GOOD EATS: THE FIERY CHEF
‘‘His Own Boss Again’ By Rick Allen • Photos By John Jernigan
With COVID-19 raging here locally, Ocala’s Good Life has found the ideal place for gourmet food in a pandemic, a revered local chef’s latest dining option that’s perfecting the art of take-out.
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e all thought—“hoped” might be a better term— that the coronavirus would be gone by now. Instead, it’s hanging around like a deadbeat relative who won’t take a hint. As a result, we’ve had to adapt to new ways of routine. Meals at the dinner table are more common now; dining out no longer is a way of life. As 2020 dawned, the nation was on track to another record year for restaurants, the National Restaurant Association reports. Now, we’ll be lucky if our favorite places survive. Consumer eating and drink-
OCALA’S GOOD LIFE retirement redefined
ing in April, the NRA adds, plunged to its lowest level since October 1984. Like us, eateries have had to adapt to new ways of doing the routine. “Surviving COVID-19 requires courage,” notes the food service blog Fast Casual. “To beat the odds, restaurant owners need vision.” Take Loring Felix, for instance. He’s tackled the odds before as a fixture on the area’s culinary landscape for decades—O’Neals on the Downtown Square as a top grad
