The force is with Luke’s
Luke’s Kitchen and Bar is the Restaurant of the Year
It was a beautiful Sunday. I wanted brunch. And as it happened (and it has happened far more often than I’ve cared for over the past year), the restaurant I’d been angling to try was just too darn crowded for my own comfort level. So, I bailed.
But it was already later in the day. Brunch was winding down at most places. And there was always the chance I’d run into the same issue.
I needed a place with outdoor seating. And so, I wound up at Luke’s Kitchen and Bar.
We grabbed a well-spaced table outside. The live oaks were lovely. The heaters were on. Our server, Billy, was not merely cordial, he knew the bar menu backward. His energy and input helped guide us. In minutes, I had a crisp, clean-lined White Linen in front of me.
It is an elegant cocktail, a sweet, tart preface to some extraordinary chicken wings ($10), crisp but textural — granular with the smoky, earthy flavor of Hatch green chilies. Served with thinsliced, agave-lime pickles and a buttermilk sauce, they were wholly unique.
Seats on the patio filled steadily, but the spaciousness kept any residual cootie fears at bay. My companion’s English muffin ($14) — a sturdy handheld piled high with meat and greens and a bright, beautifully folded omelet — looked like sunshine on a plate. My simple cheeseburger ($16) was a juicy, medium-rare.
Luke’s was my happy hour pick for last year’s Foodies. And well deserved. And as I sat there, enjoying it all, I began to think.
A gentle breeze blew — you know, this could be the best patio. The chicken skin cracked — you know, these could be the best wings. The burger — its charred-crust and pink center — beckoned. This, too, could be the best. Combined, all made for a best-worthy brunch.
That’s an awful lot of bests for one venue. In particular, for one whose team had done much to stay relevant in its community during the pandemic.
And so, here we are: Luke’s Kitchen and Bar has earned my pick for Best Overall Restaurant — or Restaurant of the Year — for the 2021 Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards.
Executive chef Jason Campbell, Orlando native and alum of several local favorites, spent years climbing the ranks at both the Ravenous Pig and Cask + Larder, then left town for a while. Cincinnati came first, then Oklahoma City. Campbell racked up a host of accolades, including consecutive “Best Chef ” wins in OKC, before getting a call from Park Lights Hospitality chef/ partner Brandon McGlamery.
On the hunt for someone to lead the Luke’s team, McGlamery — who brought the recently shuttered Luma on Park to new heights after taking the helm in 2006 and opened the still-hot Prato in 2011 — had heard good things from Campbell’s former bosses, James and Julie Petrakis.
“It was exciting to have the chance to come home,” says Campbell, “and to inherit such an amazing team. They had an opportunity to jump ship — when a new chef comes in, that sometimes happens — but they stuck with me and helped fulfill the vision we were going for and take the menu in a more modern direction.”
One that on the waning side of a global pandemic has managed to land them on the front page.
Not too shabby.
But as much as the woodfired tilefish and al pastor octopus might have to do with it, before either of these dishes, came communication.
At Luke’s, they’ve moved toward sourcing as local as possible — Ever Oak Farms, Frog Song Organics, Zen Farms and others, along with Sublime Oyster Supply’s Florida-farmed bivalves. Changing things up as ingredients come in and out of season is the new norm.
“Our seasonality in the kitchen also flows into the bar,” Campbell explains. “You’ll see much of the produce we’re using in the cocktails, as well.”
Kitchen, bar and service staffers do tastings on the reg, says bar manager Kayla Cook, who plans menu changes about a month in advance to keep things cohesive.
“It’s a constant conversation with the kitchen,” she says. “And in that, we have found a lot of success.”
Listening to the customers, both Campbell and Cook note, is part of the formula, too.
Cook has been with Park Lights for eight years, two of them at Luke’s. Things in Maitland are different than on Park Avenue, she says.
“Here, it’s a lot more ‘neighborhood,’ “she explains. “Families who come together at lunch, parents who’ll come back on their own for nicer dinners. It’s a wider demographic, but a lot of regulars.”
People whose adventurous, experimental nature she appreciates.
“We’re so lucky to have people who get excited to try something different, who ask what we’ll be doing as the seasons change,” says Cook. “They know it’s coming. They’ve grown accustomed to it. And they look forward to it.”
Some things are sacrosanct — that stellar cheeseburger, for one (“we put butter in it,” Campbell confides) — but he wasn’t afraid to shake a few things up at the outset.
“I got a ton of kickback about taking the French onion soup off the menu,” he recalls with a chuckle, “but sometimes you have to stick to your guns.”
The shrimp cocktail went, too.
Instead, customers saw different versions of familiar things, dishes that Campbell hoped would set them apart and help Luke’s form its own identity.
The wings are a perfect example.
They’re a product of the Nashville hot-chicken craze that Campbell, bored, eventually rejected. Ensconced in the Sooner State, he wondered, what would OKC’s version be?
“The answer was Hatch green chilies, a seasonal and super-fun item that people in the Southwest just freak out about.”
Campbell found a Hatch chili powder connection, paired the chicken with that citrusy-crunchy lime pickle, and the magic just happened. OKC diners loved it so much, they did a wing and a sandwich version. Lucky for us, he brought it home to Florida, where he found palates preferred them a tad sweeter. They’ve become another of Luke’s menu “untouchables.”
Campbell doesn’t mind. Like Cook, he’s grateful for customers who understand what they’ve been building toward.
“It’s been a crazy year for me,” he admits. “I came in to rework a restaurant, and right as I felt we were getting traction, COVID hit — and we had to react. It was a challenge, but it’s been fun to create packages for the guests to take home to cook in the style of Luke’s and enjoy.”
The style is all they can hope to emulate without the venue’s signature wood-fired grill, a foundation on which both Campbell and Cook have built many offerings. Luke’s signature Campfire Amber cocktail — a smoked old fashioned crafted with golden falernum and orange liqueur — was forged with its flames in mind.
“It pairs beautifully with any of the proteins coming off that grill,” she says. “It was made with intent, as part of what we’re building.”
The team here continues to build it. And the guests, it seems, have come.
“Oftentimes, they’re just so used to having one thing,” Campbell says of many restaurant-goers. “But eating is an adventure, and we want them to trust us, to let us guide them to a great meal.”