Magical Dining 2022: Plenty of plates for plant-based diners

Early in my Sentinel career, I learned the special mix of joy and heartache that comes with outing a favorite place or amazing, new discovery, such as when I told readers about VINIA Wine & Kitchen, a sweet secret I just couldn’t keep to myself.

In the time since, owners Fabio and Paula Perricelli have managed to hang onto the romantic-yet-homey vibe of the joint while morphing into something well beyond wine bar with the 2021 addition of Fabio’s Table, a multicourse experience that, right from the get-go, included an entirely vegan option.

Plant-based diners — even in a veg-forward city like ours — responded in droves. And so, too, will they do so when Magical Dining rolls around on Aug. 26. Because among the 100 or so venues participating this year, VINIA’s menu is the only one offering vegan options for all three courses — and a thrilling slate of three plant-based desserts.

For the Perricellis, the plant-based menu began with their own dining habits.

“We eat in a way I call five-by-two,” says Fabio Perricelli. “Five days a week, we all eat plant-based and branch out on the weekends. So, it is something that was in our lives already and we wanted to have options for people who think as we do because we often look for things that are plant-based when we go out — but usually it’s just salads everywhere.”

There’s a side salad on VINIA’s Magical Dining menu, but it comes alongside a sizzling empanada stuffed with hearts of palm and calabaza squash, a traditional filling in Paula’s native Brazil.

The entree course has Perricelli especially excited.

“It’s going to be a highlight,” he predicts, due in part to the use of casarecce pasta.

“It’s not too common outside of Italy,” says the Calabria native, and the sauce — a crema made from almonds and garlic — was very popular at Fabio’s Table. The addition of roasted porcini mushrooms and herbs, he says, will take it over the top. “It’s so delicious, very comforting.”

As for dessert, throw a dart. All but one of the offerings is vegan (that caramel affogato sounds particularly divine to my coffee-loving soul).

Not only have a swath of vegans discovered VINIA in the wake of their plant-based attention, one of them — local vegan chef and recipe developer Jennifer Calabria — came in for dinner and left with a potential partnership that blossomed when Perricelli sampled her plant-based cheeses.

“I loved them and I said, ‘Let’s put it on the menu!’,” he notes. As such, an artisanal vegan cheese board featuring four items will be available as a $15 add-on.

“Magical Dining is great,” he notes; this is VINIA’s third year participating. “It’s a nice crowd with lots of new people and a great opportunity to showcase our menus.”

Other venues offering vegan entrees include RusTeak Thornton Park, Luke’s Kitchen + Bar and Seito Sushi Sand Lake. To search up others, visit magicaldining.com/restaurants.

Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group or follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.