The Drake Kitchen + Bar, in downtown Orlando, gives one the impression that the space it occupies wasn’t meant to be a restaurant, at least not a full service one. Its bar area doubles as a foyer, as it were, and the dining spaces just beyond are trapezoidal, as if designed to fit an available space, which is odd seeing as how the building it is in, the Radius Apartments, is itself a new construction.
But the strange configuration actually adds to the allure of this charming addition to the downtown dining scene. In fact, even when the dining areas are full – easy to occur; it’s not a big place – there’s a feeling of intimacy.
Running the kitchen are husband and wife chef team and co-owners Heberto and Rona Segura, who have been operating a food truck parked mainly at Digress Wine Bar in College Park for a while. The food truck is the Duck and Drake Kitchen, which may have something to do with little hints of Guy Fawkes imagery in The Drake’s decor. (Duck and Drake was a pub in London’s Strand where Fawkes and his coconspirators hatched a plot to blow up Parliament in the 1600s.) It might also explain a cocktail on the menu called 36 Barrels, made with Gunpowder gin. But again, that was the Duck and Drake, not the Drake. Might be more appropriate for images of Sir Alfred, but like the wine bar I digress.
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