The Cafe - Just a basic supplement to Hamilton's Kitchen. They risibly market it as an "artisanal" cafe. It's worse than Dunkin Donuts. I had a $6 egg and cheese on a muffin. You can get two way better versions with sausage at the dollar menu busting McDonald's. Limited offerings. The sandwich toppings display is Subway-esque. Caffeinated drinks. All pricy. It's just there to rip off guests too lazy to venture into town to get ripped off. It looks nice. Some interesting light fixtures. But, that is really a hotel feature. Not theirs. Open for a month or so. Skip. I just noticed that they add on a 20%+ gratuity that they don't inform you of..
Bricks & Bowls - Their first location was at The Mall at Millenia. They are part of an entity calling themselves Ghost Kitchen Orlando. I was a bit surprised that their starting sandwich price points were for a half of a sandwich. That seemed rich. But, I think you can get away with just half as a meal. I tried the Spanish Eggplant option at $7.50 because it was two dollars less than the others and I couldn't see the quality of the meats that they would have delivered. Plus I didn't trust them yet and I was also trying the pizza. I didn't read the menu carefully enough and my anticipated fried eggplant cutlet morphed into a ratatouille like marinated salad. Not much eggplant. More red pepper, onion and tomato. And I'm not a fan of non-spicy peppers. However, the focaccia it came on was fresh and good. They have to make it in house. It is also pretty high/thick. The brick part. So, I basically paid for bread. I'm not that bothered by that. There was also a slice of an aged provolone or something. And some fresh arugula. That's the take away. Everything was fresh. This was artisanal. I just realized that anal is part of artisanal. They could lose they sweet spread soaked into the top piece of the focaccia. I believe it was a poor quality balsamic. My second purchase was the Classica pizza. I think they referred to it as that. Maybe a flatbread. In any case, it was focaccia again. Covered with mozz (I believe) and some Parmesan or other hard cheese. Natural tomato sauce. Very good. This had a harder bottom crust. They must take the sandwich focaccia and add the toppings and bake it so the bottom gets that crust. Fresh Basil on top. Cut diagonally. This also could be it's own meal. A tad salty. So, there you go. The star is really the focaccia here. Light. Non-oily. Well timed. They also sell lackluster looking bowls, six or so sandwiches and some other variations on the theme. Maybe soups? Order at a counter. Eat on the patio. Not a chain. I was impressed. So many fast casual places are posing as artisanal "curators". I'm talking to you Culver's. They actually are. If the quality of their other items and other things they put on their focaccia (how many time can I write focaccia?) compare with the things I sampled, they will occupy rarified air. An outlier. I would actually make it a micro objective to try them out at some point. Open for a month.
*Sort of next to B & B was a little wine shop that wrote (on a sidewalk blackboard) that they sold lunch items like $10 chicken salad. It is called Vin-tage Vault. Open for two years. They are owned by the Blu and 310 Grill at South Park people. They call in the order to them and it is delivered. The Chinese place next to the new Jeff's Bagel Run up where Wnnie's used to be is no closer to being open. A Sodough opened on Fairbanks near Rollins. I also saw that at the spot near where the bikini car wash girls used to be on 435 near Aloma, a City BBQ is almost open. And a Raising Cane's.
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