The lobby bar, MacGuffins, at Downtown Disney's AMC Dine-In Theatres

The AMC Downtown Disney 24, which is actually a movie complex and not a group of defendants, will premiere its newest Dine-In Theatres on Monday, May 16. What’s an AMC Dine-In Theatre, you ask? Well, it’s a theater, albeit misspelled, that you dine in while watching a movie. You probably could have figured it out if you had just given yourself a little more time. I’m not judging.

I was able to get a sneak peek -- let’s call it a preview -- of the newly redesigned theaters that will allow full-service dining, complete with full liquor bar and wines by the bottle, to guests who choose this dinner and a movie option. The AMC Downtown Disney 24 has set aside one quarter of its theaters -- that’s six; try to keep up -- for the Fork & Screen concept.

That Fork & Screen designation is different from AMC’s Cinema Suites concept, which is exclusively for patrons 21 and over. The F&S concept is for guests 18 and over or -- and here’s the qualifier -- accompanied by an adult. So, yes, squalling babies may be admitted as long as their 18 year old parents are there to try to shush them. Did I mention this is at Disney? ( The Cinema Suites adult movies houses -- why does that sound wrong? -- are in other communities and are not offered here.)

There was one bit of good news from the James Beard Foundation Awards with a Central Florida connection. While the restaurant and chef awards were Monday night at Lincoln Center, the festivities actually began Friday with the book, broadcast and  journalism awards at Espace. The event was hosted by the Food Network’s Ted Allen and Gail Simmons of Top Chef.

And winning the Publication of the Year Award was Edible Communities Publications, which launched Edible Orlando last year. Edible Communities co-founders Tracey Ryder and Carole Topalian were on hand to accept the honor.

Edible Communities is based in California, but Edible Orlando is strictly a local publication. It is published by Kendra Lott and is edited by Katie Farmand. Pam Brandon, one of the Divas of Dish, is managing editor. The next issue of Edible Orlando will be on the newsstands June 1. For subscription information or to find where you can pick up a free copy, visit edibleorlando.com.

Congratulations to Edible Communities.

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And into history passes another James Beard Foundation Awards ceremony, or, as it’s known in Central Florida, passover, to paraphrase an old joke by Bob Hope about the Academy Awards. The awards ceremony, a black-tie affair at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall, is often referred to as the Oscars of the culinary world and is replete with red carpet arrivals and long-winded speeches.

Orlando chefs have yet to be invited to the awards as finalists. Winner of the south region, in which Florida participates, was Stephen Stryjewski of Cochon in New Orleans. Cochon and Cochon Butcher are wonderful restaurants, so I can’t deny that Stryjewski is deserving. But the fact that several Orlando area chefs are, too, can’t be denied, either, even as it is overlooked time and time again by the awards. In the past few years we’ve seen some of our chefs makes it onto the preliminary ballot, along with dozens of others. We even had a record number this year -- 4 -- although The Ravenous Pig’s James and Julie Petrakis were listed on one line, a rarity for the awards. (The other nominees were Scott Hunnel of Victoria & Albert’s and Hari Pulapaka of Cress in Deland.)

It becomes more and more frustrating to have Central Florida’s talent passed over, especially when there is a comment like the one from Gabrielle Hamilton of Prune, winner of the New York regional best chef award, who remarked that “if you open a can of sardines and a box of Triscuits you can win a cooking award in New York.” Ironically, they think that Orlando chefs have no more creativity than that.

So perhaps the best advice is for Central Florida chefs to start getting creative with tins of fish and packages of crackers.

Creativity, of course, isn’t the issue. The trouble is that, as judges, we must certify that we’ve eaten in the restaurants and eaten the cuisine of the nominees we vote for, which certainly makes sense. But when other judges come to Orlando they usually are on vacation, and probably stay in the Disney area or near the convention center. So they don’t venture out to try The Ravenous Pig or K or Luma or any of the other deserving restaurants and chefs. It’s a struggle, but we’ll get there. It’s just going to take a little longer than I originally thought.

Other major awards include ABC Kitchen in New York as Best Restaurant, Jean-Georges Vongerichten; Jose Andres, Minibar by Jose Andres, Washington, D.C., Outstanding Chef; and Eleven Madison Park, New York, Outstanding Restaurant. For a complete list of winners visit James Beard’s website.

Following the awards ceremony, the attendees crowded into the lobby of Avery Fisher Hall to sample the foods of the featured gala dinner chefs. There was a lot of wonderful food, and I quickly achieved overload. You know you've had too much when you come upon another food counter featuring duck filet mignon and you just have to say no. Best thing I sampled was the pork pasteles from Chef Mirisoll from Puerto Rico. Maybe if I hadn't had four of them I would have had room for the duck.

Mirisoll, by the way, is a caterer from San Juan. Would like to see our Jamie McFadden included in the lineup, too.

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