Luke's Kitchen, Teak coming to Maitland

Some of Central Florida’s top restaurateurs are bringing their talents to Maitland this year, adding new options to the city’s evolving menu.

Starting next week, locals will no longer have to trek to Park Avenue to taste the award-winning offerings of the owners of Luma on Park and Prato. The restaurant group’s third venture, Luke’s Kitchen and Bar, will open at 640 S. Orlando Ave. – the former home to Steak and Ale, then SoNapa, and most recently BlackFin, which closed after just five weeks of business back in 2014.

The location sat empty ever since, until Park Lights Hospitality Group, which owns both Luma on Park and Prato, announced in October that its newest project would fill the void. With Luke’s opening looming, the restaurant’s storefront has gone through a major makeover, barely recognizable as the same building. Luke’s Kitchen & Bar is set to open Monday, Jan. 9.

The restaurant will offer classic American cuisine and cocktails, with offerings ranging from Spit-Fired Chicken to Peppered Prime Rib and a Seafood Tower.

Less than a quarter mile south, another well-known Orlando restaurant is opening its second location this year. On the first floor of the Village at Lake Lily, where RanGetsu served up sushi until closing in March of last year, Teak Neighborhood Grill plans to start grilling up burgers beginning in March or April.

“We’re excited for Maitland,” said co-owner Jon Proechel. “We think we’re going to be an exciting dining option there because there’s nothing else like us around there.”

Proechel and the restaurant’s other co-owner, Chris Meyer, who have owned Teak Neighborhood Grill since 2014, said they chose Maitland for their second location because the Village at Lake Lily spot is similar to its flagship location in MetroWest. Both are on the retail level of an apartment building.

“We can really capitalize on that captive audience that’s right there,” Proechel said. “It really feels like we’re part of the neighborhood being attached to those units.”

He said by the time renovations are done in the spring, locals won’t be able to recognize the space as the same one they used to stop in for sushi.

Teak Neighborhood Grill will have 100 beers and 30 burgers to choose from on the menu. Since the first location opened in 2010, Teak has earned half a dozen “best burger” awards, as well as being named a “to-do” Central Florida destination.

Another development for Maitland foodies to keep their eyes on is also in the works on Orlando Avenue, just a few blocks north from both Luke’s Kitchen & Bar and Teak. Maitland City Centre, set to be the new hub of Maitland’s downtown, is gradually rising from the ground in between Packwood and Horatio avenues. So far a food hall/market by Chef Clayton Miller called Mesa 21 and Doc B’s Fresh Kitchen are committed to opening in the development when construction finishes in 2018.