As you pass by Romeo’s Café on Coral Way, the place appears to be your average neighborhood Italian restaurant, the type with straw-wrapped bottles of chianti on red-and-white-checkered tablecloths. There is nothing about the façade, in other words, that even hints at the unique and extraordinary dining experience lurking behind…
Since I first moved to South Florida in 1993, Ocean Drive has had a reputation as a great place to party but not a great place to eat. Not that there haven’t been notable exceptions. One of the main reasons I originally decided to move from New York to South…
Like many writers, I’ve often wondered how I would make my mark. Would it be via the most heart-wrenching poem ever written? The ultimate Great American novel? Maybe a truly astounding piece of journalism, enough to win — gasp — a Pulitzer? Nah. Nein. And definitely not even close. But…
It took a grueling telephone conversation with Lynne Wacholder to find out the name and location of Confiteria Buenos Aires Bakery & Café — I’m not entirely certain she’s even told her husband Victor about it yet. Apparently Lynne didn’t want hordes of people discovering her favorite neighborhood spot for…
With its red walls, checkerboard terrazzo floor, fabric-wrapped columns, fiber-optic lighting, and caped, oversize chairs, the two-level KISS Steakhouse and Lounge looks like the Mad Hatter’s tea party on location in Vegas. Which is an appropriate design for the late-night club that evolves at about 11:00 each night, when the…
Nothing made me realize more dramatically just how different living and eating in Miami was going to be than a conversation I had with a new Cuban-American friend shortly after I moved here; we were chatting about the main reason she could never live anywhere else in the United States…
Is there any point in summing up the past year? It doesn’t seem to matter what we’re talking about — dining, music, politics — all trains of thought lead to the wreckage of September 11. For most of us it’s as if the first eight months of the year didn’t…
“Anyone who isn’t mad or drunk is just a fool,” writes Tuan Ts’ai-Hua in The Feast of Flower-Pattern Wine. In Drinking Alone in the Moonlight, Li T’ai-Po notes that “only those in the midst of it can fully comprehend the joys of wine; I do not proclaim them to the…
Dining establishments are composed of innumerable components: service, ambiance, soups, entrées, wines, and so on. Certain restaurants end up being exactly the sum of their parts — some more so, others less. Generally speaking, though, if you are pleased with the individual aspects, you’ll most likely enjoy the whole experience…
Some people equate the Yucatán with Cancún or Cozumel, with lying on quiet white-sand beaches by day, guzzling margaritas in boisterous clubs at night. Mention the Yucatán to me, and all I think of is the town of Ticul (pronounced “tee-cool”), home of Gloria Del Socorro’s pollo pibil. Well all…
You’re 61 years old, a big-and-tall kind of guy, gray hair parted on the side, wearing a conservative navy suit and a tie emblazoned with the tourist traps of New York City. Your personal assistant is twentysomething, petite and pretty, and she’s the one who answers your cell phone that…
To judge by sheer number of outlets, sushi has long been South Beach’s favorite food (and I do mean outlets — one day on the beach, years ago, I encountered a guy selling maki rolls from a Jet Ski). And SoBe’s sushi has basically been darned good, too. But until…
You have to admire the arrogance. When McDonald’s unveiled its New Tastes Menu of South Florida about six weeks ago, the response was both immediate and unanimous. Those culinary professionals who actually pay attention to such things — meaning those who aren’t so snobby they ignore fast food altogether –…
So it’s that time of year again, and you’re as stuck as a wooden stick in a Fudgsicle. You simply have no idea what to give the gastronome in your life. Well, relax. I’m here to save your sorry imagination with a list of the wackiest, weirdest, and most useless…
It wasn’t long after chefs Jan Jorgensen and Soren Bredahl (from long-established Two Chefs restaurant) took over Scotty’s gourmet market a year ago August that they realized they had a problem: The addition of a top-end butcher operation was producing a lot of meat scraps. Fancy prime scraps to be…
So what’s the deal with all the CAPITAL LETTERS? Joining B.E.D., SUVA, and KISS, AMMO has just opened on Ponce de Leon Boulevard in Coral Gables. Perhaps owners Joel Lopez and Leo Scotto and executive chef Alexis Pimentel (formerly of Giacosa) thought we wouldn’t PAY ATTENTION to the cuisine, which…
The Incan word tambo refers to small inns that once populated the mountainous terrain of pre-Columbian Peru. Tambo, the new Japanese-Peruvian restaurant in Miami Beach, resembles neither a small inn nor anything you’d ever stumble across in mountainous terrain. In fact with its mosaic tile floor, sand-color walls, white tablecloths,…
Of the nine countries normally referred to as Southeast Asia (Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Malaysia, Singapore, Laos, Indonesia, and, stretching it a bit geographically but not culinarily, the Philippines), the cuisines of the first two are by far the most well-known over here. But despite far more American contact with…
There’s been a lot of talk lately about airline security, but precious little about being able to secure a good airport meal while waiting through the delays that these defensive concerns necessitate. I wouldn’t mind having to bide my time at the Houston airport for an extra hour or two…
With a name like Jacky Chan’s Superbowl, what diners would expect is ramen. And in fact Jacky turns out quite a super bowl of this soup; unlike the cheap, packaged, supermarket ramens that got most of us through our impoverished student days, the broth tastes like real stock instead of…
A fresh piece of fish doesn’t require a lot of dressing up to be alluring. Salt, pepper, drizzle of olive oil, sprinkle of lemon juice, and smattering of chopped herbs are more than enough. For some people. Others like their seafood adorned with additional flavors and textures and sauces and…
Okay, I’ve heard enough. Stop telling me it’s going to be a slow season, that dining aficionados are destined for disappointment, that nightlife connoisseurs will be bored enough to consider day jobs and reasonable bedtimes. If the season’s offerings are so supposedly meager, then why have I been signing my…
