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 “…
Upcoming Events
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…
“America, a melting cauldron of passionate people of multiple nationalities; passionate about life, friendship, love, their national pride, about food, and in fact, always ready to thankfully enjoy all of God’s blessings.” This is the first line of The Roti Story that owner and physician Dr.…
4 ounces Baileys Irish Cream2 ounces Butterscotch Schnapps1 ounce Cointreau1/2 ounce Kahlua
Pilsner, Stout, Porter and everything in between, Lakeland Beer Rev has a brew for even the pickiest craft beer aficionado. We sat down with owner Mike Dodge to talk Lakeland’s favorite craft beers, tasty pub cuisine, and video games.
1 cup Crown Royal Maple Finished Whisky1 ½ cups pure apple ciderSqueeze of orange or lemon
This month, it’s all about the decorations and parties! Our cocktail is really just a big bowl of punch ready to serve your guests. Make a lot for a crowd or a little just for you. It’s simple and easy to modify. Take your favorite juice, for this we used Blackberry Cranberry. Add fresh …
Sugar Skull: Sugar cookie dough baked in the shape of a skull. Let that cool, then spread your favorite vanilla icing and decorate with various fruits.
To make a drink for two, I used these measurements. Depending on how much you like the taste of pickle brine, will determine if you use more or less than my recipe.
Stepping into Federal Bar Lakeland is a little like stepping back in time. But just for the right reasons. Designed with Prohibition style, appropriately I might add, because the building was built in 1917. If these walls could talk, they would tell tales of being used as a Post Office, a…
There’s nothing like a freshly baked beef liver or chicken cookie, am I right? For dogs I mean. Benson’s Canine Cookies has been in the freshly baked holistic dog cookie business for a collective 22 years.
1 oz light rum1 oz blue curaçao2 oz fresh pineapple juice1 oz cream of coconut2 cups crushed ice
You may remember Swan Brewing in a 10x10 tent at the Downtown Farmers Curb Market in Lakeland. Dan Thumberg, co-owner of Swan Brewing, started selling home brewing supplies to the public and soon met his now partner, Christian Hood. “We sat down and compared our business plans [which] were a…
Use ratio to make either one glass or one pitcher:
1 Cup Rum (I used coconut)1 Cup Pineapple Juice1 Cup Coco Lopez Cream of Coconut2 Cups Frozen Pineapple2 Cups Ice
Do you know that feeling you get when your grandma makes you something to eat and you can just taste the love she made it with? Anyone who has dined at Cafe Zuppina does. “Today, one of my customers told me he feels like he’s in his grandmother’s home,” said owner and chef at Cafe Zuppina, B…
Scream’n Tuna Sushi is o-fish-ally my new go-to for Asian cuisine. You could say that their food makes miso happy!
For the syrup: