• A reminder that the always fun Science of Wine is Saturday, April 27, from 7 to 10 p.m. at, appropriately enough, the Orlando Science Center. This is the annual event that destroys the myth that wine is created by magic. This year, our friends Kendra Lott of Edible Orlando and Tasty Chomp’s Ricky Ly will collaborate on “Supermarket Science,” a spin-the-wheel trivia contest on food knowledge. Proceeds from the evening go to the Science Center. Learn about the science of ticket sales here.
• Z Asian Vietnamese Kitchen at 1830 E. Colonial Drive in Orlando is in soft opening. I don’t know what that means anymore.
• Super Rico Columbian Bistro in downtown Orlando is in a soft closing. The owners posted on the restaurant’s Facebook page that they are closed for “construction and remodeling.” That’s usually code for a hard opening, but this one looks legit — a reopening is promised for sometime in May. No word on whether that will be soft or hard.

When David Ramirez started his business making chocolates and other confections, he kept his day job as master pastry chef at Rosen Shingle Creek, where he was on the opening staff. It was 2011 when he and his then wife, Nicole, opened Cocoa Latte Chocolate Shop & Coffee Bar, and he did it with the blessing of his boss Harris Rosen. “As an entrepreneur himself,” Ramirez said of Rosen, “he totally understood what I wanted to do.”

His business, which changed its name to David Ramirez Chocolates in early 2012, has grown with each year. In 2017, they took on more space in the industrial complex in south Orlando, essentially tripling in size. What started as a two-person operation now employs between 25 and 30 people, and the volume the kitchen puts out has increased. Ramirez decided his staff required more of his attention. “They need to have the chef around,” he said.

So after 13 years as the pastry chef at Shingle Creek, Ramirez recently left.

• Trina Gregory-Propst has certainly been busy lately. In addition to her popular Se7enbites, a bakery that could also qualify as a password because it has at least 8 characters, one capital letter and one numeral, she and her wife, Va, recently opened Sette in Ivanhoe Village. And now, in collaboration with Barnie’s Coffee & Tea, she’s created the Se7en Bites Special Blend coffee. Gregory-Propst, shown at top with Barnie’s chief sales & marketing officer, Scott Uguccioni, said in a statement announcing the release, ““I knew if the original Orlando coffee company was willing to make a special blend just for us, then we’ve made it.” The Se7en Bites Special Blend was created by Dustin Finch, Barnie’s director of coffee programing, a position that really exists. It will be available freshly brewed and by the pound at the bakery.
• You know what goes with coffee? Pie. And Friday and Saturday, April 12 and 13, the 25th National Pie Championships are taking place at the Renaissance Orlando SeaWorld. Last year’s competition had 714 pies baked by 71 piesters. The event is sponsored by the American Pie Council, an organization that really exists.
• Orlando Business Journal is reporting that Publix is considering putting in a pleasurable grocery store in the Church Street train depot, which was most recently occupied, poorly, by Ferg’s Depot. If this happens, you can expect a Lucky’s Market to open across the way in the space held briefly, and just as poorly, by California Tortilla.