Girls’ Sunday ventures

I subscribed to Natural Life’s Daily Chirp and really enjoy their graphic art. This one seemed fitting for today’s post.

Eric’s been working a few days at a local ’boutique’ grocery store which required a few changes in our normal Sunday plans. He’s only working 1-2 days weekly and invariably Sunday is one of those days. Therefore…………the girls were on their own!

What do do? Where to go? What kind of plans should we make? Most important – where should we eat! Occasionally, there was another factor for our eating destination. Depending upon his shift, he could meet us afterwards – mid-afternoon – so that somewhat dictated locale and direction. We did good with our selections. Let’s check out where we went.

First Sunday we texted a popular Winter Garden restaurant located in their historic downtown to see if we could get a table for 2 before noon at The Chef’s Table. Got it!

We haven’t taken Adrienne here yet and it has been a LONG time since I visited – both good reasons to stop here. We started with some liquid refreshment. Florida lager for me and a blood mary for her.

I tried to find some history about this place and it was tough. It has won numerous awards, both locally and more broadly and was considered a gourmet dining experience. The owner, Laurie Tarter was doing ‘farm to table’ cuisine way earlier than most. She originally opened with 9 tables and 30 seats. That has expanded into two concepts (prix fixe menu & small plates).

We started with two small plates for sharing: duck fat fries and smoked fish dip (of course) 🙂

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Next up was a salmon plate and ham benedict on a biscuit. Never had a benedict served like that, but it was mighty tasty.

A different Sunday we went to The Porch located in Winter Park.

Started with a red Sangria and these pretzel bites. LOVED the pretzel bites and come to think of it, REALLY liked the Sangria. Total win.

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So I had an awesome and authentic pressed Cuban sandwich in Miami earlier this summer. The one I ordered here was no slouch. I would come back here in a heartbeat – just for this sandwich. Okay, it doesn’t look like much in my photo but it was mighty tasty. Oops – a repeat phrase, but it’s the truth so the phrase stays in the post.

Checking out their website before coming, these things were top of mind and there was no doubt they would be ordered. Beignet Poppers: homemade apple cinnamon puffs topped with powdered sugar and served with Angry Orchard Cider-salted caramel sauce. Wow. A lot of words for a dessert. They were yummy. But let’s be honest………..they were fritters, not really beignets.

Wanted to throw in a few photos from another Sunday stop – The Glass Knife. A guy at work visited and could not stop talking about the place. Even arriving mid-morning we had a 30-minute wait.

Going inside I can see why – its small. We ended up in their outside covered patio which was bearable, even during July in Orlando. White sangria definitely helped get over the wait.

Small menu for their Sunday brunch but I ate every single crumb of this pretzel roll, roasted turkey club sandwich with aged cheddar cheese, applewood smoked bacon, vine-ripe tomatoes, argula, peppercorn aioli and a tangy honey mustard. Man! Everybody likes to include lots and lots of descriptors for their menu items. The photo may not look very exciting, but nothing was left on the plate.

I’ll close with another interesting food stop in Orlando – Se7en Bites. They specialize in nostalgic southern comfort foods with a modern twist.

Chef owner Trina Gregory-Propst has been featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives along with other tv shows. Her restaurant currently resides in the area in Orlando defined as the ‘MILK’ district for the last 5 years. Wasn’t sure what to really expect. There was a line outside by this door when we drove up.

Next stop inside was the counter to order your food.

Being this was ‘brunch’ Adrienne ordered a chicken salad sandwich which she said was fantastic.

I got another ‘benedict’ with the egg sitting on top of another biscuit with smoked bacon and a fried green tomato. More yumminess.

We both ordered sangria with our choices. I think being served in a plastic cup didn’t really do the drink any justice.

Something the restaurant is known for is their bakery within the building.

Had to vouch for their goods and brought home some sweets – the cherry pie was awesome. I would go back to this place just for the pie – just saying.

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Probably wondering what is the ‘MILK’ district. One cow and twenty acres of land was all it took for T.G. Lee and his wife to open a dairy farm east of Orlando in 1925. This dairy still exists and anchors the 10th Main Street America district in Orlando with their national headquarters.

That’s it for this post. The girls are still exploring dining options throughout Central Florida and sometimes we let Eric come along. 🙂

Ginny