Make it Magical

By Tarre Beach

From August 18 through October 1, Visit Orlando’s Magical Dining will offer three-course fixed-priced menus at some of Orlando’s best restaurants. This year, a new tiered menu system allows you to have your appetizer, entree, and cake and eat it too at more restaurants.

Diners can now have a fantastic dining experience and delicious meal for $40 or $60 (not including tax and gratuity). Some $60 menus available at the 115 participating restaurants include The Ravenous Pig, A Land Remembered, Salt & The Cellar, AVA MediterrAagean, and BACÁN.

According to Visit Orlando’s president and CEO Casandra Matej, these changes reflect the “incredible growth and range of Orlando’s culinary scene.”

Additionally, several Michelin Guide recommended, and Michelin Bib Gourmand restaurants are participating this year. Michelin defines recommend restaurants (not restaurants with Michelin stars) as ones where diners can find quality food and Bib Gourmand restaurants as friendly establishments that serve good food at moderate prices.

Originally called Magical Dining Month and running during September, this affordable access to culinary delights began in 2009 to help boost business during what is historically a slow time for Central Florida restaurants. During the pandemic, the event collected a record-breaking $345,378 for Feed the Need Florida in 2020.

This year’s beneficiary is The Lifeboat Project, an Apopka, FL headquartered organization that raises awareness on the issue of human trafficking, empowering the lives of survivors through short and longterm aftercare, residential programs and education. Proceeds from this year’s program will support The Lifeboat Project’s mental health counseling and trauma recovery and assist with human trafficking prevention and education. According to The Lifeboat Project, Central Florida is among the three worst human trafficking areas in the United States.

During Magical Dining, The Lifeboat Project will receive $1 for each $40 meal and $2 for each $60 meal. To ensure that donations have a widespread impact throughout our community, Visit Orlando will also award a $2,000 donation to one local nonprofit in each of Orange County’s six commission districts that support this cause. Those six charities include: Mustard Seed of Central Florida, Nuevo Sendero, One Heart for Women and Children, Salvation Army Orlando, Samaritan Village, and Wake Up Mentoring.

In the first year of Magical Dining, Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children was the event’s nonprofit partner. Nonprofits can apply to be the beneficiary of this feel- and tastegood annual event through an application process that starts in March.

To view menus, find participating restaurants, and in many cases, make reservations, go to MagicalDining.com/restaurants