Month: May 2013

hurrah-our friend had a birthday and we were invited to help celebrate!  We joined him and a couple other friends at Prato in Winter Park.  We met in the doorway and while it was a warm evening it felt open, green, cool and dark inside-a total relief from the day.   And wonders will never cease because we got to sit immersed in the the hurry of the kitchen.  We sat at a counter high table that must be for prep and we were between the expediter and a station filled with dishes, condiments and  the kitchen itself.  I judiciously chose my seat so I could watch plates being cooked, plated, finished, and garnished.  Cooks with their heads down and a quiet determined hustle in an extremely open concept.  This is before we even take ten seconds to look at the menu.  But then we fall into that reverie that is an outstanding menu.  How do you choose between the options when they all sound amazing?  Prato has a classic Italian menu made seasonal with local ingredients.

I started with an aperitivo called bevanda fragola, a refreshing gin, strawberry puree and ginger drink that has wannabe’s totally populating my pinterest happy hour page!  Herbal and strawberry drinks are a hot weather dream come true.  We were treated to a dish of warm olives and the most gigantic capers.  I love capers!  We had a couple of starters including the most tender meatballs with cipollini agrodolce and beef carpaccio with grilled artichokes and amazing salty dry pecorino.  I ordered pizza – the widowmaker.  Prato has an amazing pizza oven and the crust was thin and blistered in my favorite way.  It had arugula, sausage and an egg.  Delicious.  Next time I would probably go for the pasta because Z had a primi plate of mustard spaghettini cacio e pepe that I tasted and horribly wanted to steal.  I have searched the internet for other mustard pastas.  So incredible-savory and addictive.  Cacio e pepe is a miracle sauce-only basically two ingredients, cheese and pepper in pasta water.  I do not understand it but when done well is a revelation of ingredients and flavor.  He also had some Cape Canaveral Flounder with orzetto and cauliflower caponata.  The mildest whitest fish we have ever seen with a beautiful sear.  I don’t often walk away from a meal thinking how absolutely beautiful the ingredients and flavors are.  The pride and care in each dish was so apparent.  This is my favorite kind of eating.

I have had some kind of blog slowdown for a few weeks and am trying to get back on track.  It wasn’t like I went off food or adventuring.  I spent some time working on some ideas for a friend who is looking to launch a holiday magazine, saw Anthony Bourdain, went to a new restaurant in the tourist district  and Z has been sick too-all that said, maybe this week I’ll get it back together.    We did get ourselves to a new restaurant in our ‘rural’ neighborhood called Nona Blue.  It is a clubby tavern sort of concept next to the Lake Nona Country Club and is backed by golfer Graeme McDowell.

It is full of warm wood, has a robust bar concept and is full of the golf shirt set.  We sat in a tall backed circular booth and had a fair view of the room as we perused the menu.  It was pretty busy with lots of post-work and post-golf schmoozing happening in front of our eyes.   I went sort of traditional choosing fish and chips and Z had a pork chop.  The fish and chips were solid.  Two nicely sized chunks of white fish with a crunchy coating and steak fries.  I really liked the tartar sauce a lot.  It was really dilly and I didn’t think I liked dill.  I might though.  I wasn’t sure the server had been serving long as when I asked for malt vinegar she seemed surprised.  I also had a little trouble eating it as it is served in a wire basket and it was a little greasy so I wanted to use a fork and knife and the wires of the basket posed a less that perfect backdrop for use of cutlery but it tasted really good.  Z ordered a pork chop.  It came out no less than three inches thick.  Peculiarly, it was cooked through but not hot at all.  I wanted to send it back but he wouldn’t do it.    He said it tasted good with it’s accompanying mashed potatoes and apple chutney.  We weren’t really hungry but they had a trio of doughnuts as a dessert offering so we tried that too.  It was kind of funny really and unexpected, six mini doughnuts that were incredibly reminiscent of the ones you get in a gas station six pack.  Surprising and bizarre-they were warmed and served with sweet sauces of chocolate, strawberry and caramel.

The overall experience was quite strange.  We decided that if we went back we would try the burgers and sandwiches.  It was maybe a little pricey for a weeknight for us, but fits it’s target clientele well.  We didn’t have the very best experience we could have but will likely give it a second chance since it sits in our neighborhood.  In discussing this with a few people at work, they have all had better experiences than we did.  This might have something to it and we’ll have to give it a second chance.