Rocky Aoki didn’t invent teppanyaki dining, but he did introduce the Japanese tabletop cooking concept to the States in 1964, when he opened his first Benihana in New York City. Rocky can also claim credit for revving up the crowd-pleasing antics of his hibachi chefs way before Emeril. Aoki so…
What’s the difference between a Valentine’s Day restaurant meal and the same dinner on a normal night? About $50 to $200. Something is clearly wrong with this discrepancy, yet the heart-shape box of Russell Stover candies doesn’t quite cut it as a romantic expression, either. Leave it to a French…
Chef Govind Armstrong is the Zelig of contemporary California cuisine. He started out spending summers working with Wolfgang Puck at L.A.’s legendary Spago, beginning in that restaurant’s inaugural year — when it was the seminal spot for modern American gastronomy. Govind was thirteen years old at the time. The prodigal…
Some words are just natural red flags. When a politician says, “Honestly,” it means he’s getting ready to spew a load of horse effluent. When an insurance company talks about its “good hands,” it means you’re about to get the big finger. When an actor whines about “exhaustion,” it means…
Chéen-huyae is the sort of feel-good, fail-safe restaurant that timid American tourists visiting the Yucatan might approach with enthusiasm. A glass storefront façade lends an airy ambiance to the neat and petite 30-seater, even if it offers only the lackluster vista of a parking lot. Beige walls bedecked with sepia-tone…
The lentils are chilled, bits of red bell pepper flecked within, baby greens beneath. Aged sherry vinaigrette joins the cool salad tangle, plus three warm, tiny discs of octopus, all served in a white bowl with a high back — which it seems everyone is using these days. Nobody, though,…
Considering Miami’s predominance of Cuban immigrants, it’s astonishing that truly wonderful, home-style, traditional Cuban meals are rare here. One theory as to why this is so: These days the chefs in the kitchens are mostly from other Latin American countries. To an experienced food professional, this statement is not objective…
In 1984, Rudy “Butch” Stanko was sentenced to six years in prison for violating the Federal Meat Inspection Act. Court papers show that his Cattle King Packing Company was not only riddled with rats and cockroaches, but also workers at the facility routinely processed animals that were dead before arrival,…
Karma is the Buddhist principle that says what a person does in this life will determine his destiny in the next. If that’s the case, then the folks behind Karma, a très moderne pan-Asian restaurant just off the eatin’ path in downtown Coral Gables, should be raking in some serious…
Tommy Pooch, Alan Roth, and Eric Levin are seasoned party promoters and entrepreneurs, and as such boast more of a background in bouncers, booze, bimbos, and blasting music than in proffering fine cuisine. Excepting Rumi, which started out with excellent fare, Pucci’s Pizza (since sold) and SoBe Wraps are about…
When Deco Sandwiches, originally advertised as a 24-hour gourmet deli, opened just more than a year ago, the first thought that came to mind was the management must have a death wish. What other explanation could there be for opening another sandwich joint barely a block from La Sandwicherie? The…
Many years ago I found myself sitting on the outdoor patio at Joe’s Seafood Restaurant — a photogenic vista of the Miami River on the horizon, a piece of depressingly overdressed fish on the plate. It was agonizing to think, as I slowly poked at the sorry specimen with my…
Boring old hot dog — mustard, relish, maybe a little chopped onion. Trendy new haute dog — wasabi mayo, banana chips, avocado. That’s the idea behind Franktitude, a way-slick eatery that appears intent on doing to the wiener what eateries like Lindburger and Oneburger have done to the hamburger, essentially…
If you haven’t yet made it through your holiday gift list, do the following two things immediately: 1. Finish reading this review. 2. Go shopping. More specifically, drive to Bal Harbour Shops and buy the damn gifts already! Why Bal Harbour? Partly because the bargain stores have long been emptied…
When the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve, the Cuban tradition is to eat twelve grapes to ensure good luck for each month of the new year. The custom evidently originated in Spain, around 1900, derived from the hope that one year’s good wine grape harvest might be repeated…
They are the unclean, the defiled. Outcasts. Outlaws. Social pariahs, shunned by the righteous for their apostasy. They’re smokers, the only group it’s still PC to hate. But even these bottom-dwellers, the dregs of the dregs, smokers of the Duffel Bags of Death known as cigars, deserve a place to…
Sometimes it seems as though you can’t swing a strand of spaghetti in this town without hitting an Italian restaurant — and not just any Italian restaurant, but one whose idea of authenticity is white linens on the tables, Ol’ Blue Eyes on the stereo, and a big-bellied waiter in…
It might seem like we first began hearing about Karu Restaurant & Y sometime during the Clinton administration, but in actuality it has been only two-plus years since Cesar Sotomayor began work on his mega-ambitious project to create “a sanctuary of art, cuisine, and entertainment.” Sanctuary is an apt word,…
“Think about all the places we find propaganda right under our noses,” reads a coffee mug for sale in the Wolfsonian design museum’s Dynamo Café. “Like coffee cups.” It’s a reminder of the Wolf’s old days. Before heir Mitchell Wolfson Jr. gave his eccentric private collection to the State of…
Totally trashing an eatery is generally neither fun nor fair. But one thing that does justify joyful decimation is when a restaurant undeniably demonstrates deliberate disrespect for diners. And that’s a fair description of the experience two dining companions and I had recently at Cheli’s Café. After a brief initial…
Each year Sunny Isles Beach welcomes more than a million vacationers to its two-and-a-half-mile stretch of fine sand and sparkling waters. When a Russian company began building apartments in the area in 1996, the City of Sun and Sea also began welcoming a substantial influx of folks from that country…
“To tattoo something on your body for the rest of your life without knowing it means ‘trash can lid’ or ‘dog taco pants’ is stupid.” That’s a sound piece of advice offered by a Website specializing in “100 percent accurate kanji translations,” kanji being a Japanese ideographic symbol representing an…
