Was it the Brady Bunch who sang something like, “When it’s time to change, you’ve got to rearrange?” Well, it might as well have been the Mango Gang. Joining Norman Van Aken in sourcing new Coral Gables gastronomic projects, Robbin Haas has left Baleen. He’s going it on his own…
I could blame Zagat for my heading to Caffe Vialetto with visions of haute conch and upscale callaloo in my head, but I’m too big for that. It’s true the dining guide ranks the restaurant number three in the “Top Caribbean” category, yet while I had never been to, or…
Early last spring I got an e-mail from a reader recommending a restaurant I’d actually noticed myself while reviewing another place in the same neighborhood, the increasingly lively area right off Circle Park. The quite overlookable spot (décor, as seen through a plain storefront, is basically beer neon and fishing…
Skepticism, I’m told, is an unattractive trait. Well, call me homely and be done with it. My nature refuses to allow me to take things at face value and endorse them blindly, which is why I voiced initial doubts about the inaugural Miami Spice project, a month-long promotion that concluded…
Pita Loca is a place I usually frequent alone, even when my wife comes along. She pretends she doesn’t know me. She’ll stand a few feet away, as if she’s a separate customer, when I order my hummus sandwich to go. It works like this: The man behind the counter…
314 72nd St, Miami Beach;
Good Chinese take-out is a whole different bag from good Chinese food — quite literally. Because aside from needing to be slightly undercooked, to travel from restaurant to home without physical deterioration, great Chinese take-out food must interact with its enclosing porous paper parts (cardboard lids and cartons, et cetera)…
About three months ago I received a press release that began, “If you’re not famous, notorious, or a young, beautiful, unescorted woman, be prepared to wait in line for a table at the new, hip restaurant lounge Barcode.” Okay, I thought: I’m definitely not a, b, or c. Also it’s…
As per usual, it’s been a summer of fish stories. Last year was high drama: The Season of the Shark Bites. But these past few months, the sharp-toothed predators lurking in shallow waters have been eclipsed by the ominously named red-eyed northern snakeheads, migrating to a pond near you; and…
It’s official: Michael Schwartz, erstwhile of Nemo, Shoji Sushi, and Big Pink, has gone corporate. If you call the Rubells a corporation, that is. Schwartz has agreed to revamp Atlantic at the Beach House Bal Harbour. I’m doubly delighted. I’ve always liked Schwartz’s laid-back culinary style, and I’m happy he’s…
So you’ve done your reading and decided going organic, or perhaps even attempting a raw diet, is within the realm of culinary possibility. Maybe you’ve been titillated by the specialty produce you’ve seen served in restaurants. Or like me, you’re for the most part seriously unhappy with the quality –…
Britto’s paintings are boastfully commercial in nature. Those in the art world can debate whether this quality diminishes his reputation as a serious artist, but there’s no doubt the bold lines and bright colors make for a cheery, even dazzling dining room décor at his namesake restaurant in South Beach…
Let’s start with the basics: There are three types of “eat-out,” as opposed to homemade, burgers. One is the slider, a thin two-biter that slides down the digestive tract so fast even skinny supermodels need to order a six-pack. White Castles (Krystals for Southerners) are the classic sliders. Two is…
So you’re a couple of New York guys who have just relocated. It’s earlier this year. It’s lunchtime. You’ve been doing something-or-other in Miami Shores, and are cruising south past some of the increasingly snazzy neighborhoods bordering Biscayne Boulevard, like Belle Meade and Morningside. You are real hungry. And what…
We used to refer to it as anti-establishment, or the counterculture, composed of those who espoused such things as vegetarianism, communal living, recycling, and organic, sustainable farming. But in the past twenty years or so we’ve seen the edges move toward the center, especially when it comes to culinary choices…
So where does Romeo’s get cozy with Escopazzo, Baleen slip under the sheets with Bice, and the Ritz get in bed with Azul? In Paradise, of course. Make that Paradise Farm, the living-a-dream business started by owner Gabriele Marewski last October. This five-acre organic, sustainable farm, which caters only to…
There are no menus handed out at Macaluso’s, a smart-looking Italian restaurant sitting almost secretly in a ministrip mall off Alton Road in South Beach. Instead most of the ten appetizers and seventeen main courses were rapidly enumerated by our waiter, a practice that I believe unfairly punishes those of…
Since there’s no dance music blaring over this humble luncheonette place, it’s hard to figure why Disco Fish is named that. Perhaps the reference is intended to suggest fish so fresh they’re still party animals boogying direct from boat to plate. However, though the eatery co-bills itself as a fish…
The first time I dined at Gusto’s, with Victoria, was the evening after she’d put the family cat in the clothes dryer. “The cat went in by hisself,” Victoria disagreed, demurely. “Yeah,” grimaced Victoria’s grandmother Marci. “Luckily she couldn’t figure out how to turn the thing on.” Victoria is three,…
This summer, my Livingston, New Jersey hometown newspaper, the venerable West Essex Tribune (yes, I have a subscription), embarked on a very important series: comparing towns, also named Livingston, from other areas of the country. How does their quality of life rate against that in our beloved suburbia? How can…
This week, the news is big. Really, truly huge. So titanic that it is, for lack of a better word, on par with el mundo. On second thought, make that MUNDO. While the former means the world, the latter spells Norman Van Aken’s officially announced new restaurant, due to open…
Is August really the dog days of summer? Not bloody Mary likely. In Miami the second half of August is shaping up to be more like the hair-of-the-dog days of summer. To wit: Restaurants like Café Del Mar in Miami Shores and Titanic Brewery and Restaurant have both reached seemingly…
