Semana Gastronomica at Ideas Restaurant

As Gail Shepherd at Short Order’s Broward doppelganger blog, Clean Plate Charlie, points out, 4 of the top 8 restaurants in S. Pellegrino’s recent ranking of the top 100 restaurants in the world were from Spain.None were from Florida. Even fewer from Miami. But Coconut Grove’s Ideas Restaurant is bringing…

Two New Italians Settling North

Kimberly Miller and Parisian-born Alain Pizzutti are the proud owners of the newly opened BOCCA Ristorante Italiano on Northeast 123rd Street, one block West of Biscayne Boulevard in North Miami (305-891-4899). The “classic Italian” cuisine includes pastas that range from $10 to $16, with most fish and meat entrees under…

Eat For Education in Morningside Friday – $7 Gourmet Fundraiser

The internet would have you believe print media’s already dead, but soon as the power goes out, all those nerds start reaching for the newspaper. I grabbed a copy of Coffee News while eating a Supremo sandwich at Lemoni Cafe, and found this news item that’s pretty cool and doesn’t…

More Wine Tastings Than You Can Shake Your Drink At

Twitter intercept from ZeusOfOlympus – @Bacchus. Babylon is crumbling down. Report to Miami ASAP! Bring wine.It’s official. Miami may not grow grapes, but we like drinking em. Check out these upcoming winecentric events and give it up for that purple stuff…

Titanic Brewing Company – $10 Deals Through April

Titanic Brewing Company in Coral Gables is celebrating its 10th Anniversary and offering great specials til April 30th. The food and beer at Titanic are excellent. I used to be a dishwasher there so I had a lot of both. Here’re the deals. $10 Surf And Turf. Lunch or dinner…

Winners and Losers at Culinary Competition

WINNERS:P. Richard Brumm, executive sous chef at La Gorce Country Club in Miami Beach, won the American Culinary Federation’s Southeast Region Chef of the Year Award in Charlotte this past weekend. He will now represent the South at the ACF national competition in Orlando (July 11th to 14th).A team of…

Earth Day News: Chick-N-Grill Goes Green In Miami Lakes

 The new Chick-N-Grill in Miami Lakes (15356 NW 79th Ct.) is the first restaurant in Miami to obtain a Green certification. The certifying oganization is the Green Restaurant Association, based in Boston, which advocates for environmental sustainability by promoting eco-friendly food service industry practices.The landmark will be celebrated on Earth…

Neighborhood Bar Check-Off List for Little Hoolie’s

Aging cover band? Check. Blue Collar Betties dancing to “Hit Me With Your Best Shot?” Check. Guys in Hawaiian Shirts chugging Bud Light? Check, check. Said guys in Hawaiian shirts hitting on Blue Collar Betties? Check again. Spicy chicken wings on a table somewhere? Check. Two for one drink specials?…

Miami Lobster & Shrimp Cakes Cop Carolina Accolade

Klime Kovaceski is from Macedonia, not Miami, but during his years as owner of Crystal Cafe (which was on 41st Street in Miami Beach), the personable chef was adopted as a native son by a large and fiercely loyal local clientele. These former patrons will knowingly smile when they hear…

FIU’s Own Prof. Gump Teaches Wine to Chinese

Barry Gump is a wine EXPERT. He spent 30 years as a chemistry and enology (basically wineology) professor at California State University but now teaches as the “Harvey R. Chaplin Eminent Scholar’s Chair in Beverage Management at Florida International University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.” He’s curently teaching a…

The Chesterfield Gives It to You Quick and Dirty

Miami Beach’s Chesterfield Hotel is a great place to drink a free drink or five. Why? Because it’s free, dumbass. It would be a good place if it were a parking lot in Homestead. The deal is this: Every day from 7 to 8 p.m., the bar serves free vodka, rum,…

Hakkasan Open for Business

Hakkasan, a Michelin-starred Chinese restaurant with locations in London and Istanbul, held quite an opening bash Saturday night at the Fontainebleau. Three quick impressions:1. The decor, much like the Hakkasan in London, is exotic, romantic, stunning — long, creatively lighted bar and a series of small dining sections illuminated by…

Lime Fresh Midtown Grand Opening

Lime Fresh Mexican Grill is officially open for business in Midtown (on the corner of Buena Vista Avenue and NE 34th Street, in Miami, just south of the Target and one block east of North Miami Avenue). Last Thursday’s grand-opening festivities included a free taco bar, complimentary hors d’oeurves, free…

Wine Deals of the Week

TONIGHT: And every Monday night, DeVito’s South Beach is offering 50 percent off all bottles of wine under $200. That’s a solid deal. 305-531-0911.Blue Door at Delano will host a Joseph Phelps wine dinner starting at 7 p.m. The five-course meal features entrees such as banana-roasted lobster and rack of…

Beerfest, Beer Wars, and Beer By Itself

Thoughts from all over: -Saturday is the 12th Annual New Times Original Beerfest, in case all the fanfare has eluded you. Show up at 7 p.m. with $25 in hand (or buy tix in advance now – highly recommended), and you’ll be rewarded with four hours of non-stop beer sampling,…

The Friday Smorgasbord Weekly Wrap-Up

A smorgasbord is a Swedish buffet. Life is the same. Hit the table hard, eat like you mean it, then get up and do it again. We at Short Order are here to help you take advantage of as many culinary opportunities as we can. Whether you’re an opportunist, utilitarian,…

Winetastings From $15 to $150

Tonight, from 7 to 9:30 p.m., Angelo & Maxie’s Steakhouse in Coconut Grove will offer a winetasting accompanied by artisanal cheeses and snacks — just $15 per person. A post-tasting menu is offered for $30. 305-445-8177.     This coming Monday, April 20, Blue Door at Delano will host a Joseph…

No Worries: That lead-filled tap water is perfectly safe

Just catching up on my reading here, and boy is it depressing. An April 10 expose in Salon has embroiled the CDC in a cover-up scandal about lead-tainted water in Washington D.C. Our august Center for Disease Control published studies in 2004 that reassured worried parents and health officials about…

Let’s Play, “Where’s Norman?”

A couple of weeks ago we were musing about hot old chefs, and we wondered aloud where the hell Norman Van Aken had got to. I’m a bit late with this news, being way up here in Broward, but it turns out the Norman has returned at last to stage…

1-Minute Review: Maison Carlos

Not the Same As It Ever Was We once loved chic Maison Carlos for its nostalgic take on Italian and French “Continental” cuisine; the menu felt like a ’60s throwback plunked down in the middle of Clematis Street, from the oysters Rockefeller and vichyssoise to the soupe a l’ognion and…

B.B. King to Bring Blues Club to West Palm Beach

Every day he has the blues, and a hundred and some-odd days from now he’ll be bringing them to CityPlace.  “He” is Riley B. King, aka Beale Street Blues Boy, aka Blues Boy King, aka B.B. King, and the fourth of his B.B. King’s Blues Clubs is slated to occupy…

Weekend Blog Watch

Although Short Order is the only food blog you really need to read daily, some people just can’t get enough. Here are some highlights of other local food blogs:Eating Around South Florida focuses a little more on fast food and big chains, but it’s a good place to check out…