Address	717 W. Smith St.
City	Orlando
Phone	407-440-2803
Price	$
Scott's Review

An outpost of the longtime Winter Park dive, just as dive-y. Tex-Mex snobs will be horrified at some of the selections. Relax. You just need the food to absorb some of the beer.... Read more

Address	124 Park Ave. N.
City	Winter Park
Phone	407-262-0050
Price	$$$
Scott's Review

From the folks at Luma on Park, Prato is an Italian concept that features a wood-burning pizza oven and pizzaiola station in the dining room. Pizzas are good, though the thin crusts tend to char easily if not watched closely. Pasta is made fresh in-house, and most pasta dishes are available in half portions, a dandy idea.

Prato's decor is rustic and casual. This is currently the hottest restaurant in town, and can be quite crowded. Expect waits, even for bar seating.

... Read more

Address	JW Marriott 4040 Central Florida Parkway
City	Orlando
Phone	407-393-4444
Price	$$$$

A second restaurant for celebrity chef and James Beard Award winner Melissa Kelly. The food is only ostensibly Italian with more creative touches menuwide.

Kelly was one of the first to promote the use of local ingredients. Most of the herbs used in the restaurant are grown outside the kitchen door.

The well-rested lamb is good and so is the pork saltimbocca. Have the banana Napoleon for dessert.

The decor is upscale, and while jackets are not requested, you wouldn't feel out of place wearing one.

... Read more

Address	4868 New Broad St.
City	Orlando
Phone	407-896-2688
Price	$$$
Scott's Review

Provisions & Buzz Co. is a better restaurant than those that preceeded it. ... Read more

Address	3201 Edgewater Drive
City	Orlando
Phone	407-999-9973
Price	$$
Scott's Review

Good pizzas have been coming out of the oven at this address for years, but only recently as Ragazzi's. The crust -- so important to a proper pizza -- was just thick enough to hold the weight of the toppings, which were considerable. Besides pizza, Ragazzi's does some pretty delicious Italian specialties, as well. I loved the meatball appetizer, which really could have served as an entree all on its own. Not only were the meat orbs well formed and firm, they also were simmered in a red sauce that was thick and tomatoey and worth spooning on its own. also had the eggplant parmigiana, a nicely done slice of eggplant dipped in egg wash and dusted with flour, fried to a golden crisp and then topped with melted mozzarella. Even better: it included a side dish of pasta with more of that wonderful marinara.... Read more

Address	1640 Buena Vista Drive Disney Springs
City	Lake Buena Vista
Phone	407-938-0300
Price	$$$
Scott's Review

You’ll find traditional music, familiar ales and even genuine fittings from old bars in Ireland, but the food is an updated version of Irish classics, some a bit highfalutin.

For example, we started our dinner with a seared scallop on a mint and pea puree. Just saying the words mint and pea puree will get you thrown out of most pubs in Dublin. But it was tasty, as was the potato and asparagus soup, lighter and smoother than you'd expect.

The next course was shepherd's pie, but as I said before, things aren't done in a traditional way at Raglan Road, and this was certainly the oddest shepherd's pie I've seen. Here, the ground meat mixed with gravy was dolloped onto a large spoon with a little mashed potatoes piped on top. It was a little more than one should shove into one's mouth all at once, but there wasn't quite enough to reallly get a feel for the flavor.

Whatever you have for dinner be sure to have the bread pudding for dessert. And the house band, which performs nightly, will make you want to get up and dance without moving your arms.

... Read more

Address	565 W. Fairbanks Ave.
City	Winter Park
Phone	407-628-2333
Price	$$$
Scott's Review

The Ravenous Pig calls itself “an American gastropub,” gastropub being a British term for a pub that serves more than a basic bar menu. This wonderful restaurant goes way beyond that. Chef/owners James and Julie Petrakis met while attending the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, and they obviously learned a lot while there. The menu changes regularly, but everything is worth trying. The Pig’s burger was the winner of Scott Joseph’s Orlando Restaurant Guide’s first Burger War!

Beyond burgers, try the pork belly if it's available, and the steak frites is one of my favorites. As with those served with the award-winning burger, these fries have a spritz of truffle oil. From the pub menu during a lunch visit, I chose lobster tacos, lamb mezze and pork ribs. The tacos were wonderful, three crispy shells with lightly fried chunks of lobster and crunchy hot peppers. The mezze had lamb ribs, tender and aromatic, and lamb meatballs. The pork ribs were one of the few disappointments. They had precious little meat, and what was there was soggy and mealy.

Roasted cod was another good entrée. A beautifully white fillet, flaky and cooked just so, was served with a pure... Read more

Address	12500 State Road 33
City	Groveland
Phone	352-429-2997
Price	$$
Scott's Review

If you’re looking for “old Florida,” you can’t get much older than Red Wing Restaurant. For over 60 years the stone building, which at one time was a private home, has served as a meeting place for Lake County growers, farmers, truckers and others. It’s the sort of place where you might find a boothful of grimy construction workers next to a table with a family with children and not far away a couple on a date.

But you will find some obscure menu items. It isn’t often that you see Buffalo fried frog legs. Even less frequently will you hear me say they were really good. The appetizer featured three haunches, each with plenty of meat, deep-fried and tossed with a hot sauce, a la Buffalo wings, except there was more meat on the legs than you’ll ever find on a chicken wing.

And if fried frog legs don’t appeal to you, or even if they do, you might want to try the fried dill pickles. Why this delicacy is seen so seldom I don’t know. But usually they’re served as dill chips. Here they’re long spears with enough surface area to hold the light batters and even substance to give a good, salty crunch.

Fried green tomatoes had a crisp breading with firm fruit inside.... Read more