Back-to-Back Wins at Mount Dora Taste 🍽️🏆

Chef Rico has done it again.

Lakeside Inn is proud to celebrate a second consecutive Best Entrée win at Mount Dora Taste, continuing a delicious streak that began last year with our crowd-favorite chicken pot pie.

This year’s victory came with a bit of an unexpected twist and honestly, that makes it even better.

Our pork belly with bourbon peach glaze and key lime aioli took home the award for Best Entrée at this year’s event… despite the fact that it was actually intended to compete as an appetizer.

Yes. An appetizer accidentally wandered into the entrée category and proceeded to win the whole thing.

We like to imagine the pork belly simply believed in itself.

The dish combined rich, crispy pork belly with a sweet bourbon peach glaze and a bright, tangy key lime aioli that somehow convinced an entire room it deserved top billing. We certainly aren’t arguing with the results.

Now, of course, everyone is asking the same question:
“Chef Rico… when is the pork belly entrée coming?”

Let’s just say the pressure is officially on.

While we continue encouraging Chef Rico to turn this award-winning favorite into a full entrée special, guests can still enjoy the beloved pork belly appetizer right here at Lakeside Inn. And after this weekend, ordering it comes with a little extra bragging rights.

Events like Mount Dora Taste take a tremendous amount of teamwork, and we are incredibly grateful to everyone who helped make the evening such a success. A special thank you goes to Dylan Gamez, our Marketing & Public Relations Manager, her husband Barrett, and Lisa from the restaurant team for volunteering their time and energy throughout the event. Their help behind the scenes made all the difference, and we truly could not have done it without them.

We are honored to be part of Mount Dora’s incredible culinary community and deeply appreciative of everyone who stopped by our booth, sampled the dish, and supported Lakeside Inn.

Back-to-back wins certainly feel nice… but serving great food in a place filled with history, hospitality, and community? That’s the real reward.

Still, we won’t pretend the trophies don’t look good 😉