Refining Florida Flavors at Hamilton’s Kitchen
Chef Stephen Doyle has unveiled a new menu at Hamilton’s Kitchen at The Alfond Inn at Rollins, which won the Reader’s Choice Best Hotel Restaurant for the past two years in the Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards. The restaurant has also welcomed a new sommelier and wine-pairing dinners.
“We don’t say farm to table here, we say ‘fresh-to-table,’” Chef Doyle says of his new menu, which puts a local spin on his version of Florida cuisine. “Items like burrata cheese, fresh eggs and organic vegetables are sourced locally from the Winter Park Farmers Market. We get living lettuces from a company called Kalera, which grows them in a controlled environment, and we’re working on creating our own Lettuce Bar, where you can come up and cut your own salad greens. These are all part of an overall effort to source as much as we can from a 50 mile radius.”
Menu highlights of the season include starters such as Marinated Mt. Vikos Feta Cheese and Broiled Bone Marrow while main courses include Blackened Grouper Carbonara, Walnut Crusted Wild Halibut, Asiago Risotto with English Peas and Asparagus and a Creekstone Filet Mignon.
Hamilton’s brunch menu, which spans the hours from 7am to 2pm, offers a very wide range of dishes, from Avocado Toast to Quinoa Bowl with a Poached Egg, New England Benedict to a Prime Rib Sandwich. The chef’s Lounge Menu is where to find creations like Salmon Chips, a Compressed Watermelon Salad and a Rollins Burger made from Creekstone all-natural beef.
“Our menus are pretty diverse and we try to appeal to a wide audience,” says Chef Doyle. “It’s why we have Shepherd’s Pie and Chicken Tikka Masala on the menu, as well as ingredients like quinoa, Brussels sprouts and bok choy. We’ve also started serving Aged Steaks, up to 30 days, from Bush Brothers in Miami.”
Nasinne Campos is the New Sommelier at Hamilton’s Kitchen
The wine selection at Hamilton’s Kitchen, which has garnered a Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence, has taken a fresh direction under the new Sommelier, Nasinne Campos. Campos got her start in the hospitality industry over 20 years ago in Miami, where she was beverage director and manager for the cutting-edge Talula and later Tarpon Bend restaurants. She became owner of Tinto Wine shop in Puerto Rico in 2012 and got her Certification with The Court of Master Sommeliers in 2013, consulting at such San Juan restaurants as One Ten Thai, Palmas Cafe, and Royal Isabela. Campos studied at the Philadelphia Wine School and is currently working towards her Advanced Sommelier certification. The extensive wine list at Hamilton’s Kitchen includes 20 wines available by the glass, a varied selection of half bottles, a large collection of champagnes and sparkling wines, and a carefully curated choice of both old and new world reds and whites, with a strong focus on West Coast pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon. She has recently started creating menu pairings with Chef Doyle.
Happy Hour Art Tours
The Alfond Inn at Rollins has an extraordinary selection of paintings, photographs, sculptures and mixed-media works of art from The Alfond Collection of Contemporary Art displayed throughout the hotel. The 350-plus piece collection is part of the collection of the Cornell Fine Arts Museum at Rollins College (CFAM) and The Alfond Inn at Rollins is the only hotel in the United States that serves as the extension of an art museum. Happy Hour Art Tours are offered at 5:30pm on the first Wednesday of each month. Tours are complimentary and open to the public. The hotel’s Happy Hour at the Bar starts at 4:30pm., and offers a range of craft made cocktails, including such drinks as the Park Avenue Pearl, made with Grey Goose Pear, St. Germain, grapefruit, lemon, and simple syrup.
