Page 27 - Rob Bartlett News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

407-240-5151 $$ For many years, our Desi dining scene just coasted along like the yacht rock of gastronomy it was, captained by Mughlai, South Indian and Pakistani restaurants serving dishes long familiar to dozy patrons. But American Gymkhana, backed by the owner of Michelin-starred Junoon in New York City, disrupted the paradigm after opening here in 2014. While it closed the following year, the restaurant left an indelible impression on Indian restaurateurs and blew a little wind into the weathered sails of a cuisine that, frankly, had languished for a long time. Six years on, we find our...

$$ Michael Collantes isn't one to let up on the gas. I mean, the man drives a 350Z with a turbo 1JZ build, so why would you expect him to? Since opening Taglish, his Filipino-American eatery inside Lotte Plaza Market, Collantes has stepped on the pedal by forming the Taglish Collective, the restaurant group behind the expansion of the Taglish brand (Taglish UCF opening next month), the recently opened high-end omakase concept Soseki (review also coming next month) and EightySix Media, a test kitchen/supper club/media company. It's also behind Perla's Pizza, the inviting little pie house join...

$$$ I'll admit, I had fantasies of inviting James Cuomo — the cantankerous Facebook "Hamptons Douche Spotter" — to dine with me at the Hampton Social, a restaurant playing into the vibe of the affluent seaside destination on Long Island. I mean, the man has documented countless incidents of summertime asshattery committed by entitled twats in every neighborhood from Southampton to Montauk, and he's been doing it since 2013: fat guys wearing tiny Speedos and fur coats inside restaurants, running up huge tabs and leaving zero tip; oblivious women seating their tiny dogs in highchairs; bone...

$ For years, regulars did their darnedest to conceal Sushi Kichi from the jabbering hordes of food-obsessed chatterboxes. But sake lets secrets out, so the saying goes, and it wasn't long before the restaurant prompted babble from the loose-lipped among us. For those regulars, the following may read like a contentious declassified document, but if ever there were a time to spread the news about this independent restaurant, it's now. Since late 2013, Takanao and Yasue Nakashima have been serving area sushi fiends (many of whom are Japanese) at their unassuming strip-mall spot in touristy Will...

$ While Florida inches toward decriminalizing the leisurely use of doobage, the recreational scarfing of sandwiches has been legal for ages, and we have Sir Edward Montagu, aka the Earl of Sandwich, to thank for that — dude did for handhelds what Tommy Chong did for weed. But Cheba Hut, newly open on Colonial Drive, rolls both cultures into one big fat joint of an eatery. Yes, marijuana and the munchies are both celebrated at the city's first Cheba Hut, and the East Orlando location is in close proximity to the chain's primary customer base: UCF students and WMFE on-air personalities. Ther...