The Chapman, Winter Park

I tried this classic American spot on Park Ave (near to Fairbanks) on Sunday at dinner. I had the angus beef brisket cheeseburger for $23. It's among the cheapest things you can get. It was good. The meat had a funk. But, no after-effects, so, I guess it is a feature. Normal American cheese. Possibly hand crafted pickle slices. Some sauteed onion. Four cherry tomatoes that may have been marinated. A possibly whole wheat bun that was a bit crumbly. I'm not sure if that is a characteristic or if it was getting old. A wilted piece of lettuce and some thousand islandy sauce on the bottom bun. Very salted. Ok crust. A tad above medium. I asked for medium rare. It came with four potato spears (aka steak fries). They were very good. Almost a whole baked potato's worth. The outside was just crusty enough. I was pretty full after all of this. Basic plating. Steak knife. Cloth napkin. The rest of the menu is a bit boring. They add some sandwiches to the lunch menu. Some apps like: crab cake, ahi two ways, a lion's mane mushroom that I believe was fried and maybe a soup or two. Some high teen salads. The mains were things in the high twenties+ like: roast chicken, fettucine, rigatoni and steaks that started at $69 and went up to triple digits. Some mid to high teen desserts (5) and sides. Cocktails, etc as well. Pretty big wine list. Up to $500 for champers. Sixteen or so tables on the left side. Three or four on the right not counting the large bar or lounge chairs by the fireplace. Many tables out front. I think I saw a private room in the rear. Excellent interior design. The de rigeur white, black, gray tones with flourishes of gold, steel, glass and mirror. I believe it is a bit more deco than nouveau, but, there is alot of metal. Metal mesh screens separate the bar from the left room and parts of the left room. Glass chandeliers. Velvet drapes. Paintings. Wood tables. Fabric-ed chairs. Mixed earth tone tiled floor. Recessed lighting. Columns. Tons of staff. Mostly female. Brooks Brothers unis. Always smiling. Attentive. The dish didn't come out lickety split, but, maybe they were pacing or had a skeleton crew on Sunday. I liked the ambiance. Nice ambient music. A place for adults. But, there were babies in tow. The inner rooms were about 3/4 full. I didn't have a res or a wait. Dress code is casual. I did kind of feel like it was a bit like a nicer Houston's. But, I haven't been to one in a while and I think the local one is a bit better than the average. I would get a bit more adventurous with the menu. But, I would probably be out of business in a month. I just couldn't give anyone a two word synopsis of what they do. I would probably describe the look. Still, it could be a Fav. Open for a month or so. I think they do a brunch now too. Pretty sure they are open all week. You could make the effort. From the group that does Boca down the street.

*I tried to try Luca Turci. However, they could only bring themselves to operate until 7pm. I wasn't really going to suffer through this anyway. It seems like the exact same Italian menu as their College Park location. And I've already brought those thoughts to you. This spot is small, but, looks nicer. On Morse which is about halfway down Park.

Grub Crawl - Downtown: Evergreen Juice Bar and Nuri's Tavern

I tried these spots on Friday at lunch. The first is across from Publix on Central at Lake Eola. They said it was previously an insurance office. The second is in the old Robinson's location on Pine near Orange. Across from the Thai place and Papi Burgers. It is owned by the Primrose Lanes people and they also has three other concerns (something Mather's Pharmacy that I went to ages ago, a jazz club and something I think they called Aloha) above them. All open at night. I suspect that I won't be back here until it is walking around weather again. Every other announced newbie still doesn't seem to be anywhere near to being open. No one knew of the prospective food hall or where it will be. I thought it was across from the library.

Evergreen Juice Bar - Opened three days ago. Juices and toasts. I had a small fruity tooty something smoothie for $8. It was ok. Seven in total. Half with peanut butter. The toasts looked ok. $11 and up. Seven also. Some with salmon and tuna and avocado, etc. I don't recall juices. They said coffee was coming. Modern look. Mostly white with black accents. Order at a counter. Right side. Tiny room. A couple of tables on the right. I wasn't keen on this going in. If it wasn't hot, I would have just bought one of their (probably outsourced) cookies to escape with the least harm.

Nuri's Tavern - Opened around a month ago. Finally doing lunch every day. Dinner too. Pretty late. Closed on Monday. Disappointing. I had wings (6) in buf-a-que sauce. Ok. The sauce was too berry tasting to mix with blue cheese. The blue cheese seemed to have a ranch base. Only three, thin, limp pieces of celery too. The cost $16! Almost $3 a wing. I chose those because the pizzas looked pathetic. Cracker thin squares of twelve inches at $16 to $19. Five with sauce. Four "whites". I hope they didn't decide on this style because of cooking time. I may have seen circular ones coming out of the kitchen. The menu didn't read that way. Only six apps such as meatballs, salad (2) and beef 'roni cups. $9-$14. An odd melange. They also have a few beers, wines, cocktails and soft serve ice cream. The place look nice. Robinson's was pretty nice. Two sides. Bar in back. Lots of elbow room. White and light wood. A few ornaments. Phone booth. Tvs with sports. It's the best thing about it. Then I'll say the execution (not including the type of pizza they have chosen to make). The prices are the third worst thing about it and finally the menu. Weird selection and too tiny for a full blown restaurant. Maybe for a food truck. Two servers. Food isn't as good as Primrose Lanes and no bowling gimmick. Needs a rethink if they aren't trying to be the "Waffle House" to their connected booze bars. Robinson's was better.

*I have some emails if you wish to lobby NSB to return some free parking. mayor@nsb.com, yperrine@nsb.com, lmartin@nsb.com, jmcguirk@nsb.com and bashley@nsb.com. 

**I noticed that Publix is now cheaper in many items than Winn Dixie. A WD chicken is now $10 at WD. Still $8 at P. Eggs were just above $5 at P. Sodas and water are cheaper there. Even those $1.69 toasts in packaging were less. WD also plays games with alcohol. Overcharges and then discounts. Luv ya Aldi!

Grub Crawl - Universal Area and Winter Park: Surah and Taco's Lab

I tried these spots yesterday at lunch. The first is in a strip mall down Dr Phillips as far away from Sand Lake as possible. I think that is Conroy. The second is on Fairbanks towards Rollins in the old King Bao location on the left. I was just checking if they indeed were open and just decided to get it out of the way.

Surah - Korean. Means dishes made for royalty (Joseon Dynasty). A little uneven. They took over for some other Korean place recently. I had the lunch special ($2 lower) beef bulgogi with rice for $18. It was the mirror image of how it usually is. The beef had a nice subtle (not cloyingly sweet) flavor and was tender. The rice was a mushy mess. Some onions on top. Took way to long to come out. Only a table of four there at the time and they were already in the process of dining. The bon chon (6) were: fish cake, kim chi (too salty), spicy burdock cubes, diced pickled burdock, a simple salad and sweet peanuts. The last two were firsts. One server. Twelve tables and an offset room. A few with burners. Wait for it...white, gray, black decor with dark stained wood accents. Brown tile floors. Sticky. The pen to sign the check was also sticky. Metal water glass. Weird, plastic panda water bottle that I hope they didn't take from the table next to mine and refilled. AC was too low. Small menu. Some bbq meats that I think started at $26 (to +$40). Fried chicken and pork cutlets. Bibimbap and a couple others. That's it. The place is like one of those old hotels that they try and funkify. It just doesn't feel right/new. Cleanliness is also appears to be suspect. No reason to exert yourself to get here. I think they close up between 3:30pm and 4:30pm.  

Taco's Lab - They think they can differentiate by being a "lab". The only "experiments" are in name only. I can't see one thing on the menu that is original. Maybe the sauces? But, they aren't described. Two $6 tacos. Three at $5. Three at $4.50. Things like breaded fish, shrimp, mushrooms, birria and chicken. I had a Camal Tradition with chicharron (that is also labeled as pork belly) and one with carnitas. $5 a piece. Both with onions and cilantro on a corn tortilla. Ok. Bigish. That type also comes in chorizo or suadero. They also do $13 to $16 fusion bowls (some of the same stuff with rice and beans) and $9 to $14 quesadillas. Elote, guac and cheese dip are the apps at $9 to $10. Three desserts from $8 to $9. Only four tables. Order at a counter. One cook and the owner. White. Parking for eight behind. Sadly (for them), the other two taco places near them (one on the other side of I4) are better. They do seem to want to please though. Second week.

*I also went to New Smyrna Beach today for the last time. They have put up pay meters at every beach. Can't reward that small time thinking. How come progress seems to result in making something worse? And here's a shocker - almost every parking lot was empty. Good business acumen town council.