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Day Trip to Mount Dora: Midcentury Modern Wonders & Florida

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MOUNT DORA, FL –There’s a renaissance underway in Mt. Dora. This lakeside Victorian village known for antiques is bursting to life as a world-class destination for lovers of architecture and fine dining.

It all started with an impromptu dinner invitation, when then-Orlando Sentinel dining editor Heather McPherson, a longtime Mount Dora resident, invited James Beard Award-winning chef Norman Van Aken to visit her for dinner when he was passing through the area. Norman accepted the invitation, and then McPherson racked her brain: what Mount Dora restaurant would be worthy of the man who did for Florida cuisine what Wolfgang Puck did for California?

Local restaurants, while charming and cozy, didn’t quite fit the bill, so McPherson called her friend Larry Baker. Larry is a developer with a serious food hobby ... his sprawling mansion in downtown Mount Dora boasts three complete kitchens. Larry was game, even when Van Aken arrived several hours before McPherson got off from work. She arrived to find that the two men had acquainted themselves nicely, and were already hard at work preparing a variety of dishes with the local ingredients that Larry provided.

It turned out to be a lovely evening full of improvised recipes, a serendipitous collaboration between Baker and Van Aken. The men became fast friends and Van Aken caught the Mount Dora bug, coming back to cook, eat, and explore whenever his travels allowed. Mount Dora is an epicenter of farming in Florida, with prime sources for fresh ingredients, and abundant connections to fishing centers. Over several visits to Mt. Dora, Chef Norman Van Aken met Ken Mazik, a local developer and gourmand whose personal wine cellar has been rated one of the top ten in the world by Food and Wine Magazine.
 
 
Ken Mazik had recently opened a new Modernism Museum to display his personal collection of furniture made by hand by the fathers of midcentury modern design. Midcentury modern, or mid-mod, has risen in popularity in urban centers in recent years, but Mazik has been a collector from the start. His museum is an opportunity to go to the source, to see the shapes, textures, and artistry in wood that started the modernism movement. During Mazik and Baker spent several years sharing the glories of Mount Dora with Chef Van Aken, which led to the renowned chef's decision to open a restaurant right across the street from the Modernism Museum downtown.

1921 by Norman Van Aken is a celebration of Florida farming. Van Aken's goal for this restaurant is to celebrate Florida and show the world that our cuisine is not as pedestrian and simplistic as people may think. One unforgettable evening in September, I enjoyed a chef's dinner with Van Aken himself in the stunning private dining room at 1921. We began with some of the restaurant's signature cocktails. 1921's sangria is a revelation that puts all others to shame. Effervescent Rose Vinho Verde blends with peach brandy and lemon for a refreshing, bubbly beverage that's light, but with an enticingly complex flavor profile. I also took the advice of my dining companion Larry Baker and tried the Elephant. Served in a big vintage tiki bowl, it's a tropical doozy with gold and dark rum, curacou, orgeat, pineapple, lime, guava and mint. Beyond cocktails, the wine list is wildly impressive, with many vintages hand selected by Mazik himself.

The Chef's Table menu changes daily, and on the day of my visit the bountiful harvests of early fall were given a light treatment that allowed their intrinsic textures and clean flavors to burst forth. Bursting is the word that most often came to mind when sampling Van Aken's creations. The food seemed alive, more than anything I'd tasted before. I’m a sucker for a good tomato, and the Tina's Pride tomatoes that started our meal were deeply red, intensely juicy and flavorful. Van Aken paired them with radicchio, watermelon, avocado and crumbled cotija cheese to bring out the flavor.
 
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He also introduced a new dish that evening, Asian-style dumplings, served in a country ham broth with shiitake and lobster mushrooms. The little packets cradled tender Florida spiny lobster and rock shrimp. Van Aken is most famous for his seafood, and 1921 is a perfect venue to sample Florida's best. I was introduced on this evening to Florida wreckfish, so named because the fish live deep down inside shipwrecks, making the meat even sweeter than grouper, which shares a similar texture. Believe it or not, the one thing I most crave from my meal at 1921 is the Seminole Pumpkin. I’ve never sampled this Florida delicacy before, but ever since that night I've been trying to find it. It's almost melon-like in texture, with a mild yet addictive texture that Van Aken brings out by poaching before roasting to a crisp-tender finish.

After several more wow-worthy dishes, including a unique fried Cornish hen served with cola collards, we were treated to two spectacular desserts. The devil's food cake with chocolate ganache, peanut butter frosting, and honeyed peanut brittle was rich and decadent, but I was truly amazed by the homemade vanilla ice cream. Larry Baker shared with me that it took hundreds of attempts to create an ice cream acceptable to Van Aken, and the result is a revelation- creamy like frozen custard, light like gelato, and with the fresh delicacy that characterizes all of Van Aken's creations at 1921. The jewel-like Georgia peach shortcake paired peach custard with brown sugar crumble, peach jam, and whipped cream. On this evening, we enjoyed an incredible 1997 Coteaux du Layon port from France's Loire district, a heady, intense finish to a tour de force evening of dining. Lovers of fine cuisine will not be disappointed in 1921 by Norman Van Aken: the inspiring setting and glorious food combine to create an experience worthy of life's most treasured occasions.

The restaurant and the Modernism museum are closely tied, with stunning museum pieces integrated into the design of the restaurant. Mazik and Baker have designed several restaurants in Central Florida over the years, but this was the first time they worked directly with the chef and remained a part of the operation after building. Every piece of furniture, every work of art, is carefully chosen to enhance the space, and filling one’s eyes with all of this lovingly curated beauty elevates 1921 to a destination that appeals to all of the senses.
 
 
Fans of modernism and fine Florida cuisine will find themselves right at home in Mt. Dora. Pairing a museum visit with a meal at 1921 by Norman Van Aken is a perfect way to spend the evening, but it’s even better to make a weekend out of it. The Grandview Bed and Breakfast, a small local inn, is McPherson's choice for an authentic Mt. Dora weekend stay. The Pure Aveda Spa is an absolutely delightful, locally owned piece of paradise, and a great way to round out a weekend in Mt. Dora. Boat rides on the gorgeous lake are a lovely way to pass a day, and the town’s antique shops are brimming with treasures to discover.

The serendipitous partnership between Heather McPherson, Norman Van Aken, Larry Baker and Ken Mazik has taken Mt. Dora from a sleepy tourist town to a world-class destination for lovers of Modernism and fine Florida cuisine. Chef Van Aken states, "1921 is my love letter to Florida and encompasses the totality of the state from its cuisine to its art to its culture and beyond. Just as the Modernist artists create their works from the tapestry of varying art styles, we create our menu out of the intricate matrix of cuisines found here." And this is one love letter that's worth reading.
 
 

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