![]() Jerk snapper with coconut rice and peas and slaw. It’s a rarity for jerk fish plates, where too often, the spice overpowers the protein. My fish, equally tender, was tailored incendiary, but beautifully balanced. My dining partner’s chicken sandwich was juicy, and the spice levels mild. When we happened in, Gonzalez was happy to explain the heat levels. ![]() It’s love you can taste on the jerk plates. We’d go to reggae concerts, or a festival, or a party where 200 of my friend’s family members are playing music and dancing, and there’s rum being poured. “I grew up in a neighborhood with a lot of Caribbean people - Puerto Rican, Jamaican, Haitian, Dominican. ![]() Eventually, he’d return to Central Florida and the flavors of his wonder years. Gonzalez moved on to concepts like PF Chang’s and Calexico, which necessitated a bit of travel - New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York City. While this informed the foundation of his philosophy, it would be some time before the pandemic-spawned popup came to be. I appreciate that level of artisanship, of seeing beautiful things on the plate for people to eat, but I really enjoy producing food that people can dig into and enjoy doing it quickly, affordably. “That’s where I really began to understand how much I enjoy that atmosphere and energy, and that I’m not a fancy-plate kind of guy. So there was a lot of learning going on.”įrom there, Gonzalez moved to the Rainforest Cafe at Disney’s Animal Kingdom. Even the chicken tenders and mozzarella sticks were hand-breaded. “They were still cooking from scratch back then. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)Ī band kid who played clarinet and wrote music, Gonzalez thought music might be a career option but caught the cooking bug in college working at TGI Fridays in Waterford Lakes. You’d eat that, and you could get all the morning chores done.” To-go orders abound (I took home the curry chicken with a side of Scotch bonnet-singed maduros), but it’s a cute little spot for casual dining in, as well. “It had peanut butter, banana and bacon,” he recalls. He found early success with a stuffed French toast recipe from one of his mom’s cookbooks. “We were really dependent on one another, and for me, it was making sure we always had food.”
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