I had gone to Audubon Park to sketch Night Owl First Thurday. Exactly what the event was supposed to be, I am not sure, but I assumed there might be live music. Walking around I didn’t find anything going on worth sketching. The Night Owl event must have been canceled. Then again, it was still light, so maybe the night owls come out much later at night.
As an older single guy, I need to get used to dining out alone. I walked past Gazie Modern Italian (3101 Corrine Dr, Orlando, FL ) and decided to stop and eat dinner on the outdoor patio. It was threatening to rain, so the cover was appreciated as I blocked out a sketch. I ordered a Pasta Alfredo. By the time the dish came out I was close to finishing the sketch but I kept adding watercolor washes.
An older lady sat alone and nursed her cup of wine. I empathized with her. Other tables filled up with adults and teens. An after-school program must have just ended, and the parents were taking their daughters out for a bite to eat.
I did this sketch before I started my series of sketches of Orlando’s best plant-based restaurants. The pasta I ate at Gazie would have eggs in it, and the creamy Alfredo sauce, although delicious, had dairy which I am trying to avoid now. The outdoor dining experience wasn’t ideal since traffic roared by at a loud and fast pace. A large table was set up for a large party. Unfortunately, that party didn’t arrive while I was sketching. Sometimes I start a sketch hoping for something dynamic to happen.
The pasta was decent, but my roommate reminded me that I could have had just as good a meal with store bought pasta and sauce for a fraction of the cost. Dining out isn’t always about the food, it is also about the sketching opportunities. I don’t know if I would return to Grazi for a meal. I am more tempted by the East End Market dining options one block away. Looking at the web site, the pizza options look tasty at Grazi but pizza falls outside the limits of my plant based diet plans.