Four Flamingos: A Richard Blais Florida Kitchen is hosting a whiskey pairing dinner on Thursday, Aug. 18, at 6 p.m. featuring Redwood Empire Whiskey. Chef Sheby Farrell has put together a four course menu with blends, bourbons and ryes. Cost is $150 per person plus tax and gratuity or $500 for a group of four. Tickets here.

Farrell’s menu:

1st course: 

Lost Monarch Whiskey Blend & Mushroom Toast: Orange Scented House made Labneh, Mushroom conserva, Honey

2nd course: 

Pipe Dream Bourbon Whiskey & Buttermilk Oysters, Roasted Bone Marrow, Pecan Gremolata, Crostini, buttermilk pearls

3rd course: 

Emerald Giant Rye Whiskey & Cast iron seared 20 day dry aged NY Strip, coconut parsnip spinach, triple peppercorn au poivre pour over

Dessert:
Coconut Panna Cotta: Cocoa nib crumble, Candied Kumquat

Dulce Royale: Toasted coconut-infused Lost Monarch blended whiskey

As you may know, the Walt Disney World Swan and Dolphin Food & Wine Classic is Nov. 11 and 12 and there’s a special VIP Champagne and Dessert Party planned for that Saturday evening at the new Swan Reserve. The resort’s certified sommeliers are matching sparklers to the executive pastry chef’s creations from 8:30 to 10 p.m. and the evening will end with an after party in the 15th floor ballroom with views of Disney fireworks. Tickets are $150 per person and can be purchased here.

According to FoodFireFriends, a barbecue-centric website, the most popular cuisine for Americans is Chinese. You were sure that a study conducted by a barbecue site was going to say barbecue, weren’t you? (So was I.)

As a matter of fact, barbecue isn’t even in the top 20, unless it’s assumed in the American food category, which tied for 15th place with French food. (Soul food (7th) and Hawaiian food (10th) were in their own categories.)

Celebrity chef Roberto Treviño has left the Tapa Toro/Taverna Opa group, which he joined in May of 2021. Previously he had helped develop a ceviche bar for Don Julio’s Mexican Kitchen and Tequila Bar in East Orlando.

He developed a following as a celebrity chef with stints on Iron Chef America, where he was pitted against Mario Batali, and on Rachel Ray's $40 a Day. He was also a recurring judge on Food Network's Beat Bobby Flay.

Treviño, a native of California, moved to Central Florida in 2017 from Puerto Rico, where he owned various restaurants. In December of that year, he opened El Buda, a fusion of Latin and Asian flavors, in a troubled space at Church Street Station behind Hamburger Mary’s, also known as the place restaurants go to die.

Treviño said in a text message that he is currently working with a Japanese company to open a lounge in the new C terminal at Orlando International Airport.