***** (5 stars)
Best live performance venue in Orlando mainly because of decent acoustics in the theaters and reasonable sound levels. The seating isn’t the most comfortable, but when you go to a concert you want to hear it clearly, and this is about the only venue in town that guarantees that.
The Plaza Live
425 N Bumby Ave
Orlando, FL 32803
(407) 228-1220
http://www.yelp.com/biz/the-plaza-live-orlando
**** (4 stars)
Stylish on both exterior and interior, Tartini serves up authentic Naples style pizza. The thin crust is the perfect combination of crisp and chewy, and can be slightly charred around the edge if you request. There’s an almost infinite combination of toppings available, including arugula, pesto sauce, and ricotta cheese for something different from the typical American pizza.
Even the bargain priced side salad is a generous serving, and there are some excellent pasta dishes.
A brief wine list offers an interesting three glass tasting option, and there are some intriguing beers.
Service is friendly and helpful.
Tartini Pizzeria & Spaghetteria
6327 S Orange Ave
Orlando, FL 32809
(407) 601-2400
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tartini-pizzeria-and-spaghetteria-orlando
**** (4 stars)
Don’t mistake RusTeak for a bar and grill, a steak house or a sandwich shop. In truth it’s all of these but also much more. There is a gourmet twist to everything they do, from appetizers to sandwiches to burgers to entrees. You’ll find ingredients combined in creative (and successful) ways, served in a casual but cozy atmosphere.
I had a pastrami sandwich, which featured extremely tender and lean meat, perfectly toasted bread, and house made close slaw and half sour pickle. My companion’s steak sandwich was also good, although it required deconstruction to be eaten.
There is a shockingly good wine list, extensive and well-conceived. It’s actually one of the best wine lists in town. I can’t imagine where they keep it all.
There’s also a great selection of interesting craft beers.
Service is friendly and efficient.
RusTeak Restaurant & Wine Bar
1568 Maguire Rd
Ocoee, FL 34761
(407) 614-3765
http://www.yelp.com/biz/rusteak-restaurant-and-wine-bar-ocoee
**** (4 stars)
This neighborhood Asian restaurant has a menu larger than their storefront! There are an incredible number of pages of Chinese, Japanese and other Asian foods.
We had mostly sushi, which was all good. The sashimi dishes are particularly creative. The Pad Thai was also very good. Hot and sour soup was a standout and the spring rolls were good, too.
They do a busy Chinese takeout business, but it’s also a pleasant place to eat in.
Service was pleasant and efficient. I can’t imagine how their kitchen can turn out so many different things.
No beer or wine.
Tao Asian
13848 Tilden Rd
Ste 118
Winter Garden, FL 34787
(407) 347-8999
http://www.yelp.com/biz/tao-asian-winter-garden
**** (4 stars)
This is a classic sushi restaurant with pleasing decor and a nice selection of sushi and cooked items. It’s a particularly good choice for lunch, with an assortment of bento boxes, or the option of selecting any two rolls plus soup or salad. I like the sushi and sashimi lunch, which offers a generous assortment of sushi, nigiri and a California roll plus soup or salad for a reasonable price.
Mikado Sushi
6417 Raleigh St
Orlando, FL 32835
(407) 822-1080
http://www.yelp.com/biz/mikado-sushi-orlando
maguro truffle
***** (5 stars)
I’ve previously reviewed Kabooki Sushi here, but we continue to return regularly, and the food has advanced from fantastic to mind-blowing, so it deserves another mention (my first repeat review, after more than 400).
As I said previously, we’ve had sushi at some of the top restaurants all over the world, and I’ve never had a meal as good as the ones I consistently get from Chef Henry Moso at Kabooki Sushi.
We always have the omakase, where you put yourself in the chef’s hands. But we ask him to add extra courses, and to pair it with wines. We usually have about seven courses, and it costs around $125, about double what the original omakase ran. To put this in perspective, I’ve paid more than that for a single course at some high end sushi restaurants, and not gotten as good food!
Similarly, the wine pairing at $30 is cheaper than a single glass of wine at those restaurants (Nobu, I’m looking at you).
The really amazing thing is that in a dozen visits, Chef Henry has never repeated himself, except for one dish, the Maguro Truffle, that we always request. So that’s something like 100 unique dishes!
Not only is each a work of art, but the combination of flavors is so perfect (salty, sweet, umami, citrus, fatty, acidic, rich, light — often all combined in one bite) that it defies description.
And sushi isn’t an easy food to pair with wine. Yet the matches are always perfect, and usually include minor grigio, sauvignon blanc, chardonnay, pinot noir, cabernet and sparkling wine.
On our latest visit I showed Chef Henry a picture of a dish we had earlier in the week at Morimoto in New York. Two hours later, at the conclusion of our meal, Chef Henry, inspired by the idea, presented us with this:
otoro tartare with assorted condiments and seaweed chips
If a chef can come up with that on the spur of the moment, imagine what other treasures are in store for us in the future!
Here are some other things we had in that same meal at Kabooki:
giant clam, seaweed and pickled cucumber
compressed watermelon, tuna, ouzu sorbet
hamachi with house-made kimchi
locally caught grilled cobia
three types of fish rolled in rice paper, with apple sails, cucumber sorbet
grilled hamachi collar
If you can only dine at one restaurant in Orlando, it should be Kabooki Sushi.
Kabooki Sushi
3122 E Colonial Dr
Orlando, FL 32803
(407) 228-3839
http://www.yelp.com/biz/kabooki-sushi-orlando
***** (5 stars)
Even without the caviar this would be a stellar restaurant, but for anyone who enjoys caviar it is an absolute must visit.
The dining room is elegant and intimate, and service is friendly and professional.
Food preparation is meticulous, complex, inventive and surprising. We had the caviar tasting menu, which began with a spoonful of each of six wonderful caviars, mostly osetras. The differences were in some cases surprising, yet subtle enough that it was great to be able to familiarize ourselves with the flavors unaccompanied (except for wonderful blinis–really more like crepes) and creme fraiche.
Then we were served six courses incorporating the same caviars. Our favorite courses were all the cold ones, including the oyster, tuna, and ice cream.
The caviar tasting menu is an amazing deal, as the caviar alone would cost more than the entire meal.
Wine pricing is also extremely reasonable. We had a half bottle of Krug Champagne and a superb bottle of Puligny-Montrachet. I doubt you could find these wines at a better price at any restaurant in the city.
Needless to say, Caviar Russe is on our must-visit list for our next trip!
Caviar Russe
538 Madison Ave
2nd Fl
New York, NY 10022
(212) 980-5908
http://www.yelp.com/biz/caviar-russe-new-york
***** (5 stars)
Morimoto offers an upscale sushi experience at a surprisingly reasonable price. The dining room is elegantly trendy, and although large, sounds treatments keep it from being deafening.
Sushi and sashimi are top notch. We had the omikase, which is different than other restaurants I’ve been to, because the emphasis is not on sushi or sashimi (although there is a course of each) but rather cooked foods. We particularly enjoyed the smoke from the burning herbs that accompanied the scallop, and the lovely wagu beef.
Service was efficient, and the wine prices, while not inexpensive, offer a number of nice selections that aren’t exhorbitant.
Morimoto
88 10th Ave
New York, NY 10011
(212) 989-8883
http://www.yelp.com/biz/morimoto-new-york
**** (4 stars)
This prototype for the Bull & Bear Steakhouses at other Waldorf Astoria hotels has history on its side. The dark woods and faux candlelight harken back to an earlier era, as do the large steaks and generously caloric side dishes.
Cut from the same cloth as the dozens of moderns steakhouses, the Bull & Bear manages to be unique simply through authenticity. Its unusually shaped bar is a particularly good spot to gather for a drink or to watch the stock ticker, as so many generations before have done.
Bull & Bear Steakhouse
540 Lexington Ave
New York, NY 10022
(212) 872-4606
http://www.yelp.com/biz/bull-and-bear-steakhouse-new-york-2
**** (4 stars)
This small restaurant offers amazingly good sushi, plus a variety of other pan-Asian dishes. We loved everything we tried, including several creative rolls. The Thai Basil Beef was the best I’ve encountered, as was the hot and sour soup. Particularly creative was the salmon skin salad, which was (different from its menu description) tossed with greens and a touch of spice, making it more Vietnamese or Thai than Japanese. The dinner ambiance was fairly intimate, although I understand it is bustling at lunchtime, and with good reason.
Wild Ginger
212 Bedford Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11211
(718) 218-8828
http://www.yelp.com/biz/wild-ginger-brooklyn