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Where Entertainment Is An Entree
Not surprisingly, Orlando, theme park capital of the world, is in the vanguard of this trend. It has attracted Hard Rock Cafe and Planet Hollywood, Medieval Times and ESPN Sports Cafe and all those dazzlers inside Disney gates, where eats and entertainment have always been an integral part of the total escape and adventure package. Here's a rundown of some other Orlando entries in this expanding niche of the restaurant business:
Cafe Europa
407/872-3388
55 West Church Street
Orlando
Would you believe an authentic leftover from the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the middle of downtown Orlando's Church Street complex of themed restaurants, snackeries and shops? A place to find real "gulyas," known in this country as goulash, tucked into a second-floor hideaway between Hooters and Olive Garden? The faux courtyard is supposed to resemble something in the Old Country, I guess, but for me, it's the perfect setting for cabbage rolls and potato pancakes, dumplings and chicken paprikash, climaxed by a slice of freshly made apple strudel. Church Street never had it so good! Lunch and dinner, with entrees $9 to $17.50, served daily.
Everglades Restaurant & Bar
407/354-9840
Omni Rosen Hotel
9840 International Drive
Orlando
Life-size roseate spoonbills, panthers and alligators are your dining companions in this well-named surprise. The place has a floor-to-ceiling aquarium filled with brightly colored flora and fauna from our River of Grass. Shrieks of nature were recorded on location for playback while you dine on gator chowder, venison and wild boar. Portions of the profits are donated to the Everglades Foundation, dedicated to restoration. Dinner entrees range from $18 to $25, served nightly.
Far Pavilion
407/351-5522
5748 International Drive
Orlando
For a quick trip to the subcontinent, there's no better place in the area than this handsomely furnished, almost palatial retreat blessed with an experienced kitchen staff able to execute the many fine points of Indian cooking, from veggie and potato samosas to breads and meats direct from the tandoor, along with four-alarm lamb vindaloo, the ever-necessary palliative yogurt known as raita and lots of imported Indian beer. The service is especially solicitous. Lunch and dinner, with entrees $10 to $17, served nightly.
Fulton's Crab House
407/934-2628
Disney Village Marketplace
The landmark riverboat which used to be called Empress Lilly is now named for steamboat inventor Robert Fulton, honored with photos and artifacts displayed in abundance with other nautical niceties on the three decks. My favorite display is the stack of air freight invoices by the front door, attesting to the guarantee of freshness from fishermen around the world. The menu changes daily to reflect the catches of the day. Dinner, with entrees $15 to $30, is served nightly.
Jack's Place
407/352-9700
Clarion Plaza Hotel
9700 International Drive
Orlando
Hotelier Harris Rosen is not a newcomer, but he competes with all the theme-ploitation escapists by displaying in his dining room a couple hundred autographed celebrity caricatures, a small portion of the 100,000 drawn by his father, artist Jack Rosen. Surrounded by amusing renderings of the famous and infamous, you can start your trip down memory lane with grilled veal sausage in champagne sauce or cajunized snails, continuing with garlic-rosemary enhanced pork served with pepper-tomato relish, blackened swordfish with an asparagus-crab crown doused with hollandaise, cedar plank salmon with corn souffl?, or one of the steaks off the grill. Dinner, with entrees $13 to $26.50, is served nightly.
Morton's of Chicago
407/248-3485
7600 Dr. Phillips Boulevard
Orlando
There are photographs of celebrities on the walls of this premier steakhouse, opened last March as a clone of the other 33 Morton's nationwide. Like the others in the chain, the Orlando link has a motif of polished dark woods and brass. The English club bar has a fine selection of wine and single malt Scotch. A display grill by the entrance allows patrons to check the inventory of prime beef. Morton's is one of the largest buyers of USDA Prime in the country; but in the best tradition of classic steakhouses, it also has live Maine lobsters, and a variety of seafood, chicken and veal, along with splendid baked Idaho potatoes and no-nonsense vegetables. It's a great place to be pampered and to indulge yourself. Don't worry if you have a normal appetite; get your partner to split a potato as well as a porterhouse with you - it's more than enough food for two. Dinner, with entrees $17 to $59, served nightly.
Pirate's Dinner Adventure
407/248-0590
6400 Carrier Drive
Orlando
This 15-acre, $20 million happening close to International Drive, which opened in May, is a make-believe film studio, where a movie is made on a ship and the cameras record a battle between crew and pirates, with plenty of audience participation. While the faux fight progresses, guests are served Pirate's Pot Roast, chicken on skewers, Caribbean-style rice with pineapple, chicken and sausage, a dinner salad, fresh rolls and ice cream in all-you-can-eat portions. There's also unlimited soft drinks, beer and sangr'a. "Passengers" and crew then disembark to join in a colossal post-production "wrap party." The cost for this latest diversion: $35.99 adults; children 3 to 12, $21.15. Open Tuesday through Sunday, although schedule varies seasonally. Reservations recommended.
Rainforest Cafe
407/827-8500
Disney Village Marketplace
This first free-standing unit of a wildly successful group, launched just two years ago in Minneapolis' giant Mall of America, is a sound and light show with a 65-foot volcano, life-size elephants, a gorilla mountain, tropical birds and fish, thunder and lightning, rain every half hour, and special jungle scents. It will be joined by a 500-seat mate at the main entrance to Disney's Animal Kingdom, scheduled to open the spring of 1998. Another is opening this fall in Fort Lauderdale's Sawgrass Mills. It's "A Wild Place to Shop and Eat," and you can buy T-shirts and mugs with that tag line to prove it. Among the menu items: Eyes of the Ocelot (meatloaf with mushrooms); Rumble in the Jungle (turkey Caesar); Primal Cut (New York strip sirloin); Islands in the Stream (salmon fillets); and the popular Rasta Pasta with lots of veggies in garlic cream sauce. Lunch and dinner, with entrees $8 to $16, served daily.
