Jiko – The Cooking Place is among the restaurants that will be participating in this year’s Chef’s Gala. I was asked if I’d like to sample the dish that Jiko’s chef, Edward T. Mendoza, would be offering at the April 14 event, so I said sure, why not? I hadn’t been to Jiko in a long time, it would be nice to see what’s going on there these days.

Good things, it turns out. Let me put it this way: As soon as the bus drops you off at the World Showplace at the beginning of Heart of Florida’s Chef’s Gala, head directly to the station, or cooking place, if you will, where Mendoza and his team will be serving their Isitambu.

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to attend a beer pairing dinner at the American Kitchen restaurant in the B Resort & Spa at Lake Buena Vista. I accepted, because there isn’t anything about the phrase “beer pairing dinner” that I don’t like. But I was also anxious to see what’s been going on culinarily at American Kitchen since some changes had been made from my last visit. I liked everything I ate and sipped.

The dinner was a collaboration between the resort’s executive chef, Venoy Rogers III and John Cheek of Orlando Brewing.