At the end of the year I like to look back at how Orlando’s food scene has evolved and expanded, and I also like to pinpoint my favorites of the year. It’s one thing to be a “foodie” who is constantly chasing the newest and latest addition to our culinary map, but in reality, that isn’t what builds our food scene. What builds and maintains it is supporting the places that are consistent and deliver time and time again, after the initial hype and excitement from their opening has died down. Restaurants do not survive on the initial wave of interest when they open. They survive on loyal consumers who come back again and again.

For those reasons, I’ve selected my personal top 10 spots that either took the bulk of my money or that left me with such an impact that I revisited them, and have them high on my radar to give even more love to in 2023.

Deli desires

September 28, 2020

I pulled into the parking lot of Stardust, looking for the car carrying my first-ever box of Deli Desire goodies. Ordering a box of food off of Instagram from a restaurant that wasn’t open yet was a first for me. That was the day I knew something special was about to come to my city that lacked options for the most important of meals - Breakfast. 

Since they opened their walk-in deli in Colonialtown, it has become the one spot in Orlando I go to more than any other. I bring my friends, I stop on my errands, I order it for delivery when I’m sick. It is my absolute favorite place in town. The coffee game is so strong thanks in part to them choosing to use Bandit but also in part because we basically have mixologists creating these seasonal lattes that go above and beyond anything a pumpkin-flavored syrup, homemade or otherwise, could do. When was the last time you had molasses in your latte? 

I’m slightly addicted to their Bacon sandwich served on their bialys, but I’ll often switch it up by getting their Latke (which always dazzles the friends I bring). However, what doesn’t get enough love is their deli salads. I crave the dilled potato salad, which begs the question, who craves potato salad? If it’s from Deli Desires, you will. You could BURY ME ALIVE in their potato salad. Another stunner is their deceivingly simple Harissa Carrot Salad. The addition of Dukkah in this salad brings the carrots to life with a bright, toasty, nutty flavor. You have to try it the next time you see it on the menu. 

Add up their challah bread, sweet baked goods, and collaborations with other culinary powerhouses, Deli Desires is giving us far more than your average deli counter.

LIGHT ON THE SUGAR / SUGAR DOUGH BAKEHOUSE

It seems odd to mention one bakery above all the others in Orlando because our city has incredibly talented bakers who deserve much love. However, Light on the Sugar and now Sugar Dough Bakehouse has the impressive ability to entice those of us with an insatiable sweet tooth with something new constantly. Picture this:

It's a Wednesday afternoon. You're sitting in the ridiculous traffic on 17-92. You decide, "I deserve a treat for putting up with the madness that is the backed-up left turning lane at Lee Rd."

You pull into the shopping center where Light on the Sugar opened its 2nd location. By the time you get home, open your box of treats, and scroll on your phone, you see they've announced that a brand new treat is dropping in just a few short days, and it's luring you back before you've gotten halfway through your Tiramisu Float. It's literally the bakery that keeps giving.

From rotating flavors of cream puffs, croissants, tarts, Panna cottas, mini cakes, croffles, and then a viral item made famous from an NYC bakery, it's never-ending, and I don't know how they do it! The consistency hasn't wavered, and anything that is filled with a cream will be appropriately full.

The staff is always kind and patient, and if you get the chance to be greeted and warmly hugged by the owners, it adds to the sweetness in the atmosphere, especially when you see just how humble they are underneath their success. From my first earl grey cream puff to a decadent pumpkin croissant roll, they've stolen my heart and stomach.

The Strand

The Strand has been my beloved, number #1 restaurant in Orlando for a long time. The only thing that has changed since our first encounter back in 2014 (I still have a bathroom selfie and olive oil cake pics from that night) is that now the secret is out. Thanks to a Bib Gourmand award, I now have to make reservations. Long gone are the days I could casually decide at 4 pm to have dinner there at 5 pm. And OH, how I long for lunches and brunch to come back. For now, though, I'm just happy that my favorite spot in town survived the past three years. I hope more and more people realize that Orlando doesn't need more "places to see and be seen" or overpriced, insta-hyped aesthetic spots, but we need two people like Alda and Joe who put the food first. 

The small menu is full of genuinely worth dining out for dishes. Unless you are a chef in your own right, I can't imagine muttering, "I could have made this at home," while eating at The Strand. But funny enough, most talented industry people I know who could make it at home also endlessly love the Strand. You can get as fancy as you like with dishes like confit duck leg or keep it casual with fish and chips or the ever-present Strand Burger. It doesn't matter what you order; satisfaction awaits. 

They were doing farm-to-table long before it became a buzz-worthy phrase, and their cozy modern diner has always felt like a safe place to be and to bring anyone from friends younger than me to my incredibly hard-to-please parents. In the almost ten years of being a customer, with countless buttermilk chicken salads and never enough slices of olive oil cake, The Strand has satisfied me without even a whiff of disappointment. Not once. That's almost unheard of over that long a period in this industry. It's a feat I don't think any other restaurant will ever live up to, and I can't wait for more meals in 2023. 

Jam hot chicken

Orlando's pop-up game is so strong that it's only a matter of time before these asphalt artisans bring their food to the masses in their own space. And we rejoice even when that space is a small kitchen with a walk-up window. Jam Hot Chicken started as a pop-up and has become one of the few places that get me to dine near Park Avenue, over in Hannibal Square.

Following doughnuts and tacos, Orlando saw a big fried chicken push. Some excellent additions to the food scene (Chi Kin and Chicken Fire) and some we could have done without. I don't understand why anyone would choose a chain known for its sauces rather than the actual chicken over a locally run gem, but that's life in Orlando.

For the record, I don't want the star of my meal to be a row of colorful sauces; I want succulent hot juicy chicken. The sauce is the last thing on my mind when ordering hot chicken. It's the flavor I want to linger in, not the texture of dry chicken or an overzealous burn I'm looking to extinguish in a dunk of ranch (no hate for ranch, it has its time and place at the hot chicken table). On the other hand, I also don't want to eat hot chicken and be so blinded by the heat levels that I can't taste anything. I need balance, and considering the spices used in its creation, I'd preferably like to taste them.

Jam Hot Chicken does a great job of introducing my taste buds to the flavors first; then it shows me the heat and then cools it down with a heaping crunch of coleslaw and a handful of pickles on the side. It's a whole journey, not a one-stop trip from painful bite to chugging water.

I've eaten at Prince's and Hattie B's in my travels, and hot chicken is usually one of those menu items I hunt down in different cities. So what used to be a foodie hole in Orlando is being filled with places like Jam Hot Chicken, and it has satisfied the foodie lust I had that I can now satiate right here in my backyard.

Jeff’s bagel run

Before Jeff's Bagel Run opened, I rarely ate bagels. Not because I don't love them; it's bread - DUH, I love bagels. But because Orlando didn't have any bagels, that delivered the way I'm used to from places up North. Don't tell me to go to Bagel King or Einsteins; it's not the same. And let's be honest, nothing bloats you quite like bread does, so it must be worthy of my pants becoming ill-fitting for a week or so for me to indulge myself. These are the stakes; if my pants won't fit it MUST be legit!

So I went on living a mainly bagel-less life until a friend told me, hey - I got these bagels, and they are delicious. So delicious that she generously dropped some off for me to try; she was so excited to share something new with her foodie friend. From the first bite of the salt bagel, my pupils dilated, and I was taken out of my body. I was rising to a layer of the atmosphere where people with a worthwhile bread bloat float. Ok, perhaps I'm exaggerating, but I ran to my husband and brought him the bagel, and he agreed. Then I started telling everyone I knew about these bagels that quickly became harder to get than a Taylor Swift Eras tour ticket.

Fast forward to an actual shop opening in Ocoee, and I waited in line. I waited in line for bagels. It was utterly worthwhile because, like Winnie the Pooh with his hand in a honey jar, my hand remained in my brown bagel bag, continually ripping pieces of bagel apart to feast upon, until I realized I had just eaten three whole bagels in one sitting.

Fast forward again to Jeff and Danielle opening a second location a few miles from my home. JEFFREY KNOWS NOT WHAT HE HAS WROUGHT.

I'm doing my best to practice self-control, but once you've had their asiago bagel with veggie cream cheese, it's hard to know what could be your eternal breakfast bliss every day and stop yourself. So if you want to know my favorites, they are currently Jalapeno Cheddar, Rosemary Salt, and Asiago. Go get some.

WA Sushi

As Orlando's dining scene has exploded, one particular geographical region's food is flourishing and has continued to have the most significant moment in our city - Asian cuisine. I fully believe in the next 5-10 years, Orlando will emerge as a city known for having such a healthy supply of top-notch Asian dining experiences that we will fit closely in-between cities like San Francisco, LA, and Houston.

It's so brimming with talent that when someone asks me for a sushi recommendation, I have an entire list ready to go because there isn't just one spot I'd recommend; there are about six at this point.

However, I gained a new favorite sushi restaurant before the pandemic and only ate inside a few months ago. Let that be a testament to how good their sushi is when it took a stronghold on me purely from getting it to-go.

WA Sushi not only had to endure the small business struggles of COVID-19, but they also had to find a brand new restaurant location during the chaos and unknown. For those who recently found out about WA Sushi, back in 2020, their fate was up in the air, and we could have lost this gem! People leave comments on their review sites like "weird location", but if you only knew what it took them to come back to us, you wouldn't get hung up on something as unimportant as having a divinely good restaurant in a strip center.

WA Sushi's experience is easy and comfortable. The food is worthy of any celebration you might want to pair with sushi, but the atmosphere is casual enough to be a mainstay in your dining-out rotation. Fresh seasonal fish is flown in from Japan, and the menu will introduce you to far more than the standard rolls you may be comfortable trying if you allow yourself to try something new. You can always expect sushi plates of vibrant colors, never dull, and a precise amount of rice with the perfect texture. On my last visit, I had the Tuna Tataki, and each precisely and delicately cut slice was so bright and appetizing it reinforced my appreciation for dishes that are made to be eaten, not made for the camera. They stand alone on their quality, with a few ingredients that let the main star of the show shine.

I hope we keep WA Sushi for a long time, and I hope its location doesn't deter you from going if you haven't already.

Smokemade meats

You may not know that I have a bit of background in BBQ. Now I'm not saying I was a pitmaster, but for almost four years of my professional life, I was fully immersed in the world of BBQ for work, and I learned more than I ever wanted to know about smoked meats. It quickly taught me that Orlando had an "ok" barbeque scene, period. No one here was blowing me away until Smokemade Meats entered the scene.

Now truthfully, I haven't gotten to eat it as often as some of these other local spots, mainly because the owner Tyler, is still doing the pop-up game, and pop-ups are sometimes challenging to get to. But, in the visits I've had, whether it was eating at a pop-up or picking up a family meal to take home, in my personal opinion, Smokemade Meats is the best BBQ our city has. Of course, the scene is getting better, and we have some great people that aren't chains that aren't as well-known (BBQBoyz, Tony's Backyard BBQ, SSBBQ), but for what it's worth Smokemade wins the title in my book.

When I travel now, thoughts of his brisket, sausage, and jalapeno grits dance in my mind and always lead me to the same conclusion. We are so blessed he is here. Of course, brisket is always top of mind when talking BBQ, but he is the first person that has gotten me to crave smoked sausage and love sliced turkey.

I cannot wait for Tyler to find a brick-and-mortar location, and I hope nothing but the best for Smokemade Meats in 2023.

Totally coffee

As a full-blown coffee lover, I appreciate a simple latte with nothing added but milk. When I'm not out visiting a new coffee shop, I sip a latte I've made at home with my Gaggia Classic espresso maker and Sette grinder. Coffee is serious business at home. And even though while I sip my "cafe lemonhearted" creations (a friend named it that from my pandemic coffee videos), and I watch James Hoffmann videos or check and see what Dan of SoftPourn is doing over on Tiktok, don't label me a coffee snob. I also love fun, and unique coffee drinks, especially seasonal drink menus offered each couple of months at my favorite coffee shops. I don't mean overly sweet and weak coffee created to make the Instagram algorithm happy. I'm talking about coffee with an exciting element that never sacrifices the main ingredient- the espresso. Amanda of Totally Coffee has defied the norms that you can have unique toppings and flavors without ever having to forgo tasting delicious coffee. She strikes the perfect balance, and it comes to us in the ideal package of Amanda's infectious positivity and her 90s-themed coffee cart.

In the time I've known her, I've been able to experience the following:

• Strawberry Shortcake Latte

• Flower Power Latte

• Biscoff Latte

• Count Chocula

• Rosemary Brown Sugar Latte

• Pumpkin Spice Cinnamon Roll Latte

• Peanut Butter Maple

And I've missed several other limited flavors she had that I was dying to try! 

Amanda knows how to keep the people coming back for more. The work she puts into being a be a one-woman show, with a line of people waiting as she grinds one latte at a time in humid and unpredictable Florida weather, is no easy feat. She's proved you can love coffee and have fun without being a pretentious jerk who judges you for wanting something extra. She's my 90s-loving coffee hero.

NOMAD BAKEHOUSE

What can I say about Orlando's current bread queen that hasn't already been gushed about in her honor? Grace brought us real bread in the most thoughtful and intentional way that only she could. I had the pleasure of interviewing Grace a while back, and I was so in awe of her commitment to her craft and work ethic. What she produces is not for the faint of heart, and somehow, in a space the size of a small dry storage walk-in, Grace is delivering not just bread but truly outstanding baked goods for us to indulge in and share with others weekly.

I talked about bread bloat earlier. With Grace's bread, she ensures her process and product keeps all the good things in our bread that otherwise get stripped out. So if you purchase and eat an entire loaf over a few days, you don't feel the effects you would if you bought that loaf from the grocery store. Also, it should be noted her bread freezes and holds up exceptionally well. I've had family members who don't even live here request her bread when they visit. What she accomplishes is remarkable, and she provides to those of us in Orlando looking for something special.

Beyond her bread, her baked goods have created a frenzy, causing loyal locals to show up every Saturday to her cottage bakery to pick up their weekly orders or make a beeline to any markets she attends. Not only is she a person with a great heart who fills our bellies with satisfying goods, but she is committed to supporting a localized food system and getting us to revisit something that she says at its core is good for us if it's made correctly.

Everything she makes has been a stunner to my palate, but please do yourself a favor; when you see Grace has pastelitos on her menu, thanks to her neighbor with a guava tree, snatch them up, it will save you a drive to Miami.

Tabla/Bombay Street Kitchen

It might be breaking the rules to make two different restaurants share the final spot on my list, but I have good reason.

1) I love Indian food and it’s impossible to select just one spot.

2) One is a place I frequent because of it’s proximity to home, and one is a place I’m fully obsessed with and want more of in 2023.

Tabla has multiple locations around Orlando, and the Park Avenue location has become a to-go staple in my home. Of course you can get well-known dishes like Butter Chicken and piece after piece of the exquisite Garlic Naan, but there is so much more on the menu to try. Indian food is so flavorful and layered a part of the fun is getting out of your comfort zone and trying new dishes.

I’ve tried Lamb Biryani, Palak Chaat, Vegetable Korma, Vegetable Vindaloo, Junglee lal Mass, Kadai Chicken, and many more. Few cuisines really take you through spicy, sweet, smokey, and savory all in on sitting, but Tabla does that and does it well.

Bombay Street Kitchen brought my obsession and longing for Chai Pani to Orlando when it opened. Another foodielust dream fulfilled at home!

The stand-out dish of those I tried was the Kurkuri Bhindi Bhel. So full of different textures and flavors, it’s such an enjoyable plate. You get salty, crunchy, sweet, and bright spots full of Crispy okra, onion, tomato, sev, and then lightened with pomegranate seeds.

The menu has so much to offer and I’m so eager to get back there and work my way through more of the menu. Clearly my love of Bombay Street Kitchen was shared by the powers behind yet another Michelin Bib Gourmand accolade for Orlando. So if you don’t trust taste my taste buds yet, take their word for it. It’s an awesome addition to our scene.

Of course outside of these ten places I highlighted I have so many more favorites than I ever imagined I would have living in Orlando. It hurts to lose a place we love, I’m still devastated over the loss of P is for Pie. So going into 2023, it will most likely be another tough year for the restaurant industry, so support your favorites so we can keep them around.