Looking back on 2018, here are our favorite food moments and tastes of 2018!
A Foodie’s Tour of Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy – taking a tour of Mills 50 food and drink from King Bao to Lineage Coffee to Tien Hung Market, it was such an honor to be a part of this!
Ramen Rumble 2 – Three local restaurants – Morimoto Asia, Jade New Asian, and Sticky Rice – battled it out for the title of best ramen in Orlando with over $3000 raised for charity! Such a great event hosted with Sue and Jason Chin at The Osprey Tavern.
Foodie Forum Friday Lunch – such fun visiting new restaurants with our group this past year, from Hunger Street Taco to Taste of Chengdu to Sticky Rice and more! Join our group if you haven’t already! https://facebook.com/groups/orlandofoodieforum/
Taste of Chengdu – Chef Tiger Tang doesn’t hold back when it comes to authentic Sichuan flavors – mala numb spicy sichuan peppercorns and all. The place is a must visit!
Chef Wang’s Kitchen – Located in west Orlando, they have the best beef chow fun in town with house made noodles
Wine Bar George at Disney Springs – Learning about all the intricacies of wine from the Master Sommelier and legend George Miliotes himself was a delight – and the food was fantastic as well – especially the mac and cheese bites!
Bad As’s Sandwiches – The Poseidon 2.0 – chunks of juicy fresh lobster, bacon lardons, pickled cabbage and gochujang lime aioli on fresh house baked roll – best damn lobster roll in Orlando
Jinya Ramen – Cha Cha Cha garlic lovers ramen – pork broth: pork chashu, pork back fat, seasoned egg, bean sprouts, chopped onion, green onion, fish powder, korean powder served with THICK noodles – this dish brought me back to the streets of Tokyo’s Shinjuku district – addicting
Orlando Weekly’s “People We Love” edition – Ten People Making Orlando a Better Place to Be – such an honor to be a part of this!
Voodoo Doughnuts at Universal Orlando CityWalk – this year I got the chance to be one of the “storytellers” for Universal – and this Voodoo Doughnut story was my favorite of them all – the Memphis Mafia – think an Elvis apple cluster – with banana, peanut butter, and chocolate chip was my favorite.
Beard in Baldwin – Orlando’s Best Chefs all in one place? No brainer! This nigiri from Sushi Pop was one of many highlights of the night! Do not miss this event next year!
Jade New Asian – Tan Tan Spicy Ramen Noodle – “dry” noodle with spicy ground pork – imagine mapo tofu but drenched over noodles – amazing.
Taste! Central Florida 2018 – over 50 local restaurants all raising hundreds of thousands for Second Harvest Food Bank and the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida to fight childhood hunger at the Orlando World Center Marriott Hotel. This year I began serving on the board of directors for Second Harvest Food Bank and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life to work together with our community in fighting hunger.
Pizza Bruno – I know I am late to this train but damn the pizza, garlic knots, the grilled octopus – all off the charts on flavor and execution. Thank you chef Bruno!
Finally – the whole Andrew Zimmern debacle and subsequent apology tour back in Orlando. Hope he learns from his mistakes in the year to come 🙂
