I don’t often dine out “for fun.”

I mean, it is fun. Mostly. But, I have to dine out for work, which means if I’m going out, far more often than not, it just makes sense to go somewhere I can write about. Ergo, there’s not a lot of room for off-the-clock dining.

I am a content shark. If I stop swimming, I die.

The salt-flecked tostadas, made in house with Hunger Street Tacos’ artisan masa, are a sturdy wonder of flavor and a superb vessel for the interactive avocado appetizer. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Over the years, though, I’ve curated a small selection of favorites, places I go on the rare occasion that the time is truly, wholly my own. Venues I choose when there’s a friend in town, where I know I’ll be warmly welcomed, where I know the food is outstanding.

It’s a short list. And I just wrote June on it. In Sharpie.

I’d been waiting to try the place, the newest from Team Market Group (Primrose Lanes, Nuri’s Tavern, Mathers Social Gathering and more) and altogether different from any before. It’s altogether different for Thornton Park. It’s altogether different from anything in the city, actually.

Two gorgeous hunks of grouper fish and filet cuts may vary were the centerpiece of one of the best fish tacos of my life. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

And yet, you’ll find familiarity on this Mexican-inspired menu — carnitas and al pastor, tostadas and guac, a tempura fish taco that might be the best in the city — but in ways that are unique.

It’s the work of executive chef Jason Campbell, who, alongside longtime compadre chef/culinary operations manager Nick Grecco (their days together go back to the original Cask & Larder), has crafted a menu that is exquisite in its freshness, literal and figurative, one that showcases outstanding ingredients, effective techniques and more than a few labor-of-love dishes

The ground floor for much of what’s gorgeous here is the culinary foundation of Mexico: maíz.

TostadaX2: ump crab, butter aioli edition. Crisp, heirloom masa foundation courtesy of Hunger Street Tacos. L20 decadence for $20. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Masa, crafted from Mexico-sourced heirloom corn by Joseph Creech and the Hunger Street Tacos team, comes here daily, fresh and warm with a smell as comforting as fresh-baked bread. From there, it becomes the tostadas, the tortillas, it becomes the gnocchi-like dumplings for the “tamale dumpling” dish and the batter for that tempura.

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Corn. Corn flour. Corn meal.

June has a gluten-free focus. There’s almost none on the menu. One single fryer in the kitchen is held to create a buñuelolike cookie for the chocolate cremosa dessert (leave it out and that’s gluten-free, too), so June is a keto- and celiac-friendly stronghold. There are no seed oils at all. Dishes have perhaps five or six ingredients at most.

Chayote mimics the refreshing crunch of jicama in a must-have salad with pear, cucumber, tomato, and, like several dishes here, a motherlode of pepitas in a citrus vinaigrette. Gorgeous alone or as a slawlike accoutrement to something fatty and rich. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

For the hottest corn-on-corn action, go for the esquites ($12), which Campbell calls “the ultimate creamed corn.” Built on a foundation that’s wholly traditional, Campbell takes a few killer liberties, adding farro verde for an incredible underlying chew (and gluten, but as it’s prepared to order, this can easily be eliminated) and a flurry of pecorino Romano cheese on top.

But it’s neither cheese nor cream that adds the richness here. It’s just more corn.

Grilled lettuce. Sounds “diet,” right? Not precisely, but it is delish in bright miso mustard with a blizzard of ricotta salata and pepitas. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Raw kernels, ground into puree, are cooked down with shallot, garlic, a touch of butter. A dollop, thrown in as each order is cooked, creates the decadence its growing fan base appreciates. For an even richer version, go for the $8 upgrade of wood-fired lump crab.

Campbell loves the fire, and its kiss is evident in many dishes, small and large format. The latter easily feeds two to three people — more if you’re sharing apps and salads — and you should be doing all of that. There is nothing on this menu, and I have tried much of it, that I wouldn’t recommend with evangelical enthusiasm.

Stir it up. Tamale dumplings with rock shrimp in smoky pasilla pepper sauce with cucumber and lime crema. This dish may be getting an overhaul, but trust whatever’s on the menu. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

The chayote ($12), a hearty salad that doubles as a slaw when the large dishes show up, seems bottomless, crispy and juicy with this jicamalike squash, alongside pear and tomato, cucumbers and a preponderance of pepitas that my companion and I adored.

You’ll find these gorgeous green pumpkin seeds on several dishes here, including a stellar grilled lettuce ($14) where their crunch amid the umami of a miso-mustard dressing is delightful. The same goes for a warm, hearty carrot dish ($12). Here, alongside stellar, nutty salsa macha, they punctuate roasty sweetness and creamy farmer cheese, giving your teeth something to do.

All at once, June exudes neighborhood hang and breezy boutique resort. Cooler climes to come will only amplify the vibe. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

You’ll find that salsa macha amid the $8 upgrade on the avocado dish — June’s take on guac ($14 on its own). Bright and beautiful with a pool of luscious green herb oil in the center, the dish comes with a beautifully presented plate of fresh fried tostadas and a circle of sauces that range from raw and mild to the alluring and spicy “jet red.”

It’s handsy and fun, phenomenal for first dates: you could talk about the combinations for a half hour alone over cocktails. Though the “shot tray” — $22 for two generous pours of Lalo Tequila alongside smoked salt and orange wedges — could be an ideal mettle-testing icebreaker, too.

The Shot Tray: Generous Lalo pours times two with orange and smoked salt. Not gonna lie: it’s fun. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

There is a freshness, a realness that permeates every bite, a vast array of peppers have dried and cleaned and ground and deseeded for salsas upon salsas’ worth of depth.

And I’m not just talking avo. I’m talking every dish, each conceived to be experienced together. Everything at June is meant to be passed around, discussed, enjoyed and shared.

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It begins at the door on this prime Thornton Park corner — lush foliage, raw materials, soaring ceilings that make the inside feel out (this will only improve when the garage doors are raised as the summer gives way to patio season). The entire room, its candles, its liveliness, its bookend bars, large and small, where walk-ups can enjoy the full menu, all of it can be taken in with one swivel of your head.

It continues through crunchy, rich, crab-topped tostadas ($20), each bite a beautiful butter bomb. Through corn bread ($8) — there’s that local masa again — where if the duck fat it’s cooked in isn’t enough, a sweet hit of agave butter will take it over the top. Through an ample fish taco, grouper on my visit, where tartar and tamarind bring you something you’ve had a zillion times, but in a way that you’ve never experienced.

June is exceedingly veg-friendly with myriad small plate options. The carrots, with farmer cheese, golden raisins and salsa macha, are among them. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Large-format dishes range from $36 (a sous vide, fire-kissed chicken pastor that my companion, raised in the heart of Missouri farm country, said was the best chicken he’d ever had) to $64 (the get-it-before-it’s-gone short rib, a full pound of luxurious bone-in meat) feed at least two, but really, it’s more like three or four. All come with those gorgeous tortillas, slaws, sauces. All are exquisite.

The duck ($54), perhaps, most of all.

Duck, pre-carnitas-style shred. It doesn’t stay this way for long. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

Thighs and drums get a 24-hour cure — salt, sugar, cumin, coriander — then a confit-gone-wild featuring duck fat, condensed and evaporated milk, Mexican Coke, onion, carrot, chilis. After an overnight soak in the brine, the bones come out. What arrives at the table is remarkable, with pan-crisped mahogany skin served carnitas-style, but pre-shred.

More handsiness. You do the job (it’s easy, just look at it and it practically falls apart). And then amid its Mexico City flourish, a nod to Peking, where tortillas sub for scallion pancakes and a mix of that jet red and the yuzu-and-black garlic ponzu they use for the tuna tostada meet, creating a hoisin-y marvel for your taco-ing pleasure.

A little of everything builds the perfect taco. Ingredients like this don’t hurt a bit. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

This is one of the best dishes I’ve had all year.

So enjoyable in fact, that two visits in a week weren’t enough. A third, with friends, saw me enjoying a fresh, tart blackberry cocktail and sharing the fish platter ($48), Hawaiian kanpachi, its skin a marvel of crackly perfection. Three people, and there were two ample tacos for each of us. Do not let the numbers scare you. There is value here, along with vibe.

June is a virtually gluten-free restaurant, and this stunning crème caramel fits the bill. (Amy Drew Thompson/Orlando Sentinel)

I can say it with certainty, because I paid for that meal myself.

Sure, okay, it was kind of for work in that it’s an experience I was able to use. But I didn’t have to go back. I wanted to.

Restaurants like June, surely one of the best to open this year, are making our city even better. That’s something I want to support.

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.

If you go

June: 700 E. Washington St. in Orlando, 321-206-1243; juneorlando.com

https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2025/09/18/june-thornton-park-restaurant-review-orlando/