The Great Tomato Mess: Forget About It, They’re Evil

Everybody’s whining about the lack of tomatoes these days. The winter freeze down our way messed up the supply, so there just aren’t many. DiMare farms, the biggest producer, is sending out just 20 percent of the usual haul. Subway, my favorite lunch joint, posted a sign yesterday that only…

Altamare Opens For Lunch With Free Prosecco

Altamare Restaurant will officially open for lunch tomorrow, Wednesday, March 3 (noon to 4:00 p.m.). To help create a festive mood for the occasion, owner Claudio Giordano will be pouring complimentary glasses of prosecco. Count us in.1233 Lincoln Road, Miami Beach305-532-3061…

Carnaval Miami Cooking Contest As Part of Calle Ocho Festival

Got pork?Send your special recipe for 8 portions of the other white meat “prepared with the flavor of your native country” to the Kiwanis Club of Little Havana (1400 SW 1st Street. Miami, FL 33135) along with your name, address, and phone number.You could be chosen for the finals (for…

Two New Chilorio’s Very Mexican Joints Now Very Open

Chilorio’s Very Mexican, “a fast-casual fresh Mexican restaurant,” has opened not one, but two new South Florida outposts: At 130 Miracle Mile in Coral Gables, and at 8211 South Dixie Highway in South Miami. Both spots offer what Chilorio bills as “dishes made from authentic Mexican recipes, many of which…

The Scoop on South Miami’s 72nd Bar & Grill

If you’re not a subscriber to our weekly Café Bites dining newsletter, here’s a taste of what you’re missing. Click here to subscribe.72nd Bar & Grill isn’t the 72nd moderately priced, neighborhoody bar and grill to open in Miami since the Great Recession took a blowtorch to upscale dining establishments…

Where It At? Leek Dumpling from SBWFF

What it is: Pan-fried leek dumpling with a bit of osetra draped over it.Where it at: Well, it was at one of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival events. But what chef, from what restaurant, put it out?…

Guy Fieri Ties Up South Beach Wine & Food Festival 2010

The South Beach Wine & Food Festival wrapped up last night with a beach party hosted by Guy Fieri at the Gansevoort’s Beach Club, appropriately themed “Moon Over Miami,” since the full, orange moon began to dip just as the party began. At 6 p.m. a line had already started…

Heavens To Betsy! BLT Partners Split

Laurent Tourondel and BLT empire business partner Jimmy Haber, have parted ways, two days short of their sixth anniversary of partnership. Haber gets BLT Steak in New York, Los Angeles and Washington, and also BLT Fish, BLT Prime and BLT Burger in New York.Chef Tourondel will still be executive chef…

Exclusive: The Forge Announces Opening Date

Shareef Malnik, the charismatic owner of The Forge restaurant, was back in action at the BubbleQ on Friday during the Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival. It was Malnik’s return to the culinary arena, since he shuttered his iconic steakhouse last summer. He also introduced the food world…

SBWFF 2010: Dim Sum & Disco In Photos

Dim Sum & Disco was the best event I attended at this year’s Festival. It was loose, fun, funky, featured fantastic food by great chefs, amazing Ty Ku cocktails by famed mixologist Tony Abu-Ganim, and the gorgeous Setai outdoor area. Truth be told, for much of the night I was…

SBWFF 2010: Lidia & Joe Bastianich at the Barilla Interactive Dinner

Guests who bought $225 tickets to last night’s Barilla Interactive Dinner at the Biltmore hotel probably assumed the word “interactive” meant a chef would be cooking for them at each table. Not so. As hungry diners dressed in everything from jeans to suits entered the room, they found cloth toques…

SBWFF 2010: Scott Conant’s Barilla Interactive Lunch

Female fans rushed Scarpetta’s Scott Conant at yesterday’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival Barilla Interactive Lunch at the Biltmore Hotel. They wanted to snap his picture. “I haven’t gotten this much attention since my wedding,” he told an audience of about 200. Some jumped on stage as Conant prepared…

SBWFF 2010: The Best of Best of the Best

Best use of pork belly (and there was a lot of pork belly) was this satsuma glazed square with cilantro and marinated beets on the side from Susan Zemanick, chef of Gautreau’s in New Orleans:Best single bite of food at the affair was foie gras bon bons from Beast, in…

SBWFF 2010: Best of the Best Has Jumped the Shark

Even the best things in life come to an end, and so it goes with SBWFF’s Best of the Best. Oh sure, it still presents great national chefs putting out delicious tidbits and fantastic vintners pouring wonderful wines. We’re not suggesting it’s a bad time at all. In fact, we…