ORLANDO, Fla. – Chef Mike Collantes is bullish on Orlando’s food scene. “Everyone says ‘Orlando food is on the rise,’ well I tell him that ‘No, it’s here.’” He is a Central Florida native, growing up in Winter Park and Orlando.
He got his first taste of culinary work when he was a teenager. “I always tell people I started at the Sbarro’s School of Pizzerias at 16 at the Fashion Square Mall,” Collantes said.
His real culinary training got started when he went to school at Valencia College. That led to a career that took Collantes all across the country — Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Hawaii, all became stops on his culinary journey.