Blue Smoke Burger Bar, the redo of the Black Olive restaurant in downtown Orlando’s Plaza complex, has closed. The concept, which opened only the first week in June, was an attempt to revitalize the business. The Black Olive was a fine dining Italian restaurant with an upscale and modernish interior that featured a large bas relief of Bacchus that dominated one wall and a glass-walled wine room. The cuisine, under the direction of the talented Dan Kernan, was a mix of the traditional and creative.

But whether it was the recession or just the location, which was around the corner from Orange Avenue, out of view of the main thoroughfare, Black Olive failed to form a following. Blue Smoke Burger Bar was an apparent attempt to casualize the concept and attract more crowds seeking less expensive and more approachable fare. Although I didn’t get a chance to try the food, I did stop in shortly after the reopening and reported some problems in my first-look report. Difficult to say whether it was those issues, the location, which obviously hadn’t change, or something else. But word is that the owners do not plan to try another concept there.

This from Eddie Nickell, co-owner of Funky Monkey and the anticipated Bananas Diner:

Bananas is having a job fair this Wednesday at 11am-4pm hiring many positions, interviewing at the Funky Monkey Mills Ave. Bring a resume and a smile and talk with our recruiters hiring servers, host, hostess, bussrs. grill cooks, managers, cashiers, dish www.bananasdiner.com

Start limbering up your dialing fingers, tickets for the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival will go on sale to the general public at 7 a.m. July 20. Many of the top tickets will likely be gone by 7:05. Here's the information from Disney Central: