Last week, we complained that local chef Andrea Curto-Randazzo was getting little airtime on this season’s Top Chef, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. Good because it probably means she isn’t going home anytime soon (the show is notorious for focusing the entire episode on the…
Hummus was around during ancient Egyptian times. Cleopatra was probably hand-fed the stuff between grapes while men fanned her. So how is it that after thousands of years of practice, so many eateries prepare crappy renditions of the simple dish? Locally, you can find plenty of spots that need new…
Heading north on I-95 through Georgia are roadside signs in bright red marker luring you to stop. They promise fresh peaches, tomatoes, watermelon, Vidalia onions, and boiled peanuts. At Exit 58, we leave the highway for “Mrs. T’s Diner-Southern Country Cooking.” Soon we spot a house with a large porch…
July 4th weekend traditionally signals the end of lychee season. Earlier this week, my wife snared a bag of the last of lovely Paradise Farms’ Sweet Heart lychees. More to the point: Gabriele Marewski, bless her sweet heart, knows how much my wife loves this fruit and put some aside for…
Vodka isn’t really part of our everyday pantry. Unless we’re making penne alla vodka, we’d rather drink it than cook with it. But here’s an idea for how to use flavored vodka in a salad. Finnish-American chef Sara La Fountain created this dish as part of the Cooking With Finlandia…
Restaurant, bar, and nightlife blog Eater does a series of food interviews with musicians, called Sound Cheque (get it?). This week, it interviewed Passion Pit bassist Jeff Apruzzese, who has visited Miami twice this year — the first time in March for Ultra Music Festival, the second time in June for a headlining…
Pascal’s on Ponce is flat-out one of this city’s best spots for dining. The food is prepared so delicately, and the flavors are divine. Pascal’s isn’t necessarily known for its gnocchi, but this stuff is unbelievably good: twisted, spätzle-size pearls of ethereal potato-based pasta adorned with oyster mushrooms, creamed with…
Nany’s Bakery, a Pembroke Pines favorite for the past four years, now has a South Beach branch — except this one is called Nany’s Café. The Colombian restaurant opened in May on a stretch of Washington Avenue that is suddenly getting busy with new eateries (such as Miss Saigon and Otentico)…
Otentic in South Beach offers crepes and homemade French fare at good prices
Are you bored? Hungry? Want to eat your way to intoxication? We’ve scoured the world for the top 10 foods that’ll get you high, exposed the rumors and lies, and now we can explain why some of these can kill you. Prepare for food education…
The Morgans Restaurant provides a sip-worthy reason to venture out on hump day: Drink Special Wednesdays. This Wednesday-only special offers beer, wine by the glass, and sangria pitchers for half off regular price. Beer options check in at $2 to $4 and include Red Stripe, Guinness Draught, Stella Artois, and…
Christy’s in Coral Gables serves shrimp that look as juiced up as the male stars of Jersey Shore. Locals often frequent the upscale eatery on the corner of Ponce de Leon Boulevard and Malaga Street simply for the shrimp cocktail. It gives new meaning to the famed oxymoron jumbo shrimp…
Yesterday we wrote about fabada Asturiana as a way to prepare for today’s Spain-Germany soccer game. If you didn’t start then, maybe you can celebrate la victoria with fabada. It’s a traditional Spanish stew that requires time, patience, lots of meat, and a hearty appetite. Slowly cooked overnight, the flavors of the meat…
Packing into the car and driving 1,300 miles to see friends up North for a summer break is in theory a lot of fun. But as the dullness of flat highway hits, conversation shifts to stopping for eats. Then, just as you cross the state line on I-95 and enter…
Chef Sara La Fountain, a Finnish-American Culinary Institute of America grad who runs a catering company in Finland, will cook up a “slow” Finnish meal featuring Finlandia vodka at the Fairmont Turnberry Isle resort this Saturday. Each of the four courses will be paired with a Finlandia vodka cocktail prepared…
Today we welcome hump day, the awkward midway point to the weekend’s freedom. Why grudgingly crawl over this nuisance when you can conquer it Brazilian-style? Every Wednesday, Boteco offers an all-you-can-eat appetizer special for $9.50 and a corresponding happy hour. This “Rodizio de Salgadinhos” special provides a prix fixe order…
This is the second installment of our ongoing series that spotlights interesting cookbooks. Some will be new and familiar, chosen because we think they’re really good. Others will be highlighted as a means of introducing you to cookbooks you might not know about — and that we also think are…
Bernie’s L.A. Café opened to a packed house on Alton Road last week, and it continues to pack ’em in this week. Part of the built-in appeal is the familiarity with chef/owner Bernie Matz, who has a following from his Café at Books & Books. There is no literary backdrop…
The mainland locale of Burger & Beer Joint has opened its doors in Mary Brickell Village. The new location comes complete with a sports bar and a 5 a.m. liquor license sure to attract the happy-hour and party crowd. For now, the restaurant will open only for dinner from 5…
Some veggie folks are on the fence about “meat analogs” (AKA fake meat). Their main argument: I don’t want to eat meat, so why would I want something that tastes like meat?” Fair enough for some, but I like to think about it more in terms of logistics: the shape…
El Pimiento in Miami Lakes is an owner-operated Spanish tapas restaurant. Mylo Gonzalez is the dude in charge, but don’t call him chef — he prefers culinary director. Mylo says, “I never went to culinary school. I’m not a chef; forget the chef stuff. This is the real-deal home cooking…
The Place: SAWA Restaurant and Lounge 360 San Lorenzo Ave., Coral Gables305-447-6555sawarestaurant.com The hours: Monday and Friday 4 to 7 p.m. and late-night Sunday through Thursday 11 p.m. to close. The deals: Van Gogh flavored-vodka drinks go for $5.50, with other cocktails, wine, and beer under $5. The scene: Everybody needs a…
