Hey there Florida Foodie friends,
It’s the journalist who lives outside of time thanks to a rapidly decaying portrait I keep hidden from the world — Thomas Mates.
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Literary allusions aside, I feel myself age a little more every day, and it won’t be long before I am yelling at clouds to get off my lawn.
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As you may have inferred from all this talk of time, we are getting right up to the end of the year. The last grains of sand are falling through the hourglass of 2023, and there is nothing we can do to stop it.
It is the time of the year when many creators on the internet get lazy when it comes to churning out new content, so they go back to the well and fish out a “best of” list — and I am no exception.
I’m mostly joking. If I had fresh Foodie episodes to give you, I would fork them over immediately. Unfortunately, people wanted to spend time with their families for whatever reason, so we haven’t had the opportunity to record.
That being said, we have some fun new episodes we’ll be recording next week and we’ll make sure they reach your eyes and ears as soon as possible.
All joking aside, we have had some really great episodes this year, and I wanted to share some of them with all of you again. They are definitely worth a second look.
So, let’s look at the 5 most listened-to episodes of 2023.
Smoke & Donuts: Chef Ian Russell and his wife, Juliana Peña, started Smoke & Donuts as a compromise as they could not agree on whether to open a donut shop or a barbecue restaurant. They started out as a pop-up but eventually grew into a brick-and-mortar location in Orlando’s Milk District. Check out our interview with Russell here.
Pho Wheels: Vinnie Nguyen and his wife, Phi Phi Lam, started their food truck, Pho Wheels, so that they could have more time to spend with their children. Nguyen spent years working in restaurants before becoming a stay-at-home dad. When it came time to get back into the workforce, he knew he wanted more flexibility so he wouldn’t miss out on his children’s lives. Check out Nguyen and Lam inside their food truck here.
Jeff’s Bagel Run: Jeff and Danielle Perera opened their bagel business out of their home kitchen in 2020, and less than three years later, they are expanding all across Central Florida. It’s all thanks to a partnership with Justin Wetherill, the owner of 1337 Capital and the co-founder of the uBreakiFix chain of mobile device repair shops. Find out more about their expansion plans here.
Crooked Can Brewing: A trip to Denver led Andy Sheeter down a path that has him getting ready to move Crooked Can Brewing into a 40,000-square-foot brewery. He opened his brewery in Winter Garden in March 2015 and now he is getting ready to open a new flagship location in Minneola. Find out how he’s managed to grow his business successfully here.
Kitchen Arrabon: This is our newest episode of Florida Foodie, but it has already become our most listened-to episode of 2023. Kee Gainey spent 25 years as a stay-at-home mom before starting her culinary career. She learned her way around the kitchen as a child but received formal training from Second Harvest’s Culinary Training Program. Now, she works full-time at Nourish Coffee Bar + Kitchen while also running a cottage bakery, Kitchen Arrabon, out of her home. Hear more of her story here.
That’s it for today.
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Send me your recipes so I can share them with everyone. My email is tmates@wkmg.com.
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