menu shows promise, with over 70 appetizer and entree listings that will sound familiar to Thai lovers all over.
The lunch menu was had limited selections and was rather odd — it seemed to have been copied from a small Chinese restaurant. I had the tom ka gai, a coconut milk based woup with galanga, mushrooms and lime juice with a few chunks of chicken. The soup’s broth was thin but the flavors were multilayered.
For my entree I had red curry with beef, which featured a sauce of coconut milk and pepper spices with basil leaves. It also featured chunks of pineapple, which I found annoying. Red curry recipes aren’t set in stone and are up for variations, but if you’re going to add something as unusual as fruit to a curry recipe it should at least be listed in the menu’s description.
Also, a dish called red curry beef should have more than a few slivers of meat. I’m just saying.
But this was just a first visit. Perhaps another — maybe an evening meal where the menu stays more focused on Thailand — will show more promise.
In the meantime, have you eaten here? What do you think? Write a comment and let other know.

Friendless

Written By Administrator On September 11, 2008

Friends Restaurant to close after Saturday

The Flog has just learned that Friends restaurant on North Mills Avenue has been sold. The final day in its current form will be Saturday, September 13. More to come later on the new owners and their plans for the place.

Restaurateurs flip

Written By Administrator On September 11, 2008

for the Glass Flipper

Attendees at last weekend’s Florida Restaurant & Lodging Show at the Orange County Convention Center voted the Glass Flipper the best new product. I told Flip you about this one in my post last week from the convention center. It’s not likely to change the life of the consumer much, but it’s going to be great for the poor guy who has to flip glasses over one-by-one after they come out of the dishwasher. This device flips the whole rack, making the glasses ready for ice and water.
First runner-up was a software program from Customer 2 You that makes it easier for restaurants to post their menus online and have customers order for pickup or delivery.
Second runner up was a company from Delray Beach called Joe Sixxpak. They manufacture a plastic, collapsible six-pack bottle carrier. This allows a bar back to fetch bottles of beer without fear that the old-timey cardboard carrier’s bottom will give out. They can even put the whole carrier in ice and pull it out to return to a cooler. And the product is obviously good for the environment — it’s green.