In the heart of Winter Park on Park Avenue is the new restaurant, The Chapman. The restaurant opened on January 20 and so far has had a very good start. The unique atmosphere has an open-air restaurant with unique designs and unmatched flavors of food. Loring Chase founded the restaurant as he fell in love with the Floridian climate. As people may know, the original location of The Chapman used to be vacant for years with nothing being established within the space. But The Chapman’s opening signals a new page for the Park Avenue area.
Starting off the dinner, the 333 Grazing Board was ordered which offered a unique variety of cheeses, jams, cured meats, and bread with Focaccia and thin bread made in-house. The Focaccia bread was fluffy and really savory overall, but it was better paired with the cheese and meat offerings. William Prechtar, grade 12 at Lyman High School, stated “All of the meats and cheeses, except the Brie, were good, although it almost reminded me of a Boars Head Brie you’d find at Publix.” The cheeses offered were a sample of Blue, Cheddar, and Brie. While all extremely good the Cheddar was the best. The three meats were a cure of lamb, prosciutto, and roast beef. Overall this dish as a starter was pretty much perfect.
As a split main course, the menu described how the steaks served were an absolute must
try. The server explained that the party would be missing out if they weren’t ordered. The rib eye on the bone was probably the best part of the meal. It was cooked to medium rare and served with steak fries, tomatoes, and onions. The dish itself was absolutely amazing, and on the side was a curated purple salt. The steak practically melted in my mouth. The fries were delicious and made to a perfected crisp fry texture. William stated, “The steak was perfectly cooked medium rare with a really nice char on it as well as a great presentation that came with really nice steak knives.” Overall this dish rated extremely high on the list of things we ate at the restaurant.
To end things off, two pasta dishes were ordered: the Mushroom Pappardelle, and the Citrus Seared Shrimp and Tomato Bucatini. The Mushroom Parpadelle was very good. It was rich and savory in taste with the cheese crumbles and the mushrooms. William enjoyed this dish very much, even saying, “It was the best pasta dish I’ve quite possibly ever had. I felt like it was an out of this world experience.” The Citrus Seared Shrimp and Tomato Bucatini was the next dish that was ordered. Overall the dish was really good. the shrimp was juicy and packed quite a huge punch for the whole dish. The noodles were delicious and weren’t too heavy which didn’t overpower the rest of the dish. The tomatoes and garlic and citrus were quite an amazing combo that no one would have ever expected to work so well together.
After an amazing night, The Chapman should be considered when dining out because overall it was amazing. The Chapman should definitely be visited as it offers a great atmosphere along with great food. The restaurant is open from 11:00 A.M. to 10 10:00 P.M. every day. They offer a lunch menu along with their dinner selections. If people are needing a refresher when it comes to food, or if you are feeling bored with food options, you should most definitely visit The Chapman as they will have all of your expectations blown away.
