Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza & Put A Cork In It

Marily's dad had first told us about Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza after he tried it in south Florida during one of his many business trips.  So, in the mood for some pizza and some place new, we headed out Anthony's.

The restaurant is located in the Whole Foods plaza near Sandlake Road and Turkey Lake.  We arrived for a late dinner on Friday night, about 10PM.  There were a few other tables seated, but it was mostly empty (which wasn't too surprising given the hour).  The interior was your basic pizzeria, perhaps scaled up a notch, with a bar along the right side wall.

Intuitively from their name, I assumed the pizza was cooked over coals or in some sort of coal oven.  I'm guessing not everyone figures that out as our waitress immediately warned us that the pizza would come out well done, crispy and with a charcoal bar-b-que like flavor (OK, those weren't her exact words, but you get the jist).  Anyway, it sounded good to us so we continued to place our order.

We started things off with some Orange Blossom Pilsner which is from a Florida based brewery.  It is made with 2.3tsp of orange blossom honey in each bottle (but isn't too sweet)!  It is a nice refreshing beer which we don't find too often.  The bar was stocked with your typical beer selection with a couple Italian imports to fit the style of food, as well as wines.

The menu consisted mainly of pizzas, their coal fired wings with caramelized onions & focaccia bread, and a few sandwiches.  Being a wing guy and curious with the herb seasonings and caramelized onion combination, we went with that for our appetizer and ordered a traditional pizza.  We added pepporoni and italian sausage to half of the pie, in order to give ourselves a baseline.

We both enjoyed the wings which had a great flavor from the herb seasonings, but were really delicious when eaten with the caramelized onions. The flavors and texture from being coal fired was a nice change from your typical deep fried wings at most pizzerias.  The focaccia bread was nice and buttery and disappeared quickly from our plate.

The pizza came out shortly thereafter and was different then we expected.  Instead of the tomato sauce spread over the entire pie, it is simply spooned on in "dobs."  The tomato sauce tasted fresh and wasn't too acidic.  Since it wasn't spread over the entire pie, each bite left you hoping to reach a section of the slice with some sauce (but not in a bad way).  The Italian sausage had a good flavor without being too spicy.

Our waitress provided great service and never let my drink go empty (my primary gauge for servers!).  Overall, we enjoyed Anthony's and would return.

We headed across the street to the Rialto Plaza in search of dessert at Menchies.  Unfortunately, we arrived too late.  Conveniently next store, we found Put A Cork In It and opted for a night cap.  As you might expect, it is a wine bar, selling bottles of wine as well as by the glass.  If you were planning to dine at either Ocean Prime or J. Alexander's located in the Rialto Plaza, they also have an arrangement where you can buy the wine from Put A Cork In It and be served at the restaurants without any corkage fee.  Pretty nice!

As you might expect from a wine bar, the interior was dimly lit, leather seating arranged throughout and music playing softly in the background.  Bottles of wine line one side wall as well as the rear wall and the bar is located in the back corner.  Additionally, there are a couple LCD TVs spread throughout the room, and at least that night, showing ESPN.

Marily order a glass of a Rose Champagne (didn't catch the name), which she thought was nice without being too sweet...

...and I ended up with the number 10 wine of 2008 (per Wine Spectator magazine), the Seghesio Zinfandel.  The Seghesio is a nice, complex red with a spicy finish, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  I really enjoyed it after my first glass (a Syrah) was mysteriously knocked over.  The gentleman who was working the wine bar (who we believe was the owner or one of them) graciously gave me a little extra pour to make up for it.

Put A Cork In It has only been open for about a month and has primarily been going off word of mouth advertising.  It is a nice cozy wine bar which we feel has potential to become a nice place to go hang out, enjoy some great wine and have good conversations with friends.  If you are in the area, go check them out and let us know what you think.


7339 W Sand Lake Rd, Ste #412
Orlando, FL 32819
(407) 351-8400
http://rialtowinebar.com