First Look At Canyon Ranch Grill

Another day, another restaurant debut. After a soft opening in November, Canyon Ranch Grill  in Canyon Ranch Miami Beach (6900 Collins Ave.) is set to go public. Chef Alex Asteinza oversees the Canyon canon of healthful foods that fit with the spa’s “wellness lifestyle”. Starters, $9 to $16, include: Pumpkin…

News Café Celebrates 20 Years

President Reagan was finishing his second term, Rain Man was the big box office hit, and we were more than a decade away from having heard of Osama or Obama. As much as the world has changed over the past 20 years, South Beach has undergone an even greater transformation…

Roach-Infested Sub Shop

Roaches. Love em’, hate em’, eat em’. Or don’t, at least not at a North Miami Quiznos location (11850 Biscayne Blvd., North Miami). The restaurant was temporarily closed down on December 4 by the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation after inspectors found 12 violations, which they termed “critical.”…

Iron Guest List: Morimoto at the Boca Raton Resort

“Peace out, New Times.”Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto’s new restaurant in the Boca Raton Resort is exclusive.  So exclusive, in fact, that New Times can’t get in.Last week we made a call down to the resort to see if we could snag a table at the month-old sushi bar and restaurant,…

Slow Boats and Smoked Bacon

You couldn’t pay me the $500 prix fixe to get me to eat “dinner in the sky” at the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek — apart from my terror of heights, I haven’t been strapped to a dining chair since I was 6 months old and I’m regressing fast enough as…

Asia de Cuba Set For SoBe

This coming Monday, December 8th, Asia de Cuba will debut in the Mondrian South Beach (1100 West Avenue). This China Grill Management concept first appeared eleven years ago in New York CIty’s Morgans Hotel, and has since branched out to The Mondrian in Los Angeles and Scottsdale, The Clift in…

Joe the Restaurant

Joe Allen, the restaurateur, once remarked, “Life is a cruel joke, but less cruel and more of a joke when you’re in a good bar.” Joe Allen, the restaurant, has a good bar. It is also one of very few casual, unassuming restaurants on South Beach that offers affordable American…

Rat Shit Central

On November 14th, 2008, the Lakes Sports Bar and Grill, located at 6125 Miami Lakes Drive, underwent a routine “Food Licensing Inspection” conducted by the Florida Department of Business & Professional Regulation. What they found was shit, from rats, and lots of it. The rat-shit code violation is one of…

Restaurant Preview 2

Michelle Bernstein’s Sra. Martinez will be debuting this Monday in the  Design District. On Tuesday the Wynwood hood, which has been quiet as an empty canvas concerning food, will finally have a restaurant: Joey’s, a contemporary Italian café at 2506 N.W. 2nd Avenue. Developer Joey Goldman and well-known father/partner Tony…

Moshi Moshi Good Good in MiMo

It used to be that the best fish in Peru went to the chickens. The coastal location ensured there was never a shortage of seafood, but because Peruvians preferred meat, much of their ocean bounty was fed to the birds — which unfortunately permeated the poultry with a fishy taste…

Fried, Smoked, Dipped, and Fried Again at the Broward County Fair

The fair is a veritable smorgasbord…                Photos by C. StilesIf there’s one thing to be said about the traditional county fair, it’s that they’re perfect testing grounds for new foods; prime places to push the boundaries a bit, largely in pursuit of an answer to the question, “What doesn’t taste…

Planning ahead: VinItaly Miami

Baby wants Amarone Always planning ahead, I am, and this year you can skip the chocolate-covered chocolates on Valentine’s Day and buy me tickets to Vinitaly instead. I know it seems like our favorite romantic occasion is months and months away, to say nothing of the MAJOR PRESENT HOLIDAY we…

South Beach’s Wish Restaurant

A decade ago this month, chef Gary Robins inaugurated Wish Restaurant in The Hotel with a brash and brilliant haute vegetarian menu. The public didn’t bite; Robins went on to achieve fame and acclaim in New York City. Andrea Curto took over the South Beach spot, made Wish come true,…

Dine Out Lauderdale Extended

You haven’t quite missed the bargains this year: Dine Out Fort Lauderdale has been extended until December 14th for 22 of the restaurants originally participating. Among them, Cero (they have a new chef, Toby Joseph has left to go to Bova Prime); Four Rivers, and 3030 Ocean; Lola’s on Harrison…

Top Chefs Throw Pity Party, Dec. 8th

Sandy Skoglund, “The Cocktail Party” Got 100 people coming for a holiday shindig? Stupidest idea you EVER had, right? Believe it, we’ve been there. But four of Palm Beach’s top chefs are taking pity this season and throwing a bash at Cafe Boulud that might help prevent us from totally…

Michelle Es Señora Martinez

Michelle Bernstein had wanted to name her upcoming Design District restaurant “Buena Vista”, as it is located in the historic Buena Vista Post Office, and would also fit the Spanish nature of the place. Alas, there is already a Buena Vista Cafe, so Michelle has decided to call her tapas…

South Beach Restaurant Preview

‘Tis the season for South Beach restaurants to bloom like so many poinsettia at Christmas. The neighborhood south of Fifth Street is going to get especially crowded with new eateries during the coming weeks and months. Topping our Pavlovian anticipations is Au Pied de Cochon, which will debut at the…

Thanksgiving Is for the Birds

John Currin, Thanksgiving, 2003 I’ve volunteered to do Thanksgiving again this year, complete with Heritage bird, and though there’s a part of me that really gets off on shoving my butter-coated fist into a turkey cavity this isn’t a job I’d really wish on anybody. It’s just too messy, too…

Bengal Modern Indian Cuisine Opens on Biscayne Boulevard

Bengal’s contemporary two-level space is lovely. Walls of pastel mint green are minimally adorned with brightly colored sconces that illuminate the restaurant at night; during lunchtime, a soothing natural light comes in courtesy of floor-to-ceiling storefront windows. Tables on terrazzo floors are topped with white linen over maroon undercloths that…

Whatever happened to Toby Joseph?

For those of you who’ve been waiting to grub out at chef Toby Joseph’s new Bova Prime, your moment has arrived. Bova is still operating under its old marquee — it was Riley McDermott’s, and so it shall remain for a week or three — but the menu is all…

Bernstein at the Omphoy?

Teaching an old town new tricks? It looks like the island of Palm Beach is going to try to shake its image as the most boring resort city on the planet. I don’t know what happened — when I was a teenager the island was fun: We actually had a…

French Fare at Le P’tit Paris in Coconut Grove

Le Bouchon du Grove has long been one of Coconut Grove’s best restaurants: The French fare is solid, prices are reasonable, and a boisterous ambiance beckons. So upon hearing of a second bistro with the same owners, I expected something special. Yet like so many movie sequels, Le P’tit Paris…