Beyond Disney: The best new restaurants in Orlando right now

Tracy Grady, the restaurant’s general manager, presented the black-walnut box with an actor’s flourish. Through the glass lid, I studied the 11 pairs of luxurious chopsticks, in designs ranging from jet black to geometric white and blue blossoms; one had handles shaped vaguely like chicken drumsticks.

Maybe it was because I was in Orlando, at the highly accomplished Ômo by Jônt in tony Winter Park, but I couldn’t help comparing the chopstick presentation to the wands in the Harry Potter lands at Universal’s nearby theme parks. Both venues understand the value of theatrics.

Orlando may be a swamp, but it hasn’t been a culinary backwater for at least a decade, and restaurants such as Ômo reflect a new level of ambition and talent. On April 18 the Michelin Guide bestowed stars on 10 local restaurants, including Ômo. Ryan Ratino, chef of Washington, DC’s celebrated Bresca and Jônt, opened Ômo last year; he went to culinary school in Orlando and has watched the scene evolve. "Guests here are eager to engage with something thoughtful and new," he says. "For us, it’s about creating an immersive dining experience rooted in precision, intentional sourcing and storytelling."

For long-serving Orlando Weekly restaurant critic Faiyaz Kara, the city’s increasingly diverse dining scene is key to its expanding appeal. "When I moved here more than 25 years ago, I never thought that I’d one day be able to feast on Kyrgyz plov, Egyptian pies or Palestinian hamburgers. It’s the patchwork of restaurants across a broad swath of the neighborhoods that makes Orlando such a fun and vibrant place to eat."

Now, along with Mickey and Marvel, visitors can find seriously good food, from extravagant uni onigiri, impeccable Texas-style barbecue brisket and a Top Chef’s Vietnamese shave ice to a $375 tasting menu.

So, on the night before a preview visit to Epic Universe’s $7 billion park, my meal at Ômo finished with another customized box, from pastry chef Vanessa Royston. Amid the drawers and compartments of dainty mignardises (mini desserts)-tonka dulce de leche bonbons, mandarin-yuzu pâte de fruit and warm vanilla madeleines-was a note taped inside the lid. "Thank you for joining us, Adam!" it read, above a photo of Frankenstein from Epic Universe’s marquee attraction, Monsters Unchained, with lightning shooting through his reanimated body.

Frankenstein wasn’t the only one electrified in Orlando. Here are the top new places to feast around the Magic Kingdom neighborhood.

Ômo by Jônt

Even the briefest of the three tasting menus at Ratino’s atelier is an event, steeped in the Japanese hospitality concept of omotenashi. The tightest is about 10 courses (from $195), with a la carte supplements, like a $35 iced slice of succulent Hamamatsu muskmelon, which Grady calls "the Louis Vuitton of melons." The meal progresses from a swanky living room to a hidden chef’s counter to Royston’s dessert studio. Subtly sweet Florida corn chawanmushi has a wreath of spring flowers, and lush Dungeness crab beurre tops donabe-cooked rice. For drinks, take a risk with the nonalcoholic wine pairing (from $45), curated by magnanimous sommelier Juan Valencia and featuring racy German and Swedish fermentations made with gooseberries, beets and paprika peppers.

Nuri’s Tavern

Nuri’s is a 1990s pizzeria fever dream costumed in maroon leather, raw pine and Tiffany-glass Coca-Cola lamps from local restaurateurs the Mawardi brothers. It looks like a place where I would’ve had my 10th birthday-and wouldn’t mind having my 41st. The crackery, party-cut tavern pies ($16-$19) are made by chefs Nick Grecco and Jeremy Campbell. Get the white pie, with an uplifting whiff of lemon zest; the wings that stay crispy despite being drenched in honeyed chili crisp; and the dense soft serve, in rotating flavors, like pistachio that actually tastes nutty.

Smokemade Meats + Eats

This pandemic pop-up is worth a trip for even the most hard-core barbecue fans. Even better than Tyler Brunache’s wonderful, outrageously tender Texas-style brisket is his sausage, which, when you slice into it, cracks like a crème brûlée to reveal a jalapeno-spiced interior with pockets of molten Cheddar. Sides, like cheesy grits and tender collards, are also uniformly excellent. If the weather isn’t unbearably hot, carry your tray to the pergola-shaded patio. For $38, Brunache had stacked mine with enough food to feed four.

Talay

A polished-up sequel from the owners of beloved local northern Thai restaurant Issan Zaap, Talay has lime-washed walls, beachy woodwork, basket-woven lamps and potted plants that look straight out of The White Lotus. Here, the menu highlights southern Thailand, with ethereal roti and green curry ($12), grilled river prawns (market price) and hor mok ($32), a custardy, egg-thickened red curry loaded with seafood and served in an Instagrammable Talay-branded coconut.

Nabe

In the Dr. Phillips neighborhood, less than five miles from Universal’s theme parks, is the sweet ice cream store Nola, from real estate investor and YouTuber Khoa Nguyen. Within the shop, past Vietnamese coffee scoops and Sicilian-style ice cream sandwiches on bunny-shaped buns, is a secret door leading to Nabe, the restaurant he runs with chef Lewis Lin. The first thing you might see, as I did, is a 48-pound grouper dry-aging in an incandescent, climate-controlled locker. You will also have plenty of opportunity to eat A5 wagyu: between squares of toasted milk bread, or sliced thinly and ready for DIY shabu-shabu ($70-$165) on the electric tables. It would all be a bit gimmicky, but the food is rock solid and the hospitality on point.

Mills Market

If you lived in Mills 50, a cool neighborhood peppered with pastel bungalows and acupuncture studios, Mills Market is the place you’d go three times a week. It’s a smart and respectful retrofit of the historic Tien Hung Asian food center, with a slice-of-the-city crowd and handful of affordable vendors. They include UniGirl, where chef William Shen-owner of the cerebral tasting spot Sorekara, which just got two Michelin stars-presses fresh Koshihikiri-rice onigiri with tender eel, salmon and (occasionally) obscene gobs of Hokkaido uni. Across the way at Saigon Snow, Top Chef winner Hung Huynh dispenses fluffy Vietnamese-style shave ice with a rainbow of accoutrements.