Orlando’s best restaurants of 2019, as chosen by our readers

Best Breakfast

Winner: Se7en Bites, se7enbites.com

Second Place: Keke's Breakfast Cafe, kekes.com

Runner Up: First Watch, firstwatch.com

Best Cheap Eats (Staff Pick)

Winner: Gringos Locos, gringoslocos.com

Second Place: Tijuana Flats, tijuanaflats.com

Runner Up: Beefy King, beefyking.com

Best Chinese Restaurant

Winner: Hawkers Asian Street Fare, eathawkers.com

Second Place: Chuan Lu Garden, chuanluorlando.com

Runner Up: Peter's Kitchen China Bistro, peterskitchencb.business.site

Best Barbecue Restaurant

Winner: 4 Rivers Smokehouse, 4rsmokehouse.com

Second Place: Pig Floyd's Urban Barbakoa, pigfloyds.com

Runner Up: Bubbalou's Bodacious BBQ, bubbalous.com

Best Blink-and-You-Missed-It Pizza Joint (Staff Pick)

Recess Pizza

recesspizza.com

The ill-fated oven in the back corner of Orange County Brewers chewed up and spat out more than a couple of munchie-vending contenders, but the last one standing barely had time to get its feet under it before the brewery closed and moved to Lake Mary. Recess Pizza was a venture by Eliot Hillis of Orlando Meats with a brawny and bravura menu to match our meaty expectations. In fact, pies like the Kya (pork belly, Greek cheese, corn, chimichurri, crema), the Hayley (Flamin' Hot Cheetos sausage, cheddar, lime relish, blue cheese) and the Brekkie Za (red sauce, mozzarella, sausage, bacon, pickled onion, egg) didn't just meet expectations, high as they were – they smashed any kind of beliefs we had about pizza. If there's any justice (and there is), they'll be back (and they will).

Best Bakery

Winner: Valhalla Bakery, valhallabakery.com

Second Place: Se7en Bites, se7enbites.com

Runner Up: The Glass Knife, theglassknife.com

Best Bloody Mary

Winner: The Hammered Lamb, thehammeredlamb.com

Second Place: Maxine's on Shine, maxinesonshine.com

Runner Up: Dexter's Thornton Park, dextersthorntonpark.com

Best Brunch

Winner: Santiago's Bodega, santiagosbodega.com

Second Place: Se7en Bites, se7enbites.com

Runner Up: (tie) Maxine's on Shine, maxinesonshine.com

Runner Up: (tie) Briarpatch Restaurant, thebriarpatchrestaurant.com

Best Caribbean Restaurant

Winner: Zaza New Cuban Diner, zazacubandiner.com

Second Place: DaJen Eats, dajeneats.com

Runner Up: Mango's Tropical Café, mangos.com

Best Cheesy Beverage (Staff Pick)

Royal Tea's cheese tea

714 N. Mills Ave., facebook.com/royalteaorlando

It's a beverage worthy of delectation by Wallace & Gromit, and we can't seem to get enough of it ourselves. It's cheeeeeeese tea, a combination of cold black (or green) tea topped with a moussey foam fashioned from milk, cream cheese and whipping cream. Tilt the cup back 45 degrees to enjoy it in all its sweet, salty and utterly luscious glory. Oh, and enjoy flaunting your new #MousseStache.

Best Cocktails for Foodies (Staff Pick)

The Robinson Cocktail Room

63 E. Pine St., therobinsonroom.com

Nightspots come and go downtown, but this latest romper room from the Team Market Group (also behind Celine and Mathers Social Gathering) – let's just say it lives fast, and if it dies young, it'll leave a very pretty corpse.

A pre-opening Instagram mood board dished out plenty of Irving Penn, Helmut Newton and that Jean-Paul Goude photo, so the OTT design flourishes were no surprise when doors were finally unlocked. What was a surprise was the intense attention paid to the ingredients used to build the drinks on the delightful menu: the clarified strawberry and lime in the Just to Be Clear, the sous-vide Fresno chiles in the Mr. Fresident, the grapefruit oil and peppercorn tincture in the Fever Dream; all are produced in-house in "the lab." Foodies not inclined to party with the beautiful people would do well to hit the cocktail hour between 5 and 8 p.m. and savor the flavors.

Best Coffee

Winner: Foxtail Coffee Co., foxtailcoffee.com

Second Place: Drunken Monkey Coffee Bar, drunkenmonkeycoffee.com

Runner Up: Lineage Coffee Roasting, lineageroasting.com

Best Cuban Sandwich

Winner: Black Bean Deli, blackbeandeli.com

Second Place: Zaza New Cuban Diner, zazacubandiner.com

Runner Up: Cubans on the Run, cubansontherun.com

Best Desserts

Winner: Better Than Sex, betterthansexdesserts.com

Second Place: The Glass Knife, theglassknife.com

Runner Up: Valhalla Bakery, valhallabakery.com

Best Diner

Winner: Christo's Cafe, facebook.com/christoscafeorlando

Second Place: Daybreak Diner, daybreakdiner.org

Runner Up: Shakers American Café, shakerscafe.com

Best Doughnut

Winner: Donut King, thedonutking.com

Second Place: Valkyrie Doughnuts, valkyriedoughnuts.com

Runner Up: The Glass Knife, theglassknife.com

Best Place to Get an Exacting Cup of Coffee (Staff Pick)

La Kuma Coffee

840 E. State Road 434, Longwood, facebook.com/lakumacoffee

The fastidious baristas behind the bean counter at this relaxing Japanese coffee house in Longwood aren't much for pouring you a quick cup of mud in a to-go cup. But if you're the sort to enjoy watching coffee geeks hand-grind, calculate gram weight, sift, pour water of a specific temperature in a very particular pattern over the grounds in a carefully curated vessel, then this is the place for you. And La Kuma's austere, light-wood interior goes beyond aesthetic intent – owner Justin Xiong keeps visual distractions to a minimum so attention can focus on perfectly crafted brews.

Best Food Truck

Winner: La Empanada, laempanadatruck.com

Second Place: Tamale Co., tamaleco.com

Runner Up: Jacked Up Tacos, facebook.com/jackedupvegan

Best French Restaurant

Winner: Le Coq au Vin, lecoqauvinrestaurant.com

Second Place: DoveCote Brasserie, dovecoteorlando.com

Runner Up: Chez Vincent, chezvincent.com

Best Fried Chicken

Winner: Publix, publix.com

Second Place: The Coop, asouthernaffair.com

Runner Up: Domu, domufl.com