What’s Hot This Fall In the Central Florida Food Scene

The local restaurant scene has a tendency to shift and ebb like sand in the desert, with what was once hot becoming, well, not, in the blink of an eye. Orlando’s fickle foodie preferences can mean lineups out the door to get a cookie one week and throngs of hungry diners trying to fit a $15 hot dog in their craws the next. And I’m happy to be your humble gay-nadian sherpa, guiding you from one plate to the next. If you’re wondering what’s hot right now, then this is the list for you. 

The new Bösendorfer Lounge at The Grand Bohemian Hotel recently said goodbye to their vampire’s boudoir and hello to bright lighting and modern finishes! Photo by Brendan O’Connor

The Grand Bohemian

The Grand Bohemian Hotel recently went through some major upgrades of its downtown campus, including a facelift of its onsite restaurant and lounge area. The Bösendorfer  Lounge still has one of the strongest cocktail programs in the Central Business District, but the environs have been changed so that you don’t feel like you’re in a vampire boudoir anymore. So long red mosaic tile and hello bright lighting and modern chandeliers. The hotel’s restaurant, The Boheme, has seen a complete reimagining as well, and features an all-new interior and menu, as well as some fun programming like its new Sunday Jazz Brunch with bottomless mimosas. And it’s a hotel so get a room if you go too hard. I was recently invited to a media event there and got treated to some amazing new dishes, including some of the best tomahawk steak I’ve ever had in my mouth. Ask them about their private dining areas if you hate chewing in public or have a mafia-inspired illicit get-together planned. 

Persimmon Hollow Brewing Co. and Cholo Dogs make a great pairing for a day or night in South Eola. Photo by Orlando Hifive

Cholo Dogs At Persimmon

The popular Mexican hot dog cart has grown by leaps and bounds in the past few years with a stall at Amway Center and Exploria Stadium and their ongoing Orlando Parking Lot Party series featuring some of the best food trucks in Central Florida, but they also just took over the kitchen at Persimmon Hollow Brewing Co. on the eastern edge of Lake Eola Park in South Eola. They’ve rolled out a new menu of food cart classics like their El Borracho — a hot dog with Mexican street corn, cotija cheese, cilantro, and a generous sprinkle of tajin, but they’ve also added some surprise dishes like a Mexican Cobb salad and some smash burgers you shouldn’t sleep on either. The burgers are made with a 20/80 mix of chorizo and beef so they’re nice and decadent and go well with a crisp IPA like the Beach Hippie or the Daytona Dirty Blonde. 

Forward/Slash

Winter Park has a new blending room/distillery that’s going to bring all the boys to the yard, y’all. First, I should address the name though. According to the owners, it’s a nod to the actual symbol, which is used to bring two or more things together, much like their style of using mashes and liquors from other distilleries and blending them together onsite to make something new. They’ve already released a bangarang selection of rum and whiskey and are dropping a bourbon this fall as well. They regularly feature a curated list of food trucks and pop-ups too, if you’re worried about driving home on an empty stomach after enjoying one of their whiskey workshops. 

Permanent Vacation offers guests a truly immersive experience. Photo by Orlando Magazine Staff.

Permanent Vacation

The Copper Rocket in Maitland has made a name for itself as one of the coolest local hangouts north of Winter Park. They have a killer series of trivia and karaoke nights to keep you entertained and their kitchen isn’t anything to sneeze at either. So, when they took over an adjacent storefront for a secret project, I couldn’t wait to see what they were cooking up. Enter Permanent Vacation, a kooky-ooky island-inspired rum bar/speakeasy that showcases some familiar, and talented, faces in the Central Florida mixologist scene. It’s not quite a tiki bar, even though they do have tikis, but it kind of exists in its own world. If you order special cocktails, the bartenders will pull some secret switches and you’ll trigger special effects and soundtracks tucked away around the bar like a thunderstorm or an angry island god demanding a sacrifice. It’s reservation only and definitely worth a date night with a loved one. I did a recent radio show there for “Bungalower and The Bus” on Real Radio and got to try almost everything on the menu, but the kabobs were definitely the winner and they came with a big scoop of delectable coconut rice about the size of the shrunken heads on the window sills. 

Primrose Lanes

Colonial Bowling Lanes was slated for demolition when it was saved by some local developers back in 2017. Those original investors ended up selling to the folks from Team Market Group (who own Mather’s Social Gathering and The Robinson Room in downtown Orlando) who have completely transformed the sprawling complex into a fun new bowling-themed restaurant and club. I’ll repeat that again, in case you go in expecting it to be just like the Colonial Lanes it used to be, because it’s not — it’s a restaurant with some bowling lanes, not a bowling alley with a restaurant. Which is why the menu has been making waves on Orlando’s social media since it opened earlier this summer – more specifically, they have a $15 hot dog. But this isn’t your granddad’s baseball stadium hot dog wrapped in a white bread bun, this is a chef-driven creation that deserves a spot on your Orlando food bucket list. Chef Jason Campbell, who was won away from Luke’s Kitchen and Bar in Maitland, is running the show here with TMG’s corporate chef, Nick Grecco, and they’ve midwifed a fun new menu of elevated bowling diner fare that includes a USDA Prime Creekstone beef smashburger and the aforementioned foot-long hot dog made with top notch prime rib. By hand. There’s a coffee shop on hand too if you just want to perch and have a latte. 

Zymarium Meadery

So, I never knew we needed a meadery in town until I went to Zymarium. It’s the brain child of professional creatives and uber stylish Ginger Leigh and Joe Leigh, and you can find it in the completely renovated former home of the Orange Studio in the heart of the Mills 50 District. It’s the fancy all-black building, and when you go inside, it’s like a gothic bee-themed jewelry box with gold/brass accents and matte black textures. It made me want to wear skinny jeans and snap my fingers and talk about poems with angel-headed hipsters. They have a variety of different types and flavors to choose from, and their meads range from 8-20% ABV, and can be dry and crisp or sweet and viscous. I helped do a preview party for our Bungalower Buddy members in July, and I was just so impressed by the knowledgeable serving staff and the vibe. The Leighs put a lot of work into Zymarium and it really shows. 

WHAT’S COMING

So, even with that fun list of places you need to go to right now, there are even more that are on the horizon that you should be keeping an eye on. 

The Debonair Supper Club is a new whimsical restaurant and lounge concept coming to the former Chela Tequila and Tacos space in the Plaza building at Church Street and Orange Avenue – and it’s going to be where all the cool kids hang out (or the ones that want you to think they’re cool on Instagram). The patio has been redone and sports a large floor-to-ceiling decorative fence to keep the cool people in and the less-than-cool “undesirables” far away. It also features two larger-than-life wooden-ish figures on either side, like sentries or bookends, that will ask you how many followers you have before they let you in, or turn you into a fiddleleaf fig plant. The floors sport Versace designs and the wallpaper is Gucci, and there’s going to be a big old giraffe holding a chandelier in its mouth. Because “opulence.”

Late-night downtown hot spot, Papi Smash Burger, is looking to add brunch to its lineup this fall to diversify its customer base and keep that kitchen hustlin’ and Swine and Sons in Winter Park is adding brunch service soon too. Keep your eyes peeled for that announcement, because I may be there hosting a brunch drag bingo as part of the launch. 

Photo sourced from Instagram: @papismshburger

Zaru, a new chef’s table noodle house led by prolific restaurateurs Jimmy and Johnny Tung is opening in September in Mills 50 at 1114 E. Colonial Drive and will feature hand-made udon noodles using a special imported Japanese flour that sounds like a really big deal.

Photo sourced from Instagram: @zarufl