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THE ART OF FOOD

  • FOOD ADVENTURES

    Our dining critic journeys into the bizarre, healthy, spirited, "who knew?" and just plain cool and delicious. Lobster ice cream anyone?

  • FOOD ADVENTURES 2

    Tag along as we explore new culinary worlds to add to the discoveries made during last fall's inaugural food adventures mission.

  • FOOD ADVENTURES 3

    An all-new lineup of culinary oddities, unique finds and hidden gems. Our dining critic journeys into the bizarre, healthy, spirited, "who knew" and just plain cool and delicious.

  • Last Call: The Courtesy

    Spirited magazine
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    At the Courtesy Bar, music is low and conversation is encouraged. This is an adult bar—Prohibition-themed before Prohibition was cool—under the tutelage of wine rep and musician Gene Zimmerman, who revived the speakeasy model without that pesky password business.

  • POMPEII’S TABLE Celebrates the Legacy of Ancient Italy

    Edible Orlando
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    Between November 11, 2020 and January 19, 2021, six events that celebrate the powerful food legacy of ancient Italy took place throughout Orlando. Pompeii’s Table: Sublime and Ancient Food That Survived Vesuvius’ Fury, was conceived by local freelance writer, food writer and playwright Joseph Reed Hayes.

A full-time freelance writer since 1996, I have written for national and international publications about food, travel and the arts, and was the Dining Critic for Orlando Magazine and Orlando Weekly. I've won five Florida Magazine Association "Charlie" Awards for my food writing. I was a regional judge for the James Beard Foundation and a founding member of the Greater Orlando Food Leaders Alliance (goFLA).

COVER STORIES

CONTACT ME

freelance writer

As a writer on assignment, I've traveled to Italy, Scotland, England, New Orleans, California and New York City, with a specialty on all things Orlando. Whether it's a story about Arts & Crafts houses in Florida or new styles in computers, a Mounted Police squad or alien abduction insurance, I've written it. Environmental issues, music, movie and theater reviews and in-depth conversations with legends in jazz. Interviews and personality profiles are my specialty.

playwright

My plays take place on buses and in bars, in hotel rooms and government offices, farmhouse kitchens and jazz stages. 57 productions and readings of my plays from coast to coast and in three countries since 2001.

food writer

Florida Magazine Association Award winning food writer and Orlando restaurant critic. James Beard Foundation judge, knowledgable champion of world cuisine and avid advocate of undiscovered chefs. I can write about the front of the house of a restaurant as well as the kitchen with equal expertise. Founding member, goFLA/SunshinePlate Central Florida.

EVENT producer

Producer of the Jazz On Edge series, spotlighting new and original jazz from Central Florida since 2008, showcasing the best that Central Florida has to offer in jazz to appreciative audiences, giving creative hometown and nationally-known musicians a place to perform their own music, without boundaries, in person and online. Founder Word Play series, former Chair of Alternative Programming, Timucua Arts Foundation.