Wings – The Saboscrivner

The Corner Pizza Bar

The Corner Pizza Bar (https://thecornerpizzabar.com/) is a super-casual pizzeria and bar in downtown Orlando, located at 150 S Magnolia Ave, Orlando, FL 32801. It is one of the closest restaurants within walking distance to the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, and I was on my way to a show when I met a friend, his girlfriend, and another friend of his there for dinner. They were kind enough to invite me to join them, or otherwise, I would have gone straight from work to the concert, skipping dinner and some really pleasant human contact with really pleasant humans. I wasn’t expecting the pizza would be so good, either!

First of all, I liked that The Corner Pizza Bar was kind of dark and somewhat cavernous inside. I love restaurants like this, where you aren’t being blinded by bright light and don’t feel like other diners are right on top of you. This was late June, when the World Cup was happening, so most people in there were watching socc… um, footba… nah, whatever, soccer on the large-screen TVs. We were just there to eat and chat before seeing the brilliant British singer-songwriter-piano player Joe Jackson, an underrated musical legend who has been reinventing himself since the late ’70s. Yes, he’s still around, and he’s still got it.

Since this has been my year of cutting carbs and losing weight, I figured I was at a new pizzeria, so I might as well treat myself and try their pizza. I appreciate any pizzeria that sells slices, so I went with a plain cheese slice. Toppings are fine, but you can really size up a pizzeria and evaluate their strengths and weaknesses by ordering a plain slice and enjoying it on the premises. Well, for one thing, this slice was HUGE. At a glance, it reminded me of Lazy Moon Pizza, that Orlando institution with three locations that I have a lot of nostalgic love for. But I thought The Corner’s slice was much better than Lazy Moon — more like a traditional thin and crispy New York slice.
I appreciated that the crust wasn’t burnt to a crisp, the cheese was melty, and the robust sauce didn’t feel like an afterthought. Of course I fold my slices, and this one flopped a little due to sheer size, but it did not affect my enjoyment at all. It was a lot better than some of the better-known and highly vaunted local pizzerias, I can tell you that.

The other thing I ordered was my other go-to at any pizzeria: a Sicilian slice. I love Sicilian pizza more than anyone else I know, again due to nostalgia. I would always get one of these thick, rectangular slices at Cozzoli’s Pizza at the Dadeland Mall food court as a kid in the ’80s, and I’ve been chasing that high ever since. It is nothing like Chicago-style deep dish pizza, and it is less greasy than the rectangular slices of a Detroit-style pan pizza with its caramelized cheese “frico” edges. I love that the Sicilian crust is crispy on the bottom, but underneath the mozzarella cheese and thick tomato sauce, it is pillowy soft. This was a fantastic Sicilian slice, especially in a city where not enough pizzerias offer this option. I have no complaints, no nitpicks.

My friend and his girlfriend ordered this calzone to share with each other, but when they started getting full, they asked if I wanted any. Since we were all heading to the concert, I took it upon myself to finish it, and I have no regrets for stepping up. I don’t always go crazy for calzones, but this one had a nice, light crust brushed with garlic butter. Some places overbake them so the crust becomes a bland, dry impediment, rather than an enjoyable component of the finished product. They chose meatballs to go inside, along with the mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, and I forget what else, but you can’t ever go wrong with meatballs at an Italian restaurant. I honestly prefer them to pepperoni or sausage as a pizza topping — either sliced or crumbled. And if you don’t know, now you know!

I have to admit, I avoid going to downtown Orlando whenever possible, after two hectic years of working down there, twenty years ago. The parking can be a nightmare, although I paid extra for guaranteed parking in a garage for the Joe Jackson concert, and that put me mere steps away from The Corner Pizza Bar. The nighttime crowds can be intense and intimidating, but this was a quiet Monday night. It’s just a schlep in general, or else I would consider returning to The Corner Pizza Bar somewhat regularly. But next time I attend a concert downtown, I will absolutely go back for a pre-show dinner. The pizza and calzone were better than they had any right to be, the good conversation with friends old and new elevated the entire meal even higher, and then I got to see a musical legend perform for the first time. The Corner Pizza Bar helped make that a memorable, magical Monday.

Seby’s Pizza

Seby’s Pizza (https://www.sebyspizza.com/) opened in 2025, in the same tiny plaza that is the home of the wonderful Kai Asian Street Fare, in the southwest corner of the intersection of Semoran Boulevard and Howell Branch Road, where Casselberry fades into Winter Park. Pizzaiolo Sebastian “Seby” Donofrio, a third-generation Italian-American, runs a small, casual pizzeria that specializes in New York style pies, something with no shortage of local options but very few that achieve greatness.

We usually order garlic knots from most pizzerias to see how they come out, almost like a quality benchmark. These were nice and fluffy, and the exteriors didn’t get scorched, which happens more often than it should.

I opted for a large pizza for myself, planning to get four meals out of it (two large slices each). I treated myself to the Soho pie, with homemade tomato sauce, a blend of shredded mozzarella and provolone cheeses, soppressata, capicola, fresh garlic, and crushed Italian hot cherry peppers. I think I was hoping for actual pickled cherry peppers, maybe chopped up, but I recall a bit of disappointment that it was just the red pepper flakes that most pizzerias have in little shaky-jars on the table, or in tiny packets. And they went really light on them, too (see below), but I have a huge shaky-canister of red pepper flakes at home, so there was plenty of spice to go around… eventually. As much as I love soppressata and capicola, while these bougier cured meats were a nice alternative to the standard pepperoni, I still prefer all cured meats served cold in a sandwich or on a charcuterie platter rather than baked on a pizza until they’re crispy and greasy. I feel like they all lose something that way.
Speaking of which, while it was good New York-style pizza, pizza always loses something on the drive home. That New York style crispiness fades in the car as it steams in the cardboard box. I’m sure I would have had a better first impression if I ate it right there in the restaurant (and yes, they do have a small seating area).

This was the small Little Italy, Seby’s version of a classic margherita pizza, with house-made tomato sauce, fior di latte fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, and a dusting of Pecorino Romano cheese. I got this with my wife in mind, who sometimes likes red sauce but sometimes doesn’t, but I ended up eating most of it too. (And in 2026, the year I’m finally eating healthier and losing weight, that’s why I hardly ever order or eat pizza anymore.)

These were honey garlic jumbo Buffalo-style wings, which my wife requested. She’s a bigger wing fan than I am, especially honey garlic, but I think I ended up enjoying them more than she did. I recall her complaining they were a little too garlicky, and in return, I posited that I would have preferred them with much more garlic. We’re the original odd couple!

This was another choice my wife made, toasted almond amaretto cream cake, made with amaretto-soaked Savoiardi ladyfinger cookies covered with creamy, rich mascarpone cheese and finished with a toasted almond crunch topping. Like a lot of pizzerias probably do, Seby’s brought this dessert in from Brooklyn. Several of their sumptuous-looking desserts are listed as coming from either Brooklyn or Italy!

People have been raving about Seby’s Pizza, and I get it, I truly do. It’s nice having another solid New York-style pizzeria so close to home, especially since my absolute favorite in Orlando, John and John’s – A Pizza Shop, is almost 45 minutes away. But while Seby’s was solid enough, if I want that style of pizza without schlepping through Orlando traffic, I feel like the excellent Dough Boyz Pizzeria in nearby Oviedo might edge it out. Seby’s fans (and I know there are many of you) — what should I try next time? And how do YOU, the stalwart Saboscrivnerinos, rank Orlando’s local pizzerias? I’ve reviewed many over the years, but which local landmarks am I still missing?

Barkhaven

“D’ya like dags?”
“Dags?!?”
“Yeah, dags.”
“Dags!”
“Ohhhh, dogs. Yeah, I like dags.”
(Name that movie!)

Barkhaven (https://barkhaven.com/) is a combination dog park, dog grooming facility, restaurant, and bar in Orlando’s Ivanhoe Village area at 724 Brookhaven Drive, Orlando, FL 32803. To put everyone’s minds at ease, don’t worry — there are no dogs in the dining room shedding, drooling, making noise, or trying to steal people’s food. There is a separate entrance for people to bring their dogs outside to the fenced-in dog park, but there are windows to watch dogs romp and frolic while you eat inside the restaurant, or there are outside tables separated from the dog park with a fence.

Full disclosure: we don’t have a dog. I am super-allergic to them, and I am much more of a cat person (more like I’m totally obsessed with cats and want to be best friends with every cat ever). But my wife grew up with Yorkies and one wonderful Yorkie/schnauzer mix and misses them terribly. When I recently found out Barkhaven existed, I thought she would appreciate a chance to watch some dogs make with the romping and the frolicking while enjoying lunch out after a nearby hair appointment.

The restaurant and bar area is a large, wide-open space with tables and a few half-booths up against one wall. All the food is served in disposable paper bowls and plates, with plastic utensils, which is fine with me. It’s a very casual place. The menu says they don’t use any seed oils, and they do all their frying in beef tallow, so look out, vegetarians. I don’t know when seed oils became public enemy #1 or beef tallow started being considered a healthier option, but I remain skeptical. I’m seeing this sentiment so often, I expect it’s some political agenda. Unlike the wonderful smokiness that comes from frying in reserved bacon grease, I don’t think beef tallow adds any particular flavor to foods, just kind of an oppressive heaviness. Would I end up changing my mind after this lunch at Barkhaven? Read on, stalwart Saboscrivnerinos.

My wife is obsessed with hummus, especially since our recent discovery of The Hummus Guy food truck. Aside from the dogs and the proximity to her stylist, the other reason I suggested Barkhaven was because I saw they serve hummus, and I knew she would want to try it. It’s a very nontraditional hummus, though — mixed with balsamic red peppers (I loved ’em, she didn’t), topped with crushed crispy chickpeas (not sure if they were dehydrated or fried in beef tallow?) and paprika, and served with thick-sliced cucumbers and pita chips (definitely fried in beef tallow, maybe a moment too long).

She usually likes wings, and I’ve been thinking a lot about delicious Korean-style crispy chicken wings recently. As a result, we were both intrigued by the honey mustard crunch wings, glazed with fermented honey mustard, sprinkled with green onions, and drizzled with scratch-made ranch dressing. These were meaty wings, not those tiny, sad sports bar wings I hate, but they were a little dry. The wings were suitably crispy without being breaded (there’s that beef tallow again), and as a mustard aficionado, I liked the honey mustard flavor that wasn’t too sweet like so many honey mustards that I call “dessert mustards.” My wife doesn’t like ranch and didn’t care for the ranch being drizzled on, so I ended up eating most of the wings in three separate servings, mostly back at home.

This was definitely the best thing I tried at Barkhaven, the arayas, also known as a Lebanese burger. Rather than a traditional burger patty that might just be sprinkled with salt and possibly pepper, this beef was heavily seasoned with delicious spices, and it actually had some heat, which I enjoyed. It was stuffed into a pita and grilled to get a crispy exterior, then drizzled with garlic tahini and rosemary pineapple hot honey. It was terrific — savory, spicy, and so messy and greasy. It reminded me of a spicier, greasier, messier version of the hawawshi I enjoyed so much last summer at The Cairo Express, although that was crispier because it didn’t have any condiments or sauces on the exterior surface.
The crunchy red cabbage slaw on the side was pleasant, even though I usually prefer the creaminess of conventional cole slaw. And I didn’t realize this arayas was going to come with fries, but I’m trying to be good and avoid fries. These were pretty conventional crinkle-cut fries, despite the beef tallow, so I wasn’t terribly tempted. I dipped a few in the ranch that came with the wings and dragged a couple through whatever tahini, honey, and meat juice dripped out of the arayas, but I left most of the fries behind and only felt a little guilty about the unexpected food waste.

Even though I’ve been eating less and eating healthier (this meal being an exception), and even though I didn’t devour all the fries, I saw Barkhaven offered onion rings, so I had to try them. I try onion rings anywhere and everywhere, since I have a recurring feature on this food blog called Ring the Alarm! These were described as “Thick-cut onions dipped in a crisp, golden beer batter and fried to perfection,” but they were not the kind that I am always delighted to find in the wild, at restaurants like The Whiskey, Christo’s, Build My Burgers, bb.q Chicken, and even Culver’s. The batter on these was dry, kind of tasteless, and had several burnt, scorched spots. Maybe it was the beef tallow.

Barkhaven also serves wood oven pizzas, fish and chips, salads, a hot dog (natch), desserts that include deep-fried pound cake (I guess they have to put that beef tallow to use!), and a whole menu for dogs. When I saw the combination of “beef, pumpkin, and broccoli” on the menu, along with “frozen carrots,” I thought “those are certainly some choices,” until my wife pointed out that those are options for dogs. But again, the dogs would eat outside. They also have a large selection of beers, wines, cocktails, coffee, tea, and other non-alcoholic beverages, all for humans.

Once we boxed up our ample leftovers, we adjourned outside to watch the aforementioned romping and frolicking for a little while. Those good boys and girls were having a grand time, and we saw some beautiful huskies and even a rascally shiba inu. It was a nice way to decompress mentally and physically after what turned out to be a heavy meal. So that was Barkhaven. If you like dogs, drinking, and beef tallow, you’ll be in absolute heaven!

Runabout Brewing Co.

Runabout Brewing Co. (https://www.runaboutbrewing.com/) calls itself a “Kitchen and Raw Bar,” a brewpub that serves an assortment of Southern-accented comfort food (pizza, burgers, sandwiches, salads, oysters, and more) and has 20 beers on tap. Longtime readers know my wife and I don’t drink, but a cool and trusted friend loves this place, so we recently followed her advice and went out there for a Saturday lunch date. It is located at 4721 S. Orange Avenue in Orlando, south of downtown in a district I believe is called Edgewood, between SoDo and Pinecastle. We were among the first to arrive, a little before noon, but the place was pretty slammed by the time we left, probably full of loyal locals.

This hot and crispy jumbo pretzel (that’s what they call it!) is more than enough for two people to share. It has the best crackly texture, almost like it was lightly fried. It is also dusted with Tajin, a chili-lime seasoning that I’m used to having over fruit, not a baked (and fried?) good. My wife doesn’t dig on cheese sauces or dips in general, but I loved the lager cheese fondue dipping sauce.

These were some great onion rings, definitely beer-battered and served with sriracha aioli. I give these a strong and confident RING THE ALARM!

My wife ordered this lovely arugula and spinach salad, topped with feta cheese, Granny Smith apple slices, and sugar-dusted pecans. There is also a lemon vinaigrette dressing on it that she really liked. She added two buttermilk chicken tenders to the salad, which didn’t photograph well, but she seemed to like them. You can also get herb-seared steak, crispy fried oysters, a salmon filet, or three chilled prawns added onto any salad there.

I couldn’t decide between two entrees, but I had not had a good burger in a while, so I ordered this “hot stuff” burger topped with pepper jack cheese, fire-roasted peppers, and crispy fried pickled jalapenos and topped with chili sauce. It wasn’t the largest burger in town, or the thickest, or the prettiest, or the juiciest, but it was still tasty.
The fries were pretty standard — if you’re thinking they would taste like McDonald’s fries, you’d be right, but there isn’t anything wrong with that!

And while it isn’t on the menu on the website, they did offer an Italian sub on the lunch menu when we went, so I ordered it to go. I got some salami, pepperoni, provolone cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, and vinaigrette dressing on the whitest sub roll ever. It looked underbaked but tasted fine, and it was a solid sandwich.The potato chips were house-made and stayed crispy all the way home, when I separated them from the sandwich so they wouldn’t get soggy.

It is quite a haul for us to get to Runabout Brewing from home, but I’d go back to meet friends there, absolutely. There might be bigger, better burgers and Italian subs elsewhere in Orlando, but I liked these, don’t get me wrong. I was impressed by the breadth and depth of the menu just the same, especially for a brewery-restaurant. Next time I’d probably try some seafood, especially since I love oysters so much, or the marinated and wood fire-roasted wings, since so many places serve wings but so few get them right. The menu on the website now displays collard greens braised with smoked turkey necks, which I didn’t notice at the time (or maybe they weren’t on the menu when we went), but I’ve enjoyed a lot of good collards lately, so I would definitely get those on a return trip. I am just glad to see so many local breweries thriving and serving good food, not just the lowest-effort bar food.

CLOSED: Candee Lee’s Soul House

EDIT: I learned that Candee Lee’s Soul House permanently closed in October 2025, barely two months after I wrote my review! What a damn shame. The food was really good.

***

Candee Lee’s Soul House (https://candeeleessoulhouse.com/) is the dream of Chef Tony Tone Blakey, a Culinary Institute of Virginia alumnus, a former chef at Walt Disney World, and a personal chef. Inspired by his mother, the titular Candee Lee, he opened his soul food restaurant in a touristy stretch of Irlo Bronson Highway in Kissimmee, Florida, in March of 2025, and I had been wanting to make it down there to try it for a long time.

Anyone who knows me and my family would not be surprised to learn I did not grow up eating soul food, but it a nostalgic treat to me every time. I discovered soul food the summer between my junior and senior years of high school. As a teenager obsessed with the TV series ER, I thought I might study to become a doctor, and somehow I scored a prestigious(?) internship at the University of Miami School of Medicine in downtown Miami. I felt like such an accomplished and sophisticated adult, taking the Metrorail from suburban Kendall into downtown every morning and home every evening, even though I was placed in a hematology research lab and assisted with mundane experiments that never seemed to cure any diseases. A lot of the time, they drew my blood to use as the “control” for the daily experimentation, adding insult to injury for this young, unpaid intern. The highlight of those long and frustrating internship days was eating lunch in the med school cafeteria, where every day they offered a cheap daily special that was usually soul food.

That summer internship made me realize I had no future as a medical researcher or a patient-facing doctor, but I fell in love with ham hocks and collard greens, fried cabbage and yams, and my beloved oxtails — one of my favorite meals to this day. I looked forward to those nourishing lunches so much, knowing my days would be halfway over at that point, and I still think about that cafeteria soul food today. It could be said that I’ve been chasing those tastes ever since.

Anyway, there have never been many soul food options in Orlando. I loved Nikki’s Place when I reviewed it a few years back, a historic restaurant located in Parramore, near downtown Orlando. But when I learned Chef Tony Tone had opened his own restaurant, I couldn’t wait to try it, even though it was much further from home. Well, while Nikki’s Place has the old-school atmosphere of the soul food restaurant from The Blues Brothers, Candee Lee’s Soul House is modern, full of natural light and bright red and blue painted walls, and located in a suburban strip plaza, looking a bit like a fast food spot. I had a rare Wednesday off work this week, so I drove down there with a friend to try it for the first time.

I took the liberty of photographing the menu displays on the wall, since they didn’t quite match up with the menu on the website. You can choose between lunch plates with one entree and one side (only Monday through Thursday, from 12 to 3 PM) or dinner plates with one entree and two sides (any day, anytime). The entrees include chicken (either fried wings or garlic and herb-roasted leg quarters), boneless fried catfish filets, and fried bone-in pork ribs (three for the lunch or six for the dinner).
There are also chicken or fish sandwiches which are supposed to come with coleslaw, homemade pickles, and one side, which I did not read carefully at the time. (More on that later.) The chicken and fish sandwiches ($12 and $15, respectively) are half-price on Wednesdays, which was one of the reasons I timed my first visit for a Wednesday.

Here is the menu of sides and drinks. I wanted to try most of the sides, and between my friend and I, I got to try five, which isn’t bad at all.

My friend and I didn’t have the sheer numbers necessary to order the Family Box (which serves 4-5) or the Big Mama (which serves 7-8), but here is the information, for anyone who might live or vacation down that way with a large group:

At this point I should note that it is a long, thin restaurant space, where you order on the far end of the counter and pay closer to the door, and the only seating is a series of red stools along a long counter on the opposite wall. There aren’t any tables, and I’m sure a lot of people get their food to go.

My friend, a Mississippi boy, ordered the fried catfish dinner, which came with two huge filets. He let me try a piece, and it was excellent. I loved the breading. It is definitely some of the best fried catfish I’ve had anywhere around here (up there with my favorite seafood restaurant High Tide Harry’s, and of course the iconic Nikki’s Place).
For his sides, he got the collard greens with smoked turkey and the “Better than ya mama’s” grits. I’m not a big grits guy, but I tried a bite of his, and it was definitely better than any grits I’ve tried anywhere else. They were buttery and rich and a bit gritty, and definitely not instant grits (as no self-respectin’ Southernah uses instant grits). Chef Tony Tone definitely takes pride in his grits.

The whole reason I planned to take a Wednesday off work just to drive the hour each way to Candee Lee’s Soul House was to try their oxtails, which are only served on Wednesdays. We got there a few minutes after they opened at noon, but when I asked for the oxtails, they said it wouldn’t be ready until 1:00. Okay, okay, that’s not a problem. We would still eat, and I’d order other stuff and get the oxtails to go. No problem, right?

So I decided to get the fried ribs lunch special, with three ribs, a side, a sauce, and a drink. I love ribs in all their forms, but I’ve never had fried ribs before, and neither had my friend. I gave him one, because this is how we roll. The spareribs were a generous size, and they were definitely meaty. They had a pleasantly crispy exterior, and they were still tender and juicy, luckily not dry at all. I would have been really disappointed if they were dried-out and both crunchy and greasy at the same time, like how way too many sports bars ruin their wings in the fryer, but these were really good. The meat didn’t exactly fall off the bone (which is a good thing, texture-wise), but it was tender enough to easily munch off the bone without leaving shreds behind. By the time I finished my two ribs, it looked like a piranha had gotten to them.

These ribs came unsauced, unlike most restaurant ribs, but Candee Lee’s offers a few different house-made sauces in little ramekins, and I tried three of them. There was an Angry sauce, which is a house-made hot sauce, there was another sauce that was sweet and spicy with a honey base, and then there was an Oooh Baby sauce that was their barbecue sauce. The ribs were tender enough to tear off little chunks with my fingers and dip them in the various sauces to try them all, which was nice. They were a good blank canvas, and all three of the sauces slapped.

For my side, I ordered the double meat baked beans, which were dripping out of the styrofoam box, but every drop was worth saving and savoring. According to the website, these baked beans are slow-cooked in molasses and spices with ground beef and smoked sausage. According to me, your friendly neighborhood Saboscrivner, these are the best barbecue-style baked beans I’ve had anywhere in the Orlando area. I absolutely loved them. 10/10, chef’s kiss, no notes. (Spoiler alert: that will become a trend with the other sides.)

In an attempt to both kill time so we could get the oxtails and go, and also to try as many things as possible on the menu, I also ordered the chicken sandwich, which is half-price on Wednesday. It included a large chicken thigh, breaded and fried to perfection, on a soft bun. It was an awe-inspiring piece of fried chicken. My only disappointment was realizing later that the sandwich did not include any coleslaw or house-made pickles, as promised. I thought it seemed a little minimalist, but the chicken itself was so good, and I enjoyed dunking it in the three aforementioned sauces after giving my friend a piece, so I got distracted. It didn’t occur to me until after we left that we missed out on the coleslaw and pickles, and therefore got an incomplete chicken sandwich experience at Candee Lee’s.

This time, my side was the “million dollar” mac and cheese, which was so rich and buttery and cheesy that I had to pace myself to get through the modest scoop. I don’t mind telling you, constant readers, that this might be the best macaroni and cheese I’ve ever had in the Orlando area. It’s different from my previous favorite from Pom Pom’s Teahouse and Sandwicheria (which no longer lists mac and cheese on its menu after reopening in Sanford), but it is everything you dream of good mac and cheese being. Truly the stuff that cheesy, buttery, carby, gooey dreams are made of.

By the time we got our food, chatted a lot, finished everything, and watched the restaurant get pretty damn busy during its first hour of operation, it was almost 1:00, so I asked if the oxtails were almost ready to get an order to go. I paid, got a refill of the delicious lemonade (from a company called Tractor that I had never heard of before), and resumed talking with my friend. By this point, they were even more slammed. I asked for an oxtail update again at about 1:45, not out of patience yet, but starting to get close. They eventually brought out the oxtails and two sides, and we finally hit the road for home closer to 2:00. I know oxtails take a long time to cook, but if I had known they wouldn’t be ready when the restaurant opened at noon, I definitely would have timed our visit to arrive later.

These were HUGE oxtails, not like the small pieces in a dark brown gravy I’m used to from Jamaican restaurants, or even the ones I’ve had in the past from Nikki’s Place. These slow-roasted oxtails had an orangey-red mirepoix gravy on them (comprised of onions, carrots, and celery, for those who were wondering), and the tails themselves were much longer segments of bone than I am used to, with rich, unctuous, fatty, tender meat clinging to them. They were delicious, just different.Once I got home and started writing this review, I saw photos on Candee Lee’s Facebook page that the oxtails were supposed to be topped with a generous portion of fried onions. I love fried onions, so much so that I obsessive-compulsively sample onion rings anywhere I can find them and make a special point to review said onion rings on this very blog. I even have a catch-phrase: RING THE ALARM! I was so sad and disappointed that once again, a key component had been left out of something I ordered, with no notice or warning.

But I cheered up a bit once I tried the same collard greens with smoked turkey that my friend got with his catfish. Just like with the baked beans and the million dollar mac and cheese, these smoky, savory greens were the best collard greens I’ve ever had in my life. Better than Nikki’s Place, better than 4 Rivers Smokehouse from 15 years ago, when you could always count on them to have great barbecue and sides, better than anywhere. These are the greens you’re looking for!

And my second side, which I also enjoyed back at home was the macaroni salad, a side item I am now in the habit of ordering anywhere and everywhere I see it on the menu. Just like my obsessions with onion rings, chili, and Italian subs, I can’t turn down macaroni salad or pasta salad, because everyone’s versions are different, and they’re almost all good to great. Well, stalwart Saboscrivnerinos, this macaroni salad was GREAT. Once again, even though you’ve already heard this familiar refrain, this might be the best macaroni salad in the greater Orlando area. There was a bit of yellow mustard in it, along with the mayo, shreds of carrot, and bits of celery and onion, and the elbow macaroni was perfectly al dente. Perfect in every way.

I think Chef Tony Tone should consider offering a side sampler on his menu, where diners can choose anywhere from three to five sides for a fixed price (factoring in small upcharges for the mac and cheese and greens). Maybe someone doesn’t feel like heavy meats but really wants to sample as many sides as possible without paying $5.50 for a la carte portions or just getting one or two sides with a larger meal. I think that would be a big hit. Even though the fried chicken and fried catfish were both excellent, the fried ribs hit different in the best possible way, and the oxtail was on point, I thought all the sides were the stars of our huge and heavy lunch.

With all this said and done, I give a rousing recommendation to Chef Tony Tone and Candee Lee’s Soul House. All the food was a hit, even though I am not thrilled about missing out on the fried onions on top of my oxtails and the cole slaw and pickles on the chicken sandwich. Because the restaurant is an hour away in a direction I never travel in, sadly, I don’t think I will make it back down there, so I’ll never get to try the “complete” versions. But if you’re ever in the area or just craving soul food, I still encourage others to check it out. Just be on the lookout when you receive your food, and don’t hesitate to ask if anything seems to be missing. And if you come for oxtails on a Wednesday, call first to confirm when they will be ready, so you don’t kill two hours waiting around there like my very patient pal and I did.

Nuri’s Tavern

Nuri’s Tavern (https://nuristavern.com/) is a new pizzeria and bar on Pine Street in downtown Orlando, a place I almost never go anymore. It usually takes the temptation of a concert to force me back downtown, but this time, it only took the allure of pizza… and nostalgia. Nuri’s serves thin-crust tavern-style pizza, which you can get at Domino’s, but it definitely isn’t the same. This style of pizza fills me with nostalgia for kiddie birthday party places in the ’80s, with video games, carnival games like Skee-Ball and Whack-A-Mole, cheap prizes, and creepy singing animatronic robots.

We didn’t have Chuck E. Cheese or Showbiz Pizza growing up in Miami in the ’80s, but we had a place called Mark Twain’s Riverboat Playhouse in West Kendall, complete with the video games and carny games, a ball pit for kids to play in (absolutely disgusting, if you stop to think about it for a moment), and a dining room with animatronic, anthropomorphic dogs dressed up like a Dixieland band, holding musical instruments, awkwardly herking and jerking to recordings of very non-Dixieland oldies like “Windy” by The Association and “Spinning Wheel” by Blood, Sweat, and Tears. Once per “show,” a spotlight shined on an animatronic of the great American writer and humorist Mark Twain, and he appeared to come to life during the robot dogs’ musical set. I assume he would say something pithy and then disappear off stage.

You might be thinking this is odd on so many levels, and you would be right. For one thing, anyone who knows and loves Mark Twain would know he was a huge fan of cats rather than dogs, and even rented cats from local folks when he traveled, to hang out in hotels with him. But keep in mind this place existed in Miami in the ’80s, where mountains of cocaine were surely commonplace, so there you go. I know Mark Twain’s Riverboat Playhouse survived into the early ’90s, because once my middle school jazz band went there on a field trip as a reward, even though most of us probably felt like we outgrew it. There was an even larger, more mysterious, more magical birthday party play-place called Pirates back in the ’80s, somewhere out on Coral Way. It is also long gone, but it will always exist in my increasingly foggy memories.

Anyway, I bring this up because Nuri’s Tavern gave me major early ’80s birthday party play-place vibes, just meant more for adults rather than kids. Like Primrose Lanes, the Milk District restaurant and hipster bowling alley owned by the same hospitality group, there are hipster bowling alley vibes at Nuri’s, as the founders always aim to create too-cool-for-school, Instagram-worthy destinations.

The walls are light wood-paneled, there are different kinds of cushy booths, vintage pinball machines, an antique telephone booth, a working photo booth (Nuri’s is big on booths), and even a scooter!

While the era of casual family restaurants with “crazy crap on the walls” seemed to peak in the 1990s, Nuri’s really went big with its fun, kitschy, retro decor. It also reminded me of visiting my late, great great-uncle and great-aunt in Canarsie in 1991 (when I was 13) and hanging out in their tricked-out Brooklyn basement, which had a game room/mancave atmosphere long before anyone called rooms like that “mancaves.” As you can see, there is a lot to look at once you order and wait for your food.

By the way, you scan a QR code at your table and then order and even pay on your phone. I will do this (when in Rome, right?), but I admit I’m not a big fan. That said, on both of my visits, a server stopped by our table to offer a print menu and take my order in person. However, the restaurant wasn’t busy on either of these visits, so maybe they count on the QR code ordering process when they get slammed later on.

The pizza menu is divided into red and white sauce pizzas, and they are all twelve inches in diameter and sliced into rectangles and squares. I’m always a red sauce guy, so for my first solo visit, I ordered the meatball pizza with red sauce, mozzarella and pecorino Romano cheeses, pickled giardiniera vegetables (not nearly enough; I could have used a lot more), oregano, and of course, savory mini-meatballs. It was so light and crispy and delicious — not a heavy pizza like Chicago deep dish (really more of a casserole), Detroit pan pizza with its burnt, caramelized edges, or my beloved Sicilian, but almost more like a snack pizza. Also, I posit that meatballs are the most underrated meat pizza topping.

I raved about Nuri’s Tavern all week and dragged my wife downtown to try it the following weekend. She ordered this mango lime “mocktail” that was really sour, and neither of us liked it much. Also, it was $8!

That time, I ordered the “meat x3” pizza with red sauce, mozzarella and pecorino Romano cheeses, sweet sausage, meatball, pepperoni, and onion. It was also wonderful, just maybe too similar to the first pizza. What really made a difference was requesting a swirl of pesto sauce on that pizza, which I found out about sometime after my first visit, even though it isn’t listed as an option on the menu. I love basil with tomatoes, especially a good pesto sauce, and it totally made that second pizza sing. It would be good on anything!

My wife is a white pizza gal, so she ordered the classic white pizza with mozzarella and ricotta cheeses, black pepper, and lemon. While she doesn’t always like the strong flavors I do, she admitted it was a bit bland, and she probably should have chosen the broccoli pizza instead. That probably would have been more flavorful, with mozzarella, pecorino Romano, and aged provolone cheeses, broccoli, lemon, and chili. Oh well, next time! And there will be a next time. She ended up bringing most of her classic white pizza home, and I ended up eating most of it.

We also shared an order of meatballs, which were fan-freakin’-tastic. I can’t say a single bad thing about these meatballs. They were much larger than the mini-meatballs on the meatball pizza.

And just as good as the pizza and the meatballs was the Caesar salad we shared. They use little gem lettuce (similar to romaine, but smaller and more tender), more pecorino Romano cheese, an excellent Caesar dressing with a lot of good umami flavor that almost certainly comes from anchovies, and the most awesome little “garlic crunchies” that added a lot of flavor and crunchy texture to the salad. I’ve been on a Caesar salad kick lately, and this is one of the best ones I’ve ever had — and not just in Orlando, but of all time.

My wife ended her meal with some soft serve ice cream, which she loved so much at Primrose Lanes. Both restaurants were shaped and formed by the same executive chef, Jason Campbell (formerly of Luke’s Kitchen and Bar in Maitland). We love Luke’s and were also big Primrose Lanes fans, so I wasn’t surprised at all that Chef Campbell crafted the menu at Nuri’s. Anyway, she was crazy for the soft serve here, too. I believe this was a vanilla and pistachio swirl.

So yeah, Nuri’s Tavern is terrific, and I would happily go back anytime. (If anyone ever wants to go, let me know.) Next time, I have to remember to check if those vintage pinball machines actually work, or if they’re just for decoration. And you have to remember to ask for that pesto swirl on whatever pizza you get, unless of course you don’t like basil, in which case, don’t ruin your pizza on my account!

Kai Kai

This week, I want to talk about Kai Kai (https://www.instagram.com/kaikai.bbq/), Jerry and Jackie Lau’s stall that serves up Cantonese barbecued meats, as beautiful as they are delicious. Kai Kai is located inside Mills Market, the new Asian food hall on East Colonial Drive between Mills and Thornton Avenues in Mills 50, arguably Orlando’s best foodie neighborhood. Last week’s review recipient UniGirl is one of Kai Kai’s neighboring stalls inside Mills Market, and so is former favorite Banh Mi Boy, that Vietnamese sandwich stall sandwiched between UniGirl and Kai Kai.
Before Mills Market opened last year, Kai Kai was located inside of iFresh Supermarket, the Asian market on the corner of East Colonial and Bumby Avenue (next door to Chicken Fire and Lam’s Garden!), but since then, Meng’s Kitchen has moved into the former Kai Kai space inside iFresh Market.

I swear I’m going to move on, but I feel the need to say that Kai Kai is not to be confused with Michelin-recommended Kai Asian Street Fare, one of my favorite restaurants in the Orlando area (just over the Casselberry border in Winter Park). Everybody still with me?

Well, I dare you to walk up to Kai Kai and not be entranced and enthralled by the barbecued ducks and chickens hanging on display… unless you’re a vegetarian, that is.

I appreciate that they have photos of all their dishes on display. I honestly wish more restaurants would do this.

Something else I appreciate about restaurants is when they offer some kind of sampler plate with two or three items to choose from so you can try a few things. I will almost always choose this option, whether it’s an American barbecue joint or a Cantonese restaurant like Kai Kai. If you order a “rice box,” you can choose two or three of the six house specialty meats. I, of course, went with three meats, which only costs $2 more than the two-meat option, so it seems like a no-brainer. I treated myself to roast duck, honey barbecue char siu pork, and soy sauce chicken (from top to bottom in the photo below).

The sliced meats are served over white rice with some garlicky sautéed bok choy, but you can pay a small upcharge for either fried rice or Hainanese garlic rice. I chose the garlic rice, and I have zero regrets. I strongly encourage my readers to do the same. But look at this gorgeous plate of food! It is huge and heavy, so much so that even *I*, chronic overeater that I am, easily got two and a half meals out of it.

Just because this is a feast for all the senses, including the eyes, here is a close-up of that lovely roast duck with crispy, crackly skin, and the tender, sweet, slightly sticky char siu pork beneath it:

And here is that soy sauce chicken, with lightly crispy skin as well.

They also offer honey barbecue chicken, honey barbecue ribs, and “crispy pork,” either in these rice boxes or by the pound or half-pound, but I feel like I made great choices. I’ll have to try the ribs next time, though!

I also brought home an order of beef chow fun — chewy, wide, flat rice noodles (made from scratch by Jackie Lau herself!) wok-fried with tender sliced beef, onions, and green onions in a savory brown sauce. Forgive me for not snapping a “noodle pull” pic, but I ate it too quickly. This is one of my go-to dishes at any Chinese restaurant, especially as a way to evaluate places that are new to me. If they have beef chow fun on the menu, I consider it a good sign, and if they do a good job of it, I feel more confident that anything else that comes out of the kitchen will be equally solid.

Spoiler alert: they did a great job of it.

On top of everything else, Kai Kai also serves Singapore rice noodles (another dish I love, the spicier the better), char siu pork lo mein noodles, young chow fried rice with shrimp, chicken, and pork, duck fried rice, and Chinese sausage fried rice, which I love so much that I will definitely try their version next time. But that’s not all! They also have an entire scratch-made dim sum menu featuring siu mai, multiple dumplings and bao buns, spicy Szechuan wings, and even cucumber salad (regular or spicy) that is probably super-refreshing to balance out all those heavy barbecued and roasted meats and fried noodle and rice dishes.

Obviously I enjoyed the food at Kai Kai, but I’m far from the only one. The latest round of Florida Michelin awards were announced on Friday, April 5th, and Kai Kai received a vaunted Michelin recommendation, alongside its Mills Market neighbors UniGirl and Banh Mi Boy, which both received Bib Gourmand awards. Congratulations go out to Jerry and Jackie Lau, who are absolutely killing it at Kai Kai. I look forward to returning, but in the meantime, there is magic happening in the stall kitchens of Mills Market. Whatever restauranteurs Johnny and Jimmy Tung of the Bento Group are doing to build their brands and spread the word, it is paying off!

That Wing Spot

That Wing Spot (https://www.instagram.com/thatwingspot/) is one of the many successful restaurants from chef-entrepreneur Kwame Boakye, one of the nicest men in Orlando. He brought us Chicken Fire, which started as a humble food trailer in 2019 before moving into its permanent location in the Milk District on East Colonial and Bumby. It remains one of my favorite restaurants in Orlando, and I crave it often. More recently, in 2023, he brought us Cow & Cheese in Maitland, serving up some of the city’s best smash-style burgers.

In between, he rolled out the first That Wing Spot location on South Orange Avenue, which is pretty far from me, so I admit I’ve never made it down there. But since then, Kwame opened up a combination That Wing Spot/Cow & Cheese at the intersection of University Boulevard and Goldenrod Road in Winter Park. I no longer had any excuse, so I made my way down there to try those wings, and of course I had to catch up with an old favorite, too.

At the combination That Wing Spot/Cow & Cheese (better than a Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell!), you order at touchscreen monitors, just like at Chicken Fire and the original Cow & Cheese. I was bringing wings and fries home for my wife, but I figured I would enjoy a little treat while I waited: The Doc, Kwame’s signature smash-style burger from the Cow & Cheese side of things. I sang its praises in my original review: “an Oklahoma-style burger, featuring ‘thinly sliced onions smashed into two angus beef patties, each topped with premium American cheese, CC sauce, and deeply caramelized onions, all on a fresh baked toasted brioche bun.'” This one at the new combo location was as messy and as good as the decadent Docs I’ve enjoyed at Cow & Cheese on my past visits, even though I wolfed it down while it was still too hot to fully appreciate.

The burger came out much faster than my order from That Wing Spot, and by the time I was done with it, the wings and fries were ready to go.

I got an order of 20 wings divided into two separate flavors for myself, knowing I’d have leftovers for the following day. I started with KB’s Sweet Heat (KB for Kwame Boakye, of course). I love sweet and spicy flavors together, but I was expecting something a lot spicier, considering the endorphin rush I get from Kwame’s Nashville-style hot chicken tenders at Chicken Fire. There, the medium makes my eyes water and the hot makes my nose run, but they taste so good, the pain is worth it (and I need to drink milk with those tenders). These wings were tasty, but didn’t come close to that level of heat.

My second wing flavor was That Fiery BBQ, which was both sweeter and spicier than KB’s Sweet Heat, with the added bonus of a smoky flavor from the barbecue sauce. I liked these more and would totally get That Fiery BBQ again. Aw heck, who am I kidding? I would definitely try other flavors next time, but I would get both of these again!

I ordered That Big Wing Combo for my wife, which comes with ten or fifteen wings, fries, and a dipping sauce. She asked for Plain Crispy wings, which we both thought could have benefitted from a sauce or seasoning — any sauce or seasoning at all. They were nice, meaty wings, and definitely crispy even after the drive home, but all of Kwame’s sauces and seasonings are so good, even a simple mild buffalo sauce or smoky-sweet “secret” dry rub would have improved the experience with these.

We upgraded our regular fries to Kwame B’s Secret Rub fries, which was as wise a move as getting the plain wings was unwise. These crinkle-cut fries were completely covered in a savory-sweet seasoning that was reminiscent of barbecue-flavored potato chips, and I would put that stuff on any food, including vanilla ice cream. I was completely on board for these, and even my seasoning-averse wife really liked them. Seasoned fries superior, plain fries inferior. Needless to say, they would have been crispier if enjoyed in the restaurant, but at least they were still warm by the time I got home.

That Wing Spot’s house-made bleu cheese AND buttermilk ranch are both worth trying. Don’t settle for just one! I tend to prefer bleu cheese with my wings, the thicker and chunkier the better.

There is one well-known wing joint around here that my wife loves, but I HATE. I can’t stand their wings, and their food always upsets my stomach… but their bleu cheese dip is excellent, so I will still go there to pick wings up for her but always get bleu cheese for myself, since she’s not a dipper or a sauce person anyway. But unlike that restaurant that will go unnamed, here at That Wing Spot, everything is good, and it doesn’t make me sick. I can have it all (even one of the best burgers in Orlando along with these fine wings and fries), and I sure did on this visit. And I will again! Thank you, Kwame. I hope you’re always planning your next restaurant concept, because you’re three for three so far!

Chain Reactions: V Pizza

Based on a recommendation from one of my closest foodie friends, who I trust completely, my wife and I took a drive across Orlando to Palm Parkway, down near the entrance to Disney World, to try a new pizzeria. The touristy Lake Buena Vista seemed like quite a schlep for pizza, but V Pizza (https://www.vpizza.com/locations/lake-buena-vista-orlando-fl/) ended up being totally worth the schlep. V Pizza is a chain based in Jacksonville, a city that has never held much appeal to me, but this is its first of hopefully several locations in Orlando.

V Pizza uses clay brick ovens made in Italy to bake Neapolitan-style pizza at 900 degrees. The website says the “V” stands for Veloce, Italian for “fast,” because the ovens bake pizzas in as little as 90 seconds. Their pizzas come out with a thin, crispy crust, similar in style to Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza and Orlando’s own Pizza Bruno, two of my favorite pizzerias. All of their pizzas are 13″, so kind of a personal size, but still fine for sharing. Having said that, I think any pizza can be a personal pizza if you believe in yourself.

When you get to V Pizza, you order and pay at the counter, then sit down, and a server walks your food out to you. It is a very casual restaurant, not upscale or fancy, but really, really good. They have an open kitchen, and you can see multiple flavors of gelato on display in a glass case. There is also a bar in the back of the restaurant, and they have trivia nights. (I wish my friends and acquaintances would invite me to a trivia night some time, because we would totally win. But alas, I work until 9 PM during the week, which puts a damper on the Saboscrivner’s social life!)

I ordered one of the house special pizzas, the salsiccia pizza, with San Marzano tomato sauce (made with the world’s best tomatoes, grown in volcanic soil in Italy), provolone and mozzarella cheeses, spicy Italian rope sausage (I couldn’t resist trying an unfamiliar sausage), roasted bell peppers and onions, and a drizzle of Calabrian chili pepper oil. It was so fine. All the high-quality ingredients worked really well together, the sausage was excellent, the crust was perfect (not quite as charred as Anthony’s Coal Fired), and the sauce really sang. It was a top-tier pizza, put over the top by that fresh, bright, robust sauce and tender crust.

My wife and I were both kind of shocked that I ate the whole thing right there, in the restaurant. I didn’t set out to eat an entire pizza; it just happened. It was just so good, and surprisingly light, even with the slices of rope sausage on top. So much for leftovers!

My wife built her own pizza, with mushrooms, black olives, and a whole burrata cheese ball. She demurely ate a slice at the pizzeria, and we took the rest home. You might be wondering “Where’s the burrata?”

It came on the side, in a little metal bowl, rather than plunked on the pizza. In case you haven’t experienced the wonder of burrata before, it is a ball of tender, fresh mozzarella cheese (about the size of a large egg, give or take), but the inside is made of stracciatella cheese curds made from buffalo milk and clotted cream, so it is really soft and stretchy with a rich and creamy center. You can buy it at most grocery stores, but this one at V Pizza was really good, drizzled with a bit of olive oil. She loved it, and I think it was better this way, rather than being baked and melted on top of the pizza, losing its consistency and creaminess.

We also shared a pancetta sandwich that came out before the pizzas, like an appetizer. I have recently won my wife over with the wonders of pancetta as an ingredient in so many dishes, from scrambled eggs to roasted potatoes to pasta sauces. It is similar to bacon, only cured but not smoked. I think of it so much as an ingredient, with unrivaled versatility in the kitchen like anchovies, but better. Restaurants hardly ever offer it as a sandwich meat or even a pizza topping, so we couldn’t refuse!

The pancetta in the sandwich was served warm in slices, with melty fresh mozzarella, fresh tomato, fresh basil, and some drizzled Calabrian pepper oil on a crusty, ciabatta-like roll. It was fine, but I think I still prefer pancetta as an ingredient, and I would prefer prosciutto as a (cold) sandwich, which V Pizza also offers.

In addition to pizza and sandwiches, V Pizza also serves salads, pasta dishes, wings, and even brunch on Sundays from 10 AM to 2 PM.

I would be remiss if I did not mention V For Victory (V4V), V Pizza’s charitable mission to partner with local businesses to provide financial support for area families fighting cancer. The website says “V4V and their business partners provide support throughout the duration of treatment, connecting individuals and families with direct services to meet everyday needs such as lawn care, house cleaning, auto repairs, free meals, and more.” That is a noble goal, and even if I didn’t like the food as much as I did, I would still feel really good about supporting V Pizza and boosting their signal.

There is so much on the menu at V Pizza that I would like to try, and I will certainly return. Our server told us they are planning to open another location in Winter Park, and I will probably wait for that one to open. It should do well there, whereas I was sad to see the restaurant on Palm Parkway mostly empty when we went for a late lunch. There are so many dining options in that sprawling shopping center, including the beloved Japanese izakaya Susuru, the hot new Kung Fu Kitchen (which I tried going to once, but the line was way too long), a Korean barbecue and hot pot place (so trendy right now!), two completely unrelated Irish pubs, and a video game bar. I just hope V Pizza doesn’t get lost amid all those other options, especially not being on some main drag in the touristy side of town, because I loved it, and I have impeccable taste. With that in mind, I think most people will find a lot to love there too, even if it’s a schlep for you to get out there as well. Help the battle against cancer and eat some perfect pizza while you’re at it! That’s a win-win situation if there ever was one.

Pigzza

EDITOR’S NOTE: As of September 2026, Pig Floyd’s Urban BBQ has closed its location at 1326 N. Mills Avenue and consolidated with its sister restaurant Pigzza, located at 1050 N. Mills Avenue, just a few blocks away. The new Pig Floyd’s x Pigzza will serve menu items from both restaurants.

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Pigzza (https://pigzza.com/) is described as “An Italianish joint” on its website. The creation of Thomas Ward, the chef-owner of Orlando’s beloved Pig Floyd’s Urban BBQ, Pigzza combines Ward’s love of barbecue with Italian food, specifically pizza and pasta, the same way Pig Floyd’s combines barbecue with Latin and Asian flavors.

I met one of my best foodie friends for dinner there in May, and we shared a lot of food, as we usually do whenever we have out. We started with a beautiful order of oven-roasted chicken wings that were crispy but very juicy and tender, not greasy at all. The plating elevated these even further, garnishing the wings with arugula, chewy craisins, and an artistic flourish of green goddess dressing. Not many restaurants oven-roast their wings, but I always love these as an alternative to fried versions, which are more likely to get dried out. Glancing at the menu on Pigzza’s website, it looks like these specific wings are not available anymore, but now you have a chance to get Calabrian chili and orange double-cooked wings instead, and that sounds pretty spectacular.

We also shared the Rhode Island-style calamari, crusted with cornmeal and tossed with garlic-herb butter, spicy pickled cherry peppers and banana peppers, and fried capers. These were terrific too. So chewy! Such good breading! I always appreciate cherry peppers on or in anything. The calamari came with tangy red sauce and garlic aioli for dipping, and dip them I did, but they were so good that they didn’t even need the condiment.

For a pizza, we chose the CBW, topped with Alabama white barbecue sauce, barbecue chicken, bacon, smoked mozzarella, candied jalapenos, cilantro, and green onions. Usually I’m a pizza purist who prefers red sauce to “white pies,” but since we got to taste Pigzza’s red sauce with the calamari, I was happy to try something different and unique. And this isn’t any ordinary white pie, as you can tell. These are 12″ pizzas, more Neapolitan-style than New York, and ideal for sharing between two people.The crust was very good, but I prefer the crispier crunch of New York- and Sicilian-style pizzas. With this CBW, it was the combination of toppings that set it over the top. Everything was fresh, high-quality, and combined so well together.

We also shared the spicy sausage tortiglioni pasta, which I learned is very similar to rigatoni. The pasta was tossed in a vodka sauce, so it was tomatoey and creamy all at the same time, topped with grated Parmesan cheese and fresh oregano. The sausage had a nice heat, and my only wish was that there could have been more of it in the dish. I could have easily eaten it all myself, but I am always happy to share food with friends.

I returned to Pigzza in late July to meet two former co-workers, right after leaving my old job after 15 years. We started with the Rhode Island calamari again, which was just as good this time (although my photography wasn’t). My former supervisor went to school in Rhode Island, and this calamari earned her seal of approval too.

This was the pizza she ordered for herself, topped with pepperoni, Pigzza red sauce, smoked mozzarella (the smokiness makes such a huge difference), pecorino romano cheese, oregano, and marjoram. We didn’t share each other’s pizzas, but she seemed very happy with it.

My other colleague, a vegetarian, got a pizza that I believe is called the Big Mo. If this is it, then it was topped with roasted mushrooms, pink pickled onions, caramelized onions, and chives, along with vodka sauce and smoked mozzarella. She was also really happy with her choice. It wasn’t this blurry in real life, I swear!

And perhaps saving the best for last, this was my pizza, the Meat Me at Floyd’s, named for Pig Floyd’s just up the road. It was topped with braised beef brisket, grape jelly barbecue sauce, smoked mozzarella and cheddar cheeses, pickled onions, green onions, and cilantro. I loved this combination, even better than the CBW I shared on my previous visit. But if I see brisket, pickled onions, and smoked cheese, I am going to be happy no matter what.

I’ve been sitting on this review for a while, half-written, hoping to visit Pigzza for a third time. Working from home until late these days, it is much harder for me to get to the side of Orlando with all the great restaurants clustered together, plus parking is kind of abominable there unless you arrive super-early. I will absolutely return, but I figured I should let everyone else know about it sooner rather than later, even though by now, probably — hopefully — everybody does. It is a fine addition to the Mills 50 District and Orlando’s pizza scene, and Thomas Ward has done it again!