Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” is about London and Paris, but for two local restaurants involved in a dispute it’s all about two Parises. The owners of Paris Banh Mi Cafe Bakery in Mills 50 filed a complaint against the owner of Paris Banh Mi & Tea Cafe in east Orlando. Two make it just a little more confusing, both restaurants are on Colonial Drive, albeit separated by nearly 11 miles. A judge has told the Tea & Cafe to stop using Paris Banh Mi in its name for the time being and until a jury can render a verdict. Both parties say they came up with the idea for the name first, but the Mills 50 PBM opened in April of 2019 whereas the east Orlando restaurant didn’t open until the summer of 2020. Hey, maybe one of them can use the name London Banh Mi.
The two Paris Banh Mis may have more to worry about. Besides the Vietnamese sandwiches that are part of their names, both restaurants also serve boba tea, and the world is facing a shortage of tapioca, which is used to make the boba pearls. Have we as a humanity not suffered enough! The shortage is the result of freighters stuck at sea and in ports with a dearth of workers to offload goods. These ships came from Asian countries across the Pacific, so you can’t blame this one on the ship that was stuck in the Suez Canal.
Speaking of Paris, the Michelin Guide people plan to resume publication of its restaurant ratings, because all restaurants are currently operating in tiptop form. Beginning Thursday and the two following weeks, it will release results for three U.S. cities, Washington, Chicago and New York, in that order. No printed guides – online and via an app only.
The space that formerly was home to Luma on Park will have a new tenant, and while I can’t say how the food will be I can tell you the name is a mouthful: Ava MediterrAgean. Its Facebook page says it is a sister of Mila, a rooftop restaurant in Miami Beach whose gender is not known. Watch for it to open this fall.
During the pandemic, Epcot has been offering smaller versions of its roster of festivals, calling them “Taste of…” to signify it isn’t the full experience. Taste of Epcot International Flower & Garden Festival is running now through July 5. But now comes word that the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival will run from July 15 through November 20 this year, and the notice on the Disney World website doesn’t call it a “Taste of…” So is Epcot betting that enough people will have been vaccinated to offer a full festival experience by July? You could cross your fingers but it would be a whole lot better if you would schedule your appointment to be vaccinated if you haven’t done so already.
Quest, Inc. is going on with its Wine Quest event, live and in person, June 4 and 5 at Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando. Last year Wine Quest was a virtual event. This will be the 25th year for Wine Quest, with a grand tasting and auction on Friday and a multi-course dinner on Saturday. Ticket information here.
