Chuan Fu‘s cabbage dry pot, says owner Joyce Cai, is a popular Chinese homestyle dish that’s often associated with Hunan or Sichuan cuisine.
Bathed in garlic and dried chili peppers (and sometimes tossed with thin slices of pork belly for a non-vegetarian option), the dish’s signature is that the cabbage is hand-torn rather than knife-cut.
“Dry pot doesn’t mean dry,” says Cai, whose Winter Park restaurant was added to the Michelin Guide Orlando recommendation in 2024. “It means there’s little to no sauce, so all the flavor clings directly to the ingredients.”
It’s a perfect dish, obviously, for National Cabbage Month (which actually includes its tiny, round and eminently roastable cousin, Brussels sprouts), one of many delicious offerings you can grab around town when you’re looking for something low-calorie, but nutrient-dense.
Cabbage is popular for this reason among those trying to eat healthier and/or slim down, so much so that there are weeklong crash diets based on its consumption.
While I do love me some cabbage soup, I’d much prefer to hit up Chuan Fu for what Cai calls the dry pot cabbage’s “irresistible guo qi flavor.”
Who says cabbage isn’t dramatic? Chuan Fu’s stunning, sizzling dry pot cabbage. You’ll find it at their Michelin Guide-recommended Winter Park restaurant. (Courtesy Chuan Fu)
“It’s stir-fried in a wok over very high heat, creating a slightly charred, smoky aroma known as guo qi. Guo means ‘wok.’ Qi is the same as ‘air’ or ‘steam.’ The cabbage gets a slightly crispy edge and there’s a subtle sweetness along with a deep savory flavor.”
While I don’t endorse a cabbage-only nutrition program for healthy weight loss, I wholly endorse cabbage itself as a delicious, healthy, crunchy, comforting part of a healthy, well-rounded eating plan. Here are a few more eat-local preparations you might want to check out.
Chuan Fu: 1035 N. Orlando Ave. in Winter Park, 321-972-3606; chuanfuwinterpark.com
Support local! Looks like it’s time for me to grab another jar of Nali’s Kimchi. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)
Nali’s Kimchi
“Kimchi is not only healthy for you, but tastes really delicious,” says Nali Park.
As the local maker behind Nali’s Kimchi, she might seem biased, but she’s got literally thousands of years of history to back it up.
And though many kinds of vegetables can make up this delightfully fermented Korean accompaniment, cabbage (generally Napa) is arguably the most prevalent.
Kimchi is complex, pungent and savory. It’s spicy. It’s sour. It’s tangy and crunchy, the more it ferments. And of course, all of these attributes can shift, depending on the mix of ingredients.
“It goes so well with other foods and is loved by so many people from different cultures,” says Park, noting she can’t live without it and that Napa cabbage is a wonderful, versatile and highly nutritious leafy green.
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“It’s packed with Vitamins C and K and folate, which makes it excellent for bone health. It’s high water content offers a hydrating, crunchy and mild, sweet flavor.”
I like it on everything from avocado toast to tuna fish sandwiches to hot dogs, but where can you find Nali’s Kimchi besides my fridge?
More info: Pick up a jar at ChiKin at 813 N. Mills Ave, Orlando; order.toasttab.com/online/chi-kin-813-north-mills-avenue or Seoul Bol at 5845 Winter Garden Vineland Road in Windermere; seoul-bol.com. You can also reach out to Park directly via social media at @snparkrealtor319 on Instagram. She’s got prices that go from $7 jars to full-on gallons. (Many area restaurants buy it by the 5-gallon bucket!)
Amy Drew Thompson / Orlando Sentinel
Golubtsi (stuffed cabbage) is handmade daily at Lacomka. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)
Lacomka Bakery & Store
Eastern Europe doesn’t have a lock on cabbage, but they sure use it well, and at Lacomka Bakery & Store, where the shelves are stocked with beautiful buys from the bloc nations (as is the deli/dessert case), you can grab up some of the housemade golubtsi and find out exactly what I mean.
Delicate rolls of cabbage, stuffed with a compendium of meats, rice, veggies, and grandma-level goodness, are absolutely certain to satisfy.
Enjoy a seat in the small cafe inside and partake of this and other treasures before perusing the shop, where you’ll find stock from Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Georgia, Belarus, Poland, Serbia and more. Thirty percent of the products are Russian, 30% Ukrainian, says co-owner David Natlia.
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“The rest falls all around.”
Grab some frozen khinkali from his native Georgia to take home. And if you’re looking for some Polish takes, hit up Anna’s Polish and or Europol deli, as well, both in Winter Park.
Lacomka Bakery & Store: 2050 FL-436 in Winter Park, 407-677-1101; lacomkaorlando.com
At June, the cabbage dish is butter braised, fired up and topped with a beautiful, airy onion cream. (Courtesy Chuan Fu)
June
“I’m a Polish boy, so I grew up with cabbage in a multitude of ways growing up,” says June executive chef Jason Campbell. “I just love how much of a multitasker it is. You can braise it, make a soup out of it, make a golumpki or a cabbage roll out of it, do sauerkraut. It’s versatile.”
At June, it’s a stalk-to-stem dish that makes great use of leftover cabbage from other menu items, brown-butter braised and topped with foamy onion cream.
“We give it a heavy, heavy char on the grill first and then we butter braise it with vegetable stock until it’s tender,” he explains.
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Once cooled, it’s sliced into thick, long ribbons before getting a cast-iron char and a visit to the grill’s smokebox. Roasted garlic-onion cream dresses the top.
“There’s some nice texture. It still has some bite,” Campbell notes. “Lots of richness, nicely smoky.”
Often, he says, similar dishes add smoke via meats like bacon, speck or sausage, but using the grill keeps this offering strictly vegetarian.
“And with long pieces that you can sometimes actually twirl.”
So, yeah. It’s fun, too.
June: 700 E. Washington St. in Orlando, 321-206-1243; juneorlando.com
Want to reach out? Find me on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com. For more fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group or follow @fun.things.orlando on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.