Just a little over a month ago, Bar Kada — the Winter Park sake and small-plate lounge that I was a big fan of — shuttered. Chef-owner Michael Collantes cited financial viability as the cause and that he needed some time to figure out what to put into that windowless room.
He must have prayed to the heavens above, because here comes news that Sushi Saint, his handroll concept, will move into the windowless space between Soseki and Perla’s Pizza, both of which he also runs.
“Sake alone was a hard draw,” Collantes says about Bar Kada, “but we hope being more of a dining destination will attract more people.”
Chef Michael Collantes celebrates the Michelin star awarded to Soseki Credit: photo by Faiyaz Kara
Collantes says that the Winter Park location will differentiate itself from the original downtown location and the Icon Park location (slated to open in Q2 2026) by offering the same dry-aging program for meats that they’ve been offered for years at Michelin-starred Soseki next door.
“And, for sure, caviar donuts will be on the menu,” he adds.
Sake will also be prominently featured, and Collantes hopes that this time ’round, more people will “go down the rabbit hole of our sake library.”
Look for a full liquor and cocktail program to be offered soon, but in the meantime, be sure to follow @sushisaintwp for updates on the opening.
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When Michael Collantes announced he was rebooting Perla’s Pizza — the maverick pie house he started with Christian Ziegler in 2021, before the pair agreed to close the Ivanhoe Village venture after only six months — bananas came to mind. Bananas because the “It’s Bananas!” pizza at Perla’s v1.0 was well worth noting for its, well, bananas. In my review, I said: “Go ahead and scarf down a cheesy, red-sauce pie dotted with curled-up rounds of pepperoni, Calabrese peppers and bananas. That’s right, bananas. Call me bananas, but it’s a great combination. The only thing missing? More bananas.”
And more bananas are precisely what I expected on the “It’s Bananas!” pie at Perla’s v2.0 (which sits next to the recently shuttered Bar Kada). What I didn’t expect was the thumping bass inside the pizzeria. In fact, Perla’s is as much a vinyl record bar as it is a pizza joint, and a vibey one at that. A seat next to the DJ booth on a Saturday night trembled the fruity, 12-inch round on the chrome pizza stand like a coin atop a washing machine. And while the cheesy disc didn’t skimp on the pepperoni char cups, Calabrian chili or Parmesan, there weren’t enough bananas on the bloody thing. Both Collantes and general manager Colin Burke say they’re leery of placing too much banana on the pizza. Burke, in fact, told us that some people even order it without the bananas, to which I responded, “Ordering a pizza called ‘It’s Bananas!’ without any bananas is simply bananas.”
Credit: Matt Keller Lehman
Another Perla’s v1.0 favorite dubbed “Everyone Hates Pineapple” has been renamed “Hawaiian Punch” ($18), and it’s an absolute knockout. It embodies everything I love in a pizza — sweet (pineapple jam), smoky (bacon), fiery (jalapeños) and pickled (onions) elements. Pizzaiolo Marco Puglielli fashions a fine crust from a blend of bread flour and whole wheat flour that he says maximizes structure, flavor and digestibility. “We build every batch on a minimum 24-hour matured poolish which gives the dough its depth, aroma and gentle acidity,” he says.
Credit: Matt Keller Lehman
It’s fired in a Pizzamaster oven at 575 degrees for four or five minutes, lending the bottom of the thin crust a nice char. But let’s be honest: It’s all about the toppings at Perla’s. “Florida Man pizza” is what Collantes touts, with a stated goal to be “hated by all Italians.” But in the case of the spaghetti-less “Mom’s Spaghetti & Meatballs” ($18), the pink-sauce base and deep flavor of the beef polpette would tug at the heart of a Neapolitan or Roman or two. It’s finished with lemon ricotta, Parmesan, basil, garlic butter and parsley — molto Italiano.
In the somewhat Indian-ish “Tikka the Hut” ($17), chicken, garam masala and pickled red onion replace the meatballs, Parmesan and basil with mixed results. The Indian-ish folks at our table were less than enthused. Same goes for Perla’s baby kale salad ($12). It just lacked punch, unlike the Hawaiian pizza. The starters that do work are soft doughy garlic knots ($12) — look out, Pizza Bruno — and crispy, saucy baked Buffalo wings ($12) we enjoyed with a garlic Parmesan dip. Orders, BTW, are placed by scanning a QR code with your phone, so don’t forget to bring it.
Puglielli happens to be a trained pastry chef as well. On weekends, his banana pudding ($8) with Nilla Wafer crumbles pays a smooth respect to nostalgia, just like the vinyl-spinning DJ. And the one thing the pudding didn’t lack? Bananas.
(Perla’s Pizza: 959 W. Fairbanks Ave., Winter Park, 689-444-7143, perlaspizzafl.com, $$)
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