Here are some newsy bits for Thanksgiving week.
Hourglass Brewing of Longwood will open a microbrewery in, of all places, the Hourglass District in Orlando. Actually, there is no official Hourglass District, at least not yet. But that’s the name the developers are using for the area surrounding the corner of Curry Ford Road and Bumby Avenue in Orlando. (They pulled the name from nearby Hourglass Lake. I suppose we should be grateful they didn’t try to do a syllabic abbreviation and come up with BuCuFo or CurBum or something like that.)
According to Orlando Weekly’s Faiyaz Kara, Hourglass will move into a space previously occupied by a church. Ironically, the developers, Giovanni Fernandez and Elise Sabatino, had cleared out the church so that they could move restaurants into the other buildings without running up against the archaic rule that alcohol can’t be served in proximity to schools and churches. Because, you know, temptation.
The first business to open in BuCuFo will be Peppino’s, a pizzeria. It will occupy the freestanding building that has been the stopover for numerous Latin restaurants on their way to bankruptcy. (Those businesses might have been able to make a go of it if they’d been able to sell alcohol; just sayin’.)
Fernandez and Sabatino also are looking for a restaurant to take over the corner building that used to be Tony’s Auto Repair. Seeing as how it is one of the filthiest auto shops I’ve ever stepped foot in, I suggest a greasy spoon.
Speaking of greasy spoons, Metro Diner will open a location on University Boulevard next month.
The Glass Knife, a high-end cakerie, has opened at 276 S. Orlando Ave. in Winter Park. Savory items are also on the menu.
Four Rebels is ( Four Rebels are?) now slinging tacos in Mills Park. It took over the space previously occupied by Segafredo, which did serve alcohol but closed after a brief period anyway. Because, you know, lousy food and service.
You know that space on Colonial Drive that was two or three Vietnamese restaurants within the span of about a year, including DaVi Cajun Seafood? Looks like another restaurant is going in there. I’m not going to get excited about it until it’s open at least six months.
Down the block, Mai Bistro, also a Vietnamese restaurant, has opened in the former offices of Scientology. I wonder if the restaurant had opened next door instead if it could have sold alcohol. Mai Bistro is owned by Dat Dang, which if you ask me is a better name for a restaurant than Mai Bistro. Dang is the brother of U.S. Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy.
Oh, and back to Hourglass, the brewery, not the district. Hourglass is one of the nominees for Best Microbrewery in our current Foodster Award category. This in one of the most hotly contested categories yet, so you’ll want to head over to the Foodster page and place your vote.
(I’m finished here, so go ahead and click over to the Foodster page.)
