On Thursday, December 3, Edgewater Drive closes to cars between Smith Street and Winter Park Street from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. so Holiday on the Drive can take over from 5 to 9 p.m. That same evening, at 711 W. Smith Street, Truffles and Trifles has a Tuscan Italian class on its calendar. It is one of the last the school plans to teach before it closes at the end of 2026.
That overlap fits this season on the Drive. In College Park, the stretch from Thanksgiving to New Year's is when long-running tenants hand off, newer ones arrive, and an old building comes down. The city also has a construction date for the Lakeview Street roundabout, so this is the last holiday season on Edgewater before the first phase of the corridor redesign is scheduled to begin.
Forty Years of Classes Wind Down on Smith Street
Marci Arthur opened Truffles and Trifles in March 1986, and Bungalower reported on November 4 that the cooking school will close at the end of 2026. Its first home was 1308 Edgewater Drive, where it sold specialty foods and gift baskets and taught cooking classes. It then moved farther north on Edgewater before settling at 711 W. Smith Street. In 2008, the Orlando Sentinel inducted Arthur into its inaugural Culinary Hall of Fame.
The school is running classes and holiday parties through its final weeks. As of publish day, the Truffles and Trifles calendar lists these sessions:
- Homemade Pasta, Friday, November 13
- Amazing French Bistro, Tuesday, November 17
- Turkey Dinners, Wednesday, November 18
- Amazing Thai, Thursday, November 19
- Thanksgiving Side Dishes, Friday, November 20, and Tuesday, November 24
- Christmas Cookies!, Saturday, November 28
- Tuscan Italian, Thursday, December 3
- Christmas Cookies!, Saturday, December 19
The Thanksgiving Side Dishes menu covers sweet potatoes with marshmallow, cranberry French toast, green beans with bacon, mashed potatoes with gravy, and turkey stuffing. Both Christmas Cookies! dates teach sugar, cranberry-nut swirl, gingerbread, pumpkin and peppermint cookies. The December 19 cookie class is the latest date on the calendar. That makes it the school's last scheduled public session of the year and of its 40-year run.
In her farewell, as Bungalower reported, Arthur wrote:
"Thank you for every class you took, every basket you sent, every recipe you carried home, and every meal you shared with the people you love."
At 2429 Edgewater, One Pizza Kitchen Hands Off to Another
Until this month, the space at 2429 Edgewater Drive was Pizza Bruno's College Park location. Owner Bruno Zacchini set Saturday, November 7 as its last day there so he could focus on the original Pizza Bruno at 3990 Curry Ford Road, which is staying open.
Orlando Weekly reported that Pacchioni's Cheesesteaks & Pizza is taking over the space, and it is aiming to open in early December. Daniel Pacchioni launched the business as a food truck in February 2025. Its globally inspired Philly cheesesteaks were developed with chef Mike Collantes of Soseki and Sushi Saint. Two of them are the Korean-inspired K-Drama, with bulgogi glaze and kimchi, and the Island Spice, with Jamaican jerk seasoning and curry aioli.
The Edgewater location will be about 1,500 square feet, and Pacchioni is opening it with partners Yeosh Bendayan and Jon Ruhff. It adds a new pizza menu to upgraded versions of the cheesesteaks. Pacchioni told Orlando Weekly that the pies will mix several styles and international influences instead of following the Jersey-style approach that defined the space before, and the cheesesteaks will come on freshly baked rolls. Opening updates come through the restaurant's Instagram account, @pacchionisfl.
The early-December target puts the opening in the same weeks as Holiday on the Drive. So the slice shop and the cooking school are on opposite timelines this month, one just starting on Edgewater and the other finishing.
At 1710 Edgewater, a 1920s Building Comes Down
Farther down the Drive, the handoff involves a building. Demolition is underway at 1710 Edgewater Drive, the former K Restaurant property. The building dates to the 1920s and has a long run of restaurant tenants. It housed Nonna and JoAnn's Chili Bordello before chef Kevin Fonzo moved K Restaurant there in 2010, and K closed in January 2020.
The only public plan on file for the site is several years old. According to Bungalower, a 2021 proposal in City of Orlando planning records, called Starbucks at Edgewater, covered 1710 and 1720 Edgewater Drive. It would have replaced three existing buildings with a new 2,900-square-foot Starbucks, and in April 2024 city planners said it was unclear whether that project would go forward. This holiday season, the corner that held restaurants for decades is a demolition site.
December 3 Is the Night the Drive Hosts Everyone
Holiday on the Drive brings together the old and new names on the corridor. The Drive District describes kids' activities, an artisan vendor village for gift shopping, music and a visit from Santa. Local shops stay open late, and restaurants and food trucks serve seasonal dishes. The closure runs from Smith Street to Winter Park Street from 1 p.m. to 11 p.m. That is four hours before the event starts, so afternoon errands along that stretch need a different route. Vendor registration is open through the Holiday on the Drive page, and volunteer signups are listed as coming soon.
A few other spots on Edgewater have changed since last December:
- Millie's Swedish Candy, 2529 Edgewater Drive, now stays open until 6 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday.
- Olea Taverna, 3231 Edgewater Drive, has been open since August, so this is its first holiday season on the Drive.
- Truffles and Trifles has its Tuscan Italian class the same evening at 711 W. Smith Street.
After the Lights Come Down, the Lakeview Roundabout
The biggest change on the corridor so far is still on the city's schedule. The Edgewater Drive Complete Street Project redesigns the corridor from Lakeview Street to Par Street. The plan calls for wider sidewalks that meet current ADA standards, decorative lighting, more landscaping and calmer traffic. It also reverses part of the 2002 road diet. That project cut Edgewater to one travel lane each way with on-street parking and bike lanes. In 2022, the city narrowed the scope to a single consistent cross-section that removes the on-street bike lanes and widens the sidewalks.
The first piece to be built is Segment A, a roundabout at Edgewater Drive and Lakeview Street. The city's published timeline:
- May 2026: City Council approved the Segment A Local Agency Program Agreement
- Winter 2026: Segment A construction contractor awarded
- Early 2027: construction begins
- Winter 2027: Segment A substantially complete
The project page lists a total cost of $5,175,441.22. Of that, $2,970,360 is FDOT Local Agency Program funding and $1,404,506.56 is city impact fee funds. OUC contributes $790,574.66, and City Water Reclamation adds $10,000. The city says that as construction gets closer, it will share the construction schedule and phasing, traffic management plans and details on access to homes and businesses.
If the city keeps to that schedule, the Lakeview roundabout will be under construction by next year's Holiday on the Drive, and the Drive will go into that season with Olea Taverna, Pacchioni's plans for 2429 Edgewater, and no cooking school on Smith Street.
At Core4 Group, we follow changes like these on Edgewater Drive closely because they shape daily life on the street, from a new storefront to the roundabout schedule. If you're thinking about how the corridor's next few years fit your plans in College Park, we'd be glad to talk it through. Book a Consultation with our team.
