By Jen Thuy-Tien
Contributing Writer
Food, wine and music lovers gathered at the heart of downtown this weekend for the fifth annual Downtown Food and Wine Festival 2013. Forty restaurants and over ten wineries lined up on Robinson street along Lake Eola.
The two-day festival is a great way to try out the city’s food and unique domestic and international wines.
Just some of the restaurants were Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Primo at JW Marriott, Dexter's of Thornton Park, Hawkers, Siro Urban Italian Kitchen and Fogo de Chao.
Some of the wineries at the festival included ABC Fine Wines and Spirits, Hazlitt 1852 Vineyards, Kenwood Vineyards, Little Black Dress Wines and Save Me, San Francisco Wine Co.
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| Me eating a taco from Millenia Event Catering |
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| Coconut shrimp (Truffles Grill) |
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| Cupcake from Hard Rock Cafe
Downtown Food and Wine Fest Foodie award went to Dexter's of Thornton
Park for their Crown Royal Maple Bacon Skewer. The Best Overall Menu award went to
Hawker's Asian Street Fare. The Best of Show award went to Siro Urban
Italian Grill. The Fan Favorite award went to The Pub.
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People ate and drank while listening to live music. On Saturday, Atlanta Rhythm Section, Kaleigh Baker, Tropical Steel Drums and Road Soda performed. On Sunday. CeCe Teneal, Vicci Martinez, Matt Hires, Andy Grammer and The All-American Rejects performed. DJ Chino entertained the audience during breaks.
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| CeCe Teneal |
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| Vicci Martinez |
The All-American Rejects rocked the stage and performed songs from their recent album "Kids in the Street" and their hits including "My Dirty Little Secret", "Swing, Swing", "It Ends Tonight", "Move Along" and "I Wanna". In the middle of the show, lead singer Tyson Ritter walked off the stage and walked through the audience while singing "Mona Lisa". The band ended the night with "Gives You Hell" and the 2-day festival ended with unbelievable energy!
Downtown Food and Wine Festival raised money for Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida and the Florida Restaurant & Lodging Association Educational Foundation.
Photos by Dan Nguyen and Ryan Smith.
