Recent Reviews and Restaurant News

Le Coq au Vin, one of Orlando's oldest and most iconic restaurants, has closed. 

Current owner and chef Reimund Pitz said that the French restaurant served its last dinner Saturday night, and said in a text message my "wife and I are ready for the next chapter of our lives." He said the closing was "bittersweet."

Pitz and his wife, Sandy, bought the restaurant in the A-frame house on South Orange Avenue from longtime owners Louis and Magdelena Perrotte in November of 2008. (The structure was a model for a business selling houses.) In a separate message, Pitz said that he will be selling the property.

This is a developing story.

This artical has been updated to include quotes from Norman Van Aken and Ritz-Carlton's general manager, Jon McGavin.

Yusuf Yildiz, longtime general manager of Norman’s, the upscale restaurant that was originally at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, is leaving the recently reopened version of the Norman Van Aken restaurant just months after it reopened in its new Restaurant Row location – and days before a grand opening benefit dinner.

In an ironic twist, Yildiz is returning to the Ritz and its Michelin-starred restaurant, Knife & Spoon, which occupies the space that was home to the original Orlando Norman’s. He will have the same role there that he did at Norman’s, as general manager, sommelier and maitre d’.

Photo: Tap Room Dubsdread

In this month’s issue of The Community Paper, my Local Flavor column features the recipe for Hot Crab Dip from the Tap Room at Dubsdread.

Here in Florida, there really isn’t a crab season — we can pretty much get fresh crab all year. However, right now is when the freshest catches occur, so you’re likely to find some good product at your favorite fishmonger. Or crabmonger, if you will.

MIAMI – Some thoughts on the Michelin Guide “star reveal” ceremony Thursday evening at LoanDepot Park:

For a major international corporation, Michelin, as evidenced by the quality of the ceremony, is pretty amateurish. The production was marred by sound snafus, missing graphics, wrong graphics, nonreponsive teleprompter operators, a mid-presentation stall-for-time by an off-stage host, and long stretches of dead air while the hosts waited for winners to make their way to the stage, take off the sport coats they were wearing to put on a Michelin chef’s jacket, then stand silently for photos. If the ceremony had been a tire it would have been unpatchable.

The concourse overlooking the third base at LoanDepot Park, with its multi-story open-air view of the Miami skyline, is a really cool place to hold an event.

Did you know that every time you say the words “Taco Tuesday” you’re violating a trademark?

It’s true. The phrase is owned by the Wyoming based chain Taco John’s, which trademarked it 34 years ago. (It was originally Taco Twosday because they sold their already-cheap tacos two-for-one on Tuesdays.)

Now everyone says it, because the only thing we like better than tacos is alliteration. (Making a note to see who owns Wine Down Wednesday.)

But now Taco Bell has filed a petition with the US Patent and Trademark office to have the trademark rescinded. Bell is not going after John’s for selfish reasons; it is only thinking of you.

Taco Bell’s filing – which was submitted, cheekily, on Tuesday – states that its petition is on behalf of “anyone else who wants to share tacos with the world to the possibility of legal action or angry letters if they say ‘Taco Tuesday’ without express permission from [Taco John’s] — simply for pursuing happiness on a Tuesday.” Also Taco Bell.

It seems frivolous, but I know that these things are taken seriously. Still, I have a feeling that TB might come out victorious on this one.

Let me tell you a story.