The expansion of this now-legendary German restaurant in Sanford includes a beautiful bar fashioned from centuries’ old wood from Bavaria and a second-story biergarten – Sanford’s first rooftop bar. But it’s the food, beer, and unmatched gemütlichkeit that’s been drawing folks to Theo Hollerbach’s restaurant since 2001. The menu highlights traditional dishes from Munich and fare from southern Germany (wursts, pretzels, and the like), though schnitzels are the specialty here. And beer. 

The restaurant has gone through numerous chefs in its five-year lifespan, each exhibiting a fierce commitment to Florida ingredients. But its latest, Chris Edwards, employs them in ways his predecessors never did: quail with a confit of Athena melon and brebis from Blackberry Farms; peach and green tomato pizza with blue crab and bacon lardons; and braised rabbit thigh with Charleston Gold Rice risotto, just to name a few. A studied cocktail program, solid weekend brunch, and stunning modernist interior cement 1921’s cred as the one of the best restaurants in all Central Florida.

The superbly seared kebabs grilled at this Persian grocery store in Longwood aren’t just easy on wallets and purse strings, they’re a sight for hungry eyes. Beef koubideh and chicken kebabs are perpetual faves, especially when served with Samin Nosrat-worthy saffron-scented rice. Ask for barberries, grilled peppers and lavash for proper Persian stylings. Leftover shreds of lavash beg to be dunked in the shallot-yogurt dip.

Brandon McGlamery’s Park Avenue mainstay spotlights Italy’s dynamic duo of carbs – pizza (fired in imported, wood-burning Acunto ovens) and pasta (rolled and shaped in-house). The menu, naturally, is seasonally directed and combines McGlamery’s love for wood-fired foods and pasta, like oak-roasted duck breast and rustic whole branzino. Pizzas are some of the best in Winter Park, while pasta offerings (think lamb pansotti and sunchose casarecce) change constantly.

Yeah, it’s a chain, but Hillstone is perpetually packed, and its kitchen consistently delivers fuss-free classics. On any given night, old-money Winter Park gussies itself up and parades about the moody digs before gorging on Hillstone favorites like the Hawaiian rib-eye in a pineapple-soy-ginger marinade, spit-roasted chicken with apricot glaze. Grilled artichokes are a must in season, typically from February to June. Can’t talk about Hillstone without mentioning the killer views of Lake Killarney, and one of the finest outdoor patios in the city.

As sons of missionaries in Guadalajara, Joe and David Creech appreciated the intricacies and nuances of Mexican cuisine at a very early age, and that appreciation blossomed during the pandemic when they began making tortillas from scratch using imported blue Oaxacan corn. The result: tacos and quesadillas of the highest order, stuffed with items like veal cheeks or chorizo and potato. But their birria “machete” – a giant tortilla rolled in a spicy beef stew – not only speaks to the Creech’s Jaliscan roots but set the town ablaze (in a good way). Douse the fire with prickly pear margaritas and white wine sangrias, both available by the quart or gallon.

The restaurant that put the city on the culinary map hasn’t let up one bit. Bringing former Dovecote Brasserie chef Clay Miller into the fold has only bolstered the Pig’s rep as one of the finest dining establishments in the city. The menu impresses with its creatively unpretentious bill of Southern fare incorporating uniquely Floridian ingredients. Owners James and Julie Petrakis used the pandemic as an opportunity to create a beer garden adjacent to the restaurant serving brews from the Ravenous Pig Brewing Co. next door. It’s a family-friendly (and pet-friendly) space to guzzle, play games, or watch a film on the outdoor screen.

This cozy 10-seater by Taglish chef/owner Mike Collantes is all about serving high-end, globally inspired, and seasonally driven omakase. Collantes and his focused group of culinarians show a dedication to local sourcing and a predilection to tweezing in presenting their impeccable and artistically plated dishes. Omakases run $285 and don’t include beverage pairings ($110 to $325 extra). 

Orlando’s bespoke ramen movement made a literal splash in 2016 with Domu ladling bowls of creative and classic renditions inside the East End Market. In the years since, chef/owner Sonny Nguyen has expanded noodle operations, opening a Domu in Dr. Phillips and a quick-casual ramen concept – Domu Chibi – near UCF. Pork bones boiled down for 18 hours makes for a heady tonkatsu, though a shoyu ramen with fried chicken thighs offers an equally luxuriant slurp with the addition of ajitama brulée and duck fat. Noodles are made in-house to boot. Oh, the crispy wings coated in kimchi butter are no joke.

When the Osprey Tavern, a centerpiece in the city’s restaurant scene, changed concepts mid-pandemic into a seafood restaurant, locals took notice. In fact, a seafood restaurant is precisely what owners Jason and Sue Chin had in mind prior to opening Osprey Tavern in 2015, so better late than never. With ex-Luma luminary Michael Cooper at the helm, the restaurant is now locally focused, with dishes like Pompano Beach swordfish, Florida Bluehouse salmon, or Cedar Key clam chowder. The cocktail program and caviar service shines.

The Latin influence in Pig Floyd’s quality barbecue comes courtesy of owner Thomas Ward’s Puerto Rican heritage – maduros, fried yuca, and rice and beans go along faultlessly with everything from luscious brisket to succulent St. Louis-style ribs to flavorful pulled pork. Even juicy spiced-rubbed chicken is worth coming back for. Those meats can also be enjoyed inside sweet rolls, flour tortillas, or bento boxes. Sauces are just as diverse. Tikka masala with ribs, anyone?

Chef Wendy Lopez commands the kitchen of this NoDo stalwart by restaurateurs Jason and Sue Chin (The Osprey, Seito Sushi Baldwin Park, The Monroe) giving representation to Mexico’s regional gastronomic riches, including charred octopus with squid ink chimichurri and duck enchiladas from her native Michoacán. Lopez’s tequila-cured arctic char with pineapple aguachile is a mesmerizing (and fun) north-meets-south take. The gorgeous interior design inspired by Tulum and Quintana Roo compels guests to sample one of the 150 agave-based spirits in various cocktails. Enjoy with a bowl of chapulines (tiny fried grasshoppers seasoned with tamarind, chilies, and spices) for an inimitable arthropodic crunch.

The Mills 50 fixture embodies the sort of casual urbanity and close-quartered seating that fosters lingering and getting social. Folks get cozy over chef/owners Joe and Alda Rees’ pretense-free dishes highlighting local ingredients. Think dishes like snapper cakes, saffron-crusted grouper, and poached Gulf shrimp with tomato chow chow. The buttermilk chicken and steak frites are classic standbys begging to be paired with a bottle from their focused, boutique selection.

“Juju” is the Japanese word for the sizzling sound made from grilling meats, but the vibe inside this sister restaurant to Susuru nearly upstages the binchotan-seared yakitori, kushiyaki and dry-aged fish. Stepping into the Showa-era-styled izakaya is like time-warping onto a Japanese movie set from the 1960s. It only serves to enhance the dining experience here, which features a 10-course meal at the 6-seat kappo bar, or Japanese soul food faves in the izakaya dining room. Enjoy a cocktail or two while watching old Japanese music videos in the lounge.

While owners Hannah Jaffe and Nathan Sloan bid farewell to the Colonialtown breakfast and lunch spot they started three years ago for Tucson, Arizona, partners Tyson Pernell, Elise Ciungan, and Cory Bennett carry on the legacy of baking bialys of beauty. They come in caramelized onion or smoked jalapeno and muenster varieties with fillings ranging from gravlax to labneh to scrapple (this is not a kosher deli). The corned beef “big mac” layered with lettuce, American cheese, pickles, onions, and special sauce served on a sesame bun explains the lines Deli Desires often draws.

There’s no shortage of brazen Sichuan peppercorns in the tongue-tingling dishes at this Mills 50 stalwart, be it Chongqing-style la zi fish, cumin lamb, or twice-cooked pork. The extensive menu is conducive to sharing, especially among those who like it hot. And that includes hot pots and hot-stone dishes. Do yourself a favor and throw your head into a bowl of shui zhu beef in hot chili sauce.

Z is a relative newbie in a sea of old Vietnamese standbys, but what husband-and-wife team Hien Pham and Huong Nguyen bring to their Colonial Drive restaurant is a focused menu with dishes amplifying the clean flavors of Vietnamese cuisine. Soups, be it marinated duck noodle, pho with bone marrow, or anchovy-based seafood bun mam, are stellar. The street food menu with such items as banh beo (steamed rice flour cakes), banh khọt (stuffed pancake-like tarts), and bo la lot (beef wrapped in betel leaves) not only made Vietnamese fare trendy once again, but positioned the restaurant at the very top of Vietnamese joints in the city. Bonus: many of these dishes are offered as vegan options.

Chef Xiong “Tiger” Tang, a skilled perfectionist with a commanding kitchen presence, continues to churn out some of the most impeccable and wickedly peppery Sichuan fare anywhere in the Sunshine State: Chongqing-style hotpots, braised fish filet in spicy chili oil, tongue-numbing Laziji chicken, and many more electrifying choices for the capsicum-deprived. Tang and restaurant partner Paula Ahn have reopened their Baldwin Park location as a reservation-only spot, while the original West Colonial Drive location takes walk-ins.

The “casual fine-dining” concept from Kadence alums Lordfer Lalicon, and Jamilyn Bailey lives up to the hype with its nostalgia-steeped interior and deeply personal fare veering less towards fried and porky fare and more toward seafood and vegetables. Dishes play up the bounty of Florida ingredients and present them in five “waves,” be it mung bean noodles sautéed with mushroom jus and oyster sauce and textured with Italian brown mushrooms or tilefish-scallop sausage in a roasted red pepper and pineapple sauce topped with a sweet pepper salad sheened in fermented datil chili vinaigrette.

A neighborhood restaurant in every sense, Maxine’s has been entertaining guests since 2012 thanks to the antics of owner/slam poet Kirt Earhart and his animal-print-loving chanteuse of a wife, Maxine. Both gleefully work the room (which looks more like a boudoir), making sure each and every one of their guests is having as much fun as they are. The menu is about as eclectic as the clientele, with everything from escargots en croute to cioppino to skillet lasagna. The parking lot has been converted to an outdoor seating area featuring private covered cabanas with fans, plants, and mosquito netting. The parking lot is now a permanently covered outdoor dining pavilion (with heaters for those chilly winter months).

There are restaurant institutions and then there’s Nikki’s Place. The Parramore stalwart has been plating meat-and-threes through 70-plus years of systematic segregation and residential displacement, always with class and dignity. Fronted by 80-year-old Nick Aiken, his wife Inez, and daughter Nikki, the restaurant has established itself as a gathering ground for the community. It has hosted a who’s-who of African American icons, politicians, and civil rights leaders since 1949. That Aiken’s brand of soul food is incomparable cements Nikki’s as the go-to place for Southern fare, be it smothered anything (oxtails, pigtails) to fried chicken to meatloaf. Best of all, meals can be made from stellar sides alone.

Bruno Zacchini excited this city for neo-Neapolitan-style pizzas as pie hounds lost their minds over the intriguing topping selection at the cozy Curry Ford West pie house. Zacchini’s starter dough undergoes a 48-hour ferment before being pulled, tossed, topped, and fired at 1000 degrees, producing a charred and flavorful crust. The Pizza Bruno in College Park serves Jersey-style pies, while a third outpost slated to open in Maitland will offer similar neo-Neapolitan pizzas as the original.

The menu at this restaurant specializing in Indian street fare is an intriguing amalgam of the quick eats served in cities from Delhi to Chennai. The all-halal dishes range from kale chaat and hakka noodles to goat biryani and chicken momo. It’s a large bill of fare made larger by the “gola” station serving the ideal Florida treat – shaved ice in a host of flavors and toppings.

Ermias Hailab and Abeba Gonetse introduced many in this town to fare from the “Cradle of Humanity” when they opened Nile in 2006. Now, 17 years later, tourists and locals alike come to scoop boldly spiced stews and meats with spongy, tangy injera from communal plates inside Nile’s cozy digs. The post-meal coffee ceremony alone is worth braving the I-Drive traffic for.

After a three-and-a-half-year hiatus, Norman’s is back in a new space with a new look. Legendary Florida chef Norman Van Aken continues to navigate the restaurant’s direction along with chef de cuisine Carlos Robles Molina at the helm. Even in its third incarnation, the menu’s original Latin-Caribbean DNA remains intact, though flavors from Japan and Southeast Asia add to Van Aken’s “New World” bent. The wine list is just as stellar as before…just don’t expect 2019 prices. A regular series of collab dinners with rising young chefs is designed to stimulate community building, as well as palates. 

One of the priciest restaurants in town (a meal here can range between $295 to $625 per person) is also one of the most progressive. No question, this grande dame of Central Florida dining is easily the closest thing we have to Hawthorn, minus the murderous mayhem of course. An eclectic wine list has labels dating back to the early 1900s. This is Disney’s finest restaurant so don’t dress like a putz.

Executive chef Fabrizio Schenardi oversees all the restaurants at the Four Seasons Resort, but Ravello, with its modern Italian flair, is one nearest and dearest to his heart. The restaurant recently garnered the coveted ITA0039 designation by ASACERT, an international inspection body that evaluates and certifies restaurants according to stringent standards. It’s the only Italian restaurant in the country bestowed with the honor, and it’s no wonder – 90 percent of the restaurant’s ingredients come from Italy and go into dishes like veal-stuffed ravioli, duck breast with glazed chestnut, and pan-seared trout with Arneis wine sauce. Alba white truffles make a customary appearance during the season, while Rabii Saber, the James Beard-nominated pastry chef, ensures a worthy ending will be had.

It’s clear the Iron Chef is bent on offering the absolute finest cuts of fish and seafood procured from Toyosu Fish Market and around the world inside his sprawling, two-story Disney Springs behemoth. The relationships the Morimoto empire has forged over the years have clearly placed the restaurant in an advantageous position as far as sourcing is concerned. Preferential treatment? Maybe, but either way, the consumer is the ultimate beneficiary of these prized ingredients and the respect and deference with which the chefs and their discriminating kitchen staff present them, particularly with their stunning omakases. Non-sushi stars include the Peking duck and spare ribs.