Eat Local Orlando: South + York

South + York is located in Winter Springs at the north end of Tuskawilla Road at 434 in the Publix plaza. It's a gourmet farm to table restaurant in the former location of Hollywood Bistro. South + York opened in late 2013. Their menu changes daily and with the seasons using whatever ingredients local farmer's have available.

Chef Edgar Cruz was born in New York and did his culinary training in the South where he met his wife, hence the name South + York.

The decor is very pleasant with a mix of stand alone tables and some leather booths, atmosphere is modern and simple yet well done.

For dinner we ordered the following dishes:
Tempura Goat Cheese with Cracked Black Pepper & local Honey $8 - This was excellent I would have preferred something to to eat the goat cheese with like a cracker or toast points, they are very soft and delicious but something more firm to counterbalance it would be great.

Arugula Salad - Blackberries, Pine Nuts, Red Onion, Sweetgrass Dairy(link) green hill cheese $9 - The cheese was from Georgia, and is a double-cream Camembert-style cheese. Very good.

Mussels - House made Fettuccine, Swiss Chard, Fennel, Onion, Saffron Broth $22 - Superb seafood flavor, the mussels are served without the shells and the broth had a wonderful bite to it. I was spooning up every last drop of the broth at the end.

South + York Burger - bacon jam, pimento cheese, fiery pickles, fried green tomato, truffle fries $15 - Burger was made medium rare with Wagyu beef. The pickle had a great homemade flavor. The truffle fries were very large I'd call them potato wedges. They had a nice crisp crust on them and the truffle flavor was quite strong.

Another interesting item they had which I didn't get a chance to try was the Fried Green Tomato Oreo which was served with the snapper, I'll have to order that another time. I also hear great things about the seared scallops, see a picture here from their Instagram link

For dessert I had:
Bread Pudding - dried cherries, golden raisins, vanilla ice cream, ginger raisin sauce $7 - strong and sweet flavor, you must like raisins and dried cherries to enjoy this dish.

Overall I'd say my experience was excellent as was the food. I think South + York is a great addition to the Tuskawilla area, the only other restaurants of note anywhere nearby are Stefano's Trattoria & Thai Basil a few miles south. The lack of great dining choices in the area and the excellent food at South + York should be the recipe for success. The location is a little hard to see from the road, hopefully they can get the word out, as we all know good news travels fast.

They also have a decent beer selection, I had a very nice Swamphead IPA from Gainsville, not as hoppy of an aftertaste as I would have expected.