Somebody Feed Phil visited Orlando; check out my reviews of Phil’s stops!

It has been just over a week since Netflix released the seventh season of Somebody Feed Phil, the food and travel show starring Phil Rosenthal, who your parents may know as the creator of long-running TV sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond.  Phil is not a trained chef, and he would be the first person to admit he isn’t a cool or edgy dude.  The appeal of his show is just that he’s a nice, enthusiastic, funny fellow who loves to eat… not unlike your friendly neighborhood Saboscrivner.  Somebody Feed Phil shares Phil’s enjoyable and entertaining visits to unique and iconic restaurants in cities around the world, and the show always highlights the people who cook and serve the meals that Phil eats with such joy and enthusiasm.  It’s feel-good TV that leaves you hungry, but also happy, with a little more hope for humanity.

And in Season 7, Phil finally visited Orlando!  It was an absolutely lovely episode about “The Real” Orlando, eschewing the theme parks and tourist traps, focusing instead on the wonderful locally owned and operated restaurants that enrich and empower our diverse, cosmopolitan, tolerant community.

I am so happy for the restaurants I know and love (several of which I have reviewed here on this very blog) to gain some well-deserved national exposure, and for friends and acquaintances of mine — awesome people who I am lucky to know, who make our city more beautiful — to have been featured in the episode.  Congratulations to all the restaurant owners, to the Orlando Sentinel‘s lovely and talented food writer Amy Drew Thompson, to Tasty Chomps! blog and Orlando Foodie Forum founder Ricky Ly, and to Orlando’s brave, bold, badass Florida Representative Anna V. Eskamani.  And thank you to Phil Rosenthal, you big ol’ mensch, for showcasing so much of what makes Orlando special.
So, in an effort to cross-promote, here are my reviews of all the restaurants Phil Rosenthal visited in his “Real Orlando” episode:

Even if you don’t live here to kvell over familiar people, places, and foods, and even if you don’t usually watch Somebody Feed Phil, I encourage you to watch the episode.  They could not have done a better job of making our city look good, just like I try to do with my blog.

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