6 Things I Loved at Coro, the Chef-Inspired Restaurant

Last night, I went out and had what was probably the bougiest experience I have been able to have with dining for a while. Of course, I could not take advantage of these experiences without my lovely fiancé. If he is reading this, I hope you know how much I love you, and thank you for taking me out with your friends.

The place that we went to is called Coro Restaurant, and it is located in Aubudon Park in Orlando, Florida. What makes it unique is that their menu changes all the time, because they develop it as a result of what they can get from their local vendors (I'm not sure if this is what farm-to-table is, but the idea seems similar to me). Based on what is available during the season and the day, the chefs will come up with their own creative spin for their menus.

The best way to experience their menu is to come in and expect to share a few dishes with your friends. Since we had a friend that knew a friend who worked in the restaurant, we basically said, "Look, this is how much money each of us are willing to spend, can you give us the highlights?" And I truly believe we got to taste all the best parts of the menu.

While they might not have these items at another time, I do think that I should share some of my favorites. They've only been open for about 9 months now, and it should be highlighted how creative and delicious these dishes here are. The boys that I dined with believe that dessert shouldn't be categorized with the savory faire, so I am going to include 3 of each for a total of 6 dishes. Note that I am naming the dishes the same way they are named on the menu.

Coro Restaurant

Website: coro

Address: 3022 Corrine Dr, Orlando, FL 32803

Phone: (407) 629-5005

1. Coffee, Potato, Vanilla

It feels right starting out by talking about dessert, because I love it so much. Jonathan, who was our server and the sommelier for the restaurant, introduced this dessert by saying that it is inspired by the idea of taking French fries and dipping them into a Frosty. As a lover of potatoes in all forms, I was very excited to see how this dessert experience was going to be.

On the bottom, there was a layer of crispy potatoes, and then a sprinkle of coffee bits. I was worried when Jonathan said panna cotta, because I have yet to meet one that I like, but this one was so light that I couldn't resist it. Then there was a layer of vanilla cream on top that was so light, it was like a foam. Then it's topped with potato chips, and I think a sprinkle of potato bits. I went in with a spoon, and I loved experiencing all the layers of texture and flavor. Honestly, it felt right to list this one first because it was such a creatively significant dish to end the night with.

2. Strawberry, Corn, Pine Nut

So, my fiancé is known to love strawberry desserts, but I would say I love them almost as much. If there ever was a time where second was actually the best, this dessert would be the contender. It's bits of strawberry with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. I don't remember what the sauces on top were, but I believe the brittle on the bottom was made of the corn and pine nut.

When he brought out the dish, Jonathan said the goal was to remind us of a dish that we had in childhood and that he wanted us to guess the inspiration. My fiancé thought it would be Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but when he tasted it, said that it reminded him of Apple Jacks. One of his friends said Pops Cereal, and I agreed with that. Another friend said a waffle, but we were told that none of us guessed it. The answer was the mixed berries version of Captain Crunch. After hearing it, the answer seemed obvious, but it made me start thinking that Captain Crunch might be a forgotten cereal. And I don't think this dessert should ever be forgotten.

3. Chocolate, Pâte Sucrèe, Hazelnut

The boys thought they would love this, but for them, it ultimately did not compare to the other desserts we had from the menu. Luckily for me, that meant they each took a bite, and then I ate the rest of it.

I didn't know what a pâte sucrèe was when we were sitting in the restaurant, but according to a Google search, it is a French sweet tart crust. That was probably on the very bottom, and if I'm being honest, I didn't notice it too much. The layer I was excited about was the meringue layer underneath the chocolate-hazelnut topping. It was almost like eating a decedent cloud with the way it melded together with the chocolate hazelnut.

4. English Pea Ravioli, Soft Egg, Coppa

So, the way that the night went was we would all get a bite of each dish, and there was normally one or two more bites left. We would try and alternate who got the extra one, and I wonder if this one just made the list because it was the first one that I got to taste more of.

I could tell that they made this pasta themselves, because it was pillow-like in its softness. I don't know what cheese they used, but they did smoke it, and it added a richness to the dish. Our friend that brought us there believed that the thing to really elevate this dish was the soft egg on top, and having the yolk run round the sauce on top of the raviolis. Google is telling me that Coppa is a dry-cured Italian pork shoulder, which really added the body to the flavors presented here.

5. Coro's Off-Menu Item for the Night: Red Snapper

Because this item was not on the menu on this particular night, I am only working from my memory and the photo I have. The red snapper came to us on a plate swimming with a sauce of sorts, along with sushi rice and some nori seaweed. We were told the best thing to do is to tear the fish apart and let it soak in the sauce before making our own hand rolls; luckily, another dish came at this time as well, so I tore apart the red snapper to soak up sauce while the boys worked on the other dish.

I believe that I am preferential to this dish because I love all different forms of sushi, and this is basically a cooked version that we were able to eat at the table. I loved the way the fish was flavored, and how the flavor was further highlighted by the rice and nori. I tried the snapper on its own, which was good, but you get a better idea of the flavor when taking the bite of fish with the rice and the nori.

Grandma Sau's Favorite: Half-Dozen Oyster, Green Garlic, Kumquat, Chile

Early in the meal, I was not taking pictures because the boys were so quick to dig into everything. Not having a photo of this one actually hurts a little, because the presentation was beautiful. The green garlic and the kumquat really added color to the dish, and the flavor was such a beautiful melody on my tongue that I was really licking the shell clean.

The reason that I am naming it as Grandma Sau's favorite is because we used to eat oysters together all the time, until I got a bad case of food poisoning from it in middle school. I didn't really eat them again until I got into my mid-twenties, so I feel like this is the dish that I would love to share with her. However, that is not guaranteed since their menu is always changing, so maybe I just have to bring her in really soon.