It’s that time of year again and what better way to celebrate the delicious decadence of spooky season than by combining two of our favorite things: candy and cocktails! This Halloween, I set out to do just this with fellow cocktail lover and owner of Confection candy store, Ivy Horn. Trust …
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2 ounces Empress 1908 Gin
2 1/2 ounces bourbon
1cup blanco tequila
Sweet Cup Cafe is a flash of fuchsia on the northside of Lakeland, a little bubblegum pink building you might miss if you blink. Inside this pleasant little cafe, Francelly and Yesenia Garcia backed by an all-female team, offer home-cooked food from their culture. Sweet Cup offers soups, tor…
3-ounce boxes of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple Jell-O mix
A little love, a dash of southern hospitality, and good old-fashioned fried chicken are at the center of Lakeland’s newest chicken shack, LoveBird Almost Famous Chicken. The couple responsible for turning up the heat on the pick-me-up dining scene is Leah and Jeremy Brumley. You can get in o…
1/3 cup tequila
It’s no secret that minimalism has taken over the country – books and blogs that detail pairing down everything from material possessions to the space you inhabit have taken popular culture by storm. People are taking only what they need to survive and finding happiness in the mindfulness of…
2 ounces vodka*
There’s nothing like a strong cup of coffee to keep you sharp in the morning, well that and maybe an airborne axe or two. Joyce and Kraig Woodrow opened Ax-Caliber Axe Venue and Coffee House, the first of its kind for Polk County, in downtown Lakeland last fall. The pandemic presented challe…
Serves 1
Twenty-nine-year-old An’Drew Kamani Williams, aka Drew Willz, has created an ever-evolving brand centered around graphic art, clothing, coffee, matcha, and more. 16.92 Coffee Matcha Bar is in the business of bringing coffee and matcha drinks to Central Florida through the modernity and magic…
8 raspberries
Makes 1 cocktail
This is an easy one, great for dessert, too ;) Add one or two scoops of your favorite sorbet to a glass, add prosecco and cheers to the new year! Ages 21+ please drink responsibly and never drink and drive.
You’re invited to the next Catapult Kitchen pop-up! Food-centric entrepreneurs serve up their culinary concepts as a sales avenue and testing ground for recipes at the walk-up window overlooking Lake Mirror. Pop-up patrons can lounge in patio seating backdropped by the deliciously creative “…
For cocktails:
Have you eaten at Lakeland’s favorite new restaurant, Curry Mango? This South Lakeland spot offers traditional Indian fare alongside unique American and Indian fusions. You might say their food is like naan other in Polk County.
4 ounces vodka
2 ounces bourbon
1-ounce vodka
As the Director of Behavioral Health for Lakeland Regional Health, Alice Nuttall oversees the team of physicians, nurses, and qualified mental health professionals for both the inpatient behavioral health service and the outpatient behavioral health clinic. She is an involved member of the P…
In 1974, Jimmy Minadakis converted a former farmhouse turned bingo hall into what would be his legacy restaurant in Baltimore, Maryland. “He came over from Greece with nothing, started working as a busboy in Washington D.C.,” said his middle son, Nik Minadakis. Jimmy saved up money to move t…
5 cups frozen pineapple
No matter where you’re headed this Summer, this refreshing Cold Brew recipe will be the perfect road companion - it’ll keep you refreshed, energized, and save you from having to drink gas station coffee! (oh no, no, no!)
10 large basil leaves
At the top of Vegetation Plant Food’s website, it reads, “Eat like you love yourself.” This sentiment is at the core of Rima Schillinger’s personal change to a whole food plant-based lifestyle and why she started a service to help others do the same. Last year, Schillinger started her whole …
Bread has been at the center of everything for Honeycomb Bread Bakers founder, Benjamin Vickers. In an interview with LKLD last summer before the opening of his brick and mortar bakery inside of Twenty Seven, Vickers said, “My dream is to serve people, and fill their bellies, and make good b…
The hoax kicked off with a prankster telling a group that they were being talked about by the loose lipped Tom Collins, and then sending them on an angry goose chase to find him.
Delivering exquisite cookies out of a Honda Civic. That’s how DOU Bakehouse owners Diana Cortes Blanquicet and David Hernandez got started. The DOU team has since outgrown that Honda Civic for a spacious commercial kitchen producing ten thousand cookies and pastries every week.
1 cup mint chocolate chip ice cream
It’s a sweet little gesture – get a box for someone you love today, or get one for yourself, or do both! Charlie’s mini donuts are mini, so eating an entire dozen is really only like three or four regular donuts. Right?
2 ounces Absolut Mandarin
1 cup kombucha (we used Krazy Kombucha ginger)
A trendy hole-in-the-wall bistro, an upscale dining establishment, your favorite taco truck – these are a few of the places you might expect to get an exceptional bite to eat. But – in a strip mall? In the Barclay Place Shopping Center off Highway 98 in North Lakeland sits an average-looking…
1 part Irish Cream
The Florida Brewery, established in the 70s, is the second oldest brewery still in operation in the state. Primarily a manufacturing facility, the brewery opened its doors to the public a year and a half ago introducing their Beer Garden and Taproom at 202 Gandy Road in Auburndale.
4 ounces vodka
Lakeland’s hometown barbeque spot since 1964, Jimbo’s Pit Bar B-Q maintains a lasting legacy of good food and good service, run by good folks. The restaurant was originally started by Jim Neff, owner of the Foxfire Restaurant and Henry Landworth who owned the Holiday Inn just down the road. …
Chili cook offs and firefighters go hand in hand. In fact, even the Lakeland Fire Dept. participates in one. They host the Tigertown Chili Throwdown in April alongside the Flying Tigers. Now, they won’t give me any of their award-winning recipes, but I’m happy to share one of my family’s f…
1 cup vodka
2 ounces bourbon
It’s about thyme Lakeland got a fresh, fast eatery. Soon Lakeland’s hungry will be able to order online or stop by the pick-up window of Good Thyme for a quick, delicious meal. From the minds who brought you Cob & Pen, comes Good Thyme! This will be the second Lakeland restaurant (with a…
2 ounces Lillet Rosé
Lakeland’s Benjamin Vickers thought he’d go to college for English Lit and become a “bookish academic” type. His hobby for home baking for his friends and family slowly took center stage. He called his parents one day and said, “I’m going to New York for culinary school, guys.”
3 cups of tea
It’s alive!!! But, in a good way. For Krazy Kombucha owner, Wendy Johnson, producing this fermented beverage for the community she loves is a way of life. Her family goes back 100 years in Lakeland – Wendy is the third generation here. She and her husband have three sons, two of whom are in …
3 ounces Prosecco
Starters
A fixture in Auburndale for over 70 years, Peebles Bar-B-Q has fed generations of Polk County families. If you ask lifelong customers, they’ll tell you it’s more than the bar-b-q that makes Peebles a local tradition.
2 ounces gin
The past month has been a time of reflection for Born & Bread Bakehouse owner Jenn Smurr. The bakery’s fourth birthday has come and gone, a celebration was had, and the hard-working hands of Jenn and her team are no doubt already preparing for the “organized chaos” that will be next Satu…
3 ounces vodka
5 basil leaves
Small batch, handmade ice cream sandwich company, A Cow Named MOO, started by Sarah and Patrick Mulcahy is in new hands, but rest assured the same chewy, creamy goodness lives on with its new owners.
An audacious idea and the will to keep going no matter the challenge is the bit of magic it took Robyn Wilson to start and grow Lakeland’s The Poor Porker into what it is today.
⅓ cup Chambord Raspberry Liqueur½ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice⅓ cup vodka¼ cup simple syrupLemonade
Sushi was originally invented as a means of preservation, when fermented and salted rice was used to store fish for up to a year. This was known as narezushi. The rice was thrown away and only the fish consumed. A later variant called namanarezushi invented in the 16th century, introduced t…