Bits and Tids for you to chew upon.
- The prototype Hubbly Bubbly, which opened on Edgewater Drive in 2013, has closed to make way for a Foxtail Coffee. Foxtail, apparently, is trying to out Starbucks Starbucks. With the falafelrie’s College Park closing, Hubbly Bubbly now has a grand total of one location, in downtown Orlando.
- Jillian Ross, who is called the Ferment Lady, and it doesn’t seem to bother her, will teach the Basics of Fermentation at Bok Tower Gardens Saturday, Oct. 13., from 1-3 p.m. That’s hardly enough time for half sours to pickle, but I’m sure she’ll have good ideas to share (bok choy would be an appropriate topic). Tickets here.
- Last month’s Share A Meal Challenge in which diners took pictures of their lunches (as if they weren’t doing that anyway), donated the cost of the lunch to Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida, then challenged friends to do the same through social media, raised $15,000. Good for all you Instagramcrackers.
- At last month’s James Beard Celebrity Chef Tour at the Brevard Zoo, guests were given gift bags with tokens of appreciation for their support and sponsorship materials. Nothing new there. What was different was that included in each swag bag were several zip-lock bags so that guests who didn’t want to or couldn’t eat all the food they were served could take it home and enjoy it later. I think the idea — which I love — had something to do with the recent launch of the foundation’s book “Waste Not: How to Get the Most from Your Food,” which features recipes from our own Hari Pulapaka. That I saw no one use the bags is beside the point.
- Here’s something curious: Saporito, a restaurant in Oviedo that opened in June, has been getting a lot of good buzz. But I started to hear recently that the restaurant, which I’ve not yet visited, might be closing. So I called and I spoke to the chef, Miguel Andrade, who told me that he is leaving in less than two week to take a position at Jaleo, the Jose Andres restaurant opening at Disney Springs. He said he didn’t know what was happening with the restaurant because the owner went to Spain for a week and hasn’t returned — after three months. Like I said, curious. Andrade says he’s spoken to the owner, and the owner knows that he’s leaving, and he’s been sending money to pay bills, but, according to Andrade, “there just aren’t many customers.”
