City Fire American Oven & Bar

City Fire’s interior features classic and modern designs with an upscale style; surroundings of historic photos of Orlando and antique light fixtures made as far back as the late 1800s. All mingles nicely with City Fire’s modern interior designs which features an open kitchen and very large and in charge bar.

Their menu presents, “Lite Bites” for appetizers, soups & salads, entrées, sides, “Signature Stoneflats” for flat bread pizza, and desserts.

We almost picked one from every category but we were shy of an entrée and side. Here is what we ordered:

Oven Fired Manchego Chesse (12)
Tupelo honey, white truffle oil, chives, diced tomatoes & crostinis

The Oven Fired Manchego Chesse was recommended by our server, Stephen Caggiano, and it happens to be (one of the managing partners of City Fire) Gina Garcia Buell’s favorite item on the menu. She admits that when their chef proposed the idea of mixing cheese, honey, and truffle oil as an appetizer; her first reaction was, “that sounds disgusting!” But lo and behold, this proves to be an amazing combination. The taste is unique and bold. I have never tasted anything like it before. The consistency is thick and is not a dip so you would have to cut it into pieces in order to pair it with the crostinis.

Foie Gras Thumbits (16)
Pan Seared served on a crostini with blueberry glaze

The Foie Gras Thumbits was also another recommendation by our server. This was another bold flavored dish. The flavors were slightly sweet, mildly rich and sinfully delicious. For those of you not aware of Foie Gras, it is French for “fatty liver,” it is made from the liver of a duck or goose enlarged to up to 12 times its normal size by the method of force feeding or produced by natural feeding methods. I feel bad eating it but it was so good.

City Fire Lobster Bisque (6)
Crème fraiche & chives

Black & Blue (11)
Blackened steak, blue cheese sauce, peppers, spinach, tomatoes, mozzarella, balsamic glaze

Since we started off with strong and bold flavors it was tough for the flat to top those initial dishes. The flat possessed a very mild flavored with a strong and predominant spinach taste. We had anticipated the flat to have more of a blue cheese taste but we tasted more of the overpowering spinach than anything else in the flat. The flat is not very memorable in comparison to the other menu items. Despite the slight disappointment, eating the flat the next day was very enjoyable. The flat doesn’t stand a chance next to the Manchego Cheese.

This Chocolate Bread Pudding is really good. It is like if you took Monkey Bread and Fudge Brownie Mix and married them together, you would get this Chocolate Bread Pudding. Al, the resident chocolate lover, approves this dessert! So if you are at City Fire, be sure to leave room for dessert and try out this Chocolate Bread Pudding. Very yummo!

Our dining experience was fantastic. Coincidently, we were lucky enough to meet Manny Garcia’s daughter, Gina Garcia Buell and her husband Mike Buell and their General Manager Benj Ray. Everyone at City Fire made our experience even more memorable and we will be returning to try out other items on the menu.

Plus, we are really looking forward to seeing City Fire American Oven & Grill at the Taste of the Nation Orlando this year at the Marriott World Center on August 6, 2011. Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation is one of the hottest food and wine event which helps end childhood hunger in America. 100% of ticket sales support Share Our Strength’s efforts to end childhood hunger.

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