Old Hickory in the Gaylord Orlando
We recently had a friend in town who attended a convention at the Gaylord Palms hotel. She raved about the Old Hickory restaurant inside. I have never eaten there as Scott Joseph gave it a middling review and I don't go into tourist-ville unless I know I'm getting something good.
In addition, I hear they have a maitre-de-fromage and a fine cheese course. Anyone experience this personally? Are they really fine cheeses or just ones that would look exotic to those raised on Velveeta? I am starving for good cheeses in Orlando, for now I have them shipped monthly from Artisinal in NYC.
Curious if any Hounds have eaten at Old Hickory.
Bill
Feb 24, 2006 04:47PM
Bill:
As much as I want to love Old Hickory, I just can't get it up. It's, in my opinion, over-priced and under-serviced, especialy compared to their competition.
Each steak gets dusted with a "secret seasoning" before high-temp broiling that I would bet $$$ includes MSG.
They do have a couple of exceptions, as they frequenly offer exceptional game and, once a year, they buy a kilo or so of Perigord truffles and build a menu around them.
My experience with their cheese course is also a joke. Despite the alleged connection with Patrick Brennan, who has never stepped into the restaurant as far as I know, the cheeses are generally mundane and forgettable and, even worse, the servers are totally uneducated about the cheese and make it a struggle to even know what you are getting.
So far, my best cheese course experience in Orlando has been at Primo, but I'm curious if others have found good cheese courses here. I have a hunch Norman's does a prety good one also.
bob
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Yeah, Norman's has a good cheese cart, but again I found the servers to be going by rote memorization.
I also have had some nice cheeses at K in College Park. Much smaller selection but the chef (or owner) obviously likes cheese and puts thought into it.
Frankly, it's depressing. I held out hope that the cheese guy at Whole Foods would be a kindred cheese spirit, but I knew more than he about it, and their shrink wrap suffocates the few great cheeses they carry.
I have always wanted to open a cheese shop here, but I like my money too much to throw it away. Thank god for FedEx :)
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I went on a cheese binge after Thanksgiving and probably dropped $300 between then and the New Year.
Learned a lot and enjoyed. But since then have found our sources and restaurant service in that area sadly lacking. Fresh Market and Petty's do the best job in terms of supply, but it's also intermittent and most of the staff knows very little. I had the same feeling about Whole Foods, They will be opening a new store this year near Restauant Row and I'm hoping we'll see cheese take more of a role.
Sad.
Bob
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