Scott Joseph Pop Up Dinner

Saturday March 24th, 2012 there was a Scott Joseph Pop Up Dinner at Gary's Seafood near downtown Orlando.

The chefs were two James Beard Award nominees, Hari Pulapaka of Cress in Deland (@cressrestaurant) and Henry Salgado( Link) of Spanish River Grill in New Smyrna Beach.

The event was held at Gary's Seafood which is one of the largest providers of seafood to restaurants in Central Florida and around the country. In addition to seafood Gary's is also a purveyor of such specialty items as Kobe beef, Kurobuta pork, truffles, infused salts, vinegars, foie gras, game birds, caviar and gourmet cheeses.

Wines were provided by Vibrant Rioja from Spain. http://us.riojawine.com/en/

Here are write ups and other pictures from the event via Scott Joseph himself (Link) & Tasty Chomps(Link)

Here are my pics:

Left:Daring Downs Wagyu Beef hanging tender, jerk spices, apple wood smoked Vo-Lasalle Farms onion cream, kerala green peppercorns &Parmigiano-Reggiano cookie

Right: Chef Henry: Local Cedar Creek Clam steamed in Sherry tomato water, green Olive-Marcona almond pesto

Chef Henry: "Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet" Candied Kurabota pork belly, cider glazed Mote Marine sturgeon with eggs, "Migas Extremadura"

Chef Hari: Florida Gulf Coast Snowy Grouper, Pasture Prime Farms house made Andoullie, sauce Creole, grilled royal trumpets, signature Cress organic Grits

Chef Hari:Stewed Goat with Pappadam, pickled vegetables, carrot, cucumbers, beets, shredded collard greens

Collaborative Savoury Course: Chef Henry:"Surf & Turf" Seared Sea Scallop, kombu salad, sake braised Wagyu beef cheek, caramelized Florida spring onion puree, roasted fingerlings.

Tenderloin of domestic Ostrich, blackberry habanero reduction, parsnip puree, cardamom foam

From Left:Chef Hari, Gary of Gary's Seafood, Rioja Wine Rep Dhane Chesson , Chef Henry, Scott Joseph

If you enjoyed this post or have any questions please leave a comment, nothing is firmly planned for the next pop up but as soon as it is I will post on my blog and twitter about it. Thanks

Where to eat in Orlando

I often get asked where people should eat when visiting Orlando, well here is a list of some of the best restaurants in Orlando in no particular order and some key dishes that we love.

• The Ravenous Pig - Pub Burger(1855 angus beef, caramelized onion, buttermilk bleu cheese, truffle fries), Gruyere Biscuits
• Smiling Bison - creative ever changing menu, small but quality beer selection.
• 4 Rivers Winter Park - Order the Beef Brisket and make sure you ask them to leave the bark and fat on it, it makes it even more delicious add a side of Corn Salad & Krispy Kreme bread pudding
• Sushi Pop Oviedo - Far East Flatbread - a duck fat seared Chinese scallion pancake topped with blue cheese, caramelized onions, roasted Japanese mushrooms, Furikake seasoning. Hamachi(Yellowtail) with jalapeños
• Q'Kenan Venezuelan Restaurante  - Cachapas (corn cakes) w/ handmade cheese
• Pom Pom's Teahouse and Sandwicheria - Fu Man Chu Sandwich – Asian Pulled Pork, Watercress, Goat Cheese, Ginger Cranberry Chutney & Red Onions
• K Restaurant -  K Tomato Stack - tomato, herbed goat cheese, 3 Boy’s Farm local greens, citrus dressing
• Luma Winter Park - Heirloom Tomato Salad - watermelon radishes, EVOO fried bread, anchovy vinaigrette, burrata
• Croissant Gourmet Winter Park - Almond Croissant, Hot Chocolate
• Brick & Fire Pizza - Bruschetta with balsamic vinegar. Goat Cheese pizza with Sauteed Spinach, Roma Tomatoes, Pine Nuts and Fresh Basil
• Rusty Spoon - The "55 Burger" - 1/2 lb of Grass-Fed Beef Stuffed with Bacon & Gruyere, Smothered with Onions, Rusty Aioli, House-made Pickles on a Soft Roll
• Anh Hong - Iced Coffee, Summer Rolls, Rice Vermicelli with grilled pork, shrimp, shrimp paste and spring roll
• Mediterranean Blue - Gyro with Feta, Greek Cheese Fries, Housemade Baklava
• Tako Cheena - Empanada with Ginger Guava Salsa, Panko Fish Taco

Fogo de Chão

The Fogo de Chão Orlando sneak preview grand opening was tonight, it opened to much fanfare with many local luminaries in attendance sampling the grand array of meats and other fine foods.

The date they will open to the public is Thursday March 15, 2012

Fogo de Chão (pronounced fo-go dèe shoun) is an authentic Southern Brazilian steakhouse not unlike Texas De Brazil up the street or Nelore Churrascarria in Winter Park, with meats cut at your table and a lavish salad bar.

The restaurant’s dining experience is based on the Gaucho tradition known as Churrasco, roasting meats over an open charcoal fire. Brazilian-trained gaucho chefs serve 15 different cuts of beef, lamb, chicken and pork.

It's a beautiful space and I'm sure they will thrive with the great location and lots of convention center traffic.

Pork Ribs

Lombo - Parmesan encrusted pork loin

Beef Rib

Green Means Bring more meat, Red means no more meat for now

Ravenous Pig and Anchor Brewing for a beer dinner

Please join The Ravenous Pig and Anchor Brewing for a beer dinner featuring a sneak peek of our Cochon 555 menu. If you are not able to join us in Miami then you cannot miss this dinner. Each course will be paired with one of Anchor Brewing’s delicious beers.
The Ravenous Pig and Anchor Brewing Dinner
Monday, March 19, 2012
Reception: 6:00 pm Dinner: 6:30 pm $65 per person plus tax and 20% gratuity
Trotter & Oyster pickled ramps,kushi oyster,harissa aioli
Corn Dog fermented hot sauce gastrique
Liverwurst Sandwich rye bread,rhubarb mostardo,pickled spring onions
Head Boudin dirty rice,beer mustard,caramelized onions
Ham & Egg smoked country ham,green garlic,asparagus,cured egg yolks
Ramen pickled lomo,crispy belly,pickled quail eggs,pork broth
Back Fat Biscotti brûléed lardo,arcadia peach marmalade,bacon fat morels
Space is limited -call 407.628.2333 to book your reservation today!

Hard Wok Rock 'N Roll Food Truck Orlando

Here are upcoming times when you can try my favorite the Hard Wok Truck:

https://twitter.com/#!/HardWok

Hard Wok upcoming events:

Thursday we'll be at Sip 7pm-10pm,

Friday starts our new night; Five Star Fridays featuring along with us 5 Gastronomy, La Empanada and Yum Yum at Spacebar 7pm-11pm with dj's, 

Saturday at Peacock for Orange You Glad

Sunday at Fashion Square for Orlando Food Truck Bazaar 5pm-8pm

Hard Wok Rock 'N Roll Food Truck

 Peacock Room.

1321 North Mills Avenue, Orlando, FL 32803

4 years in the making. Doing all Asian and southern fusion. Upscale food for no more than 6 bucks!

Here are some sample menu items

Fleetwood mac and cheese, 6 cheese sauce with sichuan fried crab and shrimp.

Led Zeppelin tempura fish and chips. Two fresh white fish fillets fried in

Motley Crue Thai, decadent, garlic bar ribs. Marinated short ribs, grilled, and served over rice.

Slayer wings. Spicy asian marinated grilled hot wings. Served with hand cut frites and ranch dipping sauce.

Iggy Popcorn Shrimp basket. Asian tempura fried shrimp skewers, served with tempura skewered veggies and sweet chili sauce.

Queen's Thai Chicken Satay. Marinated curry, coconut,  chicken skewers, grilled and served over rice with thai peanut sauce.

Primus Thai Pork Satay. Marinated curry, coconut, pork belly skewers, grilled and served over rice with Thai peanut sauce.

Keith Richards So Baked Burrito. Thai style marinated beef salad, kimchi, tomatoes, spiced soy aoli, served over rice and rolled in a fresh tortilla.

Tools Thai beef salad lettuce wraps. Two lettuce wraps stuffed with Thai marinated beef and herbs over rice.

Ziggy Stardust thai star cookie ice cream sundae. Thai star cookies blended with home made vanilla ice cream topped with chocolate syrup, caramel and whipped cream.

The Bono burger. Traditional juicy lucy burger, a grilled beef burger patty stuffed with cheddar and monterey jack, topped with spicy asian pickles, and grilled onions, between a potato bun. Served with hand cut frites.

The Tommy Lee dog. LA style footlong hotdog wrapped in bacon, dipped in tempura and deep fried with spicy aoli, 6 cheese sauce and hand cut frites.

The NKOTB garbage plate. Bacon fried rice. A Southern take on a Chinese classic. Thai rice fried with herbs, veggies, and of course thick cut bacon.

Twisted Sister Thai rolls. 4 traditional Thai spring rolls deep fried served with hand cut sweet potato fries, sweet chili and thai peanut dipping sauce.

Ozzys egg rolls. and one veggie spring roll with tempura fried vegetable skewers. Served with a side of spicy ranch dipping sauce.

The New York Dolled up Grilled Cheese

Taste of College Park Food & Wine Festival

Every spring Rotary Club of College Park hosts the Taste of College Park Food & Wine Festival. The festival takes place at the Historic Dubsdread ballroom. This year’s event is scheduled for Thursday, April 19, 2012. 6-9:30pm

Historic Dubsdread Ballroom
549 W Par Street Orlando, FL 32804

The Taste of College Park combines food, wine, live music, silent & live auctions for an extraordinary evening in College Park. Nearly a dozen local restaurants and distributors provide the food and wine; local retailers supply items for the silent and live auction. College Park businesses and Rotary Club members sell nearly 500 tickets. 

Whether you are a local foodie looking to sample the latest fare from College Park’s best restaurants or a resident looking to enjoy an evening sampling great wines and listening to music, the Taste of College Park Food & Wine Festival is a casual and fun evening for everyone.

The Taste of College Park Food & Wine Festival is the Rotary Club of College Park’s premier fundraising event and one of the largest events in the College Park Community. In previous years, the club raised more than $30,000 for local charities including Ronald McDonald House of Orlando, the Christian Service Center for Central Florida, Princeton Elementary, Lake Silver Elementary, and scholarships & awards for College Park students. 

Here is the Judges Panel who will be participating in the Taste of College Park
Heather McPherson — Orlando Sentinel, Food Editor
Ricky Ly — TastyChomps.com
Pearleen Buchala — MegaYummo.com
Chris Roberts — EatLocalOrlando.com
Mark Baratelli — The Food Truck Bazaar & TheDailyCity.com

"This is a great group of writers and bloggers and represents some of the most popular food blogs in our area. "

Food, wine and beer tasting stations for this year's Taste of College Park provided by the following local businesses: 
K Restaurant Wine Bar
Citrus Restaurant
The Tap Room at Dubsdread
Les Petits Pleasures. French Pastry and Bakery.
Juliana's
Cafe Positano
Infusion Tea
CHOCOLATE PROVOCATEUR
Orlando Brewing
Cookie Cousins
The Yum Yum Truck
Publix

You can purchase your tickets to the event at http://bit.ly/TasteofCP or from a member of the Rotary Club of College Park.

La Chiva Colombian food in Casselberry

Colombian food, Le Cordon Bleu trained chefs. Very friendly and fun guys.

I had the Bandeja Paisa which is the traditional Colombian sampler platter with 3 meats, rice and red beans. It was very good. My favorite part was the grilled Chorizo.

For desert I had the Flan, great presentation!

I'll be going back very soon.

1555 Semoran Blvd
Winter Park, FL 32792
(407) 300-2954

Sushi Pop

I was finally able to visit Sushi Pop last night. It's been around for a long time and I've been hearing a lot of buzz about it but I was never able to visit until yesterday.

We had a wonderful experience our server Andrea was excellent.

She started off by offering me a beer the Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout ( Link ), I wouldn't have thought to order a beer but this one was perfect because it had a tangy strong flavor that offset some of the more mild dishes.

The decor in Sushi Pop is a nice mixture of traditional & modern Japanese, beautiful banzai trees and orchids paired with Anime movies playing and Manga art on the walls.

They have so many interesting items it was very hard to choose, so I ordered a number of different varied dishes so I could get a feel for the whole menu. Menu on Sushi Pop Website

Here are the dishes we tried:

• Roasted asparagus salad with roasted garlic and mushrooms was so delicious I found myself dipping my chopsticks in the sauce again and again just to get a taste of that sweet soy sauce. 5/5 stars
• Far East Flatbread a duck fat seared Chinese scallion pancake topped with blue cheese, caramelized onions, roasted Japanese mushrooms, Furikake seasoning. This was kind of like a large flat bread it was quite delicious very strong and would fill up the average person, don't order this by yourself. 5/5 stars
• Thin sliced Hamachi(Yellowtail) with jalapeños and a very light sauce that had a delicious amazing flavor. 4/5 stars
• Lobster sushi roll with toasted almonds, avocado and tempura asparagus. Since it was cooked tempura style I expected this to be a little hotter temperature wise but it was still pretty good. 3/5 stars
• Sea urchin Sashimi, something I've just recently discovered that I like, it has a brown buttery flavor. This particular serving was a little bit more mushy than I would've preferred but it still had that flavor that I enjoy. 3/5 stars
• "It's No Yolk" - Cubed salmon with sunny side coconut milk mango "egg", served with seaweed rice cracker. 2/5 stars
• For dessert we ordered the P.M.S. though oddly named, it is a mixture of Peanut butter powder, Molten chocolate lava cake, and Salted caramel ice cream, It was uniquely tasty. 3.5/5 stars

Sushi pop is not cheap especially when you order that much as I did but it is really great unique experience, a great place to take that adventurous date or for a splurge.

Hibachi Asparagus
grilled asparagus, garlic braised oyster
and shitake mushrooms with soy
glazed pea tendrils • $8

Far East Flatbread a duck fat
seared Chinese scallion pancake
topped with blue cheese, caramelized onions,
roasted Japanese mushrooms, Furikake seasoning • $12

Jalapeño Pepper Hamachi
yellowtail with diced jalapeños, fresh
wasabi lime sauce, black pepper and
micro cilantro • $14

Lobster and Almonds
tempura lobster, avocado, asparagus,
smelt roe, yuzu tartar sauce, encrusted
with toasted almonds • $10

It’s No Yolk
fresh cubed salmon tossed with lime
juice, olive oil, shallots, thai basil with
sunny side egg of sweet coconut
milk and mango puree, served with
seaweed rice cracker • $14

P.M.S.
peanut butter powder, molten chocolate,
salted caramel ice cream • $7

Some other really interesting dishes I didn't get a chance to try:

• Gold Digger- lump crab, tempura shallots and sweet chili topped with blue fin Otoro, bu bu rice crackers, edible 24 karat gold flakes and soy gel • $17
• Godzilla - tempura fried alligator, hearts of palm salad with green onion, celery leaves and radishes, citrus and Togarashi remoulade • $12

Sushi Pop
310 W Mitchell Hammock Rd
Oviedo, FL 32765
(407) 542-5975




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