Kosher in Orlando -- Resources and Restaurants

allrgymama

Tue, Jan 14 2014, 2:03 pm

This is a list of Kosher Resources that I've compiled in the last couple of week's, in preparation for my trip next week.

Please do not take my word on any of this information as I cannot verify. Again, this is stuff that I've found on-line and it may not be accurate anymore. Do your own research to confirm. Also, your hechsherim may be different than mine.

I hope it's helpful to someone:

Kosher Food Truck (fleishige) http://orlandokosheronwheels.com/

This turned into the Kosher Grill. http://www.koshergrillorlando.com/?page_id=93

Kosher at the Parks: http://www.orlandojewishinfo.c......html

Animal Kingdom - Pizzafari
Disney-Hollywood Studios - ABC Commissary
Epcot: Liberty Inn - American Adventure
Magic Kingdom - Cosmic Ray's Starlight Café - Tomorrowland
All Star Food Courts: World Premiere (Movies)
Intermission (Music) and End Zone (Sports)
Caribbean Beach - Old Port Royale Food Court
Pop Century - Everything Pop Dining
Port Orleans French Quarter - Sassagoula Floatworks and Food Factory
Port Orleans Riverside - Riverside Mill Food Court
Animal Kingdom Lodge - Phemora
Disney's Grand Floridian - Gasparilla
Saratoga Springs Resort - Artist's Pallete

-- I called Magic Kingdom about this myself. Given two days notice, you can order kosher food to whichever restaurant in the park that you want to. However, they charge for the meal based on the average meal price for the restaurant you choose to send it to. So the same meal will cost you more money at Cinderella's Table (waiter service and character appearances) than it will at Starlight Cafe (more of a cafeteria). It can work out to a difference of $20 per person, so choose wisely.

Shuls and Kosher Restaurants: http://www.ilovekosherorlando.......html

Lower East Side Restaurant (Fleishige): http://www.kosherorlando.com/

Have low expectations of this place. They have Disney themed towels hanging off the walls and a limited menu in January. The chefs served as waiters and the service was not ideal. It was $8 for a hot dog (on a store-made whole wheat kind of bun) with fries. If you're prepared for that, and know there are no other options, it's one thing; just don't expect NY levels of dining.

Glatt Kosher Grill (close to Universal): http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/26.....lando (according to an Orlando amother, they used to be the Kosher Food Truck http://orlandokosheronwheels.com/).

5615 International Dr
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 392-2292
koshergrillorlando.com

Menchie's Frozen Yogurt (multiple locations in Orlando): http://www.menchies.com/

Kosher Pizza: http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/26.....lando

This is NOT a restaurant. If you go through the reviews on Urban Spoon, it is some guy's living room in an apartment complex. We stopped by Chabad to find out if there was any kosher pizza in the area and he said the closest thing with a hechsher is in Ormand Beach --- so they aren't recommending it to people either.

Restaurants Certified by RCF:

•Jerusalem Restaurant, Ormond Beach, FL
•Kosher Culinary, Orlando, FL
•Cohen's Deli, Clermont, FL
•Simkas Sweets, Orlando FL
•Orlando Kosher on Wheels
•Jewish Gator Kosher Dining & Catering @ Chabad at UF

Worldgate / Cohen's hotel on-site supermarket. -- I called. This is no longer Kosher. They closed the location on premises at the WorldGate Resort to re-open elsewhere and they are NOT kosher.

Kosher Food Orlando / Gitty's Gourmet: http://kosherfoodorlando.com/. This is private catering, for both during the week and Shabbos. A different user, UQT, says that they will even deliver to a park for you.

Kosher Groceries:

Whole Foods
Cholov Yisroel Milk - Tevye's Farm made in Central FL, certified by FL-K and RCF
8003 Turkey Lake Rd. (Phillips Crossing, corner Sand lake Rd. 1 mile from Chabad Center)
Open 8am-10 pm 7days/week
407-355-7100
(According to an Orlando amother, they do not carry chalav Yisroel anymore. I did not personally call to verify.)

Publix
Kosher ("Ethnic" Isle) section with Tam Tams, Grape Juice, Wine, and other traditional Kosher foods
Freezer section with some meat etc. ~~They also carry the "Tevya's Farm" Cholov Yisroel Milk.~~
Main: (407) 226-3315 (open 7 am - 10 pm daily)
7640 Sand Lake Rd.
Orlando, FL 32809

--I called them about this. They carry milk from Promised Land Dairy: http://www.promisedlanddairy.com/faqs.html. It's hard to tell on the site, but it looks like the certification is from OK-D

They have a frozen section with Empire Chicken (she specified this) and kosher meat, but she wasn't sure which brand

Super Target
They have a kosher section with Kosher Meats (including hot dogs and Cole Cuts, and some Cheeses.
This is at the Super target located near the Millennia Mall (about 7 Minutes from Chabad Center).
4750 Millenia Plaza Way, Orlando
407-541-0019
(According to an Orlando amother, they do not carry chalav Yisroel anymore. I did not personally call to verify.)

Winn Dixie in Altamonte
Kosher section with meat, Chalav Yisroel dairy products
(about 35 minutes from the Universal area)
7800 South US HWY 17-92
Fern Park, FL 32730
Main Phone: 407-339-1593
Open 7 am - 10 pm daily

I spoke with the head of the Meat Dept (who apparently is head of Kosher). She says they carry D'vash milk -- which is Cholov Yisroel the last time I checked. She says they 'the largest -- make that the only -- real source for Kosher food in the area' with dairy, meat, frozen, bakery, cheeses, etc. They get deliveries late Tuesday and Thursday, and are happy for you to call before you drive down to confirm what they actually have in stock.

She said that they're about an hour away from the parks, but Google maps shows that it's only about 30 min from Universal to their location: https://maps.google.com/maps?h.....b=wl. Since Disney is about 20-30 minutes away from Universal, that makes sense.

EDIT:

Dan's Deal posted this on 1/17/2014: www.centralfloridakosher.com

They definitely carry Chalav Yisroel, if you browse through the website and are just starting out with a physical store. They are next door to the Chabad and Kosher Culinary. Definitely more expensive to buy here than to bring from home, but we did pick up Leben's, which wouldn't have been a good thing to travel with.

Last edited by allrgymama on Wed, Jan 22 2014, 7:49 pm; edited 7 times in total

mommee

Tue, Jan 14 2014, 3:26 pm

This is so nice of you to post and put together since people are looking for this info pretty frequently. Thanks.
The past two years that we have been there, there has been no cholov yisrael (milk/yogurt/cheese) available for people to purchase in grocery stores in orlando. That 'Tevye's Farm' company was shut down or stopped production or something like that. We found that out after going from store to store looking.

allrgymama

Tue, Jan 14 2014, 3:53 pm

No problem!

I called them and clarified and put the edit into the post.

amother

Tue, Jan 14 2014, 6:05 pm

wow! thank you! we are going in three weeks and this is very helpful info. do you know if menchies is cholov ysroel?

Chana Miriam S

Tue, Jan 14 2014, 6:15 pm

Thanks! We'll be there end of January!

amother

Tue, Jan 14 2014, 6:17 pm

just wondering...is orlando very feel of heimishe end of january? dh and I not interested in that...from all these post sounds like it!

Cookies n Cream

Tue, Jan 14 2014, 6:39 pm

I went the first week in February a couple of years ago and it was not Heimishe in the least bit. There was just a Minyan at the Chabad house and I only noticed two or three obviously Jewish people at the parks.

allrgymama

Tue, Jan 14 2014, 6:49 pm

I called the Menchie's on W Sand Lake Drive and while he didn't really seem very familiar, the person I spoke with seemed happy to help.

From what I understood, they have certification from two different agencies, Kosher Supervision of America (KSA, rabbi bony onion I-didn't-catch-the-last-name) and if that's the same agency that certifies Crumbs bakery than it is not cholov Yisroel and is a questionable hechsher altogether

The second agency he said was "O-U' and that they have two certificates because they have two different kinds of frozen yogurt.

So I'm not sure what to make of that other than that you have to look at the certificate yourself and be prepared to be disappointed when you go.

mysunshine

Tue, Jan 14 2014, 10:55 pm

wow thank you so much
you saved me lots of time
we r going in few days b'h

UQT

Tue, Jan 14 2014, 11:00 pm

Cohen's deli wasn't around when I went in the summer. Did it reopen?

Also one more - a personal chef that can make Shabbos for you, or even supper and deliver it to the park - Gitty's Gourmet - (718) 510-2017.

Oh and the Disney Kosher Food was awful...

amother

Thu, Jan 16 2014, 12:20 am

As an Orlando resident, I'll add to this what I can...

- Yes, the food in the parks is awful. Sorry, just the truth. You can bring in small items like granola bars, etc. and tell them you need it because of dietary restrictions. I brought food into Universal and they didn't say anything, but you never know.

- The Kosher On Wheels is now Kosher Grill restaurant, on International Drive. Under Rabbi Konikov.

- Menchie's is not chalav yisrael

- I recently heard from a reputable source Cohen's Deli is no longer existent. Maybe someone else knows for sure...?

- The Whole Foods on Turkey Lake doesn't carry chalav yisrael milk anymore, last I checked. They do have a small kosher section but nothing extraordinary. If you don't keep CY they have a lot of kosher snack foods.

- There is a new Publix that opened on Dr. Phillips Blvd which carries a decent amount of things (still not a lot, but for Orlando, it isn't bad). For some reason they don't carry any chicken but they do have ground beef and stew meat. They have OU/OU-D bakery items as well.

- The Publix on Sand Lake/Dr. Phillips has frozen section including chicken and a small dry goods section.

- Walmart on Turkey Lake has a growing dry goods section too. Grape juice, parve choc chips, soup mix, etc. Also the best price on the Moscato wine (in the regular wine section)

- Super Target at Millenia has not had a refrigerated/frozen kosher section for some time... no more meat or cheese there.

- BJs at Millenia is the only place that carries pas yisrael, ready-baked challah (that I know of) in Orlando

- Winn Dixie in Fern Park has a lot - meat isn't so cheap but they have selection and their pantry and frozen sections are big.

- Opening soon is a kosher grocery: http://centralfloridakosher.com. I think it will be really close to Kosher Grill. Not sure when it will be open full-time, but it will be right in Orlando and will be much better than driving all the way to Fern Park. Unless you have to go to the mikvah, it is really out of the way if you're just in Orlando for vacation.

Think I covered most of it. It's hard to keep track around here because even those of us who live here have to visit multiple stores to do basic Shabbos shopping, for example. I always feel bad when I run into tourists who ask where to find something specific and I either have to tell them 1.) it isn't here at all or 2.) you have to drive anywhere from 15-40 minutes away to find it.

allrgymama

Thu, Jan 16 2014, 3:35 pm

Thanks for all the input!

I edited in most of it to my original post, but didn't put in all of amother's comments about individual places as I thought it would make the original post too confusing.

allrgymama

Wed, Jan 22 2014, 7:39 pm

I edited the post again now that we're down here in Orlando. Some of the restaurants don't exist and there's one that goes under two different names

Ashrei

Wed, Jan 22 2014, 8:59 pm

amother wrote:

- I recently heard from a reputable source Cohen's Deli is no longer existent. Maybe someone else knows for sure...?

as far as I'm concerned... there's no reason to go to Orlando without Cohen's Deli... I really love their food. Sad

amother

Wed, Jan 22 2014, 11:48 pm

anybody heard of kosher gourmet in orlando? hotel can order food for us from there...

ytrus

Wed, Feb 19 2014, 12:48 am

Attn: amother

what are the options for minyan weekday?

any minyanim in the dr. phillips area?

are chabad and cohens deli the only options for shabos/yom tov?

rd5081

Tue, Feb 25 2014, 11:26 am

Can anyone post where they found the cheapest car rental in orlando for 5 days, im getting quotes of about $200, it sounds very exp.

DrMom

Tue, Feb 25 2014, 11:44 am

Just curious: Are the kosher meals in DisneyWorld parks just like airline meals, or are they themed with the restaurant?

I.e., if you want to eat at the restaurant in the Mexico pavillion at Epcot, do you get kosher Mexican food, or do you just get the same stam meal wherever you eat?

MommytoB

Tue, Feb 25 2014, 1:38 pm

DrMom wrote:

They come from Weberman's in Miami and you can choose from a variety of options. But, if Weberman's doesn't have Mexican, than it is not themed.

Mom23gs

Wed, Apr 30 2014, 4:13 pm

Hi. Just wondering if anyone has stayed at the Westgate Palace, across from Chabad, and how it was. Alternatively, is there any other / better place to stay in walking distance to a Minyan? We are planning to be there in August.

Thanks!