Daytona Grande
Mike Trudnak, who earlier this month left Aurora at the Celeste, the restaurant he opened in 2020, has reemerged in Daytona Beach at the Daytona Grande. He started his new job as the executive chef for the oceanfront resort on Thursday. On Monday, his former executive sous chef and sous chef from Aurora will join him on the coast.
“We’re trying to bring that Aurora magic over here,” Trudnak said in a phone conversation on Wednesday.
Not that it’s going to be Aurora at the Grande. In fact, Trudnak hasn’t even decided yet what he’s going do with the menu for the property’s main restaurant, though he said he expects the cuisine will reflect the diversity of his kitchen staff.
The hotel, which has been open a year and a half, is the only hotel with walkup access from the beach, according to Trudnak.
As I told you recently in a not-very-blind item – seriously, you could have figured it out if I’d written it in Farsi (instead of my usual farcey) – Harry Buffalo is closing. It was originally expected to close at the end of March but apparently got an extension. Its last day will be Saturday.
With that closing, all of the restaurant spaces in Church Street Station on that side of street, including those that were recently held by Ceviche and Häos, will be vacant. That’s the design, is seems. The property owner has a plan for the building. What is it? He’s not talking.
If you’ve counted on Harry Buffalo for your downtown lunches, you may find a replacement soon at City Hall. The owner of Bem Bom in Audubon Park is taking over the space that was recently an outpost of 4 Rivers Smokehouse and will open City Beautiful Cafe, serving breakfast and lunch only. It will not have a Portuguese menu like Bem Bom but rather will have burgers, sandwiches and such. Ryan Lynch of Orlando Business Journal first reported on the new cafe.
The owners of Ravenous Pig want to make that Winter Park restaurant look like new. It will undergo a renovation with a redesign by Anna Woodman Interior Design of South Florida. The same firm did the original Rav Pig (where Reel Fish Coastal Kitchen is now) and Cask & Larder (where Ravenous Pig is now) as well as others in the line of properties owned by James and Julie Petrakis. According to James Petrakis, the renovations will be done in phases so that the restaurant can remain open.
Belgian beverage police recently destroyed thousands of cans of Miller High Life beer, and not because they’d tasted it. They were offended by the beer’s slogan – the Champagne of Beers – and decided to crush the cans before anyone confused the beer with sparkling wine.
France, and by extension the European Union, fiercely protects the Champagne designation. Only sparkling wines produced in the Champagne regions – and only those made using the methode champenoise – may have Champagne on the label.
Miller High Life does not use the methode champenoise and is not produced in France. Also, it’s a beer.
Miller has been using the slogan for more than a hundred years – it was originally the Champagne of Bottled Beers because it was produced in clear bottles and looked sparkling. But for some reason, no one in France or the European Union has noticed until .
Which begs the question: What Belgian ordered a delivery of 2,352 cans of Miller High Life in the first place? The shipment was headed for Germany, so…maybe it was a prank?
