Tasty Chomps' Orlando Food Blog

• Inside Look: 2018 Orlando’s Taiwanese Food Festival
• East Orlando: Taipei 101 offers new ramen to menu
• Three Special Foodie Events this Saturday April 14 in Orlando
• Chef Eric Parker’s New Healthy Spring Menu Preview at Duffy’s Sports Grill
• An Oldie, But a Goodie: Olivia’s Cafe at Disney’s Old Key West Resort
• CayCakes Bakery hosts inaugural “Last Course Dinner” an underground dessert dining experience

Inside Look: 2018 Orlando’s Taiwanese Food Festival

The Taiwanese Food Festival is put on by the local Orlando Taiwanese American community once a year, featuring games, food, and entertainment in a commercial park off of Orange Blossom Trail and SR 528.

Taiwan is one of my favorite places in the world to visit, not just for their friendly people and beautiful landscape, but also because of their amazing street food culture. The food of Taiwan features specialties from all over the mainland China due to migration trends after 1949 as well as its own homegrown cuisine.

Every evening, countless night markets pop up around the island featuring dishes like Taiwanese sausage in a rice bun, to  giant fried chicken chops, and more.

One of our local celebrities, Eddie Huang of Fresh off the Boat fame, and his parents are members of the Taiwanese American community here in Orlando.

East Orlando: Taipei 101 offers new ramen to menu

Orlando is experiencing a moment with ramen – from the expansion of Domu at East End Market to the southwest and southeastern parts of the county as well as the continuing of new offerings of the dish at other local and new Japanese restaurants.

Just outside UCF in East Orlando, Taipei 101 has been offering up Taiwanese street food for years. Recently, they began serving their own ramen, coming in the pork tonkotsu, miso, and spicy miso versions.

Taiwan has a complicated history with Japan, as Japan did colonize the island for several decades in the earlier part of the last century, leaving behind cultural as well as culinary influences. Ramen, the popular noodle soup originally brought to Japan by Chinese immigrants and adapted in Japan, has made its way back to Taiwan. Taipei 101’s pork tonkotsu ramen was filling and quite tasty with pork chashu, boiled egg, and other toppings. A great value at $9.50.

This is on their special board menu which changes once in a while with other new popular Taiwanese street food items.

They also continue to serve their popular bento lunch boxes, featured here is the pork belly with rice box.

Three Special Foodie Events this Saturday April 14 in Orlando

The stars must have aligned for the foodie gods because there are three huge events all happening the same night centered around food for good causes. Don’t miss out this weekend!

Here they are:

Beard in Baldwin Food and Wine Festival benefitting the James Beard Foundation National Scholars Program

https://www.beardinbaldwin.com/
Baldwin Park – 4899 New Broad St. Orlando, FL 32814
Saturday, April 14, 2018 – General Admission 7-10 pm
VIP Early Access 6-7 pm
VIP Experience inside Osprey Tavern 7-9pm

– TICKETS –

General Admission: $110
VIP: $175
*Must be 21 and up

Join us in beautiful Baldwin Park as we celebrate the Orlando culinary scene. A complete experience, the evening will feature an intimate food and wine festival with picturesque Lake Baldwin and Harbor Park as the backdrop. More than 25 top tier local restaurants will be serving flavorful dishes each paired with a fine wine, crafted cocktail or local brew.

For those seeking a more exclusive experience, the VIP admission includes everything above along with a private cocktail event taking place inside The Osprey Tavern.

Help Support the Next Generation of Great American Chefs in Partnership with The James Beard Foundation National Scholars Program.

Chef’s Gala benefitting Heart of Florida United Way

Saturday, April 14th, 2018 – 6:30pm
Walt Disney World
Epcot World Showplace

Exciting news for foodies and wine enthusiasts of Central Florida! For the 26th year, more than 20 of the region’s top restaurants will gather for Heart of Florida United Way’s Chef’s Gala, a fundraiser benefiting local hunger and homelessness programs. Hosted by Walt Disney World, this gastronomic adventure offers unlimited sampling of signature dishes prepared by award-winning chefs, each paired with a fine wine.

The event will be held at Epcot Showplace on Saturday, April 14 from 6:45 – 10 p.m. and also includes a sparkling wine reception, live music and a silent auction filled with unique items and trips.

Participating Restaurants
Savory
Artist Point at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
Ale & Compass Restaurant at Disney’s Beach Club Resort
blu on the avenue
Bull & Bear at Waldorf Astoria Orlando
Cinderella’s Royal Table at MAGIC KINGDOM Park
Flying Fish at Disney’s Boardwalk Inn
Hemisphere at Hyatt Regency Orlando International Airport
Jiko – The Cooking Place at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Lodge
Latitude & Longitude at Orlando World Center Marriott
Le Cellier Steakhouse at Epcot
Morimoto Asia at Disney Springs
Primo by Melissa Kelly at JW Marriott Orlando, Grande Lakes
Shutters at Disney’s Caribbean Beach Resort
SLATE
STK Orlando at Disney Springs
The Hollywood Brown Derby at Disney’s Hollywood Studios
The Turf Club Bar & Grill at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort and Spa
Tiffins at Disney’s Animal Kingdom Theme Park
Todd English’s bluezoo at Walt Disney World’s Dolphin Resort
Urban Tide at Hyatt Regency Orlando
Sweet
Amorette’s Patisserie at Disney Springs
Epcot Bakery Team
Gideon’s Bakehouse
Joffrey’s Coffee & Tea Company
Purchase Tickets
Tickets are available by visiting www.ChefsGala.org. Individual tickets are $325, couple ticket package is $600 and corporate ticket packages are $3,000.

Cattle Baron’s Ball benefitting American Cancer Society

Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel · Sat, Apr 14, 2018 @ 06:00 PM
www.cattlebaronsballorlando.com
The American Cancer Society’s Cattle Baron’s Ball brings together cowboys and cowgirls for an evening of western-themed fun, and raises funds to help the Society finish the fight against cancer.

This year’s Cattle Baron’s Ball will be held on Saturday, April 14, 2018 at the Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel in Orlando!

Festivities begin at 6 p.m., with a reception that includes a silent auction, followed by a gourmet dine-around, featuring food from many of Central Florida’s finest chefs, a live auction and incredible entertainment.

The Orlando Cattle Baron’s Ball promises a toe-tapping, knee-slapping, rip-roaring good time, all for a great cause!

So grab your hat, pull on your boots, and join!

For almost 20 years the Cattle Baron’s Ball and the American Cancer Society has donated over $15 million towards Cancer Research. This year will be empowering as the focus is on children’s cancer. The 2018 Cattle Baron’s Ball is 6 weeks away and for the first time in many years it is close to being a sold out event. Below is an empowering video of what we don’t know about kids cancer. Visit us at www.cattlebaronsballorlando.com to see how you can help these children #kidscancer #cattlebaronsballorlando #acs #fightcancer #support #donate #passion #makeithappen #children #americancancersociety

Chef Eric Parker’s New Healthy Spring Menu Preview at Duffy’s Sports Grill

At Duffy’s Sports Grill, Chef Eric Parker allowed us to have a sneak peak of his new healthy spring menu insert at Duffy’s Sports Grill and I am more than happy to share it with you all. The new menu will launch in April and it includes Orange Ginger Mahi, Tuna Poke Stack, Burrata Salad, and Tequila Lime Shrimp Tacos.

Burrata Salad – Burrata cheese served with local vine-ripe tomatoes and power greens, finished with balsamic and fig dressing. The greens and tomatoes are very fresh while the balsamic and fig dressing adds a sweet note to the dish. The Burrata cheese is a nice creamy touch and ties all of the flavors together.

Tuna Poke Stack – Ahi Tuna tossed with Duffy’s signature poke sauce stacked with freshly made pineapple salsa and mashed avocados, dusted with nori and tossed sesame seeds, Sriracha smear. Although Duffy’s is known as a sports grill, they do not hide from adding new and unique dishes, such as this. I thoroughly enjoyed this fresh dish and would come back for more!

Tequila Lime Shrimp Tacos – 3 mini flour tortillas loaded with marinated grilled shrimp, shredded cabbage, homemade pico de gallo and guacamole. Make sure you ask for lime as it adds a nice citrus touch to the dish and we all know I love lime.

Also, you can’t have your Tequila Lime Shrimp Tacos without some tequila!

It was great having a sit down with Chef Eric Parker and a shot of tequila.

Orange Ginger Mahi – is a sweet and lean Mahi Mahi with an orange ginger glaze over stir fried Soba noodles with broccoli, red bell peppers and onion, finished with pineapple salsa. I am not too fond of the Soba noodle flavors, but the Mahi Mahi was pretty great.

Key Lime Pie – cool and creamy key lime filling in a rich graham cracker crust. Duffy’s mentioned how it is an oversized piece of tropical bliss and they were not wrong.

Red Velvet Mini Donuts – red velvet mini donuts spun in sugar and served warm with cream cheese icing for dipping.

The donuts are very fluffy and moist.

As you can tell, this dish is one of my favorite items on the menu.

Duffy’s wouldn’t be Duffy’s with some delicious drinks. They are adding Effen Cucumber Martini and St-Germaine Cooler to their drink menu. Pictured is the Effen Cucumber Martini, which is a refreshing take on a classic cocktail, Effen Cucumber Vodka, agave syrup, mint, and a splash of lime.

Visit a nearby Duffy’s Sports Grill this month to experience the new healthy dishes yourself.

An Oldie, But a Goodie: Olivia’s Cafe at Disney’s Old Key West Resort

Olivia’s Cafe at Disney’s Old Key West Resort is no spring chicken.  Opening more than two decades ago, Olivia’s may not be the new kid on the block, but this somewhat hidden Disney gem with mouthwatering food will never go out of style.  Words like glamorous or trendy may not be the first to come to mind, be that as it may, the restaurant is a class-act with a comfortable, family-friendly atmosphere, a laid-back Florida Keys feel, and filled with staff that make everyone feel at home.  After my recent dinner here, I can’t help but wonder – Why don’t I come here more often?

A Friday night outing with close friends on vacation from New Jersey, during the typical chaos of spring break in Orlando, at the most sought after vacation destination in Florida, can be stressful to say the least.  Layer in five energetic children that have spent a very long, hot day in the park, finding a place that is family-friendly but also appealing to a grown-up’s palate (not that I don’t enjoy Disney’s chicken fingers and mac-n-cheese) was a must for all of our sanity.

In a uniquely Disney way, Olivia’s Café came to the rescue!  After the typical musical chairs that comes with a large group trying to navigate a restaurant table, we take our seats.  The kids are all happily plugged-in to electronic devices (desperate times call for desperate measures), and the first question our cheerful waitress asks – Would anyone care for a drink?  All four adults answer in unison – Yes!!!  I ask the waitress, as a foodie usually does, to please bring me one of their most-popular, signature cocktails, and a few minutes later, she gifts me with a Turtle Krawl.  This sweet, but not too sweet cocktail tricks your senses into believing you’re lying on a white-sand beach, and not watching your son spill his entire glass of soda all over the table.  Pineapple and orange juices blend nicely with the tang of lime juice, while three different rums (because one is never enough) marry together in beautiful coconut rum, spice rum, and white rum harmony.

As the Turtle Krawl works its magic granting peace among us four, the waitress suggests many appealing appetizers, but when she says onion rings from the “secret menu”, that’s it! Onion rings are most often a good pick to begin with, onion rings from a “secret menu”, they have to be even better…and yes, they were amazing!  Crunchy, salty, fried, golden rings with a pop of sweet from the cooked onions.  We ate our “secret menu” onion rings feeling like VIPs.  Well, that was us, until we slowed down enough to look up from our munching to see that several other tables also had them.  The jealously subsided faster than it was felt, most likely because of how delicious these secret menu onion rings are.

When it was time to order our entrees, I perused the menu of several dishes that I imagined were all incredible: Plantation Key Pork Chop, Tortuga Seafood Stew, Seven Mile Sea Scallops.  Finally, after several minutes of waffling, I asked the waitress, yet again, for Olivia’s most popular entree, and she recommended one dish that gets a lot of attention: Southernmost Buttermilk Chicken.  After eating this dish, I can clearly see why this southern jewel is the most popular girl in the class, and not in a mean girl kind of way.  Boneless chicken breast so tender, I envision it marinated in the buttermilk for days, and so delicate I barely used my knife to cut it.  The chicken’s crispy exterior is perfectly complimented by the southern gravy that has a perfect amount of spice and is smooth as silk.  Tender and crunchy chicken, creamy southern gravy, nestled on top of crisp green beans and buttery, smooth mashed potatoes.  Comfort food to the max.

I managed not to eat my entire dinner plate, considering the fact that I wanted to unbutton my jeans, a clear warning sign of when to stop, but…there’s always room for dessert!  Our waitress made the kids’ day with DIY sundaes, and she made my day with Banana Bread Pudding Sundae.  It was so sweet of her to bring my husband an extra spoon to share, and he really did put up a good fight, but that dessert had my name written all over it.  A warm bread pudding with a Bananas Foster topping and a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream that slowly melted on top…heavenly!  The bread pudding was moist (sorry, I hate that word too), the bananas foster was syrupy and luscious, and the ice cream was velvety, sweet.  A perfect ending to our dinner.

A successful dinner in the books, I will not let too much time pass without returning to Olivia’s Cafe.  Kids, or no kids, it is a perfect spot for a delicious meal and a serene atmosphere.  A classic Disney resort restaurant, I hope you venture to soon, and if you’ve already been, go again…and order the Turtle Krawl.

Olivia’s Cafe

Disney’s Old Key West Resort

1510 N Cove Rd. Orlando, FL 32830

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/old-key-west-resort/olivia-cafe/

CayCakes Bakery hosts inaugural “Last Course Dinner” an underground dessert dining experience

Second Course: Black sesame and vanilla cake with amaretto infused ganache (moist & delicious, my favorite!)

Have you heard of the new vegan bakery CayCakes Bakery?  They’ve only been open for half a year and are quickly becoming one of Orlando’s popular vegan bakeries.  Superstar soccer player Alex Morgan recently tweeted that CayCakes Bakery is one of her favorite spots in Orlando for vegan food.

We were invited to their inaugural “Last Course Dinner” this past weekend and we really impressed with their vegan desserts and their venue at Lake Eola Heights was perfection.

The First Course:  Crème Pâtissière with sou vide pineapple infused with vanilla and star anise

Third Course:  Activated charcoal chocolate cake topped with powdered matcha and lavender

Last Course: Grilled oats with macadamia nuts and agave topped with a grilled peach drizzled with olive oil and star anise, vanilla and cinnamon infused oatmilk ice cream

Co-owner of CayCakes Bakery, Cayden Fielder

Be sure to follow them on IG at @LastCourseOrlando for more information and tickets to their upcoming dessert dinners!

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