Farm-To-Table: K Restaurant

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Ever since I’ve had the chance to visit a farm-to-table restaurant/cafe on the island of Kauai, HI few years ago, I’ve been hoping to see more of them here in Central Florida. Especially since hubby and I started watching a Netflix program called  “Chef’s Table“,  the freshness of the ingredients became even more paramount in catering to the needs of our palate. Thanks to google, we did not have trouble finding K Restaurant, a highly rated farm-to-table restaurant in Central Florida/Orlando area.The almost 30 minutes drive from Windermere was well worth it! K Restaurant, at 1710 Edgewater Dr., Orlando, FL 32804, 407-872-2332, looks like a normal residential home, with a big K in the front.

The gravel parking space makes me feel as though we’re visiting a friend’s house in the area.

The night we dined at the K Restaurant was a perfect Spring evening, with a touch of breeze….so we opted to sit out on the porch, enjoying the breeze and dancing lights.

Our wait-person/general manager, Austin, served impeccably and answered all of my questions about the history and the making of this restaurant:

Chef/owner Kevin Fonzo (henceforth K Restaurant) is a native of New York City, graduated from The Culinary Institute of America and interned in Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, and landed a job at The Peabody Hotel in Orlando, FL. He was also scouted by “Peasant Restaurant Group” in Atlanta, GA and received accolades from Gourmet Magazine, Southern Living, and Atlanta Magazine, etc. during his seven years of stay in Atlanta. But as many hearts have found their way back to Orlando area, so did Kevin. He quickly found employment in a little restaurant called “Cafe Allegre” in Orlando College Park neighborhood, and fell in love with the area. So he bought Allegre in 2001, changed its name to “K Restaurant”, and became one of the first “Chef owned and operated” restaurants and showcased local ingredients in Orlando.

The meticulousness, freshness, and attention to artistry are main contributing factors in formulating an appetizing meal. Kevin succeeded in completing our courses that appealed to many of our senses.  The touch of sweetness of the home-made butter on the perfectly temperatured and crusted bread, the unexpected bean and crunchiness of bacon atop deviled eggs, the artistic tower of a simple ingredient (the fried green tomatoes), and the tender swordfish that melts in one’s mouth….They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so allow me to share  these beautiful dishes (I should say artistic works) with you, hoping to do some justice to the Chef’s craft, below…

In case any of you is/are not familiar with the term “farm-to-table“, let’s take a look what google and wiki have to say about this, in italics, below:

Farm-to-table (or farm-to-fork) refers to the stages of the production of food: harvesting, storage, processing, packaging, sales, and consumption. Farm-to-table also refers to a movement concerned with producing food locally and delivering that food to local consumers. Linked to the local food movement, the movement is promoted by some in the agriculture, food service, and restaurant communities. It may also be associated with organic farming initiatives, sustainable agriculture, and community-supported agriculture.

Many farm-to-table advocates cite the works of Wendell Berry, Wes Jackson, Michael Pollan, John Jeavons, Alice Waters, Joel Salatin, Barbara Kingsolver, Erik Manning and others in their preference for the freshest ingredients and in their attempts to educate their customers about the link between farmers, farm communities, ancient food-production practices, and the food we eat. Increasingly, the public backlash against genetically modified organisms in our food supply has added a note of political activism to what had been, until recently, a largely aesthetic movement. Farm-to-table restaurants may buy their produce directly from farmers, usually local. In a few cases, the restaurants and farms may be owned and operated by the same people. The farm-to-table movement has arisen more or less concurrently with recent changes in attitude about food safety, food freshness, food seasonality, and small-farm economics. Advocates and practitioners of the farm-to-table model frequently cite as their motivations the scarcity of fresh, local ingredients; the poor flavor of ingredients shipped from afar; the poor nutritional integrity of shipped ingredients; the encroachment of genetically modified foods into the food economy; the disappearance of small family farms; the disappearance of heirloom and open-pollinated fruits and vegetables; and the dangers of a highly centralized food-growing and -distribution system.

Among the first vocal and influential farm-to-table businesses were: Chez Panisse restaurant in Berkeley, California, Herbfarm in Washington, Bon Appétit Management Company based in Palo Alto, California, and The Kitchen in Boulder, Colo.. In the last few years the number of farm-to-table operations has grown rapidly.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this piece and will consider trying some of your local farm-to-table restaurants. Hope you will try to use fresh, natural, and non-GMO ingredients as often as possible for cooking at home.

If you’re curious about K restaurant’s menu, click on Lunch Menu or Dinner Menu. Keep in mind that items may vary from season to season depending on what fresh ingredients may be available.

Bon Appetit !

~Let’s Help One Another~

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Photographed, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker
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