Next up: Chinese.
That freestanding restaurant on East Colonial Drive that has in recent years been Fazoli’s Italian, California Burrito Company, Casa Barcelona (briefly) and the Peruvian Gaviota Brasas & More (brieflier) will now be Peter’s Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant.
Gaviota Brasas closed approximately three months ago. I reviewed it in August shortly after it opened and, apparently, shortly before it closed. It was meant to be a more casual restaurant with grilled foods as its focus than the Gaviota Seafood & Fine Peruvian Cuisine in Thornton Park. That restaurant, in the Sanctuary Condominiums building, remains.
Workers were putting up the Peter’s Chinese signs Friday afternoon, but an opening date is not yet known. So far the restaurant does not have a website or even a Facebook page. There is, however, a Peter’s Kitchen Chinese restaurant in Miami. The manager at that restaurant was unavailable to take a call, but the young woman who answered the phone said the restaurant was not opening another location in Orlando.
It seems a bit too coincidental that there would be two Chinese restaurants called Peter’s Kitchen — a name that doesn’t exactly scream moo goo gai pan — in the same state. And if it is coincidence, the owners of the restaurant set to open on Colonial Drive may want to keep the signage company on speed dial so they can take the Peter’s Kitchen sign down after the owners get a Cease and Desist order from the Miami restaurant’s lawyers.