Jazz Plus

Posted on July 9, 2025 by steve

What a delight this place is! Orlando so needed a classy place to enjoy good music, food, and drinks. Everything about this place is just about perfect. It reminds me a lot of Herb Alpert’s Vibrato restaurant in LA.: same chill vibe, great acoustics, and reasonable live music volume levels. The Tuesday night we went there was a solo guitarist who was excellent.

The menu is tapas style, with lots of shareable items, and only a couple of larger plates. We really liked the three types of hummus–who would have imagined carrot and sriracha could be so good! The chicken empanadas were also good, ruth a really crispy crust. The charcuterie was fine, but a bit more like a supermarket assortment than a high end offering.

There’s a nice assortment of wines, and almost all are available by the glass or bottle. The cocktail list is also good, although I went off-menu and had an excellent dirty martini made with Aviation Gin.

Service by Dulce was friendly and attentive. This is definitely a place we’ll put on our regular dining list.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/jazz-plus-orlando

The Drake Kitchen & Bar

Posted on February 12, 2025 by steve

We enjoyed a tapas lunch at The Drake. The space is very stylish, there’s a nice variety of small plates and mains, and there are quite a few interesting wines by the glass.

Crab and Spinach Fondutta was essentially a spinach dip with a layer of nicely broiled cheese on top. It was listed as coming with house-made sourdough, but that turned out to be toasted rounds more like crouton consistency. I think I would have enjoyed untoasted sourdough more.

The meatballs came with the same toast. They were good, and the very savory sauce was probably the highlight of everything we had.

The Florida Coast Ceviche was a Peruvian-style ceviche consisting mainly of shrimp and snapper, quite citrusy.

Over all I would say there were no homeruns, but it was a pleasant and quick lunch.

Service was friendly and fast.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-drake-kitchen-and-bar-orlando-2

The Monroe

Posted on November 6, 2024 by steve

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

Posted on October 16, 2024 by steve

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

Tapavino

Posted on January 19, 2024 by steve

A very BOISTEROUS environment, although the upstairs is a bit less so.

A fair offering of standard tapas favorites. The hummus was a bit odd, very light textured and served with focaccia.

Excellent empanada! A nice offering of Sherries, sorted by sweetness.

https://www.yelp.com/biz/tapavino-sydney

De La Vega

Posted on December 31, 2023 by steve

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

Posted on October 13, 2023 by steve

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.

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

Posted on September 27, 2019 by steve

**** (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

Posted on April 10, 2019 by steve

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