Today, I’m going to dive into the first category of the “America’s Favorite Cities” survey. As I mentioned yesterday, I’m hoping to help pull Orlando out of the bottom ranks in categories other than “family vacation” and “weather”. In that goal, there’s no better place to start than today’s category, “Food / Dining”.

Destination restaurants
Big-name restaurants can be found all over Orlando. One of my favorite high-density areas is “Restaurant Row” in Dr. Phillips, which features Roy’s, Seasons 52, Ruth’s Chris, Mortons, Timpano, Bonefish Grill, Christini’s and numerous others. You could also head over to Pointe Orlando on International Drive, downtown Winter Park, downtown Orlando, most of the theme park resorts and resort hotels to find a potentially award-winning restaurant. We’ve even got celebrity chefs like Emeril Lagasse (Tchoup Chop and Emeril’s), Todd English (Bluezoo) and Roy Yamaguchi (Roy’s) bringing their culinary mastery to town.

In addition to these high-end options, we’ve also got themed restaurants like Rainforest Cafe, Bubba Gump Shrimp Co., NBA City, Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood that are so much fun. Basically, there’s “must visit” restaurant for every cuisine and every personality on the planet.
My rating: 5 (out of 5)

Ethnic food / cheap eats
Orlando’s got a pretty good mix of ethnic cuisines. Some of the better options include Vietnemese, Thai, Indian, Italian and Mexican. My favorite Thai restaurant, Red Bamboo, is a surprisingly quiet little place on the corner of Kirkman and International Drive. For mexican, try Taquito’s Jalisco in Winter Garden or Metrowest. Some great ideas can always be found in the Orlando Sentinel’s yearly “Foodie Awards”.

When it comes to cheap eats in Orlando, finding uniquely good food can be tough. My favorite chain restaurant is Panera Bread and the tex-mex stops like Tijuana Flats are great, too. As for independently owned restaurants, Johnny’s Fillin’ Station has the best burgers in town and Lee & Rick’s can’t be beat for oyster lovers.
My rating: 3

Cafe’s / coffee bars
I’m not a coffee drinker, so I can’t comment too definitively on Orlando’s coffee bar scene. There are, however, a great number of Starbucks, Volcano’s and independent coffee spots around town that always seem to be busy. More interesting to me are all of the wine bars, with The Wine Room in Winter Park being my favorite for a relaxing glass of red.

I’m not sure if they’re true cafes, but Press 101, Toojay’s and Yellow Dog Eats provide that relaxing, informal environment that everyone enjoys. The ultimate cafe in Orlando is The Dessert Lady, near the intersection of Kirkman and Conroy. The Zuccotto cake with its chocolate and raspberry is to die for.
My rating: 3

Farmer’s and specialty food markets
As far as I know, there are only three consistent farmer’s markets in Orlando - Winter Park Farmer’s Market, Orlando Farmer’s Market at Lake Eola and the Farmer’s Market of Downtown Kissimmee. There may be others that operate more like everyday grocery stores, but not many.

The specialty food stores I’ve seen tend to focus on Latin American flavors, and places like World Market offer a tiny selection of items for Indian and Chinese cuisine. Orlando does have a handful of The Fresh Market and Whole Foods stores, but they’re hardly in every town. The most recent addition to this category is the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, of which there are four in the greater Orlando area.
My rating: 2

Overall, the food scene in Orlando is above average, but not unique enough to beat out cities like New York, Chicago and New Orleans. We could use a few more locally-based restaurants and a clearer identity of the food that defines our city. To be sure, we are leap years better than the Orlando I grew up in 20 years ago.

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