Food is part of our traditions and cultures, and it affects our health, our economy and all of our communities. So, Florida Foodie is giving you some food for thought, taking a closer look at what we eat, how we eat it and the impacts on Florida and what it means for everyone, everywhere.
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Central Florida is home to a wide variety of ethnic markets, offering scents and flavors from all around the world.
While wandering the aisle of these shops, the variety of snacks could catch your eye and make you wonder, “What could that possibly taste like?”
That is the premise behind a new segment on the Florida Foodie podcast.
On the first Florida Foodie Taste Test, hosts Candace Campos and Lisa Bell are subjected to a unique chip flavor from overseas by producer Thomas Mates.
The grilled-squid-flavored potato chips are an import from Asia. Even though it comes from a familiar company, Lay’s, the flavor is anything but common in Central Florida.
Campos, Bell and Mates put the flavor to the test — evaluating the smell and the taste with some surprising results. Without giving too much away, the word “armpit” gets thrown around a bit.
The trio also talks about their most memorable meal, which includes the story of a harrowing experience from Bell’s childhood.
You can hear it all in the latest episode of Florida Foodie.
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Austin’s Coffee is a Winter Park institution with an uncertain future
Tuesday, February 4, 2025 • Duration 36:58
Jackie Moore hoped that her Winter Park business, Austin’s Coffee, would be something she could pass down to her children, but the cafe faces an uncertain future as the city looks to repurpose the land.
“This was meant to be an investment in their future,” Moore said. “I just wanted to make sure I left something behind for them because my kids have actually suffered the most in helping be there for a small business.”
Moore and her former husband purchased the business along Fairbanks Avenue nearly 20 years ago. She said the former owner had a good concept, but could never quite balance the cafe’s ledger.
Since taking over, Moore said Austin’s has become a hub for the community; however, she added that some people have made assumptions about her clientele.
“They think that we’re just, you know, a hippie-dippy coffee shop that has a bunch of people just hanging out and playing music and that’s it,” she said. “The majority of our clientele is the community that lives in and around Austin’s. We get all ages, we get all forms of life, different political backgrounds, different religious backgrounds."
Moore takes pride in the fact that some of the artists who spent time in Austin’s have gone on to bigger and better things.
“We’ve had a few people that have gone on to America’s Got Talent,” she said. “One of the comedians went on to be a writer for Mad TV. We’ve had somebody go on to be a writer for SNL."
Despite this, Austin’s currently faces an uncertain future. The city of Winter Park is looking to redevelop the area — a $4 million city project aimed at alleviating traffic congestion on Fairbanks Avenue. The plan involves expanding the road, potentially displacing several small businesses, including Austin’s Coffee.
Moore said that if her business were to be shuttered and torn down, there is irreplaceable art that would be completely lost.
"It sounds weird to hear that there’s art in the bathrooms, but there is. The majority of the bricks in the men’s bathroom were painted by an artist named Morgan Steele and he has passed away. You know, I can’t just move that."
According to Moore, unless something changes in the near future, she will be forced to close Austin’s once her lease is up later this year.
On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Moore talks more about building her business and the community she has helped foster there. She also talks more about her struggles to stay open her hopes for a resolution with Winter Park leaders.
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Brewlando went from unplanned venture to growing business
Season 1
Tuesday, January 21, 2025 • Duration 35:46
Shara Pathak never planned on owning a brewery, but her “soft heart” led her down this unexpected path.
“I owned a building and had a tenant in there that was a microbrewery (Castle Church) and supported them through the infancy of their brand, which was approximately three years,” Pathak said. “In December of 2019, [the brewery’s owners] decided that they were going to shelve it. So at that time, I actually was going to put the lock on the door and I was going to give it to a business broker and I the employees reached out to me and it was two weeks before Christmas.”
Pathak agreed to let the employees keep the brewery going so they could at least sell off the remaining inventory and collect a paycheck through the holidays.
She eventually decided to keep the brewery running. Originally, she was planning to rename it The City Beautiful Brewing, but eventually landed on the name Brewlando.
“One of the reasons that I helped that brewery as much as I did was because I really felt like they had exceptional quality beer. You could just taste the difference,“ Pathak said. ”So I just felt like it would be a matter of time, if I helped them along and push them across that eventually they’d be able to forge ahead.”
Part of the reason for that, according to Pathak, was because the previous owners had sunk a lot of money into high-end brewing equipment.
Despite this, she did not believe she would maintain ownership of the brewery in the long term.
“We were going to find another owner-operator and I was going to find another tenant. And in that search, we were introduced to a big conglomerate brand that actually originated from Trinidad, which is where I was born," Pathak said.
She ultimately decided that was not the right move; however, the CEO of that company decided to join her team and help her helm Brewlando.
“So [James Webb] came on board and built out a great team," Pathak said.
Within a year, Webb had made connections with the head of ICON Park and got to talking about opening a new concept at the attraction.
“It used to be a hookah bar and so we went in and we completely rented the entire space and decided that we were going to come out with a different concept,” Pathak said. “We thought, why not open a winery and a tasting room?”
The Winery & Tasting Room by Brewlando was the first major expansion for the business, but not the last.
Shortly after that opened, Pathak learned that Sanford Brewing Company was closing. She thought this could be an opportunity for a quick flip of the property.
“Two days later, I got a call and they said, ‘Well, actually, it’s not just the building, it’s the building’s equipment, it’s the whole business,‘” Pathak said.
She asked Webb to look into it further and see if this was an opportunity for expansion.
“James calls me back an hour and a half later and he says, ‘I think that there is good potential in doing this,‘" she said.
Her team is now in the process of reopening the two Sanford Brewing locations under the Brewlando name.
On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Pathak talks more about the future of Brewlando and what she hopes to accomplish with her expanding business.
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Disney chefs offer tips and tricks for the perfect holiday feast
Tuesday, November 26, 2024 • Duration 24:52
The holidays have arrived, which for many means a family feast is in order. To help everyone create the perfect spread, a pair of Disney chefs are offering their expertise.
Executive chef John Prieto and sous chef Anthony Scott work in Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World, where they help feed thousands of guests daily.
The pair offered tips on proper turkey preparations, from brining your bird to the ideal way to carve and present it.
They also talked about sides and their personal family traditions when it comes to the holidays.
The chefs are also part of the Disney team that will help feed the needy at Coalition for the Homeless and Harbor House of Central Florida. It is a tradition the park has been taking part in for more than 25 years.
You can hear all of their tips and tricks on the latest episode of Florida Foodie.
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Butterfly Lifestyle helps feed Pine Hills community as need continues to grow
Wednesday, October 30, 2024 • Duration 29:22
Shereece Mitchell-Sanchez has been working tirelessly since 2021 to help feed people living and working in the Pine Hills community.
Mitchell-Sanchez runs a weekly food pantry through her nonprofit, Butterfly Lifestyle. Since she started the weekly giveaway, Mitchell-Sanchez has seen the demand for her help grow.
“So on a weekly basis, we could do in our like, 300 and up families... we county by families,” she said. “In August, we almost hit 5000 individuals.”
Mitchell-Sanchez currently runs the pantry out of Rise Up Church, 4400 N. Powers Drive. She offers food to the community there every Friday.
“The line starts at 8 o’clock, even though we start at 11:30 (a.m.),” she said.
When Mitchell-Sanchez started handing out food, she was unable to partner with a larger food bank to provide meals. Despite that, she was undeterred and partnered with a church to provide a space for the pantry.
“The pastor said, ‘You know what, Second Harvest won’t work with us — they have too many partners or something like to that extent — but if you can find food, go for it,’” she said.
So, she went about finding the food. Mitchell-Sanchez ended up partnering with restaurants, coffee shops and convenience stores to source her food. It’s a laborious practice that she still does today. She drives around Central Florida filling her cargo van with donated food.
“I have a few Wawas that I pick up at,” she said. “I’ve had people in the line come and say, ‘Hey, you know, I come to this pantry because I heard you give out Wawas. ‘”
Mitchell-Sanchez has since been able to partner with Second Harvest, allowing her to provide more fresh fruits and vegetables for the people she serves.
“Thursday is the big day when we go to Second Harvest. I rent a truck,” she said. “I will get maybe, like, a 15-footer, and then use my van, you know, and then we distribute food that way.”
Mitchell-Sanchez has accomplished all of this with a completely volunteer workforce.
On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, she talks more about her efforts to feed the community and the other services she provides. She also shares times when her ambitions to help people in need exceeded even her own expectations.
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Cows ‘n Cabs celebrates Central Florida’s food scene while raising money for charity
Tuesday, October 15, 2024 • Duration 21:08
Cows ‘N Cabs has raised more than $2 million for Central Florida charities since it got its start in 2011.
The event was co-founded by David Larue, Executive Vice President at ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, and John Rivers, the owner of 4 Rivers restaurant group.
“My wife and I were talking about how to use, like my ABC platform, because we have so many great contacts and the liquor business, and we’ve raised so much money for other things — but how to create something on our own? So we figured out, actually saw something on the Food Network called Pigs ‘N Pinot. I’m like, ‘Well, that is really cool,’” Larue said.
Larue had drinks covered, but he did not have the restaurant contacts he would need for the event. That’s when he was able to pull on Rivers and his vast network in Central Florida’s dining scene.
The pair wanted this event to be different from a typical charity event, more casual.
“We decided, let’s, let’s try to figure out if you are the person walking into an event and you’re by yourself. Would you have a great time being there for four hours by yourself? And so we kind of started with that mentality,” Larue said.
They settled on a Western theme, which the regular attendees have embraced.
“We got a guy that comes with, like, an inflatable cow costume. A lot of people just with cowboy hats, which we’ve actually given away a bunch of cowboy hats the last couple of years through one of our supplier partners. They’ve given away like, 700 hats,” Larue said.
Amid the sea of cowboy hats, chefs from 38 restaurants will be offering up bites and snacks to the hungry attendees.
“I would say 25 of the restaurants are coming back because they just love it so much and then we’ve got a couple of new ones,” Larue said.
The participating restaurants include Kaya, Hawkers, The Monroe, Otto’s High Dive, Bar Kada and Black Rooster Taqueria, among others.
Of course, the food may draw people in, but the charities helped by the event are the star of the show.
“It’s so much fun just to be able to make that list (of charities) and, more importantly, deliver the checks,” Larue said.
The charities helped by the event include 4 Roots Farm, After-School All-Stars, Central Florida Diaper Bank and Harbor House.
Cows ‘n Cabs is set to take place in Winter Park on Nov. 9. Tickets are available now.
On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Larue talks more about the growth of Cow ‘n Cabs and its expansion with a new event, Burgers.Bubbles.Beer, which is taking place on Nov. 7. He also shares the family history behind ABC Fine Wine & Spirits.
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Earning a Michelin star opened new doors for Orlando chef Mike Collantes
Tuesday, October 1, 2024 • Duration 27:18
Mike Collantes started his culinary career inside Orlando’s Fashion Square Mall, but he now counts himself among the exclusive ranks of Michelin-starred chefs.
Collantes earned his Michelin Star in 2022 for his omakase restaurant Soseki in Winter Park.
“After the Michelin Star, we’re seeing international clientele and guests, as well as our local guests, but really put us on the map for what we’ve been doing here in Winter Park,” he said.
The same year he won his Michelin Star, Collantes closed his first restaurant Taglish, a fast-casual Filipino concept that had three locations at its height.
“As we got busier with the fine dining restaurants and other restaurants, our lease came up, and we decided to close that venture down, never to really open it again,” Collantes said.
However, with the success of his fine dining restaurant, Collantes has had the ability to open several other restaurants around the greater Orlando area, including Sushi Saint, which was awarded a Bib Gourmand by Michelin. The award highlights high-quality food at reasonable prices.
“Last year, November, we opened up our doors (to Sushi Saint),” he said. “There (was) no hand-rolled temaki bar in town. So it’s a different way to eat sushi, utilizing still the same quality that we do at our fine dining and just making it a little bit more casual.”
In addition to Soseki and Sushi Saint, Collantes is rapidly expanding his culinary empire. He recently opened a sake speakeasy, Bar Kada, next to Soseki. He is also planning to reopen Taglish inside the food hall that used to be The Hall on the Yard, which is now under new ownership.
“Taglish is Tagalog in English — so good representation of not just traditional Filipino food. It’s really the upbringing of everyone who’s migrated to America and I would say it was my connecting point back to my culture, which, you know, I grew up here in the States,” Collantes said.
Collantes also plans to open a French restaurant there as well, Chez Les Copain. The chef said it is something the area is lacking in.
“We saw a big decline in French restaurants (in Orlando) in the past couple years. A lot of them have just closed up shop,” he said.
In addition to all of his work in Orlando, Collantes is starting to work on some international ventures.
“I’ve been doing consulting for the past year, year and a half, with other brands, and it brought me to this new concept called Kaimana, which will be opening this fall in Dubai,” he said.
On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Collantes talks more about the opportunities he’s gotten since earning a Michelin Star. He also talks about the struggles that many restaurants are dealing with now as costs rise.
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Owner of The Hammered Lamb shares struggles of running a small business
Tuesday, September 17, 2024 • Duration 22:08
Amid the pandemic and Orlando’s ongoing growth and development, Jason Lambert has been striving to keep his businesses running while also being a force for good in the community.
“So 2020 and 2021 during the pandemic and trying to survive through the pandemic, I thought were the roughest years we’d ever have to face,” Lambert said. “And then we got into 2023 and we were finally stable, and kind of had gotten caught back up from that two years of craziness and then in October of 2023 is when all the construction started in Ivanhoe Village, and it has just been just detrimental to the whole neighborhood.”
Ivanhoe Village, the historic community where the Hammered Lamb sits, has seen substantial growth since the restaurant first opened in 2013. That growth has led to the need for improvements to the area’s sewer system.
Those improvements have caused issues with parking and navigating the area, keeping potential customers away.
“There’s been so much construction there, and it’s always moving around, that people are just over even trying to — just avoiding the area, because they don’t know how to get in to support local businesses,” Lambert said.
The problem has gotten so bad that Lambert recently held a fundraiser to help keep his first restaurant, The Hammered Lamb, open.
“In 2023 we were having a record year — busiest year we would ever had, setting monthly records — and then the construction started, and now we’re down anywhere from 30% to 50% a week from where we were last year,” he said.
The problems at The Hammered Lamb are starting to affect his other business, Jack & Honey’s in Thornton Park.
“We are now closed at Jack & Honey’s on Mondays and Tuesdays, and we’re closed at Hammered Lamb on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which were just our slower days,” he said. “We’re hoping that it’s temporary and it could just kind of help us, but those days we just — we weren’t making even enough money to pay the people that were there, so it was just costing us money to be open.”
On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Lambert shares more of his experiences in trying to keep his businesses running. He also talks about his activism and how he likes to use his businesses to support the community.
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Family traditions meet modern cuisine at Yao's
Tuesday, September 3, 2024 • Duration 21:48
Yao’s Modern Kitchen is all about family.
The restaurant is run by three siblings, George, Edward and Diane Yiu, along with their friends and past Florida Foodie guests Chris Chen and Phil Nguyen.
The siblings grew up in Central Florida and wanted to combine their traditional family recipes with the flavors of the Sunshine State.
“All of our family recipes — like our dumplings, our fried rice — and then also an integration of, like Central Florida’s big Spanish influence. So this, these dishes are in a marriage of both of them,” said George Yiu, who also serves as chef for the restaurant.
Yao’s had been operating as a pop-up for a few years, but it recently opened a brick-and-mortar shop in Oviedo, 15 Alafaya Woods Blvd.
“Like any business, there are its own obstacles; however, Oviedo has been so welcoming,” Edward Yiu said. “We’ve been received with open arms, and they can feel the authenticity that we bring.”
The siblings said they saw Oviedo as an opportunity for their business.
“Oviedo is a thriving community, one that we felt lacked a lot of staple, family-owned restaurants. There are a lot of corporate restaurants out there, but with that, you know, becomes kind of the monotony of it. So we’re bringing something more refreshing that’s awesome,” Edward Yiu said.
While George Yiu runs the kitchen, Edward Yiu serves as general manager and Diane Yiu is “everywhere, all at the same time,” according to the brothers. The trio have also pulled their significant others in to help with the restaurant. Even their mom helps out in the kitchen, making dumplings and folding wontons.
“This really is a family operation. You know, it’s a lot of work, but we love what we do,” George Yiu said.
The siblings grew up around restaurants, with their grandparents running businesses in New York and their mother opening kitchens after her move to Central Florida. Of course, they also have a lot of help from their college friends, Chen and Nguyen.
“We were just hanging out Christian, Phil and I... we were mentioning on a concept (my siblings and I) were thinking of,” Edward Yiu said. “Couple years flew by, and then it really got serious. They became more interested that we really wanted to hone in and chase our dreams.”
The siblings said Chen and Nguyen’s experience with Viet-Nomz has been invaluable to them.
“It was pivotal, for sure. I think without them, we couldn’t be this far in, I would say,” George Yiu said.
The restaurant is currently in its soft opening. The grand opening is set for Sept. 10.
On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, George and Edward Yiu share more of their family’s history in the restaurant industry. They also share some of their favorite dishes with Candace Campos.
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Smile Ice Cream Company is spreading joy with frozen treats in Orlando
Tuesday, August 6, 2024 • Duration 28:09
Glen Providence wears many hats as the leader of a nonprofit, the publisher of a small newspaper and the owner of his own ice cream company.
In his day job, Providence is the head of Hebni Nutrition — an organization that offers help to underserved communities, giving them access to and education about nutritious meals. In his entrepreneurial endeavors, Providence is spreading joy with Smile Ice Cream Company.
“It was a passion project,” he said. “I wanted to do something food related and ice cream popped into my head.”
Providence had made some ice cream as a kid and he wanted to recapture some of that nostalgia.
“There was a magic moment when you’re with your kids, you’re with your family, you’re out and you say, ‘You know what, let’s go get some ice cream,’” he said. “And in that moment, when you get there, it’s a feel-good moment.”
Providence “went to ice cream school’ to hone his craft, but the equipment he needed to produce ice cream on a commercial level was a little out of his price range.
“God is good. About a month later — when you graduate from the course you get enrolled into an ice cream Facebook group, and someone was selling one of these machines — again, brand new $15,000 — he was selling for $6,000,” he said.
Providence then took a road trip to South Carolina to pick up the machine.
“I left at two o’clock in the morning — didn’t tell a soul because people (would say) ‘You’re crazy,’” he said. “Drove up, picked up that machine, was back in Orlando at 6 p.m. that evening and that was the beginning of the ice cream journey.”
Providence then spent 2019 perfecting his flavors. Through the pandemic, he would provide catering orders with Smile, offering single-serving containers for events.
“I was doing great. I really was not looking for a location. I wasn’t actively looking but I knew when the right opportunity presented itself I would know,” he said. “I was doing all these ice cream catering and people always ask me, ‘Where can I buy this?’ I didn’t have an answer.”
Eventually, the opportunity presented itself. A friend working in real estate had an opening at a shopping center near the intersection of Fairbanks Avenue and Edgewater Drive in Orlando.
“I went back and it was like, ‘This is it. I can make you go at it,’” he said.
Smile Ice Cream Company opened its brick-and-mortar location on May 3.
“Everything is made right in-house. It’s not being trucked in from a factory, you know, and it’s great. I love the connection to the community,” he said.
On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Providence shares some of his favorite flavors with Candace Campos and Lisa Bell. He also talks more about his work with Hebni and his paper, The Midtown Press.
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