Review - The Palm, and its Characters, Make an Orlando Comeback

It’s been 10 years since The Palm restaurantopened in Orlando at the Hard Rock Hotel at Universal. It was the 22nd location for the New York-based Palm Restaurant Group.

The storied past of the venerable Manhattan steakhouse made its Orlando outpost worthy of attention at first – but the food and service didn’t sustain my interest. When people would ask for my recommendation for a good steak, The Palm didn’t cross my mind. When someone would ask me directly what I thought of the place, I would mutter: “I forgot we had one here.”

But now the company is instituting a “brand refresh” in celebration of the original eatery’s 85th anniversary. Most of the changes are subtle – new tableware, leather menus and a uniform tweak for the servers. Lighting is lower, which tends to soften the sound level by encouraging diners to speak more quietly.

And although it wasn’t officially announced, a renewed push to be a restaurant that locals will want to frequent seems to be part of the initiative. In fact, I had a better meal at The Palm this time than the half-dozen or so times before. The food, service and ambience were sufficiently improved so that from now on I’ll likely recommend it.

The funny thing is, the restaurant that opened on Second Avenue in New York in 1926 wasn’t intended to be a steakhouse. Nor was it meant to be called The Palm.

The first Palm was opened by two friends, Pio Bozzi and John Ganzi. As the story goes, the Northern Italy emigrants intended to call their Italian restaurant Parma, after their hometown. But when they applied for a business license, the clerk couldn’t understand their accents and thought they were saying Palm.

Still, the early menus featured mainly Italian dishes. And the restaurant became as well-known known for its colorful patrons and their contributions to the décor as for its food.

Bozzi and Ganzi couldn’t afford to decorate, so at first the walls inside The Palm were mostly bare. But because it was located close to King Features Syndicate, many diners were poorly paid cartoonists who offered to draw sketches on the walls as payment for their meals. Soon those walls were filled with comic strips and drawings of celebrities and politicos.

With the drawings so much a part of the legend – and apparently the appeal – all the subsequent Palms have replicas of the original cartoons as well as newer drawings of local celebrities.

My guest and I started our recent dinner by sampling the array of breads in an overflowing basket, slathering each with lots of sweet butter. Our appetizer was the shrimp Bruno, one that I recalled having on my first visit in early 2001. But I don’t recall enjoying it as much as I did this time around. The dish featured beautifully plump shrimp, butterflied and curled, sautéed in a tangy Dijon mustard sauce.

My friend had the osso buco, an ample serving of a veal shank braised into tender submission, served atop risotto with the meat’s rich sauces. The veal was terrific, and it was nice of the server to offer a small fork to extract the rich marrow (better on the bread than even the butter).

I went for the New York strip steak and was not disappointed. It was a gorgeous piece of meat, charred perfectly on the outside, red and juicy on the inside. To go with it, I ordered the three-cheese potatoes side. I don’t recall ever having potatoes quite so au gratin’d. So gooey and thick were the cheeses that I can’t swear that there actually were potatoes underneath – and I’m not complaining.

The Key lime pie dessert was the only disappointment. Why, I wonder, would anyone want to drown out the lime by topping the pie with blueberries?

Our server was professional, knowledgeable and nonintrusive. I’m not a big fan of waiters handing out their business cards, but it was done here in a subtle manner, tucked under the rim of my takeout container. (There was no way I was leaving without a huge portion of the remaining steak and the cheese that may or may not have contained potatoes.)

You’ll want to know that valet parking is complimentary for diners at The Palm. And there’s an entrance to the restaurant from the porte-cochère, so walking through the lobby of the hotel is not necessary.

The Palm

Where: Hard Rock Hotel, 5800 Universal Blvd., Orlando

When: dinner daily

How much: $$$$

Where to call: 407-503-7256.