- Highball & Harvest at the Ritz-Carlton, Grande Lakes is now offering a happy hour menu from 3 to 5 p.m. Monday through Thursday. Called South of the Sawbuck, the HH at H&H will feature menu items from a buck fifty to a sawbuck. By the way, do you know how sawbuck came to be slang for a 10 dollar bill? It’s because the tenner had a Roman numeral X, which some people said resembled a sawhorse, also known as a sawbuck. We’re talking mid 19th century, so people had a lot of time on their hands.
- Ryan Manning, founder of MX Taco, has a new project. Beginning in March he’ll start hosting a popup event called Stammtisch German Restaurant. It’ll feature tapas, or whatever the German equivalent is. Stammtisch is a German word for an informal, unstructured meeting, such as a friendly get together. I’ll be very disappointed if the menu doesn’t feature a Stammitsch Sammich.
- This is the year that Pompeii comes to Orlando with the exhibition Pompeii: The Immortal City from June 6 to Sept. 7 at the Orlando Science Center. Orlando magazine dining critic, Joseph Reed Hayes, has put together a series of events beginning in March called Pompeii’s Table: Sublime and Ancient Food That Survived Vesuvius’ Fury. Hayes has collaborated with local chefs to present dinners and tastings that will try to answer the question of what Pompeiians ate and how did they eat it? Don’t expect any lava cakes, but you can almost be certain there’ll be one joker at each dinner to say, “Hey, this tastes burnt.” See the list of events and dates and get tickets at pompeiistable.com.
- The Amura on Sandlake Road is now called Akasaka and is under new management. You’ll recall that the downtown Amura changed its name to Kaizen Izakaya last year. Now only one Amura remains, in Lake Mary.
- In other sushi news, Wa Sushi in Casselberry will close on Feb. 29. A note on the restaurant’s door reads: Our culinary journey at this location will be coming to an end…because this plaza’s drain system cannot support a restaurant.” Well snap. The note also says the owners are looking for a new, better drained location.
- I will see you Saturday at Field to Feast, won’t I? Held at Long & Scott Farms in Mt. Dora and co-hosted by the chefs of Walt Disney World Resort, Field to Feast is one of the best culinary events of the year. Still a few tickets, I’m told, so click here. Don’t wait until Saturday – the event sells out every year.
- Alfond Inn is having a Mardi Gras celebration with food stations, unlimited select wine, beer and crafted cocktails and a concert. It’s starts at 6 p.m. on Feb. 28. Yes, that’s a Friday. Yes, that’s three days after Fat Tuesday. That should only matter to people who are giving up letting the good times roll for Lent. Tickets are $49, or almost five sawbucks. Click here.
