Orlando Life September 2013

MIKE THOMAS ON A WHALE OF A CONTROVERSY

T H E B E S T O F C E N T R A L F LO R I DA

ARTS PREVIEW THE TOP 20 OTHER-WORLDLY FALL FASHION TRIAL BY FIRE ZIMMERMAN’S OTHER LAWYER Maestro John Sinclair eats, sleeps and breathes music.

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September 2013

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CONTENTS

september

Volume 14

Issue 9

DEPARTMENTS 8 JAY BOYAR’S LIMELIGHT

Jay takes a look at three new exhibits at the too-often-overlooked Cornell Fine Arts Museum; Epcot hosts its annual Food & Wine Festival, while the Global Peace Film Festival returns for its 11th straight year; indie-pop group, fun., plays at the UCF Arena, and divine diva Diana Ross stops in the name of Hard Rock Live.

16 P ROFILE Lorna Truett had been an attorney for less than a year when she got the assignment of a lifetime: helping to defend George Zimmerman. by Randy Noles

49 FLAVOR

September is the best month of all when it comes to finding bargains at top-notch restaurants in and around Orlando. by Rona Gindin • photographs by Rafael Tongol

60 PEOPLE & PLACES

Paula looks forward to the 2013-14 gala season, previewing the old standbys as well as a few newcomers. by Paula Wyatt

32

22 FALL FASHION Trends for the fall fashion season, photographed at NASA’s Visitor Complex, are out of this world. by Marianne Ilunga • photographs by Rafael Tongol

30 ARTS PREVIEW We sort through Orlando’s myriad cultural offerings for the 2013-14 season and present the highlights. by Michael McLeod • photographs by Rafael Tongol

64 RESTLESS NATIVE

There’s a whale of a controversy over at SeaWorld. by Mike Thomas MIKE THOMAS ON A WHALE OF A CONTROVERSY

T H E B E S T O F C E N T R A L F LO R I DA

ARTS PREVIEW THE TOP 20 OTHER-WORLDLY FALL FASHION TRIAL BY FIRE ZIMMERMAN’S OTHER LAWYER Maestro John Sinclair eats, sleeps and breathes music.

$3.95

September 2013

ABOUT THE COVER: Maestro John Sinclair is serious about his music. Sometimes he just eats it up. Photograph by Rafael Tongol.

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Photos: RAFAEL TONGOl

FEATUREs

SEPTEMBER 2013

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FIRST

from the editor

Caught in the Act

W

AND A GOOD THING, TOO.

inner, winner, chicken dinner: I can’t remember who told me, years

ago, that one of the secrets of getting along with people is to catch them doing something right.

I got a chance to put that advice into practice the other day as I was standing in line behind a young woman who was struggling to pay for parking at one of those automated kiosks on the city-operated Garland Street lot downtown. I was in a hurry. I sighed, rolled my eyes, passed judgment.

But a smiling, attractive, middle-aged woman behind me saw that the young woman at the kiosk was struggling because of the birthday cake she was balancing.

So she circled around me and helped her to feed the machine.

“We should be giving you a cake,” I told the Good Samaritan as she returned to take her place in the line.

Catching people doing something right is on my mind this month because we were just caught doing a little bit of something right ourselves.

Orlando Life’s photographer, Rafael Tongol, took second place in the photo illustration category at the recent Charlie Awards, sponsored by the Florida Magazine Association. The highly competitive “Charlies” are presented every year for editorial and graphic excellence among magazines published in the Sunshine State.

Our sister publication, Winter Park Magazine, netted a second place win in the custom magazine category. And Sarasota Magazine, our other sister publication — actually, I refer to it as “The Mother Ship” — captured a dominating 11 awards, including “Best Magazine.”

I felt the best about Rafael and the team he represents, which includes stylist Marianne Ilunga, makeup artist Elsie Knab, art director Laura Bluhm, and model after hard-working model. You’ll see a great example of the wonders wrought by that hardworking team in this issue’s fall fashion feature.

I never worry about a photographer who sounds excited when I give him an assignment, and that means I never worry about Rafael, because he brings it time after time.

The photo illustration that won the award for him was typical. It was a portrait of Jessilyn Park, an Orlando painter with a knack for marketing herself over the Internet. He told me what his plan was for the photo. I only had a vague grasp of what he was saying — but all I really had to hear was the enthusiasm in his voice.

For the record, he used Photoshop to assemble a digital-patchwork portrait of her that combined a studio photo with images on an iPhone, an iPad and an iMac. Nice work, Rafael. And nicer still to see you and our team got caught doing it.

Take Note What’s SOCIAL

Follow us on twitter: @OrlandoLifeMag and Facebook at: facebook.com/orlandolifemagazine.

We’re on Google+ and Pinterest too: pinterest.com/orlandolife/.

What’s ONLINE Check out our expanded listing of arts organizations and their schedules of events for the upcoming season.

What you CAN DO Sip & Stroll along Park Avenue Sept. 12 from 5-8 p.m. For just $25 bucks you can sample wine and hor d’oeuvres laid out by 20 participating Park Avenue boutiques and restaurants. We’ve scouted out this moveable feast for you and can vouch for the high-end munchies: Last time around, anyway, the merchants seemed bent on outdoing each other with their offerings, and there was not so much as a single stale pretzel in sight.

What’s ON DECK Michael McLeod Editor in Chief mmcleod@orlando-life.com 4

ORLANDO LIFE

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In our October issue, we’ll reveal the Home of the Year, and present other awards to worthy architects, builders and home designers.

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A

T MICHAEL MCLEOD Editor in Chief

HARRY WESSEL

Managing Editor

LAURA BLUHM

Art and Social Media Director Style and Home Editorial Director

JAY BOYAR Arts Editor

RONA GINDIN Dining Editor

MARIANNE ILUNGA, MIKE THOMAS, PAULA WYATT Contributors

RAFAEL TONGOL

Senior Photographer

KEN LOPEZ

Contributing Photographer

SAMANTHA ROSENTHAL, RACHEL WILLIAMS Editorial Interns

Editorial: press@orlando-life.com

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Senior Associate Publisher Director of Marketing & Public Relations

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ORLANDO LIFE (USPS 000-140) (Vol. 14/Issue No. 9) is published monthly by Florida Home Media LLC, 2700 Westhall Lane, Ste 128, Maitland, FL 32751. Periodicals Postage Paid at Maitland, FL and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Orlando Life Magazine, 330 S. Pineapple Ave., Suite 205, Sarasota, FL 34236.

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LIMELIGHT

jay boyar

The Secret’s Out at the Cornell STOLEN TREASURES, A CUFFLINK AND FRAGILE AVIAN ART.

is what I’d call it.

And Ena Heller, director of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum, is quick to agree. “I have heard it a number of times,” she says, when I visit her office at Rollins College. “‘We know there’s a museum there, but we thought it was just for the students.’”

Although I’m well aware the Cornell isn’t only for the matriculated few, I have to admit that I can’t remember the last time I stopped by to look at the art.

One way that Heller has been trying to change the museum’s image — or lack of same — is by offering free admission for all of 2013. To everyone. And from Sept. 17 through Dec. 8, the Cornell will be presenting three exhibits that I’m guessing will raise the museum’s profile, both on campus and off.

I’ll describe them one by one below. But in general, I see them as Heller’s unofficial coming-out party. Though she’s been running the museum for a year, they may well represent the most visible indications of her, well, direction as director.

“I’m hoping that this museum can become much more open to the community,” she says, “and much more of a resource.”

8

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COLLECTING AT THE CORNELL

The Cornell has been around for 35 years. At first, much of its collection consisted of donated art. But in the 1990s, the museum began to have actual acquisition funds.

How that money was put to use is reflected in Albrecht Dürer to Claes Oldenburg: Collecting at the Cornell, 1990-2010. The exhibit includes about 60 items, acquired during that flush, twodecade period, including the work of both Old Masters, such as Dürer, and more recent artists.

Picasso, Christo, Cézanne, Lichtenstein, Rauschenberg, Calder, Basquiat, de Kooning and Stella are among the major artists included in this exhibit. Together they’ll showcase “a wide representation of the different styles and the different movements of the 20th century,” Heller explains. “We’re the only museum in the larger Orlando area to have a truly encyclopedic collection.”

Jacob Lawrence, arguably the most respected AfricanAmerican painter of the last century, is represented in this show by a silkscreen of his dynamic “Revolt on the Amistad.”

Swedish-American sculptor Claes Oldenburg — that merry prankster of modern art who helped to create the “happenings” of the 1960s — is represented by a lithograph, “Picasso Cufflink,” a tongue-in-cheek tribute to the earlier artist.

PHOTOS: COURTESY CORNELL FINE ARTS MUSEUM

A

n image problem

SEPTEMBER 2013

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Auktion 392

All across Germany, on the night of Nov. 9, 1938, Nazi storm troopers set fire to 900 synagogues and destroyed 7,000 Jewish businesses, killing many and transporting thousands of others to concentration camps.

These tragic events are known collectively as Kristallnacht, or “Night of Broken Glass.” This year’s 75th anniversary of that dark night will be commemorated in various ways around the world and throughout Central Florida.

Auktion 392: Reclaiming the Galerie Stern, Düsseldorf is the Cornell’s contribution. The exhibit focuses on the Max Stern gallery in Düsseldorf, one of many whose art was stolen by the Nazis and sold at auction.

Stern escaped the Holocaust and ended up in Montreal, where some of the art was recovered and the current show was created. The exhibit is a historical exploration, featuring archival photographs and highlighting the hot-button issue of restitution for those whose art was looted.

“It’s a big issue,” Heller notes. “We are bringing a panel discussion here that will talk about specific efforts in Florida.”

Delicate paper bird sculptures (facing page) by Diana Beltran Herrera represent the fragility of life and the ecosystem that supports it. A Picasso lithograph of a cufflink (above) and works looted from the Max Stern gallery in Düsseldorf (below) will be part of two other upcoming exhibits at the Cornell.

Birds of Florida

The third of these upcoming shows is a small but intriguing one, inherited by Heller from a previous Cornell administration. Diana Beltran Herrera: Birds of Florida will contain only a handful of items — sculptures depicting local, or mostly local, birds.

“They’re small and they’re made of paper so they’re very fragile,” says Heller of these avian artworks by Herrera, a Colombian artist. “So this is her way of talking about the fragility of life and the fragility of an ecosystem.”

You’ll probably have to look above you to see this show.

“We’re hoping to suspend them from the ceiling, like they’re flying,” adds Heller. Here’s hoping the Cornell will take flight, as well.

Visit rollins.edu/cfam for more information. n Jay Boyar, arts editor of Orlando Life, has written about film and travel for the Orlando Sentinel and numerous other newspapers.

He’s the author of Films to Go: 100 Memorable Movies for Travelers & Others and a contributor to Reel Romance: The Lovers’ Guide to the 100 Best Date Movies.

ORLANDO-LIFE.COM

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ORLANDO LIFE

9

8/15/13 2:20:14 PM

plan on it Steely Dan

Russell Brand

Colin Hay

The legendary jazz-rock fusion band, which has sold more than 40 million albums worldwide, has been reeling in listeners with clever lyrics and distinctive rhythms since the ‘70s.

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The Messiah Complex tour is the stand-up incarnation of the wildeyed British actor, TV personality and all-around madman: Who else would get himself dismissed from MTV for a skit that involved dressing up as Osama Bin Laden?

Who Can It Beeee Now? Colin Hay of Men at Work, that’s who.

The lead singer for the ’80s Aussie group will be knocking on the door to perform both oldies and new material from his recent album, Gathering Mercury.

Disney on Ice Presents Princesses & Heroes

Imagine Dragons

Other Desert Cities

The Las Vegas-based indie rock group will be making a local stop to promote Night Visions, its most recent album, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard chart. Standards include “It’s Time” and “Radioactive.”

Pulitzer Prize-finalist Jon Robin Baitz’s play takes place in Palm Springs on a Christmas Eve, when a young woman announces to her conservative parents she plans to publish a confessional memoir about the suicide of her radical brother.

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LIMELIGHT

film

Peace, and the Price to Be Paid

You don’t expect to hear the executive director of something

Billy Manes and his late partner Alan Jordan.

It will be paired in the festival with Billy and Alan, created by Orlando documentary filmmaker Vicki Nantz, about Orlando Weekly columnist Billy Manes. After his life partner, Alan Jordan, committed suicide last year, Manes went through a similar ordeal. He not only wrote about it but testified at the Florida House of Representatives as it was considering a domestic-partner registry.

Other festival films include a quirky, coming-of-age rockumentary, Mistaken for Strangers, and Whoopie Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley, a tribute to a groundbreaking black comedienne.

Visit peacefilmfest.org for information.

— Michael McLeod

MaryStuart Day and

Megan Cross

PHOTO: Carlos Amoedo

called the Global Peace Film Festival to start talking about action flicks. But that’s how founder Nina Streich sees the event, which will feature 40 films to be shown in five Central Florida locations when it returns to Orlando for its 11th year Sept. 17-22.

Streich says the films she most likes to showcase inspire people to take action to protect and create peace, be it planetary or personal. “That’s what distinguishes us from other festivals,” she says, pointing in particular to two films on this year’s slate.

Bridegroom is a documentary about a same-sex couple, Shane Bitney Crone and Tom Bridegroom, who had been in a committed relationship for six years, owning a home and business together, when Bridegroom accidentally fell to his death from a California rooftop.

Crone made a heartrending video, which he posted on You Tube, about being “erased” in the midst of his grief by his life partner’s family, who refused to let him attend the funeral.

The documentary evolved from that video.

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SEPTEMBER 2013 8/14/13 12:42:01 PM

8/15/13 2:20:47 PM

LIMELIGHT

music

This Group Just Wants to Have Lower-Case Fun

PHOTO: LINDSEY BYRNES

The name of the latest musical group to adopt quirky capital-

ization is “fun.” That’s with a lower case “f,” and a period after “N” that comes along for the ride, regardless of whether it’s at the end of a sentence. As in: fun. is an American indie-pop music group whose crossover power ballad, ‘We Are Young,’ became not just a Billboard Hot 100 hit but a generation’s carpe diem theme song. fun. has been nominated for 27 awards so far, winning four, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year at the 2013 Grammy Awards. The group will be making a stop on their Most Nights Tour

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at the University of Central Florida Arena. The undercard includes Tegan and Sara, a Canadian rock duo consisting of twin sisters, Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin. fun. has been described in Rolling Stone as a cross between Queen and Les Mis. Its most recent album, Some Nights, went platinum, while “We Are Young,” bolstered by a cover on the hit TV show Glee, topped the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks, with more than 6 million digital downloads.

The group has also collaborated to create The Ally Coalition (TAC) — an organization that supports LGBTQ rights.

Visit ucfarena.com for more information.

— Samantha Rosenthal

ORLANDO LIFE

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8/15/13 2:21:43 PM

LIMELIGHT

music

During a heady stretch in 1965, in an ac-

complishment that has never been duplicated by an American singing group, Diana Ross and The Supremes had five consecutive No. 1 singles on the Billboard Top 100: “Where Did Our Love Go,” “Baby Love,” “Come See About Me,” “Stop! In the Name of Love” and “Back in My Arms Again.”

Motown reigned over the airwaves.

The Supremes reigned over Motown.

And Ross reigned over the Supremes.

The silky-voiced matriarch of a golden, crossover era for soul will perform at Hard Rock Live Orlando on Sept. 3.

Raised in a Detroit housing project, Ross sang in the gospel choir of a Baptist church. That was where she met

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Florence Ballard and Mary Wilson, who would become the other two Supremes.

The trio initially sang in clubs as companions to a male group. Then Smokey Robinson got them an audition with the legendary Barry Gordy Jr., mastermind of the Detroit-based Motown Records.

Ross went on to a career as a soloist and actress, winning a Golden Globe award for her riveting performance as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings The Blues; starring in The Wiz with her close friend, Michael Jackson; and winning a Special Tony Award for An Evening with Diana Ross.

In 2012, she was honored with a

Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

She’s one of the few recording artists to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame ­— one for her solo artist career and another for being a member of The Supremes.

Visit hardrocklive.com for information.

— Samantha Rosenthal

PHOTO: HARD ROCK LIVE ORLANDO

The Divine Miss D Says ‘Come See About Me’

SEPTEMBER 2013

8/15/13 2:21:53 PM

LIMELIGHT

events

At Food & Wine, a Few Menu Makeovers Patisserie.” Regional lunches featuring wine pairings will take place on Fridays and Sundays at the newly renovated

photo: ©Disney

Good restaurants are always adding new

dishes to the menu. The same thing happens on a grander scale when the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival rolls around.

At this year’s festival, which runs from Sept. 27 thought Nov. 11, one of the biggest gustatory makeovers will be at the French pavilion.

New dishes will include Boeuf Bourguignon (braised short ribs in cabernet with mashed potatoes); Escargots Persillade en Brioche (garlic and parsley snails in brioche); and Crème Brûlée au Chocolat au Lait (chocolate milk crème brûlée topped with caramelized sugar).

A Parisian breakfast will also debut.

Every Saturday, among other delicacies, Les Chefs de France will feature handshaped baguettes, made from scratch every morning in “Les Halles Boulangerie

Monsieur Paul Restaurant.

“I think it’s a good way for guests to experience France in a quick instant, and without the jetlag,” says Eric Weistroffer, the general manager of operations at Chefs de France.

Additions to the menu elsewhere include seared Scottish salmon with cauliflower purée, watercress and malt vinaigrette, and Scottish banoffee tart with bananas, Walkers shortbread crumbles and sweet cream.

At the Brazilian marketplace, there’ll be crispy pork belly with black beans, onions, avocado and cilantro, all of which will no doubt go down easier with a Brazilian cocktail: frozen Caipirinha featuring LeBlon Cachaça.

Visit disneyworld.disney.go.com for information.

— Samantha Rosenthal

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8/5/13LIFE 5:01 ORLANDO PM15

8/16/13 11:16:07 AM

PROFILE

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ORLANDO LIFE

4OHL_Sept13 Profile rev.indd 16

lorna truett

SEPTEMBER 2013

8/16/13 11:32:40 AM

First Case Scenario

A ROOKIE LAWYER’S HIGH-PROFILE TRIAL BY FIRE.

I

PHOTO: rafael tongol

n an era of sometimes overwrought

24-hour news coverage and instant commentary from anyone who posts, tweets or blogs, highprofile criminal trials always make celebrities of notable participants.

The State of Florida vs. George Zimmerman was no different. But there was one key player who was both highly visible and oddly inscrutable.

Wearing an inevitable muted pantsuit, she sat at the defense table scribbling notes and occasionally whispering to the stoic Zimmerman and lead defense attorney Mark O’Mara.

Newspaper cutlines identified the woman with shoulder-length blonde hair as Lorna Truett, co-counsel. Although she never questioned a witness, spoke to a reporter or addressed the jury, she played an integral, behindthe-scenes role in this high-profile, once-in-a-career case.

Truett, whose name hangs on the shingle outside the tiny converted house from which O’Mara practices family and criminal law, had been out of law school less than two years and had been an attorney for about 10 months when Zimmerman came calling.

“I had kind of a premonition that we would get the case,” says Truett, who’s 39 but looks a decade younger. “I’d heard about it on the news, of course, and I asked a paralegal in the office if this was the sort of case Mark would take if asked. She said it was.” nnn The trial was the result of a tragic twilight encounter between Martin, an unarmed African-American ORLANDO-LIFE.COM

4OHL_Sept13 Profile rev.indd 17

By Randy Noles high-schooler walking through Sanford’s Twin Lakes neighborhood after purchasing candy from a nearby convenience store, and Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Neighborhood Watch coordinator who was toting a Kel-Tec PF-9 9 mm semiautomatic pistol.

A fight ensued — no one other than Zimmerman will ever know exactly how it started — during which the doughy insurance adjuster was apparently taking a nasty beating. A single shot was fired and Martin was killed.

The Sanford Police Department, already widely mistrusted in the black community, was roundly excoriated for not charging Zimmerman with a crime.

“There is no evidence to dispute Zimmerman’s assertion that he shot Martin out of self-defense,” said Police Chief Bill Lee, who was later fired.

After Seminole County State Attorney Norm Wolfinger agreed with Lee’s assessment and recused himself from the case, the ensuing public outcry compelled Gov. Rick Scott to appoint Jacksonville State Attorney Angela Corey as special prosecutor.

In March, just weeks following the fatal encounter and without convening a grand jury, Corey’s office charged Zimmerman — who was at the time seeking a criminal-justice degree from Seminole State College — with second-degree murder.

Like many other Central Floridians, Truett’s knowledge of the events in Twin Lakes was limited to what she had seen on television or read in newspapers.

She didn’t quite know what to make of the conflicting stories or the racial

implications, particularly since Zimmerman was being identified as Hispanic.

But, as a mother, she was moved by the first images disseminated of Martin, which were several years old and showed him as a child, not a young man.

She had also heard tapes of a 911 call made by Zimmerman during which he clearly appeared to be profiling Martin.

“This guy looks like he’s up to no good,” Zimmerman said. “He looks black.”

Later it was revealed that the tape, which aired on NBC’s Today Show, had been edited and failed to show that Zimmerman was responding to a question from a dispatcher about Martin’s ethnicity.

The apparently irresistible vigilante narrative, disseminated by an uncritical media, quickly took hold and was widely accepted, at least initially. An unarmed boy was dead; outrage, it seemed, was justified.

Still, Truett reminded herself, even guilty people are entitled to vigorous representation. A lawyer’s job was to set aside personal feelings and work hard for every client, regardless of what he or she had allegedly done.

“I was in the car with Mark when George first called,” Truett recalls. “We were coming back from court in Sanford.

From hearing just Mark’s side of the conversation, I knew we were in. By the time we arrived at the office, the whole front lawn was covered with media.”

Truett’s nascent career, which she had expected to be in family law, had just shifted course dramatically. Soon she would find herself at the center of an explosive trial that would reveal as ORLANDO LIFE

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lorna truett

Defense attorneys Mark O’Mara, Don West and Lorna Truett await the jury’s verdict with their client, George Zimmerman. much about society as it revealed about either Zimmerman or Martin. nnn Born and raised in Longwood, Truett is the only child of Jack and Lorna Osborn (she shares a first name with her mother). Her parents had a busi18

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ness building swimming pools; today her mother is senior associate publisher of Orlando Life and her father is a salesperson for 3 Guys Solar Energy.

Truett graduated from Lake Brantley High School and enrolled at FSU, where she planned to major in humanities. She spent two years in Tallahassee, but returned to Central Florida when her mother was involved in a horrific, near-fatal car accident.

While the senior Lorna defied expectations and recuperated, her daughter

waited tables at Outback and wondered what her own future held. The answer came in the form of a classified ad from Sasser and Weber P.A., a family law practice operated by the husband-and-wife team of Lee Sasser and Nancy Weber.

“Nancy and Lee are the reason I became a lawyer,” says Truett, who was hired as a legal assistant. “They encouraged me, and told me I ought to go to law school.”

Although she had no legal training, Truett was soon doing everything a

Used with permission of the Orlando Sentinel, copyright 2013

PROFILE

SEPTEMBER 2013

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paralegal could do, even helping to write pleadings. She became integral to the practice, and continued to work full time while attending Rollins College.

In 2002 she graduated with a degree in humanities and married Bill Truett, a CPA. “Lorna was just a very smart young lady; competent and capable,” says Sasser. “She got things done.”

“I had always tossed around the idea of being a lawyer,” says Truett, who in 2007 enrolled at the Florida A&M ORLANDO-LIFE.COM

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College of Law. Ironically, considering the nature of the Zimmerman case, Florida A&M is a historically black college, although whites comprise about 40 percent of the law school’s student body.

Truett, who describes herself as politically conservative but not extreme, doesn’t believe that her own experience as a minority in law school “made any difference at all” in shaping her worldview.

A busy mother of two, she was seeking a degree, not advancing a cause.

“If not for Florida A&M opening in Orlando, I couldn’t have become a lawyer,” she says. “But as for the trial, I’m sure a lot of my professors would have preferred a different result.”

At first she took classes at night and cared for two daughters — yet another Lorna, a toddler, and Jamison, an infant — during the day. She studied while the children napped and continued to work for Sasser and Weber on the weekends.

Despite the punishing schedule, Truett thrived in law school. She quickly became a full-time day student, excelled in her classes and graduated in 2010. She passed the Bar Exam in February 2011 and was administered the Oath of Attorney by Weber, her friend and mentor.

O’Mara hired her as an associate — in fact, she would be the only other lawyer in his office — shortly thereafter.

“We kid Mark and tell him none of this would have been possible if he hadn’t stolen our staff,” says Weber.

“Of course, he didn’t steal Lorna. We recommended her to him. We’re her biggest fans.” nnn How Zimmerman came to contact O’Mara, who began his career as a Seminole County Assistant State Attorney before opening his own practice in 1984, is a subject of some friendly controversy.

Flamboyant Orlando criminal-defense attorney Mark NeJame says Zimmerman initially tried to hire him, but he turned the case down due to time constraints and suggested O’Mara.

O’Mara chuckles and says Zimmerman sought him out after recalling his performance as a television commentator during the Casey Anthony trial.

Either way, he asked Truett to accompany him to Zimmerman’s bond hearing, which is where she first met the man whose name had become a household word synonymous with violence and, in some circles, racism.

“My first impression of George was that he was much smaller than I expected,” says Truett. “He gained weight during the trial, but when I met him he was not a big man.” According to police reports, the 5-foot-8 Zimmerman weighed about 200 pounds the night he shot Martin.

“He was also very soft-spoken and polite,” she continues. “Everything was ‘yes sir’ and ‘yes ma’am.’ And I was really impressed by the people around him. He had so many friends who thought highly of him. Sometimes you can judge people by the way their friends stand by them.”

Truett says she was particularly engaged during jury selection. “I really felt involved, and that my opinion mattered,” she notes. “In the end, we got the jury we wanted.”

The defense team, Truett recalls, was constantly on guard for some sort of bombshell from the prosecution; some dramatic, unexpected revelation that would change the dynamic of the trial and force a strategic adjustment.

As events unfolded, it became clear that no such Hail Mary moment from Corey’s team was in the offing.

Still, everyone was watching and everyone — from casual observers to media commentators — had an opinion. Consequently, the trial brought a combination of acclaim and ridicule to its eclectic ORLANDO LIFE

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PROFILE

lorna truett

cast of characters, who became fixtures on national television and in newspapers and magazines around the world.

O’Mara fared well, even among those who believed that Zimmerman needed to be punished for something.

His low-key professionalism, intellectual demeanor and willingness to defend an unpopular client whose alleged crime involved racial overtones prompted the Washington Times to call him “modern-day America’s answer to Atticus Finch.”

“I learned so much from the trial,” Truett says. “And a lot of what I learned was from the way Mark presented himself in court and dealt with the media.”

Co-counsel Don West, a longtime friend of O’Mara’s, recovered from an ill-considered knock-knock joke during his opening statement to provide an effective and more demonstrative counterpoint to O’Mara’s Zen-like calm.

Less favorable reviews accrued to prosecutor John Guy, whose shocking first words to jurors recounted what Zimmerman had told a police dispatcher in a call shortly before the fight with Martin: “F——— punks. These a———-. They always get away.”

Corey, likewise, acquitted herself poorly. She gracelessly called Zimmerman “a murderer” during an interview following his acquittal; threatened retribution against her critics, including Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz; and has been accused by O’Mara of withholding evidence.

Truett, who leaves specific criticism of the prosecution team and its presentation to her boss, will only say that “they didn’t have much to work with.” nnn Meanwhile, perceptions of Zimmerman and Martin were also being shaped and reshaped. Racist and thug?

Hero and martyr? Or two otherwise unremarkable individuals, neither all good nor all bad, who simply failed to 20

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grasp the truism that discretion is often the better part of valor?

Truett, of course, never met Martin.

But during the trial she had formed strong opinions about Zimmerman.

Among her other duties, including handling cases for O’Mara’s less newsworthy clients, it fell to Truett to keep Zimmerman occupied during recesses and other lulls.

Although the conversations between them were intentionally casual, designed to assuage Zimmerman’s understandable anxiety, Truett believes she eventually came to know his heart.

“I tried to keep things light,” she says. “George has a dog, and we’re all big dog fans. He has a nephew about the same age as my girls, so we talked about kids.”

Truett says that she and O’Mara had no doubt Zimmerman was innocent, but not simply innocent in a technical sense. He was, they believed, a genuine Good Samaritan who believed in right and wrong, acted out of concern for his neighbors and killed Martin in self-defense.

“George is not a racist,” Truett says. “He didn’t break any law. The verdict means that the system, which I believe in, worked. In fact, it worked at its finest.”

She goes further, insisting that Zimmerman was charged with a crime only because of political pressure and misplaced outrage, heightened by incomplete or inaccurate information.

“Here was a person who was working hard, going to school, trying to better himself,” Truett says. “It’s scary that the media has the power to do this to someone. The media had already prosecuted him.”

Not everyone agrees that the Zimmerman verdict speaks well of the legal system. Many hold precisely the opposite view. Charles Blow, an op-ed columnist for the New York Times, has

been particularly scathing in the aftermath of the trial. “[The verdict] was the perfect wrenching coda to a story that illustrates just how utterly and completely our system of justice — both moral and legal — failed Martin and his family,” wrote Blow in July.

The columnist noted that “one can intellectually rationalize” the verdict, but added that the tragedy, in his view, was a result of Zimmerman’s “ascribing motive and behavior and intent and criminal history to a boy who was just walking home.”

Truett, however, has no regrets and no second thoughts. She has come away from her first criminal trial energized and eager to shift her focus from family law to criminal law.

“The trial made me more confident in myself as a lawyer,” she says. “I may never work on another case that matches the intensity of this one, but I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.’

She realizes, however, that she will not view all of her clients as hapless Good Samaritans. Many criminal defendants are, in fact, guilty. Her job, perhaps more often than not, will be to mitigate punishment meted out to unsavory characters.

“As a mom, there are obviously some cases that I would have a problem defending,” Truett says. “Child molestation is one. But everyone is entitled to representation. I understand that.”

In the meantime, fallout from the Zimmerman case has been less noisy than many anticipated. Perhaps it’s because even many of those outraged by the verdict recognize that the case against him was dodgy at best.

Much of the residual anger has instead focused on changing Florida’s controversial “stand your ground” law, which, as it turned out, was not even a factor in Zimmerman’s defense.

But local law enforcement agencies SEPTEMBER 2013

8/16/13 1:21:46 PM

were prepared for the worst. Truett says that following the verdict she and her husband stopped by the office. When they arrived, they got a surprise.

“There were two police cars and two police officers with rifles hiding behind the pillars in front of the building,” she recalls. “And we did get death threats. There was one on our office voicemail that said, ‘You’re going to die on Monday.’”

Police advised Truett to change her daily routine for a while; to take new routes to work and shop at different places. Now her life is settling back into a relatively normal pattern.

A fitness buff who has competed in several half-marathons, she has even resumed running and adhering to the extreme fitness regimen called for in

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the Insanity Workout set of DVDs. She’s flattered by the kudos and amused by the offers for dates and even some marriage proposals. Says Truett: “We got one email at the office that said, ‘Who was the blonde sitting at the defense table? She was a bright ray of sunshine!’”

O’Mara himself says he never doubted that Truett could handle the pressure and the attention. After all, he notes, she may have been a newly minted lawyer, but she had worked in law offices for a decade.

“This case has set Lorna up nicely,” says O’Mara, who has been making the rounds of nationally broadcast talk shows while coordinating a rapidly expanding criminal-defense practice.

“It was a team effort, of course, but

she rose to the occasion. The proof is in the pudding.” nnn For Truett, one moment in particular stood out during the trial. And the cameras didn’t catch it.

Because most members of Zimmerman’s family and many of his friends had been placed on the prosecution’s witness list, they were not allowed to attend. The reserved seats behind the defense table would have been empty, except for one thing.

“We put our people in those seats,” says Truett. “Mostly people from our office. I said to George, ‘I’m so sorry your friends and family can’t be here during all this.’

“George glanced behind him and said: ‘No, they’re here.’” n

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SPACE:

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SEPTEMBER 2013

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:

THE FASHION FRONTIER WHERE BETTER TO EXPLORE THE ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES FOR FALL THAN THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER VISITOR COMPLEX?

by Marianne Ilunga photographs by Rafael Tongol hair & makeup by Elsie Knab Adriana I, from AbFab Management — she’s the one on the right — looks terrestrial but terrific in BCBG black leather panel leggings, $135, from Saks Fifth Avenue, The Florida Mall. Her Rebecca Taylor quilted leather jacket, $595; B Brian Atwood strappy caged booties, $495; and Alexander McQueen red clutch with skull padlock, $1,155; are from Neiman Marcus, The Mall at Millenia. Her Diesel black and red animal-print overcoat with leather sleeves, $795, is from Diesel, The Mall at Millenia.

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At the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, where the space shuttle Atlantis has found a permanent home, Adriana is poised for earthbound adventures in a Clover Canyon black and white graphic-print dress, $265; Les Copains black coat with leather details, $1,595; DVF animal-print handbag, $545; Stuart Weitzman over-the-knee flat boots, $598; Alexis Bittar black and gold earrings, $195; and Alexis Bittar black lucite and goldtone bangles, $125-$165; all from Saks Fifth Avenue, The Florida Mall.

Facing page: Adriana is in control in Theory black and white houndstooth ankle pants, $275; an Akris Punto black and white polkadot peplum jacket, $1,580; and Saint Laurent snakeskin booties, $1,695. Her black lucite bangles $125-$275; black and gold zebra ring, $215; black lucite chain-link necklace, $325; and black zebra drop earrings, $245; are by Alexis Bittar. All are from Neiman Marcus, The Mall at Millenia.

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SEPTEMBER 2013

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SEPTEMBER 2013

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CREDITS: Photo Assistant, Chris Rank; Editorial intern, rachel Williams

Facing page: Adriana’s Just Cavalli multicolor tribal-print sheath dress, $595; Jose and Maria Barrera beaded purple and gold tone teardrop earrings, $415; and Giuseppe Zanotti gold-mirrored peep-toe booties, $995; are from Neiman Marcus, The Mall at Millenia. Her Diesel multicolor faux fur overcoat, $498, is from Diesel, The Mall at Millenia. Her Burberry royal purple studded tote, $2,495, is from Saks Fifth Avenue, The Florida Mall.

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Her Diane von Furstenberg bright blue lace dress, $395; Les Copains bright blue coat, $1,195; Kenneth Jay Lane gold earrings, $90; Ray Ban blue aviator mirrored sunglasses, $160; Kenneth Jay Lane gold cuff, $215; and Furla blue shopper handbag, $895; are all from Saks Fifth Avenue, The Florida Mall. Her Carmen Steffens metallic blue anklestrap sandals, $244, are from Carmen Steffens, The Mall at Millenia.

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SEPTEMBER 2013

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Facing page: Adriana’s plum-color velvet hat, $350; and nude-color purse with gold chain strap, $225; are from EricJavits.com. Her BCBG purple flower-print and lacepattern top, $228; BCBG black flare skirt, $158; and Vince camel and gray overcoat, $675; are from Saks Fifth Avenue, The Florida Mall.

Her Vince black leather sleeveless top, $495; Vince black leather pants, $1,085; and Nest gold necklace with faux sharks’ teeth, $350; are from Saks Fifth Avenue, The Florida Mall. Her Donald J Pliner distressed vintage-suede short boots, $348, are from Donald J Pliner, The Mall at Millenia. Her Valentino camo print tote $1,995 is from Neiman Marcus, The Mall at Millenia.

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8/16/13 3:07:00 PM

It’s Our

Best Guess At Your Can’t Miss EN POINTE OR ON STAGE, FROM OCTOBER TO MAY, HERE ARE THE LIKELY HITS OF THE NEW ARTS SEASON.

by Michael McLeod photographs by Rafael Tongol

E

very year, Orlando Life previews

AT THE BATON

The next time you hear classical music being played in Central Florida, look for this man. Chances are, he’ll be nearby. John Sinclair is professor of music at Rollins College and conductor of music for the Bach Festival Society. He’s also director of music for the First Congregational Church of Winter Park and has become one of the mainstay maestros at the annual Epcot Candlelight Processional. And he established an Arts-inEducation program that brings music to thousands of publicschool students every year. Sinclair is, above all, an educator: He started out as a middle-school teacher in Independence, Mo., and likes to point out that “maestro” means “teacher.”

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the most intriguing events slated for the coming arts and entertainment season and assembles what we call a Can’t-Miss List.

It’s inevitably subjective. No doubt we left some great events out, and we intentionally overlooked several mainstays in favor of promising newcomers.

But if you’re looking to mark your calendar with the most noteworthy events of a promising 2013-2014 season, this will give you a very good start.

So take a trek with us from Halloween and Vine to the Yellow Brick Road and points beyond. Welcome to our annual sneak peek.

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8/16/13 3:07:18 PM

SPIRITS IN SANFORD

IN THE STUDIO

Matt Cornell’s paintings always depict houses. There are never any people in sight, and the paintings are rendered in such meticulous detail that they could easily be mistaken for photographs. But though his subjects are merely bricks, wood and glass, they exude a presence, a warmth, an embrace. “I moved around a lot as a child,� says Cornell, the Best of Show winner at this year’s Winter Park Sidewalk Art Festival. “I never had one place where I felt settled.� It’s as though he’s found a home, of sorts, on the canvas. Cornell now lives with his wife in an older downtown Orlando neighborhood. He has no plans to move.

Jeanine Taylor Folk Art Gallery, Sanford Civic Center Oct. 4-5 jtfolkart.com Fueled by nostalgia and grass-roots creativity, Halloween-themed folk art festivals have cropped up from one coast to another over the past 20 years. The granddaddy of all of them is the cleverly named “Halloween and Vine� festival in Petaluma, Calif. Sanford’s annual entry in the spooky-time lineup includes two events: a smaller exhibit of Halloween art at the Jeanine Taylor Folk Art Gallery in the historic downtown area, then a larger one the next day at the Sanford Civic Center.

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8/16/13 3:07:44 PM

PHANTASMAGORIA IV: HELL HATH RISEN

ON THE EDGE

People didn’t know what to make of Patrick Kahn four years ago when, after moving from Los Angeles to Orlando, the French-born publisher, advertising executive and photography buff tracked down city leaders and volunteered to help the region develop a more sophisticated image. But unlike a lot of big-talk, big-city types, he followed through. He created an annual photography festival, dubbed Snap! Orlando, that attracts prestigious photographers from around the world for exhibits and seminars. The mission: “to boldly increase the visibility and appreciation of the photographic medium as a significant cultural art form.” Kahn’s enterprise now has a permanent home in a converted movie theater on East Colonial Drive.

www.bachfestivalflorida.org

www.unitedarts.cc

www.micheleepuppets.org

Lowndes Shakespeare Center Oct. 11-31 redchairproject.com Now in its fourth year, Phantasmagoria has become a local Halloween tradition. It’s a ghoulish theatrical mélange of creepy marionettes, devilish dancers, steam punk costumes and campy renderings of classic horror tales from the likes of Edgar Allen Poe and The Brothers Grimm. Year after year, John DiDonna, director of Valencia Community College’s Theater Department and co-founder of Empty Spaces Theater, just keeps on adding rooms to what is essentially the hippest haunted house in town.

Proud partners in philanthropy www.orlandorep.com

www.polasek.org

The Wint Wi n err P Paark rk Side dew de ewa walk Arrt Fe F stiv ivvaal iv www.wpsaf.org

It never ceases to amaze us how wonderful things grow from an simple idea. Central Florida is full of examples on how an idea can change a person’s life, a community’s outlook, a generation’s legacy.

We’re proud of our grantees and what they achieve right here in our own backyard.

Take a moment and send an email, or note. Better yet, stop in and say “thank you” to one of these outstanding partners today.

EDYTH BUSH EDYTH BUSH EDYTH BUSH CHARITABLE FOUNDATION CHARITABLE FOUNDATION CHARITABLE FOUNDATION We’re here for good. edythbush.org

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EN POINTE

VENUS IN FUR

When she was a little girl growing up in the Florida Keys, Anamarie McGinn had flat feet, so a podiatrist advised her mother to put her in a dance class. It was just a corrective measure, but it led to a lifelong passion. McGinn, who’s been a company member at Orlando Ballet for eight years, began with tap and jazz.

She fell in love with ballet after taking a class with the late, legendary David Howard, who had a studio near Lincoln Center and counted Natalia Makarova, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gelsey Kirkland and Cynthia Harvey among his students. “He knew how to give each dancer what they needed,” says McGinn. “He showed me that ballet could be fun. That was what I needed to believe.”

Mad Cow Theatre Oct. 18-Nov. 17 madcowtheatre.com If the casting couch could talk, it might tell a tale such as this. But it would have to be a pretty insightful couch to deconstruct the psychosexual undercurrents of this story. A brash young actress auditions for a play with a director who doesn’t thinks she’s right for the part: a high-end femme fatale. Boy, is he ever wrong. How the actress changes his mind, and how he reveals his own insecurities in the process, makes for a complex backstage drama: funny, sensual, thought-provoking and mysterious.

FREE ADMISSION

Collecting at the Cornell, 1990-2010 September 17–December 8, 2013

Art that makes you

think.

Left: Claes Oldenburg, Picasso Cufflink, 1974, lithograph, 1992.04.PR. ©1974 Claes Oldenburg Right: Jacques-François Blondel, Untitled, 18th century, graphite, 2007.08.DR.

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cfam.rollins.edu 1000 Holt Ave., Winter Park, FL 32789 | 407.646.2526

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8/16/13 3:08:49 PM

EMANUEL AX

ON STAGE

Philip Nolen is a longtime Disney World cast member and one of the judges during The American Idol Experience, a daily competition at the theme park. But when he isn’t judging talent, he’s displaying his own, using his vacation and leisure time to perform with various Orlando theatrical companies. His favorite role so far: the terminally envious Antonio Salieri in a Mad Cow production of Amadeus. A role he’s looking forward to: playing the leader of a troupe of actors in this season’s Orlando Shakes production of Nicholas Nickleby.

Tiedtke Concert Hall, Rollins College Oct. 23 bachfestivalflorida.org A classical pianist whose parents were both Holocaust survivors, Ax is recognized as one of the world’s great virtuosos. His wide-ranging repertoire includes contemporary composers such as John Adams, Christopher Rouse, Bright Sheng, Krzysztof Penderecki and Melinda Wagner, as well as the classical giants such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Chopin. Among other distinctions, he has been cellist Yo-Yo Ma’s recital partner for 40 years.

2013|2014

season

New Subscribers SAVE 50%!*

CLASSICS SERIES Opening Night Sept 28 Beethoven 7 Nov 16 Russian Romance Feb 8 & 9 Music of the Ballet March 8 Oliveira Plays Brahms April 5 POPS SERIES An American Salute Oct 12 Home for the Holidays Nov 30 Michael Cavanaugh: Songs of Elton John & More! Jan 11 A Louis Armstrong Tribute Feb 22 The Broadway Tenors March 22 All performances at Bob Carr PAC

Colleen Blagov, Principal Flute

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407.770.0071 | OrlandoPhil.org ORLANDO-LIFE.COM

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2 CELLOS

The Plaza Live Oct. 26 plazaliveorlando.com You probably never thought you’d ever hear “Welcome to the Jungle” or “Smells Like Team Spirit” played by a 500-yearold instrument. But that’s the unusual aesthetic of Luka Sulkic and Stjepan Hauser, two classically trained Croatians.

After their videos became You Tube sensations, they were signed to a recording contract and invited to tour with Elton John. Truth is, the cello can rock, and this duo isn’t the first to prove it. (There’s a Finnish group best known for playing Metallica tunes).The concert is one of the last chances you’ll have to say goodbye to the Plaza in its current, we’ll say “lived in” condition, before it’s revamped

and modernized by its new owner, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra.

THE BOOK OF MORMON

Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre Oct. 29-Nov. 10 orlando-theatre.com Two naïve missionaries travel to a small Ugandan village, which is ruled over by a murderous warlord. It sounds like a tragic headline in the making, not a story you’d set to music. But such is the premise of this strangely conceived but widely acclaimed musical satire. It was created by the writers of the animated comedy series South Park, who collaborated with the colyricist and composer of the adult-themed, singing-puppet musical, Avenue Q. The missionaries are comically misinformed as

theologians. The villagers are more concerned with survival than spirituality. It’s a situation that provides plenty of room for the extremely irreverent humor of the show, which won nine Tony awards after opening on Broadway in 2011.

EPCOT CANDLELIGHT PROCESSIONAL

American Gardens Theatre Nov. 29-Dec. 30 disneyworld.com It’s the mother of all local holiday concerts. A month-long run, three shows every evening. A 50-piece orchestra, complete with fanfare trumpets. A 300member choir singing traditional Christmas carols as a celebrity guest narrates the nativity story. (This year’s narrators include Whoopi Goldberg, Ashley Judd

Come Discover The Art...

Discover The

Come and experience one of Florida’s Largest & Best Outdoor Art Festivals.

November 23rd & 24th In Downtown DeLand

More than 180 artists from around the world!

Take I-4 East to DeLand.

Visit us on web for more information.

DeLandFallFestival.com 40

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about the travails of a young man who must support his mother and sister after his father dies. The novel was originally published as a serial in a magazine, and this incarnation of the tale is on the installment plan, too. You can either see it on successive evenings or opt for a oneday package deal, with a dinner at the Shakes or a nearby restaurant in between shows. The play, adapted for the stage by playwright David Edgar, was a successful Royal Shakespeare Company production before moving to Broadway in 1981.

War Horse features a surreal equestrian contraption that looks like something da Vinci might have designed. and Edward James Olmos.) In terms of sheer scale, nothing compares. Unfortunately, that includes the length of the line to get in. So go early, or get a Disney dinner package that includes reserved seats, or simply find a comfortable spot outside the theater but within hearing range.

2014

REMBRANDT, RUBENS, GAINSBOROUGH AND THE GOLDEN AGE OF PAINTING

Orlando Museum of Art Jan. 4-May 4 omart.org This extensive traveling exhibition of Old Masters creations from the Speed Art Museum in Louisville includes 18th- and 19th-century European paintings that represent key explorations into color, movement, emotion and sensuality. Famous works include “Portrait of a Forty-Year-Old Woman” by Rembrandt and “The Princes of the Church Adoring the Eucharist” by Rubens.

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THE SONGS OF ELTON JOHN

Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre Jan. 11 orlandophil.org Pianist and vocalist Michael Cavanaugh, who has turned nostalgia for ’70s’ rockers into a career, will team up with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra to perform “Crocodile Rock,” “Benny and the Jets, “Candle in the Wind” and other staples by the one and only Sir Elton. It’s a return visit to Orlando for Cavanaugh, who performed a Billy Joel tribute concert here in 2012. He developed both shows after being drafted to perform in Movin’ Out, a jukebox musical based on Joel’s repertoire of hits.

THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF NICHOLAS NICKLEBY

Lowndes Shakespeare Center Jan. 22-March 9 orlandoshakes.org It will take 30 actors playing 150 parts to present this ambitious, two-part play, adapted from the Charles Dickens novel

Orange County Regional History Center Jan. 25-March 23 thehistorycenter.org Created by the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, th-th-th-this exhibition traces the evolution from the 1930s to the 1960s of a universally popular set of cartoon characters that comprise the Looney Tunes universe. You know them: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, the ever-stuttering Porky Pig, Speedy Gonzales, Wile E. Coyote, Witch Hazel and others. The artistry required to bring these iconic characters to life will be illustrated with more than 160 drawings, paintings, animation cels and related art objects.

ONCE

Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre Jan. 28-Feb. 2 orlando-theatre.com Why is it that the simplest love stories give the heartstrings such a workout?

Such is the case with this lilting musical, inspired by a small-budget movie about a Dublin street musician and a young woman drawn to him by his haunting love songs. “I don’t know you,” he sings.

“But I want you all the more for that.”

An Irish bar filled with hard-bitten characters, bawdy ballads and a melancholy

Photo: courtesy fairwinds broadway accross america orlando

THE ART OF WARNER BROS. CARTOONS

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 

Big, squishy noses. Red, furry feet.

It’s an exhibition all about the body!

PREMIERES SEPTEMBER 28 Grab the kids and run, jump, and play your way through an interactive exhibition all about the human body. Sesame Street Presents: The Body comes to Orlando Science Center.

Sesame Workshop ®, Sesame Street ® and associated characters, trademarks and design elements are owned and licensed by Sesame Workshop. © 2013 Sesame Workshop. All Rights Reserved.

O R L A N D O

S C I E N C E

C E N T E R

777 East Princeton Street, Orlando, FL 32803 • 407.514.2000 • www.osc.org

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4 TH A NNUAL C ANAVER AL S E ASHO ASHORE haze of missed opportunities is the central setting. The Broadway production won eight Tonys in 2012.

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October 7th – 12th 2013

A CELEBRATION OF PLEIN AIR PAINTING Daily Artists Demos / Artists Welcome Reception Sunset Paint Out & Live Auction / Wet Room Gallery & Art Sale host hotel for 2013 Canaveral Seashore Paint Out: 386.898.9444 Paint Out Gala catered by That's Amoré

For more info visit: www.friendsofcanaveral.com/paintout Questions contact: friendsofcanaveral@gmail.com or Richard Tucker 386-423-7758

NEW-HOME TRENDS: SMALLER, SMARTER, MORE BELLS AND WHISTLES

LET’S MEET MONTHLY.

December 2012

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Just visit our website.

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Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre Feb. 25-March 2 orlando-theatre.com This could be the best puppet show you’ve ever seen, though there ought to be a better word than “puppet” to describe this production’s show-stopper: a cunningly designed, slightly larger-than-life and exquisitely mobile model of the title character. Three handlers, two inside the frame and one outside, coax amazingly realistic movements and sounds out of this skeletal but convincingly equestrian contraption.

It looks like something Leonardo da Vinci might have designed, and when it comes to life it outdoes Pinocchio. There is so much snorting, pawing, nuzzling, headtossing and pricking of the ears going on that it’ll make you all but stand up, slap your hip and shout Yee-haw! The show, based on a children’s novel that was adapted for film, is about a young boy whose horse is sold to the British cavalry during World War I.

SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre March 14-16 orlandoballet.org This collaborative Orlando Ballet production will showcase the work of three choreographers: Robert Hill, the ballet company’s director; dancer/choreographer Arcadian Broad, one of its budding protégés; and guest choreographer Abdur-Rahim Jackson, a longtime member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater corps. Jackson choreographed the “Crazy in Love” portion of Beyonce’s Super Bowl halftime show last year, which should give you a notion of the energy level you can expect.

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WINTER PARK SIDEWALK ART FESTIVAL

Central Park and Park Avenue March 21-23 wpsaf.org Well organized by dedicated volunteers and sprawling throughout picture-postcard downtown Winter Park, this juried show is one of the largest and most prestigious in the Southeast. It routinely attracts the cream of the crop among the country’s high-end, festival-trekking artists. Nearly 300 painters, printmakers, photographers, potters, sculptors, jewelry makers and clothing designers make the Park Avenue pilgrimage each year.

There’s even an arts workshop for children. Sorry, Snoopy: No dogs allowed.

FLORIDA FILM FESTIVAL

Enzian Theatre, Other Locations April 4-13 floridafilmfestival.com It’s a celebration of celluloid and an extended party with lively guests. This annual event brings roughly 170 independent and foreign feature films and documentaries to town, along with scores of directors, actors and other industry professionals. The offerings are divided into an array of intriguing categories; last year, for example, an entertaining array of British short films were added to the slate. It’s also a chance for locals to star watch. Tippi Hedren, the icy blonde with whom Alfred Hitchcock was obsessed, headlined the 2013 event.

KEN BURNS: THE NATIONAL PARKS

Alfond Sports Center, Rollins College April 7 rollins.edu/wpi Burns, the dean of American-history documentarians, is known for his ability to capture eras and events through the eyes of the people who lived through them, blending atmospheric music, compelling voiceovers and gracefully intertwined archival photos and footage. He is perhaps best known for his PBS series about the Civil War. His six-episode tour de force about the country’s national parks focuses not only on the beauty of the parks themselves but on the vision and dedication of the people who devoted themselves to creating them.

SAVE THE DATE: October 19, plan to spend a wonderful evening at Art & Soul, Crealdé’s 17th Annual Benefit Auction!

This popular event, held at the Winter Park Community Center from 6:30-10pm, includes live music by Chuck Archard Trio, auctions of art and other items, and great food by 4 Rivers Smokehouse. Proceeds fund Crealdé programs and help build our endowment to ensure future growth and sustainability.

If you wish to attend, or sponsor the Art & Soul event, please call 407-671-1886 www.crealde.org.

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LA TRAVIATA

Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre May 9-11 orlandophil.org When La Traviata was first performed in England in 1856, it was considered to be so sinfully outrageous that Queen Victoria didn’t go to the theater to see it. She listened from her palace, instead. The threeact opera, written by Giuseppi Verdi, was first performed in 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice. It’s based on La Dame aux Camélias, the Alexandre Dumas novel about a woman who suffers from tuberculosis, but gamely manages liaisons with several lovers in spite of it — signaling her availability, or lack thereof, by wearing either a red or a white camellia.

ORLANDO FRINGE FESTIVAL

Loch Haven Park May 15-28 orlandofringe.org You can’t help but have fun at the longest-running fringe festival in the country. Even if you just stand around outside one of the intimate little theaters where off-the-wall, one-act productions from all over the country are staged, sooner or later a playwright is likely to slip alongside you to try to talk you into seeing his or her show. You can tease them, abuse them, make them beg: They’re theater people, so they’re used to it. Truthfully, if you love creative minds, an entertainingly wackadoodle atmosphere and random socializing with utter strangers, you just can’t beat the fringe.

Save

te! a d e th

SNAP! ORLANDO

Cameo Theater Various dates snaporlando.com For the past four years, French-born publisher, advertising executive and photography buff Patrick Kahn has staged an annual, three-day artistic extravaganza called Snap!, which brought an international cast of great photographers here to display and discuss their work. Kahn’s goal for the coming year is to create a permanent home for Snap! at the old Cameo Theater building in the Mills 50 District, where he’ll schedule a series of smaller-scale photographic seminars and showcases. His annual event, which attracted numerous well-known photographers and 3,500 attendees last year, will return in 2015. ■

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On October 19, surround yourself with Art & Soul at our 17th Annual Benefit Auction! From 6:30-10pm, enjoy music by the Chuck Archard Trio, food by 4 Rivers Smokehouse, an auction of locally made artwork, and live artist demonstrations. Don't miss this special event! Tickets are $60 each.

www.crealde.org 407-671-1886

600 St. Andrews Blvd., Winter Park, FL 32792 Also explore our wide array of art classes and workshops for adults and children at 3 locations.

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SEPTEMBER 2013

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FLAVOR

rona gindin photographs by rafael tongol

A rotating globe hovers above Big Fin Seafood Kitchen’s main dining room.

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SEPTEMBER 2013

8/16/13 3:12:05 PM

Presto, Change-o!

THIS MONTH, RESTAURANT PRICES ARE MAGICALLY LOW.

O

ne night this past July, I heaved myself out of a

wooden chair at Big Fin Seafood Kitchen. I’d just feasted on steamed oysters, mahi piccata and key lime pie. I’d also dipped my fork into my guest’s repast of Steakhouse Roll, Orleans-style grouper and a chocolate-peanut butter dessert.

I paid $95.75 for the both of us. But you and your significant other can have the same meal this month for $66.

Yep, you can shave $30 off your dinner-for-two tab at Big Fin because the Restaurant Row seafood house is participating in Magical Dining Month, a regionwide program sponsored by Visit Orlando.

About 60 restaurants, all individually chosen by the tourism folks, are offering three-course dinners for $33 throughout the month of September.

Participating is easy for consumers. Once seated, we’re free to choose from three or more appetizers, then entrées and desserts — enough variety that we likely won’t feel restrained by the menu. We eat; we pay; we leave. Simple.

The promotion is one of those win-win arrangements: Food-seekers eat well for less, and get to sample new restau-

Big Fin owner Bobby Moore (facing page, center) presides over the restaurant’s delectable offerings, including key lime pie, mahi piccata and the star attraction, grilled filet mignon topped with cold-water lobster tail. The eatery also offers several varieties of oysters (above).

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rants without doling out gobs of money.

Should you find your steak, fish or pasta amazing, you can add the restaurant that served it to your dining-out circuit. If you think the food is meh, you’re only out $33. The eating establishments, meanwhile, get to fill their seats and hopefully earn repeat customers during a period that tends to be slo-o-o-ow.

And, by the way, a buck from each meal is donated to Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Florida. Did I say this was a win-win? I should have said it’s a win-win-win.

Each restaurant handles Magical Dining Month its own way and succeeds, or not, individually. Big Fin alone hosted 3,600 Magical Dining Month guests last September, according to owner Bobby Moore.

The menu’s star attraction is a grilled 5-ounce filet mignon and cold-water lobster tail entrée plated with garlic-mashed potatoes and asparagus. A similar dish with larger portions is on the standard menu for $62.95 — for just that one course.

Likewise, a 10-ounce filet mignon is generally $37.95. The same size tender steak is another MDM option as part of the $33 deal. So you can see the draw.

I have only one beef, so to speak, with Magical Dining Month, and it’s minor. While some restaurants hand out Magical Dining Month menus along with the standard menu, much as they might a printed list of specials, others don’t; so you have to know to ask for it.

Big Fin takes the secrecy tactic and, clearly, it hasn’t discouraged people from speaking up. Still, I feel like a pushy ORLANDO LIFE

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PHOTO: RAFAEL TONGOl

Big Fin is a big restaurant that manages to find a middle ground between upscale seafood restaurants and downscale fish houses. cheapskate requesting a menu that the staff appears to be trying to hide from me.

To be fair, servers at most restaurants handle the query graciously. On occasion, however, I’ve encountered those who seemed miffed, perhaps assuming that my order will cost less, making the tip proportionally lower.

They fail to consider that, without the Magical Dining deal, I may not order all three courses. And since I’m saving on the food, I might inflate my cocktail and wine budgets. So, servers, buck up and hope for the best. Without Magical Dining Month, my seat would probably be empty.

Now for the meal. Big Fin is a sprawling, bustling restaurant reminiscent of Atlantic Coast fish houses. It’s not upscale like Ocean Prime and Oceanaire, yet neither is it downscale like High Tide Harry’s or Lee & Rick’s Oyster Bar. A circular condiment holder on each table has not only salt and pepper but also oyster crackers, Old Bay seasoning and three types of hot sauce. With high ceilings, a spinning globe in the center of the main dining room, white paper atop linen tablecloths and oversized wall areas painted with “We’ve got the crabs” and “Best tails in town,” it seems, well, grounded.

Yet the doting service and fine wooden furnishings add polish. Perhaps that middle-of-the-road ambience appeals to both locals catching up with friends and conventioneers on expense accounts. Restaurant Row does bring in both groups.

Each night, several varieties of oysters are available. Of the six on hand during my visit, I chose a half dozen from Fanny Bay. They first arrived raw, fresh and glistening. You could tell by the look of them that they’d been off the boat for just a short time.

I happened to have requested my oysters steamed, though, so an apologetic server politely whisked them away and returned them, cooked, a few minutes later. The luscious orbs 52

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were served with melted butter and cocktail sauce garnished with horseradish, which had been freshly grated: How’s that for a special touch?

Among the other appetizers we could have ordered were a dozen-plus sushi-style rolls, clam chowder, tuna cocktail or seafood escabeche. I might have saved my Asian fix for a Japanese restaurant, but it was decent: shaved prime rib, asparagus, arugula and horseradish cream rolled up with rice and seaweed, like any standard roll.

The mahi and grouper entrées were arch opposites, in a way: The mahi, fork-tender in a gentle beurre blanc sauce, was a quiet meal in itself with creamy garlic-mashed potatoes and haricot vert.

The grouper, by contrast, was boldly flavored. The fish itself was blackened, then placed atop phenomenal crawfish Parmesan grits with spinach, mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes. A Cajun cream sauce was the final touch.

I’m not sure I’d run back to Big Fin. I had a good meal, and would have had a better one had I eschewed the Magical Dining Month menu, to which I adhered to for the purpose of writing this article. (The Magical Dining Month menu offers three dessert options, by the way: key lime pie, the Ooey Gooey sweet of the day and the dessert of the day.)

Because ultra-fresh seafood is expensive, the prices at Big Fin are quite steep in an ordinary month. But you get quality, without a doubt.

My advice? Try the restaurant this month, using the Magical Dining Month menu. You can find all the menu details at magicaldiningmonth.com. Then judge for yourself. Either that or befriend a visiting conventioneer with a corporate Amex.

Dellagio Town Center, 8046 W. Sand Lake Road, Orlando, 407-615-8888, bigfinseafood.com, $$-$$$$ n Rona Gindin, dining editor of Orlando Life, has written about Orlando’s restaurants for Fodor’s and Zagat, among many other publications. She’s the author of The Little Black Book of Walt Disney World.

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CULINARY BARGAINS ABOUND

Magical Dining Month divvies participating restaurants into seven geographical areas. Here are more details about one restaurant in each of those areas. And if you’d like to find out more, check out magicaldiningmonth.com.

CONVENTION AREA

Fogo de Chao is a Brazilian-style churrascaria. Most guests fill up at a really good salad bar, which also offers high-quality meats and cheeses. Then, they feast on a variety of skewered meats, which are brought to the table one at a time. The salad bar/meat combo is ordinarily $46.50. Mention Magical Dining Month and you’ll pay $33 — and get dessert for free.

8282 International Drive, Orlando, 407-370-0711, fogodechao.com, $$$$

DISNEY/LAKE BUENA VISTA

Deep Blu Seafood Grille is a fashion-forward restaurant where the chefs are quite conscious of sustainability and buying locally sourced foods. The wine list is extensive and the cocktails are clever. Entrée prices run from $28 to $48. During Magical Dining Month, you might eat ahi tuna au poivre (with crushed peppercorns), shrimp linguini or braised beef short ribs plus two other courses for $33. Wyndham Bonnet Creek Resort, 14651 Chelonia Parkway, Orlando, 407-3902420, deepbluorlando.com, $$$-$$$$

DOWNTOWN

The Boheme is a swanky hotel restaurant. Business lunches are popular there, and locals stroll in for the Sunday jazz brunch. The dinner menu has simple steakhouse-like items with a contemporary twist.

Ordinarily, you’ll pay from $18 for deep-fried tofu to $34 for a cambozola cheese-and-almond-crusted filet mignon with vegetables and a zinfandel reduction demi-glace. During September, $33 may reap you escargot or butternut squash bisque followed by Mediterranean baked salmon or grilled Colorado lamb T-bone, plus one of three sweets. Grand Bohemian Hotel Orlando, 325 S. Orange Ave., Orlando, 407-3139000, grandbohemianhotel.com, $$$

RESTAURANT ROW

On the south side of Sand Lake Road, Roy’s is a Hawaiian-fusion restaurant known for exotic seafood prepared with intriguing sauces. Signature items include a macadamia-crusted mahi-mahi and Hawaiian Kai-style braised short ribs. Your $33 adventure might

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begin with a crispy spicy tuna roll and that same mahimahi, which is $28.95 on its own; salmon with citrus ponzu sauce; or a 5-ounce filet mignon. Finish with the melting chocolate soufflé. 7760 W. Sand Lake Road, Orlando, roysrestaurant.com, $$$

UNIVERSAL CITYWALK

In the Universal area, I have a soft spot for Mama Della’s Ristorante. Both traditional and contemporary Italian items populate the menu, which is served in what looks like an Italian nonna’s home. “Mama” herself is often on hand to gush over guests, and a musical trio roams the dining room. Dinner ranges from a simple fettuccini Alfredo for $18 to a grilled beef tenderloin with trumpet mushrooms and gnocchi “fries” for $38. What’s in the three-for-$33 line-up?

Among other items: veal Marsala, chicken parmigiana, and salmon with tomato marmalade, marinated cucumber and beluga lentils. That salmon dish is $32 a la carte. Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal Orlando, 5601 Universal Blvd., Orlando, 407-503-3463, loewshotels.com, $$$

WINTER PARK

Chez Vincent is unapologetically French, from the elegant cream-colored interior to the classic dishes.

If you choose, say, the escargot ($11), the grouper Provençal ($25) and the crepe with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce ($6), you’d save $13 this month.

Très bien! 533 W. New England Ave., Winter Park, 407599-2929, chezvincent.com, $$

SURROUNDING AREAS

For what seems like decades, Le Coq au Vin was the restaurant in Orlando, where it was nearly required by law to celebrate landmark anniversaries. The chefowned French eatery faces a world of competition now that Orlando actually has a dining scene — but I think this old standby stands up to any of the newcomers.

Delve into an onion tart or onion soup, followed by the namesake coq au vin or maybe beef Bourguignon, then an apple tart or crêpes Suzette for $33. Spend what you save on an imported wine. 4800 S. Orange Ave., Orlando, 407-851-6980, lecoqauvinrestaurant.com, $$-$$$

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FLAVOR LISTINGS

rona gindin

AFRICAN Nile Ethiopian

•

Hillstone 215 S. Orlando Ave., Winter Park, 407-740-

7048 International Drive, Orlando, 407354-0026 / nile07.com. Locals willingly navigate International Drive to dine at Nile, a family-owned restaurant specializing in the exotic cuisine of Ethiopia. Order a few dishes to share and scoop up the intriguing concoctions with the eatery’s signature spongy bread. End with a strong cup of aromatic, brewed-to-order coffee. $$

4005 / hillstone.com/hillstone. Formerly known as Houston’s, this Winter Park mainstay is part of a high-end chain. Still, it grows its own herbs, bakes its own bread, grinds its own meat, cuts its own fish and whips its own cream. In nice weather, guests relax with a cocktail in Adirondack chairs overlooking Lake Killarney. Many proposals have been popped during dinners for two on the boat dock. $$$

Sanaa 3701 Osceola Parkway, Lake Buena Vista, 407938-7400 / disneyworld.disney.go.com/dining/sanaa. Sanaa, one of Disney’s most interesting restaurants, offers dishes based on cuisine from the Spice Islands, a coastal African area rich with Indian influences. Flavors are intense, but spicy only upon request. (Curry, the chefs insist, is a melding of flavors, not one particular spice.) The marketplace-style dining room boasts picture windows overlooking the Animal Kingdom Lodge’s savannah, so you might spot zebra or wildebeest while lunching on tandoori chicken or a vegetarian platter with stewed lentils and a vegetable sambar (stew). $$

Jernigan’s 400 W. Church St., Orlando, 407-440-7000 /

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AMERICAN Bananas

942 N. Mills Ave., Orlando, 407-480-2200 / bananasdiner.com. Bananas has a split personality. It’s a wholesome, family place to grab higher-quality versions of such classics as burgers, shakes and pancakes (the Buffalo Benedict is a surprise pleaser). Other times, it’s a delightfully outrageous experience for more adventurous diners who enjoy the antics of cross-dressing servers. The Sunday drag gospel brunch (“Sinners welcome!”) is like no church service you’ve ever attended. $$

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Cask & Larder 565 W. Fairbanks Ave., Winter Park, 321-280-4200 / caskandlarder.com. Billing itself as a “Southern Public House,” this casual Winter Park eatery serves up modern twists on traditional favorites. Look for a three-ham platter with pepper jelly; pimento cheese; and seasonal favorites such as grilled pork belly and chicken-and-biscuits.

Many beers are made on the premises. $$

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Chatham’s Place 7575 Dr. Phillips Blvd., Orlando, 407- 345-2992 / chathamsplace.com. For an old-fashioned dining experience — a subdued dining room and doting personalized service by a longtime staff — dine at this hidden Restaurant Row establishment. Locals return regularly for Chef Tony Lopez’s classic dishes such as black grouper with pecan butter, rack of lamb and filet mignon. $$$ Citrus 821 N. Orange Ave., Orlando, 407-373-0622 /

citrusorlando.com. A clubby yet stylish restaurant in a convenient downtown Orlando location, Citrus features modern American cuisine with a nod toward regionally grown and produced ingredients. International influences also highlight the menu, from smoked chili aioli complementing herbmarinated chicken to balsamic rum glaze topping juicy pork chops. $$$

Dexter’s 808 E. Washington St., Orlando, 407-648-2777;

558 W. New England Ave., Winter Park, 407-629-1150; 950 Market Promenade Ave., Lake Mary, 407-805-3090 / dexwine. com. Central Florida has three Dexter’s locations, and each has become a neighborhood magnet, drawing diners of all ages for hearty portions of creative American fare (at fair prices), good wine and, in some cases, live music. Casual dress is the rule. The brunches, and the pressed duck sandwiches, are especially popular. $$-$$$

Emeril’s Orlando 6000 Universal Blvd., Orlando,

407-224-2424 / emerils.com. Get a taste of New Orleans at Emeril’s, a fine-dining restaurant at always-bustling Universal CityWalk. You’ll find classics from celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse, including the signature barbecue shrimp, andouille-stuffed redfish, double-cut pork chops and banana cream pie. The service, of course, is superb. Consider sharing appetizers at the bar area. $$$$

Graffiti Junktion 900 E. Washington St., Orlando, 407-

426-9503; 2401 Edgewater Dr., Orlando, 407-377-1961; 950 Market Promenade Ave., Lake Mary, 407-732-6943; 3100 Alafaya Trail, Oviedo, 407-542-5902 / graffitijunktion.com.

This expanding homegrown chain features restaurants that are loud and purposely grungy looking, hence “graffiti” in the name. But the ultra-casual concept dishes up great burgers, wings and zucchini fries. Live entertainment ranges from performance art to trivia contests. Watch for daily happy-hour specials. $

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amwaycenter.com. Watch a Magic game in style at Jernigan’s, a well-appointed buffet restaurant located on the Amway Center’s exclusive club level. The reservations-only eatery, open to ticket holders, serves wholesome meals for about $40. The menu of the day might offer slow-smoked barbecue ribs, grilled rib-eye steak, pasta pomodoro and Chinese chicken salad. Jernigan’s is run by Chicago’s Levy Restaurants, the team behind Downtown Disney’s Portobello Yacht Club, Fulton’s Crab House and Wolfgang Puck Grand Café. $$$

Maxine’s on Shine 337 N. Shine Ave., Orlando, 407-6746841 / maxinesonshine.com. Strangers become friends at this eclectic neighborhood restaurant, where the namesake owner and her husband, Kirt Earhart, greet guests warmly.

The menu is unassuming, the beer and wine selections shine, and live music plays regularly. A former chapel in the back serves as a private dining room. $$

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Rusty Spoon 55 W. Church St., Orlando, 407-4018811 / therustyspoon.com. Foodies flock to this Church Street gastropub, a warm and welcoming space in which meals are described as “American food. European roots. Locally sourced.” Your salad will consist of über-fresh greens, your sandwich will be filled with slow-braised lamb, your pasta will be hand-rolled and your meat will be robustly seasoned. $$-$$$

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Seasons 52 7700 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, 407354-5212; 463 E. Altamonte Drive, Altamonte Springs, 407-767-1252 / seasons52.com. Business dinners, ladies’ luncheons and date nights abound at these ever-popular restaurants, big bustling spaces with satisfying food and comprehensive wine lists. It seems incidental that the food happens to be healthful and low in fat, with no menu item topping 475 calories. So if you want that clam chowder, go for it. It will be cleverly produced without cream, butter or roux. $$-$$$ Shipyard Brew Pub 200 W. Fairbanks Ave., Winter Park, 321-274-4045 / shipyardwinterpark.com. This ultra-casual brewpub has been packed night and day since it opened in 2011, and not just because it pours a great lager. To complement suds brewed both in-house and elsewhere, a from-scratch menu offers Buffalo chicken dip, amazing white-bean hummus, sandwiches, flatbreads and entrées, including étouffée and pot roast. Stop in any time to pick up a loaf of some of Orlando’s best bread. $-$$

Tap Room at Dubsdread 549 W. Par St., Orlando, 407650-0100 / taproomatdubsdread.com. One needn’t play golf to dine at this historic course-side tavern, a College Park icon offering a varied menu — and a reputation for fine burgers. Options other than the famous half-pound patties include steaks, salmon, tequila-citrus chicken and a dandy Reuben sandwich. $$

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The Table Orlando 8060 Via Dellagio Way, Orlando, 407-900-3463 / thetableorlando.com. For special occasions, book a place at The Table, a tiny restaurant that serves a five-course gourmet meal with wine pairings. Up to 22 guests at a time share the repast around an oversized table. The New American menu changes regularly and is comprised in large part of locally sourced foods. The price is a set $100 including tax and tip. Groups can host private events here. $$$$ TooJay’s Various locations / toojays.com. When it’s time for a taste of Jewish Brooklyn — pastrami on rye, latkes, blintzes, knishes — the six local outlets of this South

THE KEY

$ Inexpensive, most entrées under $10 $$ Moderate, most entrées $10-20 $$$ Pricey, most entrées over $20 $$$$ Very expensive, most entrées over $30 indicates the restaurant is a Silver Spoon winner (Judges’ Choice).

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Florida-based chain have it all. You’ll also find diner foods such as omelets, sandwiches and pot-roast dinners. Take home some black-and-white cookies. $

Yellow Dog Eats 1236 Hempel Ave., Windermere, 407-

296-0609 / yellowdogeats.com. It’s the lunch locale for the Windermere-Gotha crowd, who come for scratch-made sandwiches, hearty barbecue and wholesome baked goods.

The menu also has a significant vegan-friendly section. The dining rooms are scattered throughout a funky, historic building that was once a country store. $

ASIAN Anh Hong

1124 E. Colonial Drive, Orlando, 407-999-2656.

You’ll receive a bundle of fresh herbs to tear into your soup at this Mills 50 Vietnamese eatery, and another bunch for a roll-your-own entrée that’s like a DIY summer roll. Asian classics, such as grilled meats and scallion pancakes, are done exceptionally well here, which makes Anh Hong a top choice for local Vietnamese-Americans longing for a taste of home. $

Dragonfly 7972 Via Dellagio Way, Orlando, 407-370-3359 / dragonflyorlando.com. Stylishly attired 30-somethings regularly pack this oh-so-hip restaurant, where groups share sushi, grilled “robata” items, and tapas-style Asian foods such as soft-shell crab tempura, crispy black pork belly and shiso-wrapped spicy tuna. $$

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Hawkers Street Fare 1103 N. Mills Ave., Orlando, 407-237-0606 / facebook.com/hawkersstreetfare. This Mills 50 mainstay, named for street vendors of Asian fare, serves up generous tapas-size portions of curry laksa (an aromatic Singaporean soup), roti canai (Malaysian flatbread with a hearty curry sauce), five-spice tofu, chilled sesame noodles, smoky mussels and sensational beef skewers with peanuty satay dip. $$

Ming Bistro 1212 Woodward St., Orlando, 407-898-9672.

Enjoy perhaps Orlando’s best dim sum for dinner or, on a weekend morning or afternoon, select shrimp dumplings, beef balls, turnip cakes, sticky rice, barbecue pork buns and egg tarts one small dish at a time from carts that roll between tables. The a la carte menu features Hong Kong-style staples from stir-fry beef to chicken feet. $ Sea Thai 3812 E. Colonial Drive, Orlando, 407-895-0985 /

seaorlando.com. Start with a green papaya salad and beef yum, then feast on steamed whole fish with garlic chili sauce, pad Thai and green curry chicken. But you can’t go wrong with any of the Thai classics offered at this welcoming East Orlando eatery. $$

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Seoul Garden 511 E. Horatio Ave., Maitland, 407599-5199 / orlandokorearestaurant.com. Seoul Garden is so Asian-focused that the “about us” section of its website is written in Korean. That authenticity extends to the food.

Barbecued meats are grilled to order in the dining room.

Be sure to try the marinated beef short ribs and the soft tofu stew. $

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Sushi Pop 310 W. Mitchell Hammock Road, Oviedo, 407-542-5975 / sushipoprestaurant.com. Oviedo is an unlikely location for this cutting-edge restaurant, a popular spot for sushi. The food is serious and often experimental, as chef-owner Chau uses molecular gastronomy to create some of the fusion fare. The aura is fun: Asian anime on the walls, playful colors, and servers who dress in outrageous themed outfits. $$

Tasty Wok 1246 E. Colonial Drive, Orlando, 407-896-8988 / yelp.com/biz/tasty-wok-orlando. True, it’s a humble spot, but Tasty Wok offers an array of satisfying dishes, among them roast duck and steaming soups. Try the beef chow fun, eggplant with minced pork, and salt and pepper ribs. A smaller menu of American-style Chinese dishes is also available. $

BARBECUE 4 Rivers Smokehouse

1600 W. Fairbanks Ave., Winter Park; 1869 W. S.R. 434, Longwood; 1047 S. Dillard St., Winter Garden / 407-474-8377, 4rsmokehouse.com. A diverse array of barbecue specialties — from Texas-style brisket to pulled pork, smoked turkey and bacon-wrapped jalapeños — has gained this rapidly growing homegrown concept a large following. The newer outposts even include a bakery and an old-fashioned malt shop featuring homemade ice cream. $

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J

At all times; On all occasions...Celebrate

ALWAYS.

June 2013 marked the 20th anniversary of Christner’s Prime Steak & Lobster, formerly Del Frisco’s.

Since 1993, the Christner family has been rooted in the Central Florida community and has always been - and will continue to be - dedicated to quality ingredients, service and tradition.

Thank you for your continued support. – Christner Family

729 Lee Road | Orlando, FL | 407.645.4443 | www.christnersprimesteakandlobster.com

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FLAVOR LISTINGS

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BURGERS Hamburger Mary’s Bar & Grille

110 W. Church St., Orlando, 321-319-0600 / hamburgermarys-orlando.com.

A colorful crowd is part of the fun at this Church Street hotspot, where bingo games, trivia contests and cabaret shows are among the events that vie for guests’ attention beside the enormous and creatively topped burgers. $

Johnny’s Fillin’ Station 2631 S. Fern Creek Ave., Orlando, 407-894-6900 / johnnysfillinstation.com. Neighbors gather for hearty burgers, along with wings, subs and wraps, at this homey spot in a residential downtown neighborhood. Beer flows, TVs broadcast big games, and families love the pool tables and dart boards. $ Pine Twenty2 22 E. Pine St., Orlando, 407-574-2160 /

pine22.com. Burgers go chic at this fast-casual downtowner, where every ingredient is special. The burgers are from happy cows, the eggs from free-roaming chickens, the pork from lovingly raised pigs. Mix and match your toppings over a patty of beef, turkey or black beans (or pulled pork), with options ranging from mango salsa to sautéed mushrooms. $$

CONTINENTAL Venetian Room

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8101 World Center Drive, Orlando, 407-238-8060 / thevenetianroom.com. Walk though a run-of-the-mill convention hotel to reach the AAA FourDiamond Venetian Room, an elegant, domed-service, continental restaurant that hearkens to the heyday of unapologetic, butter-and-cream-enhanced fine dining. The lobster bisque is an absolute must. After that, try the filet mignon, duck a l’orange or Dover sole. $$$$

CREATIVE/ PROGRESSIVE Chef’s Table at the Edgewater Hotel

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99 W. Plant St., Winter Garden, 407-230-4837 / chefstableattheedgewater.com. Husband-and-wife team Kevin and Laurie Tarter are your personal servers at this intimate Winter Garden hideaway, where Kevin prepares the evening’s three-course, prix-fixe meal and Laurie helps choose the wine. Both stop by every table to chat with guests.

Adjacent, the Tasting Room offers tapas-size portions of international dishes and a full bar. $$$

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Funky Monkey 912 N. Mills Ave., Orlando, 407427-1447; 9101 International Dr., Orlando, 407-418-9463 / funkymonkeywine.com. These twin eclectic eateries are known as much for sushi and intriguing wine lists as for creative American cuisine and an ever-changing menu.

FMI Restaurant Group also owns Bananas and the Funky Monkey Vault, a wine shop that also sells gifts, apparel and furniture. $$

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K Restaurant 1710 Edgewater Drive, Orlando, 407872-2332 / krestaurant.net. Kevin Fonzo, the go-to chef in College Park since 2001, owns this homey eatery, which is, in fact, located in an erstwhile residence. The menu is mostly creative-American, along with Italian favorites celebrating Fonzo’s heritage. Casual wine tastings and themed special dinners, along with a constantly changing menu, bring back regulars for singular experiences. $$-$$$ Le Rouge 7730 W. Sand Lake Road, Orlando, 407-370-

0909 / lerougewinebar.com. This Restaurant Row hot spot is a sexy lounge with backlit lighting, a long bar and comfy sofas. It also features fine food. Guests can choose from among three-dozen tapas, including garlic shrimp and sautéed wild mushrooms. $$$

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States. The dining room is dramatic, the food astounding and the service polished. Be sure to begin with a Norman’s classic: foie gras “French toast.” And you’ll be delighted with the Mongolian veal chop. $$$$

Park Plaza Gardens 319 S. Park Ave., Winter Park, 407-

645-2475 / parkplazagardens.com. After 30-plus years, Park Plaza Gardens is practically an institution on Winter Park’s tony Park Avenue. People-watchers gather at the small bar and sidewalk tables to linger over casual meals and cold beers, while those looking for an indulgent experience dine in the garden-like back dining room, which boasts atrium windows and plush décor. The menu features a melding of American, European and Asian flavors and cooking techniques. $$$-$$$$

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Ravenous Pig 1234 N. Orange Ave., Winter Park, 407-628-2333 / theravenouspig.com. After leaving their hometown for serious culinary training, Winter Park natives James and Julie Petrakis returned to open the region’s first genuine gastropub. Dinner reservations have been tough to snag ever since. The ambitious menu changes daily based on the fish, meat and produce that’s available, and it’s executed by a dedicated team that abhors shortcuts.

Besides daily specials, The Pig always serves up an excellent burger, soft pretzels, shrimp and grits, and a donut dessert called Pig Tails. $$$

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Victoria & Albert’s 4401 Floridian Way, Lake Buena Vista, 407-939-3862 / victoria-alberts.com. Indulgent, multicourse prix-fixe feasts are served in the serenely elegant main dining room, accompanied by live harp music, while yet more courses are offered in the more intimate Queen Victoria’s Room and the private Chef’s Table. Chef Scott Hunnel, Maitre d’ Israel Pérez and Master Pastry Chef Erich Herbitschek travel the world to seek out impressive food and service trends, then adapt the golden ones locally.

That’s why V&A, at Disney’s Grand Floridian Resort & Spa, is Orlando’s only AAA Five Diamond restaurant. $$$$

EASTERN EUROPEAN Yalaha Bakery

1213 N. Orange Ave., Orlando, 321800-5212; 8210 County Road 48, Yalaha, 352-324-3366 / yalahabakery.com. Fans of hearty German breads and scratch-made German pastries can drive to this homey outpost in rural Lake County, or they can pick up their loaves and sweets at an Ivanhoe District storefront. The Yalaha unit also sells sandwiches and hot lunches. $

HAWAIIAN/ POLYNESIAN Emeril’s Tchoup Chop

6300 Hollywood Way, Orlando, 407-503-2467 / emerils.com. Emeril Lagasse’s Polynesian-fusion fare is executed within a dramatically decorated space.

Diners enjoy tropical cocktails, steamed dumplings and creative entrées such as pan-roasted duck breast with gingered pear chutney and umeboshi (pickled) plum glaze. $$$$

Roy’s 7760 W. Sand Lake Road, Orlando, 407-352-4844

/ roysrestaurant.com. Hawaiian-fusion flavors enhance familiar and exotic fish dishes at this Restaurant Row pioneer, a link in a Honolulu-based chain owned by namesake chef, Roy Yamaguchi. $$

INDIAN Aashirwad

5748 International Dr., Orlando, 407-370-9830 / aashirwadrestaurant.com. Begin with kashmiri naan, a slightly sweet bread stuffed with nuts, coconut and raisins, and continue with chicken biryani, cauliflower in exotic Manchurian gravy and a mixed tandoori grill. Whole spices are roasted and ground daily on site, further enhancing the cuisine’s authenticity. $$

Luma on Park 290 S. Park Ave., Winter Park, 407-599-4111 / lumaonpark.com. If there’s pancetta in your salad, the salumi was made in the kitchen, by hand, starting with a whole pig. Most herbs are from local farms, fish from sustainable sources, pickled vegetables jarred in house and desserts built around seasonal ingredients.

Luma’s progressive menu, which changes daily, is served in a sleek and stylish dining room in the heart of Winter Park, under the passionate direction of Executive Chef Brandon McGlamery, Chef de Cuisine Derek Perez and Pastry Chef Brian Cernell. $$$

Memories of India 7625 Turkey Lake Road, Orlando,

Norman’s 4012 Central Florida Parkway, Orlando, 407-393-4333 / normans.com. Celebrity Chef Norman Van Aken’s restaurant at the Ritz-Carlton, Grande Lakes, turns out artistic New World cuisine combining the flavors of Latin America, the Caribbean, the Far East and the United

Raga 7559 W. Sand Lake Road, Orlando, 407-985-2900 /

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407-370-3277; 3895 Lake Emma Road, Lake Mary, 407-8040920 / memoriesofindiacuisine.com. Exceptionally good Indian fare draws diners in Dr. Phillips and Lake Mary to these twin restaurants, where dishes such as palek paneer (creamed spinach) and lamb masala in rich ginger-garlic gravy always satisfy. $$

ragarestaurant.com. From its stylish décor to its inspired, somewhat global menu, Raga is a step above most local Indian restaurants. $$-$$$

IRISH

Raglan Road 1640 E. Buena Vista Drive, Lake Buena Vista, 407-938-0300 / raglanroad.com. Irish foods go a wee gourmet at this raucous Downtown Disney megapub, where watching Irish dancers and tasting imported beers are all part of the family fun. $$

ITALIAN Antonio’s

611 S. Orlando Ave., Maitland, 407-645-5523; 691 Front St., Celebration, 407-566-2233 / antoniosonline. com. Fine Italian fare comes in three price ranges at Antonio’s, proprietor Greg Gentile’s trio of culinary homages to his ancestors. In Maitland, the upstairs Ristorante is somewhat formal, although the open kitchen provides peeks of the chefs in action. Its downstairs counterpart, Antonio’s Market & Café, is a more casual spot that doubles as a market and wine shop. And in Celebration, the casual, lake-view Cafe d’Antonio hits that center sweet spot. $$-$$$

Bice 5601 Universal Blvd., Orlando, 407-503-1415 / orlando. bicegroup.com. Bice, with 50 locations around the world, has a local outpost of ambitious Italian cuisine at the Loews Portofino Bay Hotel at Universal. Homemade egg pasta is used for several dishes, such as spaghetti Bolognese; other choices include veal piccata and steak with a Gorgonzolademi sauce. $$$$

Enzo’s on the Lake 1130 U.S. 17-92, Longwood, 407834-9872 / enzos.com. Long before Orlando became a serious foodie town, Enzo’s was serving up lovingly prepared Italian specialties inside a converted Longwood home. Little has changed. Split a bunch of antipasto to begin your meal.

After that, you pretty much can’t go wrong, but standout dishes include homemade ravioli stuffed with chicken and spinach, veal with artichoke-caper-white wine sauce and possibly the best spaghetti carbonara in town. $$$ O’Stromboli 1803 E. Winter Park Road, Orlando, 407-

647-3872 / ostrombolis.com. This innocuous neighborhood eatery isn’t fancy, but the food is filling and fresh. That’s why it has become a favorite of residents of Merritt Park, Rose Isle and Baldwin Park. The carbonara is particularly hearty and the fettuccini Alfredo is rich, buttery and more than you should eat in one sitting. The homemade soups are always a dependable starter. $$

Palma Maria 1015 E. Semoran Blvd., Casselberry, 407-

339-2856 / palmamaria.com. You’ve got to love a restaurant where the same family has served the same food with the same smiles for more than three decades — but will cook up whatever you ask for on a whim. $$

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Peperoncino 7988 Via Dellagio Way, Orlando, 407-440-2856 / peperoncinocucina.com. The menu changes every night at this cozy Dr. Phillips Italian, where chef-owner Barbara Alfano puts out plates of fried pecorino drizzled with honey, pear and four-cheese pasta, and fish steamed in parchment paper. $$$

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Prato 124 N. Park Ave., Winter Park, 407-262-0050 / prato-wp.com. This is one of Orlando’s very best Italian restaurants, but don’t expect a classic lasagna or chicken parmigiana. Executive Chef Brandon McGlamery and Chef di Cucina Matthew Cargo oversee an open kitchen in which pastas are made from scratch, pizzas are rolled to order, sausages are stuffed by hand and the olive oil is a luscious organic pour from Italy. Try the chicken liver Toscana, a satisfying salad Campagna with cubes of sizzling pancetta tesa, shrimp tortellini and citrusy rabbit cacciatore. Begin with a Negroni cocktail; it’s possibly the best around. $$-$$$

Rocco’s Grille & Bar 400 S. Orlando Ave., Winter Park,

407-644-7770 / roccositaliangrille.com. Calabria native Rocco Potami oversees this romantic Italian eatery, where fine authentic fare is presented in an intimate dining room and on a secluded brick patio. Classics include carpaccio (raw, thinly sliced beef with white truffle oil and arugula), ricotta gnocchi and a breaded veal chop topped with a lightly dressed salad. It’s easy to miss, tucked away in a Winter Park strip center, but once you find it, you’ll be back. $$$

LATIN

Mi Tomatina 433 W. New England Ave., Winter Park, 321-972-4881 / mitomatina.com. This eatery bills itself as a paella bar, and indeed guests share a half-dozen varieties of the signature Spanish rice dish. Yet others come for a mellow meal over tapas (garlic shrimp, potato omelet, SEPTEMBER 2013

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FLAVOR LISTINGS

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croquettes) and sangria, enjoyed while seated within a small contemporary dining room or outdoors overlooking Hannibal Square. $$-$$$

Pio-Pio 5752 International Drive, Orlando, 407-248-6424 / mypiopio.com; 2500 S. Semoran Blvd., Orlando, 407-2072262 / piopios.com; 11236 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando, 407-438-5677. Latin American-style marinated roast chicken is a mainstay at this trio of Peruvian-Columbian restaurants, where families fuel up on heaping platters of pollo along with garlicky salad, fried plantains (sweet and green), and rice and beans. $$

MEDITERRANEAN Bosphorous

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108 S. Park Ave., Winter Park, 407-6448609; 7600 Dr. Phillips Blvd., 407-352-6766 / bosphorousrestaurant.com. This is the place for flavorful Turkish fare in either a white-tablecloth setting or alfresco along Park Avenue or Dr. Phillips Boulevard. Many couples fill up on the appetizer sampler with oversized lavash bread. For a heartier meal, try the ground lamb “Turkish pastry,” a shish kebab or a tender lamb shank. Outdoor diners can end their meals by smoking from a hookah. Or not. $$

Taverna Opa 9101 International Drive, Orlando, 407351-8660 / opaorlando.com. The food is excellent, but that’s only half the reason to visit Taverna Opa. On busy nights, the place is festive indeed: Some guests join a Zorba dance around the dining room while others toss white napkins into the air, joyously shouting “Opa!” Then there’s the belly dancer. $$

MEXICAN/ SOUTHWESTERN Border Grill Fresh-Mex

5695 Vineland Road, Orlando, 407-352-0101 / bordergrillorlando.weebly.com. The flavors are crazy-fresh at this tiny little Mexican restaurant near Universal, where Veronica Starling and her mother, Esther Fragaso, run the kitchen and dining room with the help of assorted relatives. $

Cantina Laredo 8000 Via Dellagio Way, Orlando, 407345-0186 / cantinalaredo.com. Modern Mexican cuisine in a spiffy setting draws lovers of cilantro, jalapeño and pico de gallo to this Restaurant Row eatery, where the margaritas flow, the guacamole is made tableside and the portions are generous. The spinach enchilada is a vegetarian-friendly treat. $$

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Cocina 214 151 E. Welbourne Ave., Winter Park, 407790-7997 / cocina214.com. Tex-Mex food is top quality here (214 is the Dallas area code), with salsa, savories and even margarita flavorings made from scratch. The spinach-mushroom quesadilla and tacos are especially noteworthy. $$

El Tenampa 11244 S. Orange Blossom Trail, Orlando,

407-850-9499. Many Orlandoans make El Tenampa part of their Costco shopping ritual, since the restaurant is located only a block from the OBT warehouse store. This authentic eatery features fresh fruit juices, spicy chicken chilaquiles (a Mexican breakfast, available all day long, made with fried tortilla pieces and a green sauce) as well as a satisfying shrimp quesadilla in addition to the standard enchiladas and fajitas. $

SEAFOOD

Cityfish 617 E. Central Blvd., Orlando, 407-849-9779 / cityfishorlando.com. Feast on slabs of grilled, blackened or fried fresh fish at this hip Ts-and-flip-flops Thornton Park hangout. The atmosphere is ultra-casual and the sidewalk seating is great for people-watching. $$ Flying Fish Café 2101 Epcot Resorts Blvd., Lake Buena Vista, 407-939-2359 / disneyworld.com. Creative seafood — and some great steak — are on the menu at this upbeat restaurant in the Disney’s Boardwalk Resort. It is themed after Eastern Seaboard summer spots of yore. For a special experience, enjoy a five-course Chef’s Tasting Wine Dinner while seated at the food bar. $$$$ Ocean Prime 7339 W. Sand Lake Road, Orlando, 407-7814880 / ocean-prime.com. Designed to evoke the ambience of an old-time supper club, Ocean Prime’s white-jacketed servers offer sensational steaks and fish dishes along with creative options such as sautéed shrimp in a spectacular Tabasco-cream sauce, crab cakes with sweet corn cream and ginger salmon. End with the chocolate peanut butter pie. $$$$

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Todd English’s bluezoo 1500 Epcot Resorts Blvd.,

Lake Buena Vista, 407-934-1111 / thebluezoo.com. Creatively prepared seafood is served in an over-the-top undersea setting at this fine-dining restaurant, located in Disney’s Swan and Dolphin hotel. The fashion-forward choices might be a miso-glazed Hawaiian sea bass or fried lobster in a soy glaze. The desserts are among the best in town. $$$$

Winter Park Fish Co. 761 Orange Ave. Winter Park, 407-622-6112 / thewinterparkfishco.com. Fish and seafood dishes are fresh and well-prepared at this humble Winter Park spot, where a counter service format helps keep the prices reasonable. Crab cakes, lobster rolls, mahi-mahi sandwiches and more ambitious dishes such as grouper cheeks in parchment and stuffed grouper are among a day’s assortment. $$

STEAK Bull & Bear

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14200 Bonnet Creek Resort Lane, Orlando, 407-597-5500 / bullandbearorlando.com. Orlando’s Bull & Bear looks similar to New York’s legendary steakhouse (except for the pool and golf course views), but ours has its own ambitious menu. Guests of the Waldorf Astoria’s finedining spot can feast on traditional items such as veal Oscar and prime steak that’s dry aged for 21 days, and intriguing ones like appetizers of gnocchi and escargot with crescents of black garlic, and shrimp and grits presented under a dome that, when removed, introduces a waft of aromatic smoke. The chocolate and lemon desserts are superb. $$$$

Capital Grille 4200 Conroy Road, 407-351-2210; 9101 International Drive, 407-370-4392 / thecapitalgrille.com.

Capital Grille tries to one-up its upscale steakhouse competitors by dry-aging its beef, an expensive process that results in especially flavorful meat. Try a beautifully unadorned chop or a more creative dish, such as citrus-glazed salmon or Kona-crusted sirloin. The setting is clubby; the wine selection is generous. $$$$ Christner’s Prime Steak & Lobster 729 Lee

Road, Orlando, 407-645-4443 / christnersprimesteakandlobster.com. Locals have been choosing this prototypically

Featured in

Orlando Restaurant Guide 2013

masculine, dark-wood-and-red-leather enclave for business dinners and family celebrations for more than a decade.

Family-owned since 1993 yet under the Del Frisco’s banner until mid-2013, Christner’s features USDA Prime, corn-fed Midwestern beef or Australian cold-water lobster tails with a slice of the restaurant’s legendary mandarin orange cake.

And there’s a loooong wine list (6,500 bottles). On select nights, Kostya Kimlat hosts magic shows along with a prixfixe menu in a private dining room. $$$$

Disney World’s Swan and Dolphin resort, is a dark, tastefully sports-themed steakhouse where the menu is painted on a football. Offerings include Premium Black Angus beef as well as barbecue shrimp, wedge salad and crab cakes. Up in Lake Mary, Shula’s 347 Grill is more of a sports bar with ambitious food. $$-$$$$

VEGETARIAN Dandelion CommuniTea Café

407-894-4491 / lindaslacantina.com. An Orlando icon, this style-free, windowless restaurant is always packed, and that’s because it serves top-quality steak dinners at walletfriendly prices. Namesake Linda’s daughters Karen Hart, Debra Tassoni and Lori Coley run the establishment today.

$$-$$$

618 N. Thornton Ave., Orlando, 407-362-1864 / dandelioncommunitea.com.

Longtime leaders in Orlando’s local-foods movement, the owners of this colorful counter-service restaurant plate up bowlfuls of meals prepared with veggies — predominantly organic — from area farms. Wraps, salads, a vegan granola raspberry parfait and The Giddyup, a tempe chili, are all terrific. $

Nelore Churrascaria 115 E. Lyman Ave., Winter Park,

Café 118 153 E. Morse Blvd., Winter Park, 407-389-2233 /

Linda’s La Cantina 4721 E. Colonial Drive, Orlando,

407-645-1112 / neloresteakhouse.com. This is one of two Nelore Brazilian all-you-can-eat steakhouses — the other one is in Houston — where the servers, or “gauchos,” come to your table as often as you’d like bearing skewers of premier beef, chicken or pork. There’s a world-class salad bar and Brazilian cheese bread to keep you happy between meat courses. $$$$

Ruth’s Chris 7501 W. Sand Lake Road, Orlando,

407-226-3900; 610 N. Orlando Ave., Winter Park, 407-6222444; 80 Colonial Center Parkway, Lake Mary, 407-8048220 / ruthschris.com. With three stately steakhouses and corporate headquarters by Winter Park Village, Ruth’s Chris, a native of New Orleans, has become an Orlando specialoccasion mainstay. Its service-oriented restaurants specialize in massive corn-fed Midwestern steaks served sizzling and topped with butter. $$$$

Shula’s 1500 Epcot Resorts Blvd., Orlando, 407-934-1362;

2974 International Parkway, Lake Mary, 407-531-3567 / donshula.com. Coach Don Shula, who led the Miami Dolphins through a perfect season in 1972, is now in the restaurant business. One of his Orlando outposts, located in

cafe118.com. Raw foods — none cooked past 118 degrees — are the focus of this crisp Winter Park café, attracting raw foodists, vegans and vegetarians. The spinach and beet ravioli stuffed with cashew ricotta is an impressive imitation of the Italian staple. Thirsty Park Avenue shoppers might stop by for a healthful smoothie. $$

Ethos Vegan Kitchen 601 S. New York Ave., Winter

Park, 407-228-3898 / ethosvegankitchen.com. Ethos is a vegan restaurant with a menu that also satisfies open-minded carnivores. Fuel up on pecan-crusted eggplant with red wine sauce and mashed potatoes or a meat-free shepherd’s pie, if salads, sandwiches and coconut-curry tofu wraps won’t do the trick. $-$$

Infusion Tea 1600 Edgewater Drive, Orlando, 407-9995255 / infusionorlando.com. College Parkers have umpteen options for lunch and dinner, yet Infusion Tea always has a buzz. It sells tea, sure, but also healthy, flavorful, meat-free paninis, pizzas, salads, wraps and quiches. $

Introducing our New Lunch and Dinner Menus! See them at www.roccositaliangrille.com

W inter Park 400 South Orlando Avenue s 407-644-7770 Reservations online at www.roccositaliangrille.com ORLANDO-LIFE.COM

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PEOPLE & PLACES

with paula

Gala Go-Round

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IF YOU’VE GOT A CAUSE, I’VE GOT A BENEFIT. hen summer cools down — and have a little

faith, my peeps, it’s when, not if — that’s a sign that the gala season is just around the corner.

Just in case you don’t quite believe me, here’s proof in the form of a preview of some of the major fundraisers that are fast approaching.

Most are familiar friends, but I’ve included a few newcomers in the bunch, along with a couple of events that are lesser known but just as deserving.

2013 La Vie en Couleur

This is one of those newbies I just spoke of. Described as “a moveable feast” of gourmet dining and live entertainment, this is just the second time around for an annual black-tie event benefitting Nemours Children’s Hospital, which opened last year in Lake Nona’s Medical City. Oct. 14. nemours.org/givingtonemours/events

Headdress Ball

Always the most colorful fundraiser of the season, its highlight is a judged competition of outlandish and gravity-defying headwear, some of which could give a Thanksgiving parade float a run for its money. Benefits the Hope and Help Center of Central Florida’s efforts against HIV/AIDS. Oct. 24. headdressball.org Greater Orlando Gala

Call this one a learning experience. Traditionally hosted by community and faith leaders, it provides an opportunity for guests to hear experts discuss (and this year in particular, to celebrate!) the latest developments in the battle for equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals in Florida. Nov. 1. eqfl.org/orlandogala The Neanderthal Ball

Guests are encouraged to dress in cocktail attire with a prehistoric twist, so channel your inner Fred and Wilma Flintstone, break out the faux furs, and enjoy fun, food, a silent auction and a Caveman Couture Contest. Supports youth education programs at the Orlando Science Center. Nov. 7. osc.org Golden Gala Weekend XXXIII

This annual red-carpet special is the celebrity-studded star of the gala scene. In the past, Bill Cosby, Martina McBride and Grammy-winning artist Diana Krall have entertained to benefit the Florida Hospital Foundation. This year’s headliner hasn’t been announced, but the event will be held at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort. Nov. 24-25. floridahospital.com/events/goldengala

Jeans and Jewels benefits Freedom Ride, an equestrian stable where developmentally challenged children can saddle up.

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2014 FEBRUARY An Evening with Fabulous Friends

The fabulous friends are prominent Central Floridians, and the new location for the gala, which benefits the Mennello Museum of American Art, will be the recently completed Alfond Inn near Rollins College. The 2014 honoree will be Harold Ward III, a prominent Winter Park attorney and civic leader. mennellomuseum.com/gala

The Black and White Gala benefits Give Kids The World, which offers family vacations for children with life-threatening illnesses. nonprofit stable off Lee Road where developmentally challenged children are given a chance, under expert supervision, to saddle up and ride. freedomride.com Cattle Barons’ Ball

MARCH Black Ties & Tennies

The locker room meets the ballroom at Amway Arena, as guests mingle with Orlando Magic players and coaches, indulge in a gourmet meal and place bids during live and silent auctions. Benefits the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation. nba.com/magic/community/tie An Evening at the Palace

A four-course meal, silent and live auctions, and celebrity appearances benefit United Cerebral Palsy of Central Florida, which offers support, education and therapy to children with cerebral palsy and other disabilities. ucpfl.org

At this Texas-style shindig, you’ll wear jeans, boots and spurs while enjoying cocktail-style dining, a silent auction and Western-themed activities. It’s all to round up funds for the American Cancer Society. cattlebaronsball.com Reading Between the Wines

Book-lovers can meet award-winning writers at this businesscasual evening in support of the Adult Literacy League of Central Florida. The special guest will be New York Times best selling author Steve Berry, who’ll discuss his latest novel, The Columbus Affair, a thriller involving Christopher Columbus. adultliteracyleague.org MAY

APRIL

Wine, Women & Shoes

Jeans and Jewels

At this sole-ful event, you can shop and browse at several booths, enjoy a fashion show, savor hors d’oeuvres and wine, and check out a sampling of shoes, shoes, shoes. Supports

You can be casual for a cause at this event, held at the Dubsdread Golf Course ballroom to benefit Freedom Ride, a ORLANDO-LIFE.COM

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PEOPLE AND PLACES

with paula

The Headdress Ball benefits the Hope and Help Center of Central Florida, whose mission is to save lives by treating and preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS. Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. facebook.com/wwsorlando Chef’s Gala

Sip fine wine, indulge in elegant desserts and get a taste of local cuisine to benefit the Heart of Florida United Way, which works to develop safer communities and healthier families. hfuw.org/chefs_gala One Night

The emotional centerpiece of this event is a compelling story of a seriously injured Central Floridian who might not be alive but for the professionals at Orlando Regional Medical Center’s Level One Trauma Center. Proceeds are invested in resources and improvements for the center. onenightsaveslives.com Spring Fashion Soirée

The stars of this event are local children who are battling cancer, as they take the spotlight in high-fashion ensembles.

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The event is the brainchild of Josie and Mark Nejame, whose private charity, Runway to Hope, generates funds to battle pediatric cancer. runwaytohope.org JUNE Black & White Gala

Dinner, an auction, young performers and heartfelt speakers are the focus of this event to benefit Give Kids The World, a nonprofit organization that makes it possible for children with life-threatening diseases to vacation with their families in Orlando, free of charge. gktw.org ■

THERE’S MORE ONLINE

Using your mobile device, scan the QR code or go to orlando-life.com and see more pictures and stories from these and other events held throughout Central Florida.

Native Floridian Paula Wyatt is an Orlando event planner, socialmedia expert and entrepreneur whose companies include Posh Able Events, Posh Able Image Builders and the nonprofit Posh Abilities.

You can reach her at paula@poshableevents.com.

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2013 Equality Florida Greater Orlando Gala Friday, November 1st 8:00-11:00pm

Join us for a wonderful event with drinks, fabulous hors d’oeuvres, and an exciting program – including a State of the State Address by our Executive Director, Nadine Smith and a celebration of our 2013 Voice for Equality Award Honorees.

Suggested minimum contribution $100 Sponsorship Opportunities Begin at $500 100% of the proceeds will directly benefit Equality Florida’s important work.

To RSVP or learn more about sponsorship visit www.eqfl.org/orlandogala or call 407-462-9692

watermark

“Equality Florida is the largest civil rights organization dedicated to securing full equality for Florida’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.We are changing Florida so that no one suffers harassment or discrimination on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

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RESTLESS NATIVE

mike thomas

What, Exactly, Is Shamu’s IQ? W

A DEBATE ON CAPTIVE ORCAS RESURFACES.

hen the crowds filter out of SeaWorld and the turn-

stiles close, the killer whales sometimes swim up on the platforms bordering the tanks. And there they lie, out of the water for 10 to 20 minutes, taking in the outside world.

One of the company’s officials told me this in 1987, when I was reporting on SeaWorld’s attempt to secure a capture permit for 10 wild orcas. I began a story with the anecdote, and followed it with an obvious but unanswerable query: What are they thinking?

That question defines a debate about Shamu that continues to this day. Do orcas operate at a cognitive level that makes their captivity a particularly cruel and unusual punishment?

The experts at SeaWorld called the notion ridiculous.

Their sweet spot for Shamu’s IQ resided somewhere between smart enough to soak tourists on command, but dumb enough to quickly forget what they were missing in the North Pacific. Who needs to roam 100 miles a day in a matriarchal pod when there are pals in the tank and fish delivered like Domino’s?

SeaWorld abandoned those capture plans shortly thereafter. I assumed that would end the controversy. If the park could supply its own Shamus with breeding, there would be no impact on wild populations. And the heartless chases and cruel separation of mothers from calves would cease.

But then Tilikum killed trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010 and the captivity issue resurfaced. That tragedy now is featured in the movie Blackfish, a documentary on SeaWorld and its treatment of its prized show animals. In the case of Tilikum, we are led to believe that captivity turned him into a crazed time bomb waiting to chomp.

The approach is heavy-handed, one-sided and quite effective.

Not surprisingly, SeaWorld refused to participate. But what was surprising was the response afterward when the company issued a point-by-point rebuttal of the allegations to movie critics, as if to enroll them as arbitrators of fact.

When it comes to marine mammals, most movie critics wouldn’t know which end of a walrus to feed. It all makes me ask the same question of SeaWorld officials that I once asked about their orcas: What are they thinking?

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The proper response, of course, would have been to disown the past horrors of wild captures, which occurred under the watch of a previous corporate owner; express regret for the handling of Brancheau’s death; offer to work with her family in establishing a foundation in her name; and agree with OSHA that trainers do not belong in the water with multi-ton creatures that can bite a Subaru in half.

I’ve seen the various Shamu shows. Putting trainers in the water is not necessary.

SeaWorld then should have taken the media on a back-lot tour to demonstrate how it cares for its whales and brag about all the good being done in marine conservation. Then, after that, just lie low.

Snatching young orcas from the wild and plunking them in concrete tanks is most definitely cruel. But what’s done is done.

Now almost all of SeaWorld’s whales have been born in captivity. So: Is their genetic code in such conflict with their unnatural surroundings that they, too, live a life of droopy-fin depression — even though they have no life experience to the contrary?

Given its investment in these orcas, I find it difficult to believe that SeaWorld provides anything but the finest in captive accommodations. And what would be the alternative to the status quo? As we learned from the fiasco of freeing Willy, whose real name was Keiko, even once-wild orcas can’t make a go of it when returned to the ocean. Despite a $20 million effort to free him, Keiko preferred hanging out with people instead of other orcas, became a panhandler mooching fish from boats, and died of pneumonia.

Blackfish director Gabriela Cowperthwaite has suggested SeaWorld send its orcas to a netted-off sea enclosure. Instead of gazing out at sunburned Brits and Canadians through viewing windows, though, they could check out the sights and sounds of the real ocean.

Fat chance. Spending millions of dollars to repatriate orcas is not going to happen. Until they use their mega-sized brains to learn English, swim up on the platforms and yell, “Get me the hell out of here,’’ I don’t anticipate much changing. n Native Floridian and longtime Orlando columnist Mike Thomas is a freelance writer. You can reach him at miket@orlando-life.com.

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