Florida Foodie

Tina Aldrich is a Florida native who chose to live in Montverde and open her business there because she knew it would keep its small-town charm. “When our daughter went to college, we went ahead and moved to our cabin in North Carolina,” she said. “Then when we moved back, I’m like, ‘I want to move back to a place where the footprint will not change,’ and this little bu

Willie’s Bar-B-Que has only been a part of Montverde for six years, but it has become a fixture in the small community. Willie Fulmore and his daughter, Tomeka Fulmore-Smith, have spent their lives working with food. Willie Fulmore opened his barbecue restaurant nearly 30 years ago, first setting up shop in Winter Garden. “When I was stationed in Leesburg and there was a gentle

Chef Delaño Lambertclare has dedicated nearly two decades to helping seniors across Seminole County get nutritious meals for free. “I worked at the Swan and Dolphin for two and a half years and I wanted to shift and change (away from) corporate life,” Lambertclare said. After leaving the Disney resort, the chef came to Meals of Wheels of Seminole County. “I saw this kitchen

Wilson Santos has been thinking about opening a French fry-centric restaurant for years. “This concept is like decades in the making,” Santos said. “To be honest, I went to Amsterdam, the first trip was in 1994. I was doing a study abroad program in England and on the weekends, I would try to take a trip around Europe. And I just took a trip with some friends that I met in En

The pandemic was a trying time for people across the food service industry, but Jay and Johnny Nartowicz and their partner Colton O’Dwyer ended up opening the right business at the exact right time. They opened Ghost Kitchen Orlando in February 2020, just weeks before COVID-era restrictions started taking effect. “It was very strange timing because it was almost like we were bu

Christina Hollerbach is carrying on her parents’ life-long dream. “My parents always wanted to run their own restaurant and obviously my dad, being from Germany, wanted it to be a German restaurant,” she said. That dream became a reality in 2001, when her parents bought Willow Tree Cafe. The restaurant was tiny then but has since ballooned with the success of the business. �

Chef Jill Holland found her path later in life when she went into culinary school at age 36. “It took a lot of soul searching to figure out what I wanted to do when I grew up and now I just need to grow up,” Holland said. Holland worked in retail, real estate and was even a swim instructor for several years, but she found a love for cooking when she went to a birthday party. �

Olivier Saintemarie was raised in Paris but he has spent a portion of his career bringing the flavors of the City of Light to Central Florida. Saintemarie has spent time working Chefs de France in Epcot but is now in the process of opening his own business in Orlando’s newly expanding Packing District — La Maison Du Macaron. “I’m really happy to bring all these exciting pro

Pine & Oak Tavern sits inside the newly renovated Rio Pinar Golf course, but despite its new look, the walls are covered in history. “Arnold Palmer’s trophy is on the wall behind us and Lee Trevino is a champion here and Hal Irwin and a lot of the great old golfers. The history is just priceless. That’s one of the reasons why the property is purchased. You can buy a golf club

Barnie’s Coffee has gone through a lot of changes over its 43 years in business. The name comes from one of the founders of the business, Phil Barnie Jones. “He was an inventor himself,” said Shannon Wolfgang, director of marketing for Barnie’s. “And he was like, ‘You know what, no one’s doing flavored coffee.’” According to Wolfgang, Barnie’s became one of the