Tasting in the Tasting Room

It's been a while since I last wrote. I made a commitment that this year, I'll be writing about all the new things I experience. It has taken me into the second month of the year to finally get to something new but here we are! Tonight we go into Downtown Winter Garden. A place I actually frequent to places I've always loved like Axum Coffee, Winter Garden Pizza Company, and the Crooked Can. But today, for the first time since I've lived in Florida (and in the area) I get to experience The Tasting Room. This is not to be confused with The Chef's Table which is a different restaurant but the same kitchen (I know, its confusing, but not really). 

We called ahead but even calling ahead doesn't guarantee a seat will be available so we waited an extra 20 or so minutes. While we waited, we walked over to Way Chocolate & Coffee and perused the chocolate delicacies available there. This was also my first time experiencing this place so I took this opportunity to try something. I didn't take a picture of what I had here but will try to paint you the best picture possible. I ordered the Chocolate cup with Passion fruit Mouse and an Americano Coffee black. It was a petite chocolate tea cup filled with a creamy yellow passion fruit mouse with two pink candy hearts on the top and a chocolate spoon inside the mouse. It was the most adorable little dessert I've seen at a whopping $10 price tag. The mouse was not tart as an onlooker asked as I tasted it. It was perfectly sweetened and balanced out the chocolate shell well. Biting into the shell and mouse was actually a very good combination until I dropped the last half of it on the floor. Sadness ensued. It was a delightful dessert but not one I'm willing to pay $10 for again. My coffee took longer to prepare and was not ready by the time The Tasting Room was ready for us so I had to get it to go.

Back at the Tasting Room, the staff there are all very kind and excited about their establishment and food. A friend of ours joined us for dinner who was the person recommending this place and raved about its food providing suggestions as we looked over the menu. A small paper menu came with the large bound menu that signified items that are available for the evening. In observation of the menu, I noticed only two pages listing food items while the rest are alcoholic beverages of which we did not take partake in on this eve. From the paper menu I ordered the Crispy Mushrooms. It was tempura battered mushrooms (thick stemmed mushrooms of an unknown origin) over a black garlic sauce. It was a lovely small plate appetizer. I wish I knew the type of mushroom they used because I really enjoyed it but most of all the combination of the tempura batter, mushroom and black garlic sauce was so delightful that the dish was nearly gone as soon it hit the table. 

If you've read any of my previous blogs, you may know that I like to try dishes that I love and compare them. Shrimp and Grits is one of those dishes that will always be ordered so I can compare. Before I begin on this, I failed to tell you The Tasting Room serves Tapas Style food. However, the Tapas portions are actually quite generous. If you've been to places like Tutu Tangos or Ceviches, I would say The Tasting Room has larger portions. So back to Shrimp and Grits. Here they use Red Shrimp with the tails still on, Creole bbq sauce and cheddar grits. I thoroughly enjoyed the consistency of the grits as it wasn't clump, very creamy and the sauce was on the side with the shrimp so you can add as much or as little of the sauce to the grits that you wanted. The sauce definitely has creole origins with a tomato base but is not too acidic. The perfectly cooked shrimp that was not rubbery but fluffy and easy to cut and chew through combined with the sauce and grits were a little slice of amazing (heaven was close by). On the S&G scale this one was an 8.5.  I was not able to share the dish... Well, to be fair, I don't share my food anyway so no one was really expecting me to share. :-)


Another thing I always get whenever I see it on the menu is beet salad. It's not a common menu item and I love beets! Like really love it! Here the description of Beet Salad was mixed greens, feta, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, and apple cider vinaigrette. The first salad that came out to me had a piece of hair in it so we sent it back not expecting for it to be returned. BUT as nice as the staff is, they did remake another one for me. As you can tell by the picture the mixed greens was actually just one type of leaf and to be honest, I can't tell you definitely which one it was. The beets tasted as if it was pre-soaked in tap water and the beets had absorbed the water because it had that distinct pipe water flavor to them. There was a clump of dried cranberries at the center of the salad. It was poorly made and didn't taste very well. Not something I would order again here.

Jimmy ordered the Tasting Room Wings. It has a very unique flavor. Smokey but the bbq flavor of the wings was unlike any flavor I've tasted which is why they trademark the wings naming it after the restaurant. They were well cooked and tasty. A dish I would recommend but if you're a wing connoisseur you may find that these wings, while good, aren't the best wings.

And lastly, the infamous Duck Fat Fries. These are hand cut potatoes with parmesan cheese, truffle oil, onions, and smoked aioli. I don't know why I expected something grand but for me, these were just fries. In general, aioli is fancy mayo. This one just tasted like mayo with a hint of flavor. The fries nor the aioli were anything that wow'd me. They were ordinary at best. Not a dish I would waste calories on.

Overall, I loved the atmosphere the Tasting Room provides, the staff were all very kind, they took care of the salad due to the hair which was very nice of them. We only sampled a few things on the menu but it is a place I would like to try again. I can see that there are unique flavors that the chef is creating. The environment the Tasting Room provides to its patrons is lively and almost gives the feeling like you're in a place "where everyone knows your name". Go check them out. Find out for yourself the flavors and let me know your thoughts on items I've tasted. 😄