News Cafe and Area 31 Return; Two More New Year’s Eve Options

ReopeningsRemodeling is finished, and the iconic News Cafe on Ocean Drive has returned to serving informal fare 24/7. The water supply at downtown Miami’s Epic Hotel has been cleared and Area 31 is back in biz — with seatings left for New Year’s Eve: Cocktail reception, five-course meal, champagne toast,…

Weekend Blog Watch: Dim Sum, Iron Maiden, Bogotá, Wine Shoe, and Bagels

Here are some recent posts from the local food web.Jewish family goes Tropical Chinese for Christmas dim sum. [FoodForThoughtMiami]Rock N Roll Ribs, Iron Maiden’s drummer’s restaurant, opens in Coral Springs. [CleanPlateCharlie]Checking out a mercado de las pulgas (flea market) in Bogotá, Colombia, and eating from the food stalls. [BrickellLife]Video: How…

Where It At? Some Sorta Shrimp Dish

What it is: As we say, some sorta shrimp dish.But where it at? Seafood shack? Tourist trap? Italian place in Kendall? If you guess it right, we’ll let you know in the comments section. If not, the answer will come at the end of the week…

Ten Suggested New Year’s Resolutions for Miami Restaurateurs

All right, Mr. and Ms. Restaurant Owner, repeat after me:This coming year, I resolve to…1. Train the hosts greeting guests at my establishment to exhibit fewer teeth and more intelligence.2. Read at least one national food magazine per month in order to keep abreast of what’s going on in the…

Urban Meyer Health Problems? Top 10 Foods That Cause Heartburn

One time, we spent an excruciating 45 minutes at a family dinner thinking a tapeworm was chewing up our insides. Turns out we just had a mean case of heartburn.Maybe Urban Meyer has the same problem.Saturday, the University of Florida’s Gators football team’s head coach resigned from the football program…

Six Beers To Drink Tonight

It’s noche buena. Many of us are getting ready for lechon, family and good times. And what best than a good brew to go along with it as an alternative to the customary wine? Here are six winter beers you can enjoy tonight. We found these at Sunset Corners (8701…

Sneak Review of The Sneaky Year In Review

An exceedingly short clip from next weeks’ Cafe review, which will be an overview of Miami dining, 2009:Michelle Bernstein added the Omphoy in Palm Beach, Doug Rodriguez doubled his pleasure with D. Rodriguez Cuba at the Hotel Astor, and Jonathan Eismann quadrupled his on the western fringe of the Design…

Ten Worst Foodie Christmas Tree Ornaments, Epic Fails

There are a lot of stupid niche markets that get exploited by crafty entrepreneurs come holiday season, but maybe the stupidest one we’ve seen yet is for foodie Christmas ornaments. They’re not cute, or funny, and we don’t know what kind of inbred, backwater, shit hole town you grew up…

Happy Noche Buena, What Is Noche Buena?

“Tonight, tonight, tonight, oh oh.”That’s right ladies and gents, but we’re not talking about a crappy Genesis song. We’re talking about Noche Buena, and it’s tonight.So, what is Noche Buena?Well it is a type of Mexican beer, it means good night in Spanish, and in Spain, the Philippines, Cuba, and…

How Il Grissino Lost Its Chef In 18 Minutes

From a press release sent at 10:13:Casual and fine dining styles used to be mutually exclusive. That’s changed with the opening of Il Grissino, the charming new 70-seat Italian restaurant at 127 Giralda Avenue, in Coral Gables . The restaurant features simple good cooking, using the freshest whole foods available,…

Video: Kim Kardashian Naked In Bath After Tossed Salad

We here at Short Order would like to thank the marketing geniuses over at Carl’s Jr. for bringing us video of Kim Kardashian getting in a bath naked after a tossed salad.She really seemed to like it. The juice was practically running down her chin. This may be the best…

Happy Festivus: Top 10 Festivus Foods for your Festivus Party!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Festivus For The Rest of Us view the video above for a three-minute primer on the fastest growing holiday in the Western Hemisphere.Holiday season 2009 is set to be a record-breaking year for American households celebrating Festivus. That being said, though most…

Turrón, Latin American Christmas Snack Tradition

Every year, the world turrón consortium battles Baby Jesus for Christmas supremacy. The nutty nougat bars always lose to the son of God, but major Christmas inroads have been made by the sometimes chewy, sometimes crunchy sweet of 15th century Spanish origin.Turrón is celebrated at Christmastime around the world through…

Five Best Restaurants To Close in 2009

Au Pied de Cochon: “Just what we needed”, we crowed back in July — a dazzling 1940s-style 24/7 indoor/outdoor South Beach bistro serving country French fare in a fun setting. And boy those mustard-coated, bread crumbed pig trotters were tasty, as were the lamb chops, and the pork shank too…

Top Ten Latin American Christmas Food Traditions

Feliz Navidad.It’s Christmas time again, and in Miami that means tons of Latin families getting together for holiday cheer. The beautiful thing is that all their cultures mesh with those of every other country represented here and make for a Latin-American-Caribbean holiday season full of joy and tradition.Here are our…

Fatburger on the Mile

Is it me or does Miracle Mile has a lot more casual eateries now than ever before? The second Florida location of California chain, Fatburger, opened Saturday on the strip, and we obligingly stopped in for lunch. Burger options range from Small (Baby Fat Burger) to XXXL (Triple King). They…

Interview: Gail Simmons Gets the 10

Gail Simmons probably never thought she’d become a household name, even after joining Food & Wine Magazine in 2004. But today many people, foodies and Bravo addicts, especially, know lots about this brown-haired, brazen Top Chef judge. She’s also the magazine’s special projects director and definitely more than just a…