Where can I find old-fashioned liver and onions?
Dear Amy Drew, Where in the Orlando area can I get an old-fashioned liver-and-onions dinner? Liver seems to have gone out of style except in creative and classic pâtés. I used to get a mediocre fix on the Denny’s senior menu and also at TooJay’s. Does anyone else in town serve it?
An “organ grinder” in Orange County
Amy Drew’s answer
If I had a dollar for every friend who told me they grew up eating liver and onions and loving it, I’d probably have five or six bucks.
My mother, however, is fond of telling me how my grandma would fry it up in chicken fat with onions when she was a kid and how delicious it was.
Unfortunately for me, my mom didn’t get the cooking gene (and ate largely vegetarian for much of my childhood), so my appreciation of organ meats came much later in life and is still a work in progress.
Not so for Shannea “Nikki” Akins, manager of Nikki’s Place (742 Carter St. in Orlando).
“I love liver and onions!” she says. And it was a dish she learned to love as a child. “It was one of my favorite meals to have when I did well in school. My mom would take me to the store and we’d get some liver and cook it together and have some mashed potatoes and sweet peas.”
The restaurant, in its current incarnation, has been serving residents in Orlando’s Parramore neighborhood since 1999, but its history dates back to the ‘40s when it was Roser’s Restaurant, and her father, chef/owner Nick Aiken, Jr. was a 10-year-old boy learning to cook in its kitchen.
Akins is in her 30s. She prefers texting to speaking on the phone. But her taste for liver falls more in line with Nikki’s older customers.
“The majority who order it are older, but it’s nice to see that some of the younger generation, like myself, enjoys it ... They might have the same love because it brings back so many good memories like it does for me.”
It’s a simple dish, she says, “but it takes some finesse to do it well.”
At Nikki’s the prep is simple: They hit it with their Nikki’s Blend spice melange, then a little flour. A quick saute with onions in a hot pan, then a little chicken stock.
“It really brings out the flavor and that gravy — mmmm,” she says. “It cooks in there with the onions and everything comes out just perfect.”
Akins describes liver’s flavor as “dynamic.”
“It’s different from other meats, since it’s an organ meat, and requires a delicate balance. It can go rubbery and chewy real fast but done well and with the right seasoning, it’s just a great dish ... I can see why someone would want to see it on more menus.”
Nikki’s Place isn’t the only game in town — though you’d be hardpressed to find a chef with more experience preparing it here in town.
“It really is in style, or still is, for people who have had great experiences with it, like me,” Akins surmises. “I think for some younger people, they only think they don’t like it.”
Where else can you get it?
A handful of other options:
La Fogata: 1718 Sand Lake Road in Orlando, 407-520-5020, 407-2505020; lafogataus.com
Nick’s Family Diner: 5439 N. Orange Blossom Trail in Orlando, 407-7048861; nicksfamilydiner.com
Numero Uno Cuban Cafe: 2499 S. Orange Ave. in Orlando, 407-8413840; numero-uno-cuban-restaurant.business. site
Oley’s Kitchen: 2700 South Rio Grande Ave. in Orlando, 407-841-8933; oleyskitchen.com