Category Archives: Tapas/Small Plates

The Monroe

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This place definitely has a hip atmosphere. It looks like it could get boisterous, but we were there for a late lunch and it was great.

The concise menu has lots of interesting selections, and we enjoyed everything we tried. We started with the hummus, which was served with fresh-baked pitas. The hummus was topped with an assortment of herbs and seasonings, which made it fun to experiment with different combinations.

I had the three-piece fried chicken, and it was terrific. The crunchy, complex batter kept the tender, moist chicken steaming hot throughout our meal. The accompanying macaroni salad and cucumber chunk salad were both excellent.

My companion had the steak frites, a classic preparation with perfectly seared steak and a huge pile of nicely crisped truffle fries.

There are some interesting wines by the glass. I finished with the very intriguing root beer latte.

Service was cheerful and attentive.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-monroe-orlando

Sixty Vines

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This is a great addition to the Sandlake Road dining scene. It’s a beautiful restaurant, with a light, airy feel to the center portion, and more intimate summer house rooms at either end. Seating in the center is at long communal tables, but there are also individual tables and even lounge seating. The long bar in front of the wine taps also looks like a great bet.

As you would expect from the name, there are sixty wines on tap. We really loved the selections, as many come from our favorite smaller producers and areas, such as California’s Central Coast. Pricing seems very reasonable, perhaps because the wines are distributed in larger, more eco-friendly form. And since you can get pours as small as 2-1/2 ounces you can try a variety of wines without breaking the bank. The cocktail list looks very interesting, too.

The lunch menu also seems fairly priced. We loved the two dishes we tried: fried chicken topped with lemon cream and caviar, and crispy zucchini topped with blistered shishito and peppadew.

Service was friendly, but still learning the ropes.

I’m pretty sure I would hate the noise level in here at night, at least in the main room, but for a mid-afternoon lunch the ambiance was delightful.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/sixty-vines-orlando-2

De La Vega

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This is an interesting tapas concept because instead of Spanish food, the emphasis is on Latin food. We started with a delicious red sangria, and then proceeded to try a number of the different tapas appetizers, never making our way to the entrée section of the menu.

The Asparinas were a great way to start, and were offered free for checking in on Yelp! We tried the empanadas, and had half chicken/half cheese; both were good.

The Chicken Molé Rice Balls were also very good, with a complex Molé sauce that wasn’t too sweet. 

The Ajito de Pescado was my favorite, with flavors of freshly cooked fish and veggies.

Excellent and friendly service. During temperate weather, it would be great to sit out on the sidewalk.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/de-la-vega-deland-de-land

Delaney’s Tavern

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Somehow I’d never made it to Delaney’s Tavern. I really liked the place and wish we’d tried it sooner. It’s now incorporated into a hotel across from the hospital. Parking is available in the structure behind it; just be sure to get a paper slip from your server so you can get out of the garage.

The menu offers the kind of eclectic dishes I’d put on the menu if I owned a restaurant. We started with both the crab beignets and the arancini. Both were good; I’d definitely have the crab again. It’s pretty large, so one app would have been enough for the two of us.

Arancini
Blue Crab Beignets

My French dip was very good. I liked that the dipping sauce wasn’t overly salted as it sometimes is. The accompanying potato wedges had a nice parmesan crust.

Service was friendly and well-paced.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/delaneys-tavern-orlando

Jaleo

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Baby squid
Interior
Peppers
Rib eye
Bread that comes with the pork
Pork
Shrimp
Shrimp
Conch fritters
Ham
Olives
Ham
View
Interior

**** (4 stars)

This is a nice repurposing of the old Wolfgang Puck space. They’ve opened it up, and it still has great lake views and some nice outdoor seating for smaller parties.

The food isn’t exactly my idea of tapas, since the plates are sized for sharing among three or four people. To me, a tapas meal involves a dozen little saucers filled with different interesting bites.

I found a lot of the food to be very heavily salted. This was particularly true of the squid ink and some of the other sauces.

Highlights included the olives, and the Iberico ham carved tableside. By far the best dish was the pork shoulder, which was amazingly tender and flavorful, and turned out more like wagyu beef than pork.

Service was good, but don’t go in a hurry, because the kitchen seems to get backed up when the restaurant is busy.

The wine list is, of course, all about Spanish wines, which are not necessarily my favorites, but your mileage may vary.

Jaleo
1482 E Buena Vista Dr
Orlando, FL
32836
(321) 348-3211
https://www.yelp.com/biz/jaleo-orlando-2

The Tasting Room

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Interior

***** (5 stars)

The Tasting Room is the best small plates restaurant in Central Florida. It’s run by Laurie and Kevin Tarter, who are famous for The Chef’s Table at the Edgewater, one of Central Florida’s top fine dining restaurants, and perpetual winner of most romantic restaurant. In fact, The Tasting Room is right in front of The Chef’s Table, and they share a kitchen which explains the extraordinarily high quality of the food.

Highlights include the duck fat fries, smoked fish dip, and interesting salads.

In addition, there is a terrific bar, with a vast collection of interesting spirits and original cocktails, plus a well-curated wine and beer list.

Live music adds to the great ambiance several nights a week. Plus it’s located in historic Winter Garden, a truly charming town that is a great exemplar of how amazing Central Florida can be just a short drive from the theme parks.

The Tasting Room
99 W Plant StSte 5
Winter Garden, FL
34787
(407) 230-4837
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-tasting-room-winter-garden-3

Susuru

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Susuru chashu gohan

Chicken breast yakitori, brussel sprouts yasai, short rib kushiyaki

Okonomiyaki

Exterior

Interior

Interior

***** (5 stars)

What a great place! This is an authentic Japanese Izakaya, just like you’d find in Tokyo. There’s no other place in Central Florida like this.

Choose yakitori skewers from a full menu, or have a delicious okonomiyaki. The mini rice bowls are also delicious.

There’s a fairly extensive sake and sochu list as well.

Service is friendly and prices are very reasonable.

Susuru
8548 Palm Pkwy
Orlando, FL
32836
(407) 778-4813
https://www.yelp.com/biz/susuru-orlando-2

Imperium Food & Wine

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***** (5 stars)

This is my favorite place to eat in Celebration. They have an eclectic selection of wines by the glass, and a nice sampling of small plates and sandwiches. The outside dining on the sidewalk is one of the nicest outdoor spots in Central Florida.

On a recent visit we enjoyed a bruschetta special the most

Imperium Food & Wine
606 Market St
Celebration, FL 34747
(407) 566-9054
https://www.yelp.com/biz/imperium-food-and-wine-celebration

Blu 57 Seafood & Small Plates

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Interior

Scallops

Truffle tuna tar tar

Crab cake

Mussels

Brussels sprouts

Squid ink pasta

Shrimp bombs

Red curry elotes

Tiramisu

Mango mousse

**** (4 stars)

This is a charming small restaurant in a quiet section of Andersonville. It focuses on seafood, with a touch of Thai.

Appetizers are a good way to explore the menu here, and we tried most of them.

By far the best thing we had was the Truffle tuna tar tar. The scent of truffle was certainly there, but the thing that made it outstanding was the complex combination of spicy and citrus flavors and interesting tender and crunchy textures.

Seared scallops in curry were also good, and the crab cake was one of the best I’ve had, with a spicy kick and crusty outside.

Mussels were a disappointment. They seemed fishy, and we didn’t finish them.

Shrimp bombs were probably the most typically Thai dish, with a bite of minced shrimp mixture in a deep fried wanton purse. They were okay, but probably not worth the price for what was essentially three bites.

Squid ink pasta was a very substantial plate of dense, black pasta with rings of calamari. You will look like a goth after eating this dish!

Brussels sprouts was an okay side dish, nothing remarkable about them, and not much of the promised maple syrup flavoring.

Red curry elotes was definitely a Thai-spice-level take on this traditional street corn.

For dessert we finished with the mango mousse and tiramisu. The tiramisu was the better of the two, but wasn’t like what you’re picturing. Instead it is a dome with a chocolate crust encasing Thai iced tea flavored mousse.

Service was good, particularly considering that our server and her trainee were handling the entire restaurant.

Note that it is BYOB, and the liquor store across the street has incredibly poor taste in wine. Best to bring your own.

Blu 57 Seafood & Small Plates
5701 N Clark St
Chicago, IL 60660
(773) 944-0575
https://www.yelp.com/biz/blu-57-seafood-and-small-plates-chicago