You can’t miss the TPD Night Market.
And when I say it, I mean two things.
TPD Night Market (TPD stands for Thornton Park area) is a fun time. You shouldn’t miss it. And in many ways, it’s not a mistake market for the exact opposite of other markets “can’t” either.
For example, Sunday’s sister, Orlando Farmers Market, is a literal staircase within Lake Eora Park, Ground Zero is a vast scavenger hunt in the market. The vendors line up the main boulevards and small path arcs within the park. They are scattered around. Food trucks and pop-up tents sell everything from handmade gems to soaps, hot sauces and hot sauces. Vintage clothes and vegan cheese. Pickles, popcorn, pop sil. plant.
Scads for those with children, dogs, or both, pour all day to live music and relax on the grass.
TPD Night Market has a lot of these things, but they’ve been reduced. Here, there are fewer hours (6pm to 10pm) and fewer vendors, so if that’s your angle it’s completely doable. There is no analysis paralysis. There’s no big choice. A handful of food trucks offer variety. However, these large markets offer a little less, but they do have more than two nights.
The TPD Night Market runs both Thursday and Friday evenings in the Osceola Circle (for those who scratch their heads, I’ve been shy here for 20 years and didn’t know what that meant).
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Market founders and coordinators Grant Tharp and Jaslyn Goikochair spun the event in 2020. This is a pandemic-borne effort that has since pollinated neighborhoods, served Hyperlocal and pop-in to eat, drink and shop both in pantry staples (cheese, honey, honey, honey, neer).
They say that one of the things that brings people is food. The tracks are almost always different on consecutive nights, and newcomers are always added to the rotation while patrons are there. Here are some great bites I enjoyed on my last visit.
New Zealand: Fragalia Ice Cream is a homemade, plant-based bliss
Since debuting last spring, I have seen the adorable tracks of Laura Piccardo and Abel Alvarado. why? It came right after my trip to LA. There, we discovered the creamy fruity delight of New Zealand-style ice cream. This is a technique derived from kiwi, where fresh fruits blend with hard pack ice cream (often vanilla).
It’s a lot of butter so after trying out some flavors (Banana and vanilla and Dragonfruit Oreotop specials with a chocolate drizzle that cured the magic shell and white chocolate and Oreotop specials), I didn’t think the ice cream was completely plant-based.
Just like the market I finally sampled, the chilly fun they are offering was also a project created by the pandemic.
Pichardo, who moved from Nicaragua to Mississippi when his family was 12 years old, and Alvarado, Lima in Peru, who has been here since the early Aughts, began making ice cream at home when the world first closed. While stuck at home, they decided to learn how to make ice cream, stirring like crazy while working on their MBA at the University of Florida.
“We really got hooked on it,” says Pichardo. After graduation, the pair moved to Seattle to discover the actual ice cream scene.
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“It was actually something. After going outside and having dinner or getting into the bar, we went out for ice cream, even if it was cold and raining outside, and we thought it was really cool.
Eventually, after moving to Orlando, the idea came true, but not before they learned how to make their own cashew milk. Pichardo’s mother’s peanut allergy was part of the inspiration.
“We’re currently working on becoming completely nut-free,” she says. “The taste you had when you came was made with sunflower seed milk.”
The bananas were surprisingly rich and creamy, while the dragon fruit served a lovely blend of subtle tart fruit and vanilla.
They tell me they were hits with customers outside, not just the vegan community in Orlando. As the weather warms, this is what you want to look for.
New dishes: From Panda Noodles
As you can see, new things are always the first ones. But the old favorites and new ones are still important. And I wasn’t trying to pass on the latest hit of the Red Panda Noodle Truck. This surprised Chef Elliot Hillis, half of the orchestra of costumes.
Summer Dundane Noodle Hands Chop Pork, Asparagus, Corn, Romane, Fermented Broad Bean Sauce, Leek, Leek and Lime debuted less than a week ago at a delicious takeover of a regular stop and a local fave food truck event. And as the special progressed, Hillis said there was a clear success.
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“We thought it would be stubborn,” he says. 17 sold that first night (massed for a special he says, maybe 6-7 trustees), and at the next 27, it was even less likely that such dishes would move at the bigger food truck event at the Marriott World Center.
The fermented Mung Bean Paste is a delicious foundation, with funk and mellow heat. The chopped pork is chewed and add that lovely onion and garlic sweetness to the onion. The asparagus is amazing. Snappie. Juicy. And then there are those toothed homemade noodles. (Confession: I liked it even more on cold days from the fridge the next day.) Try it out when you see it on the menu.
Nueva Flava: Mozzarépas
Sweet, crisp corn rims, creamy cheese, and grids that are gorgeous, and sometimes packed with other merchandise, you can find them at Mozzarellapas. My companion chose Carne’s products, a decadent handheld with a variety of flavors and textures: flavourful shredded beef, creamy avocado, and crisp purple throw. Another great feature? I’ve always liked eating it than I would expect from a list of ingredients like that.
Unlike Fragaria, vegans will want to explicitly pilot them here, but cheese yes, there is a vegetable offering that the meat crowd can grab.
Make sure you have napkins.
Do you want to reach out to me? Find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram @Amydroo or the Osfoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. Join Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook Group for more foodie fun.
If you’re going
TPD Night Market: 431 E. Central Blvd. Orlando (Thursday to Friday 6pm to 10pm); instagram.com/tpdnightmarket
Fragaria Ice Cream: Fragariaicecream.com; instagram.com/fragaria_icecream
Mozzarepas: instagram.com/mozzarepas_florida; mozzarepas.com
Red Panda Noodle: instagram.com/redpandanooodle
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