Grub Crawl -- Winter Park: Imperial and Jala

I tried these spots today at lunch. The first is about halfway up Park Ave. The second is a touch further on Morse in a space that was last Bridge something. Next to Luca Turci. I was here to compare a chaufa or other $20 lunch special at the rebranded Ceviche with some fried rice I had at another spot the night before. They wouldn't seat me earlier than noon, so, I told them to sit and spin and tried these.

Imperial on Park - This was their second day of serving lunch. I had the pressed duck and brie sandwich that was inspired by the one at Dexter's. It wasn't as good. The duck had little taste. Not that much of a serving. Shredded vs pieces. Ok brie. Grilled onions. Some kind of aoili. Average roll (dry). Insipid, undressed, limp, old, ignored side salad. It cost $19. Way too dear. Leaves you hungry. The menu is equally dull. I recall salmon (ehh) tacos and on a salad. A burger. Around a dozen forgetable items. The place looks like an Imperial. They all are as similar as an Applebee's at this point. Not bad. Just the same. Shabby chic. Bar on the right. Two televisions. Twelve tables. Maybe a back room. Some patio seats. One (good) waitress and a barkeep. Two other tables seated.

Jala Indian Fine Dining - I was their first. They just opened that minute. From Tampa. Means "water" in Sanskrit. Indian. Duh. I grabbed an order of chicken tikka masala to go for $20. Mostly because I have been waiting to slip in that tikka means "pieces" according to someone I listened to on tv. I thought it described the sauce. It was ok. A bit sweet. And it had peppers. Also onions. Medium heat was not hot at all. A good amount of dark meat chicken. The basmati rice was prepared properly. Came out quick. The menu is large. The categories are: Veg starters, non-veg starters, soups, kids, sides, chicken, seafood, tandoor, lamb, goat, biryani, naan, 24k collection, desserts, drinks, cocktails and beer. They give you a free beer, champagne, etc with a meal. Expect $20 to be the low water mark. Up to $55. They re-purposed (why they are up and running in a month) some of the old layout. Made it better though. Lounge-y vibe. Twelve tables. Big, cushion wall on the left. Earth tones. Bar on the right. Narrow floor plan. Four waitresses. Open at 11am. Seven days. I wasn't planning on going here. Just saw it looking for parking. Glad I did. I wish I had eaten here and had Imperial as the take away.