Hold the mayo. Served in all its myriad forms to the Ladies Who Lunch, chicken salad is rarely seen without its creamy cohort, mayonnaise. This lighter version of chicken salad brims with the bold, bright flavors of Latin cuisine.

Perfectly poached, good-girl, chicken breast tenders are marinated in a vibrant vinaigrette of lime, garlic, minced fresh cilantro and a touch of agave nectar, then garnished with buttery sliced avocado and colorful kumquats. To go with, thick-cut heirloom tomatoes are always a hit.
For a swankier soiree, this versatile vinaigrette also shines with plump, chilled shrimp or lobster. Serve in martini glasses with an olive and crunchy tortilla strips.

The 23d annual Chef's Gala is May 16, 2015, at Epcot's World Showplace. Benefitting Heart of Florida United Way, Chef's Gala is one of the best food and wine events all year, one that I always look forward to.

This really is a grand event, and it's special from the get go. Guests are bused from a special area in the Epcot parking lot through the backstage area behind the country pavilions right up to the entrance of the World Showplace. Inside, the setup is similar to the popular Party for the Senses events during the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, except in this case there are chefs from throughout Central Florida who have donated their time, talent and resources. Last year nearly $300,000 was raised, and thanks to the largesse of the chefs and other sponsors, more than 95 percent went directly to support Central Floridians in need.

I'll have a full list of the participating chefs after the jump.

Two Chefs Seafood Oyster Bar is scheduled to open — finally — on Tuesday, April 7, in Orlando's North Quarter district.

The two chefs of the name are Larry Sinibaldi (above left), formerly with Palm restaurant at Hard Rock Hotel, and Bernard Carmouche, who for many years was corporate chef with the Emeril Lagasse restaurants.

The restaurant occupies a space in a three-story office building that was briefly a coffee shop called Uptown Ground. The original space was expanded and now includes a main dining area with an open kitchen and oyster shucking station, an outdoor seating area with picnic tables, a bar with hightop table seating and rooms upstairs for overflow seating and private events that is accessible through a doctor's reception area. The upstairs dining room overlooks the bar below.

Sinibaldi and Carmouche first announced the restaurant in August and had expected to be open no later than December. However, the expansion, which required a balcony fire escape route for the second floor dining area where none existed and the conversion of an all-electric snack-producing kitchen into a full-service professional one with natural gas, took more time and resources than expected.

The restaurant will offer full table service for lunch and dinner, and a full liquor bar. The menu reflects Carmouche's New Orleans connections with such things as barbecue shrimp, jumbo lump crab cakes, baked oysters and Southern fried chicken. You can see the full menu at the Two Chefs Seafood Oyster Bar website.

The address is 743 N. Magnolia Ave., Orlando. Here are some photos of the place:

The owner of a pizzeria in Walkerton, Indiana, is the first restaurant owner to announce that she would refuse to cater a gay wedding after the recent signing of a "religious freedom" bill by that state's governor. This is surely devastating news for gay couples there, seeing as how pizza is pretty much the go-to gay-wedding reception food.

Not sure what this woman thought she would accomplish. Perhaps she thought the publicity would bring out like-minded supporters who would become new fans of her restaurant and support her on the principle.

Instead, the restaurant's Yelp listing is being inundated today by comments, almost all of which are negative and damning. (I saw only one comment as I scanned through several pages that supported the owner's stance.)

Some are actually pretty entertaining:

You can see the ever-growing list of comments at the Yelp lising.

What do you think? Smart move, or the dumbest and possible the last business decision this owner will make? Leave a comment below.