JCS: Primetime Kitch with Faiyaz Kara 10/9/2026
Faiyaz Kara, restaurant critic for the Orlando Weekly, shares his reviews of local eateries, including Mordisco Steakhouse on I-Drive serving up ‘carne en vara,’ Mecatos Bakery & Cafe now open in Winter Park, and more.
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Speaker 1: That's right, guys. Time for another Primetime Kitchen here on
Speaker 1: Real Radio 104.1 of the Jim Colbert Show featuring our
Speaker 1: good friend, Mr. Faiz Kara, restaurant critic. For the Orlando Weekly,
Speaker 1: we'll get to Fias in a minute and his freshly
Speaker 1: shorn dome.
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Speaker 2: So nice. So nice. Hello, friend.
Speaker 3: How are you?
Speaker 2: Very good. Very good. And happy Thanksgiving weekend. Oh, is
Speaker 2: it Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend? Yeah, it's on Monday. On
Speaker 2: a Monday? Yeah. That's wild. Am I right?
Speaker 1: Why not have it on Thursday? Like any sane country.
Speaker 3: Why don't you do it like America does it?
Speaker 2: Come on.
Speaker 1: What are you trying to be different all the time?
Speaker 1: What is the traditional Thanksgiving feast for Canadians? That's an
Speaker 1: interesting question, is it not?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's mousse and poutine. Is it mousse and poutine? No.
Speaker 2: It's syrup turkey. It's the same old crap. Is it really?
Speaker 2: Same stuff.
Speaker 1: Is it really the same stuff?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's the same stuff. It's turkey's the big thing.
Speaker 2: Green bean casserole? What's... Cornbread? I don't know. There may
Speaker 2: be a little bit of a maple touch in some
Speaker 2: of these sides. That's generally the same.
Speaker 3: I'm aware of the origin of the U.S. Thanksgiving, right?
Speaker 3: We never talk about the blankets part, but that was
Speaker 3: still part of it. My question is, what is Canadian
Speaker 3: Thanksgiving like? What's the history? On this day, Monday, what
Speaker 3: big event happened?
Speaker 2: Absolutely no reason whatsoever for Canadian Thanksgiving. None.
Speaker 1: You have nothing.
Speaker 2: Nothing. None. I mean, I think it was really a harvest.
Speaker 2: It was more to celebrate the harvest. It had nothing
Speaker 2: to do with, you know, the first meal and, you know,
Speaker 2: genocidal maniacs and all of that sort of thing.
Speaker 1: I got to tell you, I think I speak for
Speaker 1: the entire crew when I say I'm sorry we asked.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay, move on. Let's get to it. Faez joins us
Speaker 1: every Friday to talk about the wonderful culinary scene here
Speaker 1: in Central Florida, some of the ways that you can
Speaker 1: enjoy it. Let's get right to the review. Is it
Speaker 1: Mordisco or Mordisco? How do you pronounce that?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think it's Mordisco. Mordisco. And it's
Speaker 2: a Venezuelan steakhouse out of South Florida. And let me
Speaker 2: just say, first off, right off the bat, Mordisco has
Speaker 2: the finest smelling parking lot in the entire city. I mean...
Speaker 2: The air is just like thick and beefy. And we
Speaker 2: were just like lured to the entrance like moths to
Speaker 2: a flame. It's a fine, fine smelling parking lot. Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's nice.
Speaker 2: That's a good sign.
Speaker 1: I don't see anybody putting that on their website. No, no.
Speaker 2: It's a great smelling parking lot. Just trust me on this.
Speaker 2: And by the way, it is at 11-030 International Drive.
Speaker 2: It's on I-Drive. All right. And the Saturday Night Fever
Speaker 2: at Moore Disco was very high.
Speaker 1: Was it really? Okay, very good.
Speaker 2: All right. Get it. Anyway, okay. So like I said,
Speaker 2: it's a Venezuelan-style steakhouse. They specialize in carne envara, which
Speaker 2: is essentially … skewered meats that are Oak grilled, grilled
Speaker 2: over an Oak flame. You know, they're sort of like
Speaker 2: rotated over an Oak flame. Um, it's in the old
Speaker 2: Applebee's and it definitely still feels like an Applebee's. So this,
Speaker 2: I wouldn't, I wouldn't call this a high end steakhouse of,
Speaker 2: you know, the roots, Chris and Fleming's and that sort
Speaker 2: of thing. This is sort of like a mid, mid level, um,
Speaker 2: a mid-level steakhouse. And, um, you know, and it's, and
Speaker 2: it's very fairly priced too. So it attracts a lot
Speaker 2: of families. A lot of tourists, very, very, like I said,
Speaker 2: the prices are pretty good. Now, first off the bat,
Speaker 2: the first thing I had here was a ceviche. And
Speaker 2: I know we're talking steak here, but the ceviche. Oh,
Speaker 2: by the way, you know, in my review, I used
Speaker 2: the headline Chewed Steak Boogie. Do you guys get that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, Chewed Steak Boogie, right. The old ZZ Top song, yeah.
Speaker 2: Okay, all right. See, my editor didn't feel the same. Anyway,
Speaker 2: Chewed Steak Boogie. So the first thing I had was
Speaker 2: a ceviche.
Speaker 1: That looks amazing.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you, the ceviche here does look amazing. If
Speaker 2: you're watching on YouTube, there are photos that Jack has up.
Speaker 2: And the ceviche is easily one of the best ceviches
Speaker 2: I have had in the city.
Speaker 1: Damn, dude, that looks amazing.
Speaker 2: It is. It is. And it's because they use this
Speaker 2: sort of fermented milk product. It's sort of like a
Speaker 2: sour cream, like a South American sour cream that gives
Speaker 2: it a really nice tang. There's really nice texture here
Speaker 2: with the crispy quinoa. and a um what is it
Speaker 2: it's the sweet plantain croutons damn dude which really yeah
Speaker 2: there's cherry tomatoes and there's like this sweet sweet chili
Speaker 2: oil that's drizzled over it it's it's really really amazing
Speaker 2: we were shocked it's cobia it could be a meat
Speaker 2: yeah cobia.
Speaker 1: Is one of my favorite fish too that that little
Speaker 1: i can eat a bucket of that that looks amazing
Speaker 1: buddy i.
Speaker 2: Would i would go back to this restaurant for this
Speaker 2: alone it was truly truly truly good damn that looks
Speaker 2: good um Okay, so now the steaks. So the steaks,
Speaker 2: we had a USDA prime ribeye. It was like, I believe,
Speaker 2: 14 ounces for $ 42. Not bad. And like I said,
Speaker 2: it's oat grilled, really nice flavor. The thing with Mordisco
Speaker 2: is that if you order an entree, you can get
Speaker 2: an upgrade. You can get an upgrade of various items.
Speaker 2: So we chose the picanha, which was an 8-ounce picanha
Speaker 2: for another, I think, $ 14. So for a total of $ 60,
Speaker 2: we got two pretty decent-sized steaks. Um, the side we
Speaker 2: got here was like a Venezuelan, uh, uh, fried cheese,
Speaker 2: which is a bit different, you know, as far as
Speaker 2: steak sides go, a couple of really nice sauces, a
Speaker 2: house chimichurri. There's like a sweet pepper and truffle, uh,
Speaker 2: sauce there too. Nice. Really good. The only thing I learned,
Speaker 2: I came to learn after the fact is that the
Speaker 2: beef is pretty much commodity beef. Like they're getting it
Speaker 2: from like IVP, which is, I believe Iowa beef packages,
Speaker 2: which is like, which is owned by Tyson foods. Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Not into like industrial process meats and, what Tyson foods
Speaker 2: and their practices and stuff, then don't order any steak
Speaker 2: at the steakhouse. And instead, instead get the butterfly Branzino,
Speaker 2: which is outstanding. It is so good. And if, again,
Speaker 2: if you're watching on YouTube live, you can see some
Speaker 2: photos here. It's butterflied, it's oak grilled. And I'm telling
Speaker 2: you that that skin, the skin is so crisp. It
Speaker 2: would make a potato chip jealous. It is really lovely.
Speaker 2: That looks amazing as well. I would go back for
Speaker 2: the ceviche. Funny enough, I would go back to the
Speaker 2: steakhouse for the two seafood items, this fish and the ceviche.
Speaker 2: So like I said, it's very family friendly. It's like
Speaker 2: an old Applebee's. The price points are very, very fair.
Speaker 2: There's a dessert there, too. They have a bass cheesecake,
Speaker 2: which I really, really like. And people aren't familiar with
Speaker 2: bass cheesecake. It's caramelized at the top. It's on a
Speaker 2: dark top. And the inside is very custardy. So, yeah,
Speaker 2: check them out if you want to. If you have
Speaker 2: an issue with Tyson Foods, like I said, don't eat
Speaker 2: the beef. And there you go. All right.
Speaker 1: So Mordisco, not too bad.
Speaker 2: All right.
Speaker 1: Yeah. No, I just had a weird fish question.
Speaker 2: A fish. Curiosity.
Speaker 1: You said Branzino.
Speaker 3: I kind of have this weird thing that like all
Speaker 3: white fish, I've yet to taste like the spectrum of
Speaker 3: white fish. All white fish taste the same to me.
Speaker 3: So like Branzino is a white fish. Can you tell
Speaker 3: the difference between white fish or is that just a
Speaker 3: me thing?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I think it's very hard. Like, a
Speaker 2: lot of whitefish do taste the same. In the case
Speaker 2: of branzino, it's a Mediterranean fish. It's a sea bass, but,
Speaker 2: you know, they call it a branzino. But, you know,
Speaker 2: a lot of times, you know, back in the day,
Speaker 2: there were times when restaurants would use tilapia and they
Speaker 2: would call it something else. They would call it grouper
Speaker 2: or you know and with that you could definitely taste
Speaker 2: the difference but with like many many white fish like
Speaker 2: swi tilapia even even even branzino it can get a
Speaker 2: little difficult all right yeah it's the but it's the
Speaker 2: texture too because swordfish is way different than cobia my
Speaker 2: uh my cousin just catch cobia all the.
Speaker 1: Time i'd cook it for him just pan sear it
Speaker 1: throw it in the oven with a little pan sauce
Speaker 1: with white wine and some cream and it would be
Speaker 1: absolutely perfect with hardly anything done to it but i
Speaker 1: would agree that a lot of the big flaky white
Speaker 1: fish do have a lot of the same flavor i
Speaker 1: think it's just the consistency or texture that changes a
Speaker 1: little bit.
Speaker 2: And there's like a mild flavor to it too though
Speaker 2: which then you know caters to a wider audience for
Speaker 2: sure just suppose those are like a fishier fish like
Speaker 2: swordfish let's.
Speaker 1: Move on to mikado's bakery and cafe right there in
Speaker 1: winter park It did.
Speaker 2: It finally opened. Mercato's Bakery and Cafe has opened in
Speaker 2: the old coop space right there at 610 West Morse Boulevard.
Speaker 2: And Mercato's is like a local Colombian bakery chain. You know,
Speaker 2: they have a pandabono, as I'm sure you're quite aware.
Speaker 2: And by the way, Jim, you know what? What pandabono?
Speaker 2: It's it's it's the sort of it's like a fluffy bun.
Speaker 2: It's made from yucca flour and and and corn flour and.
Speaker 2: And it's typically enjoyed. Do you know what it's typically
Speaker 2: enjoyed with?
Speaker 1: Normally it would be like butter or honey or something
Speaker 1: like that, but obviously it's not that. Is it like
Speaker 1: a jam of some sort?
Speaker 2: It's hot chocolate. That's the typical pairing. And you have
Speaker 2: to put cheese in your hot chocolate. Yeah, and there's
Speaker 2: cheese in this pandemono as well. Wow, really? Yes.
Speaker 1: That's wild.
Speaker 2: Cheese and hot chocolate. Yeah, Cheese and the hot chocolate.
Speaker 1: So how was it?
Speaker 2: Yeah. So anyway, so Makata has opened, they've soft open.
Speaker 2: I believe they're open till 6 PM tonight. And then
Speaker 2: tomorrow they're open from eight, eight in the morning till six.
Speaker 2: I think, I think typically the open at seven o'clock
Speaker 2: in the morning because they're also, um, they also have
Speaker 2: an onsite roast thing. So they are roasting your beans
Speaker 2: on site. So people are into coffee. They're getting their
Speaker 2: beans shipped from Columbia like I think once every two
Speaker 2: weeks or something like that. Damn, really? All right. Yeah,
Speaker 2: they're doing on-site roasting. Check them out. Makato's Bakery and
Speaker 2: Cafe in the old Coop Space. Very nice.
Speaker 1: Let's move on to Gentry's Barbecue now operating the Hyperbolic
Speaker 1: Brewing Kitchen in Ivanhoe Village.
Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. So Hyperbolic Brewing is taking over the
Speaker 2: Hammered Lamb space there in Ivanhoe Village, I believe. Don't
Speaker 2: quote me on that. I think it's 1235 North Orange
Speaker 2: Avenue in Ivanhoe Village. And they just recently announced that
Speaker 2: Gentry's Barbecue, which closed their shop in Winter Park right
Speaker 2: behind the Krispy Kreme, that they're going to be operating
Speaker 2: the kitchen there. So Chris Gentry, you know, he's been
Speaker 2: around the scene for quite a while. He's been popping
Speaker 2: up here and there, and he's finally getting back into the,
Speaker 2: you know, into cooking in the kitchen there. And he'll
Speaker 2: be serving everything from his Central Texas-style brisket to pulled
Speaker 2: pork to turkey, smash burgers, salads. He's selling his sauces.
Speaker 2: He makes his own sauces. And Hyperbolic Brewing, I think
Speaker 2: they're aiming to open on November 21st, which is when
Speaker 2: Jingle Eve takes place there in that neighborhood. They open
Speaker 2: up all the businesses. So that's what they're aiming for.
Speaker 2: I think they're going to have like a 10 barrel
Speaker 2: system there. So beer and barbecue coming to Ivanhoe Village
Speaker 2: and courtesy of Gentry's.
Speaker 1: Sounds good to me, man. Yeah, that is a beautiful pairing.
Speaker 1: Beer and barbecue always works.
Speaker 2: Always.
Speaker 1: For sure. All right, let's move on to Udon 50
Speaker 1: opening on October 2nd.
Speaker 2: October 22nd. So this is Sonny Nguyen, the guy from Domo,
Speaker 2: from Tori Tori, Edoboy, others. This is his brand new
Speaker 2: concept opening October 22nd right in the heart of Mills
Speaker 2: 50 at 1222 East Colonial Drive. It's going to specialize
Speaker 2: in udon noodles, but a Tokyo style udon noodles, which
Speaker 2: really it's about the broth. The broth is going to
Speaker 2: be a little bolder, more umami forward. They add a
Speaker 2: lot of like a dark season with a lot of
Speaker 2: dark soy sauce. So that creates a bolder as opposed
Speaker 2: to a lighter kind of broth that we see at Zaru,
Speaker 2: which is not not not too far away. Let's see.
Speaker 2: So it'll be they'll have a 10 seat counter and
Speaker 2: I think you'll have eight seats in the dining room.
Speaker 2: He's opening October 22nd. And and Ross, you want to
Speaker 2: know this? He will be serving a Bukkake Udon.
Speaker 1: OK, great. Am I supposed to look into that? How
Speaker 1: do you– what? Want to help us out with that
Speaker 1: a little bit, buddy?
Speaker 2: Oh, well. Are you talking to me or are you
Speaker 2: talking to Ross?
Speaker 1: No, I'm talking to you, specifically you.
Speaker 2: Oh, me. I see. For some reason, I thought Ross
Speaker 2: was the big bukkake. Anyway, bukkake udon, for those who
Speaker 2: don't know, bukkake is actually an actual dish. It is
Speaker 2: those udon noodles that are just splattered with a little
Speaker 2: bit of a very concentrated broth.
Speaker 1: Why splattered? Why splattered? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's just splattered
Speaker 1: with it, buddy.
Speaker 2: It's splattered, yeah.
Speaker 1: You know what udon is, right? The big fat noodle
Speaker 1: is my favorite. Do you know what the first word is?
Speaker 3: Yeah, buddy.
Speaker 2: I get it.
Speaker 1: It's a city in Japan. It's good.
Speaker 2: It's fine. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Yeah, October 22nd, that is when Udon opens up and
Speaker 1: you can get your bukkake noodles.
Speaker 2: Yes, you can. Yes, you can.
Speaker 1: All right, cool.
Speaker 2: I'm mature.
Speaker 1: It's fine. I'm an adult. It's fine. Deb's not laughing.
Speaker 1: Nobody should be laughing. I'll tell her on the break.
Speaker 2: It's an actual thing. It's an actual thing. Bukkake noodles
Speaker 2: are an actual thing.
Speaker 1: All right, so that is Udon 50 opening October 22nd
Speaker 1: in the old, over there Mills 50. Is it in
Speaker 1: a building that used to be?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it used to be Doshi. Remember Doshi, the Japanese
Speaker 2: donut spot? Yeah, so it's a pretty small space. Like
Speaker 2: I said, it's a 10-seat counter, eight seats in the
Speaker 2: dining room. I think he's having– you may even want
Speaker 2: to send an email. I think he's having some friends
Speaker 2: and family type nights prior to the October 22nd open,
Speaker 2: but that's when they will open.
Speaker 1: Give me 30 seconds on Hayashi Toro or Taro.
Speaker 2: Yeah, Hayashi Taro opening again in Mills 50, 714 North
Speaker 2: Mills Avenue where Royalty used to be. It's Louis Lin's
Speaker 2: takeout omakase bento concept. Oh my gosh, look at that. Whoa, dude,
Speaker 2: look at that. So takeout omakase is going to be
Speaker 2: a new thing. People who can't afford to go to
Speaker 2: a restaurant and spend hundreds of dollars on an omakase can't.
Speaker 2: they'll be able to get some takeout. It's called orizume.
Speaker 2: That is the Japanese word for takeout omakase. They'll be
Speaker 2: in these really nice foldable wooden boxes. They'll range from
Speaker 2: $ 25 to $ 75. He's also snagged the chef from Kapo-san, David-san.
Speaker 2: He will be behind the counter. He's going to have
Speaker 2: a really solid matcha and sake program. He's going to have, again,
Speaker 2: a bench seating for like eight. And then later on,
Speaker 2: he will have a counter seating for six people in which,
Speaker 2: and it'll have like nighttime omakases. But right now it'll
Speaker 2: be open from 12 to 6 PM. And he's looking
Speaker 2: to open after October 25th.
Speaker 1: Yeah, dude, that looks amazing. Those boxes look absolutely, they
Speaker 1: look fake. They look like a gift you'd give somebody.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And take out omakase, it's all about the color.
Speaker 2: You know, you want to be, offer something very colorful.
Speaker 2: It's very Very, you know, intricately arranged. It looks very pretty. And,
Speaker 2: of course, he's getting, like, all high-end seafood flown straight
Speaker 2: in from the, you know, Toyosu fish market in Tokyo. Wow.
Speaker 2: So you're going to have, like, solid cuts of fish.
Speaker 2: You're going to have omakase-level cuts of fish and seafood here,
Speaker 2: but in a box, and you can enjoy it at home. Wow.
Speaker 2: Without the inconvenience of ever having to leave your house.
Speaker 1: That looks amazing. Well, good lineup this week, dude. That's
Speaker 1: a lot of good stuff. Where can people find you
Speaker 1: and read more about your food travels?
Speaker 2: Everything's available there on OrlandoWeekly.com. Just click on food and drink. And,
Speaker 2: of course, you can find all these crazy photos on
Speaker 2: my Instagram at It's Fiascara, I-T-S-F-A-I-Y-A-Z-K-A-R-A.
Speaker 1: Happy Thanksgiving, buddy. It's always good seeing you.
Speaker 2: Thanks, man.
Speaker 1: Good and loud for Fias, guys.
Speaker 2: What do you say? Happy Thanksgiving. Blankets for the wrong era.
Speaker 2: All right, buddy.
Speaker 1: Have a good one, buddy. We'll see you soon.
Speaker 2: All right. 407-916-1041. Text us 77031.
Speaker 1: Back in a sec with more of the Jim Colbert Show.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us.