Restaurants in Winter Park

The chefs at Pasquale's Italian Restorante carefully craft a sweeping menu of Italian favorites. They festoon New York-style pizzas with green peppers, mushrooms, and pepperoni slices, and they stuff these same morsels inside a calzone to create a hearty on-the-go meal or adequate replacement for your child's misplaced doll. They also dip eggplant rollatini into egg batter and layer lasagna with meat sauce, ricotta, and mozzarella. Hand-breaded veal and chicken parmigiana cutlets buddy up with entree-sized portions of pasta or nestle between slices of hot sub bread.

The chefs at Sushi House Orlando not only craft impressive maki rolls that have won the eatery claim to several “best of” accolades, but also teach curious diners how to make their own at home during classes for all skill levels. Classic rolls present fillings of raw spicy tuna, unagi, and yellowtail, and more elaborate and playful bundles include the baked Graduation roll, which is a california roll wrapped in salmon and then topped with crab and scallops. The Happy Sumo roll reflects the same level of complexity, with three sauces draping over a tempura-fried roll of crab, tuna, and salmon.

The dining room maintains a lounge-like feel with crimson walls and gauzy black curtains, plus huge wall-mounted koi sculptures that arch over bartenders as they pour wines and sakes.

Stucco walls arranged to reveal the brick underneath frame tall, arched doorways and give Pannullo's Italian Restaurant the air of the old country. The Tuscan-style décor accents a menu of traditionally prepared veal, seafood, and chicken entrees, each doused in marinara, wine, or cream sauces. Beneath the awnings in the front of the restaurant, diners can enjoy al-fresco meals surrounded by wrought iron and leafy plants that have been trained not to beg for scraps.

CRAVE's eight locations have gained a plethora of press and even an Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator. Each sleek eatery also entices diners with a diverse menu of modern American lunch, dinner, and Sunday brunch fare devised by Corporate Executive Chef Bill King and a sushi menu of traditional and creative rolls inspired by Executive Sushi Chef Tony Lam's upbringing in Hawaii. Each menu is then artfully executed using fresh and locally sourced, seasonal ingredients, as well as seafood flown in daily and handcrafted sauces made from authentic Asian recipes. Brick ovens give flatbreads a crisp exterior while the grill keeps steaks, chicken, and burgers juicy.

After overseeing the kitchen at an oceanfront Hilton, Chef Jason Marty chose to dedicate his culinary prowess to Italian cuisine by donning a toque at Casa Sorrento. Although he still spends his nights hopping from stovetop to stovetop, he now blanches fresh manicotti and angel-hair pastas and sautés cutlets of veal or chicken over flaming piles of Food & Wine magazine. His cooks accessorize entrees with a number of authentic Mediterranean flavors—including tender buffalo mozzarella and capers—or glaze them with fresh marinara or cream sauce.

A lonely fire flickers in the night, punctuating the vast expanse of Brazil’s southern plains. A spitted side of Nelore beef roasts over the flames; from that famed beast and this timeless fireside scene, Nelore Churrascaria takes its name, recipes, and spirit.

Nelore Churrascaria’s chefs draw inspiration from the gauchos of South America, piling plates high with carvings of 15 spit-roasted meats. The spirit of the southern plains remains alive and well in the dining room, where wrought-iron chandeliers and a dark hardwood floor evoke rustic elegance as a warm breeze filters in through the front doors. Veggies, fine cheeses, and pastas fill more than 40 basins at the salad bar, whose glistening glass protects the trays from grazing cattle and errant horseshoe tosses.