Last night, New Times held the pre-chef challenge for its Iron Fork event at La Cuisine Gourmet in Coral Gables. Four chefs competed: executive chef Maria Manso of the Blue Door at the Delano, executive chef John Critchley of Area 31, executive chef Sean Brasel of Meat Market, and executive…
Norman Van Aken and his ‘180’ team, including Chefs Philip Bryant and Justin Van Aken, are operating under a three-word mantra when it comes to their goals for the new restaurant slated to open in Coral Gables before the end of the year: “Desirability, Sustainability, Community.” Poised to re-enter the…
El Rey de las Fritas. Don Pan. Versailles. For some reason, Cuban joints in Miami have really boastful names; it takes a restaurant with cojones to actually prove it. For 25 years, “El Mago de las Fritas”, located at 5828 SW 8th Street, has shown Miami that its bark matches its delicious,…
If you’ve ever traveled North Miami Avenue between The Vagabond and The Electric Pickle, or Target and the Arsht depending on your proclivities, then you’ve probably noticed a distinctive pink, and white, and polka dotted building known as Grubstake (2401 N Miami Ave., Miami). It is a thrift store, a…
It was the end of June in New York City. The gourmet industry gathering that was the 2009 Fancy Food Show had run its course. Founder Francisco Pinto and partner Damien Claire, of luxury foodstuffs importer and distributor South Pacific Specialties, were boarding an evening American Airlines flight home to…
Watch the above video and you’ll notice that Miami-based international culinary personality Ingrid Hoffmann has more than milk stuck to her lips. According to a spokesperson for the Got Milk? campaign, “the milk mustache is a combination of low-fat milk and other low-fat dairy products.” Pressed as to what…
Sang’s Chinese Food Delivers
Funny that a school of hospitality makes students walk a 1/4 mile to take a cold-water-shower every other day. But, according to a Miami teacher in China, whose bathroom quarters are Western style, and heat equipped, that is indeed the case. Susan Berg Gladstone, an adjunct lecturer at FIU’s Biscayne…
Hippies, peaceniks, and pothead philosophy majors, rejoice! It’s OK to kill and eat plants. They won’t scream, they don’t cry, and “they don’t have a soul, they don’t have a spirit, they live within us, they like to live within us.” That’s according to Julio Maza, president of Harmony Vegetarian…
Sure, ceviche comes in all shapes, tastes, and sizes worth sampling regularly… But living on the edge during recent Peruvian restaurant outings, we shifted from automatic to manual ordering and tried some different menu items.Surprise! There are dishes for which it’s worth kicking the ceviche habit. Well, temporarily, at least. …
Every evening, thousands of local foodies head up to their respective rooftops and issue a plaintive wail that resounds and echoes forth into the dark and balmy Miami sky: God is great, but the same can’t be said for our Chinese restaurants! Actually, most of these people are obnoxious New…
Whether you’re in school, work, or prison, if you bite into a tomato in America it may very well come from the fields of Immokalee, Florida. That’s because major corporations like Aramark and Sodexo are huge buyers of Immokalee product and distributors with contracts for school and prison cafeterias. Immokalee…
BGM Management, run by Al Boatright and partners Brionne Gillion and Kareem Memarian, tore down Templo, Club Deep, and Ruby Lounge, at 619, 621 and 623 Washington Avenue respectively, in order to build out the 9,000 square foot Ahnvee Restaurant & Lounge. Tom Azar was lured as executive chef from…
The Quiet Palate: Much of Indian Palate’s cuisine warrants praise. Will it be enough to fill seats at the Coral Gables eatery?
Thou shalt not eat at any establishment calling itself a “New York deli” where the following is also served: sushi, Thai food, pizza, pasta, lobster.This is one of the Ten Commandments of Jewish Deli according to journalist David Sax, author of the forthcoming Save the Deli: In Search of Perfect…
Downtown Miami’s Arts & Entertainment District is getting another notch in its belt.The Urbanite Bistro (62 NE 14 St, across the street from The Vagabond), serving what a press release calls “eclectic bistro fare” is scheduled to open to the public September 10th.The press release says it’s an 83 seat…
Be Organic (click) are four chefs whose mission it is to spread the gospel of the organic lifestyle, its health, emotional, and monetary benefits.September 2nd they embark on a journey across the state of Florida, on bicycles, riding an average of 40 miles a day in 40 days and 40…
The question is not, is three Michelin star restaurant-experienced Chef Elida Villarroel ready for Coral Gables, but rather, is Coral Gables ready for her?Pensive and profound, yet uncomplicated. Calculated with a penchant for impulse. The mother of two and a half year old Andrea at home, whom she refused to…
Churchill’s Pub aka Churchill’s Hideaway is getting ready to celebrate 30 years in existence in Miami’s Little Haiti. There are a lot of old bars/live music venues in Dade, but what sets Churchill’s apart is that they’ll let anybody play there, which along with it being Dade County’s home of…
Brunch Bonanza at the Biltmore in Coral Gables and the Four Seasons on Brickell
Books are like glasses, people think they make them look smart. South Beach’s version of reading is eating at a book store on Lincoln Road, hence the success of Books & Books Cafe (927 Lincoln Road), now in its fifth year.To celebrate they’re offering specials on lunch for $18.09 and…
Back-to-school doesn’t have to mean an end to fun. It’s time to play with your food, and we don’t mean spaghetti sculptures of Fluffy the poodle.Metrozoo and Crazy Pianos are both hosting one-time events for the kid in all of us.Metrozoo (12400 SW 152nd St; Flooded Forest Room at Amazon…
