Why Ômo by Jônt matters.
Ômo by Jônt is a MICHELIN-starred Japanese-French tasting-menu restaurant where Downtown Winter Park's established dining tradition meets Ryan Ratino's Washington culinary achievements, the precision of Japanese seafood preparation and an ambitious approach to contemporary American fine dining.
Set along East Lyman Avenue just east of South Park Avenue, within Winter Park's historic commercial center, the restaurant occupies a discreet storefront amid landscaped sidewalks, independent businesses and the low-rise architecture of the city's central shopping district. Its interior unfolds through three distinct dining spaces, beginning with an intimate chef's counter overlooking the working kitchen. Seating accommodates sixteen participants, allowing direct observation of the preparation and presentation of individual courses. A separate dining area introduces a more composed setting for substantial savory preparations, and a dedicated pastry parlor provides a contrasting environment for dessert. The result is a compact restaurant whose successive rooms, carefully arranged seating and controlled circulation establish an intimate architectural setting for an extended tasting menu.
What defines Ômo by Jônt.
Ômo by Jônt is best known for extending chef Ryan Ratino's MICHELIN-recognized Washington restaurant group into Central Florida and receiving its first MICHELIN star in the 2025 Florida guide. Ratino grew up in Medina, Ohio, before moving to Orlando to study at Le Cordon Bleu, beginning a professional relationship with the region that later influenced his decision to establish a restaurant in Winter Park. His early career included positions at Shula's Steak House and Todd English's Bluezoo, where he advanced to executive chef through the demanding kitchens of Orlando's resort industry. He subsequently moved to New York, serving as executive sous-chef at Caviar Russe and developing his technical foundations through professional training at restaurants including WD-50, Dovetail and minibar by José Andrés. His Washington career included leadership at Ripple, where he received the Restaurant Association Metropolitan Washington's Culinary Rising Star award in 2017. Ratino opened Bresca that year, introducing a contemporary approach to French cooking that earned a MICHELIN star in the 2018 guide. His subsequent restaurant, Jônt, opened above Bresca in 2020 and received two MICHELIN stars in 2021, establishing an ambitious tasting-menu format centered on Japanese ingredients and technically elaborate preparations. The MICHELIN Guide awarded Ratino its Washington Young Chef Award in 2023, recognizing his achievements across the two establishments. His decision to return to Central Florida grew from memories of dining along Park Avenue during culinary school and his interest in participating in Orlando's expanding fine-dining community. Hive Hospitality opened Ômo by Jônt in February 2024, introducing the first extension of the Washington concept to a different American dining market. The restaurant's name derives from omotenashi, the Japanese tradition of attentive hospitality, connecting its culinary ambitions with a carefully coordinated approach to service. Chef Mike Commins became associated with the restaurant's early culinary development, adapting the Washington kitchen's Japanese-French foundations to ingredients available in Florida. The MICHELIN Guide added Ômo by Jônt to its Florida selection in January 2025, followed by the award of one MICHELIN star that April. The recognition established the restaurant among Winter Park's MICHELIN-starred establishments and marked an important expansion of Ratino's culinary work beyond Washington. Wine Spectator subsequently recognized its beverage program with an Award of Excellence in 2025, acknowledging the restaurant's carefully developed wine selection and its relationship with the tasting-menu format.
Ryan Ratino's culinary direction develops the relationship between Japanese ingredient selection and classical French technique, using precise temperature control, restrained seasoning and concentrated sauces to reveal contrasting qualities within individual preparations. Seafood establishes the foundation, with the kitchen organizing successive courses around differences in sweetness, firmness and natural fat content. Scallop prepared two ways demonstrates this approach through contrasting treatments of the same shellfish, allowing changes in texture and temperature to expose different dimensions of its delicate flavor. The preparation establishes a principle that continues throughout the savory menu: technical intervention serves the ingredient's natural character, and accompanying elements contribute carefully measured richness or acidity. Chawanmushi develops that relationship through a gently steamed Japanese egg custard whose smooth consistency depends upon controlled heat. Braised sweet potato introduces seasonal sweetness, kombu contributes marine savoriness, and brown butter sauce supplies roasted depth through the concentration of milk solids. The combination connects Japanese custard technique with French sauce preparation, producing a layered dish whose ingredients develop gradually across the palate. Florida seafood introduces regional variation into the kitchen's Japanese foundations, allowing local marine ingredients to participate in preparations shaped by techniques associated with international fine dining. Seasonal vegetables contribute further changes in sweetness, acidity and texture, preserving the relationship between the principal ingredient and its carefully constructed accompaniments. The Journey tasting menu organizes four snacks, four savory courses and a plated dessert into a sequence lasting slightly more than two hours, establishing a measured progression from smaller preparations toward richer compositions. The Jaunt extends that approach through more than twenty preparations, allowing the kitchen to examine a broader range of luxury ingredients and technical contrasts. Dessert continues the same attention to temperature and texture through chocolate-hazelnut kakigori, adapting the Japanese tradition of finely shaved ice to the richness of chocolate and the roasted character of hazelnuts. Its delicate frozen structure provides a lighter conclusion to the concentrated sauces and savory preparations preceding it. The signature magic box extends the pastry sequence through an assortment of small confections, preserving the kitchen's attention to carefully differentiated textures and flavors. Wine and sake selections accompany the changing courses, addressing the progression from delicate seafood to richer preparations and increasingly sweet compositions. Ômo by Jônt's culinary character develops through this sustained relationship between Japanese ingredients, French technical precision and the deliberate sequencing of temperature, richness and texture across the meal.
How Ômo by Jônt fits.
Ômo by Jônt works as the culinary centerpiece for a Winter Park itinerary connecting the city's nineteenth-century educational foundations, the preservation of American decorative arts and the architectural conservation that shaped its historic residential character.
Begin at Rollins College, founded in 1885 by New England Congregationalists seeking to establish a liberal arts institution in Central Florida. Its establishment accompanied Winter Park's development as a planned winter community, connecting education with the city's early ambitions as a residential and cultural center. The campus occupies a prominent position beside Lake Virginia, with Mediterranean Revival architecture establishing a distinctive physical character. Knowles Memorial Chapel, designed by Ralph Adams Cram and completed in 1932, introduces Gothic architectural elements into the collegiate landscape. The college's history connects Winter Park's earliest institutional development with its continuing role as an educational community. Continue to Charles Hosmer Morse Museum of American Art, established in 1942 by Jeannette Genius McKean in honor of her grandfather, the Chicago industrialist Charles Hosmer Morse. The museum became particularly associated with the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, preserving an extensive collection of his stained glass, jewelry, ceramics and decorative objects. Its holdings include architectural elements recovered from Laurelton Hall, Tiffany's Long Island estate, which suffered a devastating fire in 1957. The museum also preserves the reconstructed chapel interior Tiffany created for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Its collections connect American decorative arts with the industrial wealth and cultural patronage that shaped Winter Park's development. Conclude at Casa Feliz Historic Home Museum, the Spanish farmhouse-style residence designed by architect James Gamble Rogers II for Robert Bruce Barbour in 1932. The building originally occupied a lakeside property before development pressures threatened its preservation. Community efforts led to its relocation in 2000, when the house was moved to a site overlooking the Winter Park Golf Course. Its red-tiled roof, whitewashed walls, courtyard and carefully proportioned interiors preserve Rogers's interpretation of Mediterranean domestic architecture. The restored residence subsequently became a venue for educational programs and cultural gatherings, connecting architectural conservation with the city's civic traditions. The progression moves from Winter Park's founding educational institution through the preservation of American decorative arts and culminates in a historic residence whose restoration demonstrates the city's commitment to architectural conservation.
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