It seems Portugal has never quite gotten out of the shadow of its bigger, more renowned, more influential Spanish neighbor. Think Sonoma to Napa, St. Paul to Minneapolis, Shrub to Darth Cheney. It’s too bad, really, because Portugal is a fascinating country in its own right, with a distinctive culinary…
Now that the performing arts center is finally operational, how soon will it be before the rest of the much-vaunted downtown Miami gentrification process happens? How soon until the area becomes a genuine 24/7 urban center with relatively sophisticated people walking the streets and enjoying nice restaurants and civilized amenities…
If you were to visit Hiro’s Yakko-San once a week and sample five items each time, it would take seven and a half months to taste every offering (and you’d still miss some of the specials that change nightly). I don’t make it to this Japanese restaurant nearly that often,…
Just a few days ago, my wife and I were sweating under a relentless sun in the dusty little Yucatecan village of Tikul, sitting at a Formica-top table in some nondescript dive. A halfhearted slo-mo ceiling fan above us mocked the concept of cool as I reached, again and again,…
The recipe for successful crêpes is easy: eggs, milk, flour, a little butter or oil. Cook in a nonstick skillet or one of those odd-looking French crêpe pans that resembles an upside-down pot. The recipe for a successful crêpe restaurant … well, that’s a little more complicated. French Box Café,…
“Write what you know” is probably the most common advice given to would-be scribes. And despite the initial impressiveness of menus that rival War and Peace in size and scope, it’s darn good advice for chefs too. The temptation to try to be all things to all people invariably results…
Tom Billante can’t stop opening restaurants. Ever since founding the Ferrari’s chain of Italian cafeterias in the 1970s (which was later sold to Cozzoli’s), he has teamed with family members and other partners to launch one eatery after another along South Florida’s east coast (and his former, once flourishing Mezzanotte…
Most diners, including reviewers, are sensible enough to take cost into consideration when reflecting upon a restaurant meal. If served, say, a savory but less-than-stellar sirloin for $15, we are apt to cap any negative judgment with a modifying sentiment: “It might not be the best steak I’ve ever had,…
In the beginning, there was the hamburger, a simple round of chopped beef slipped into a soft white bun. And the hamburger begat the cheeseburger, which begat the double cheeseburger with large fries, which begat the turkey burger and the tuna burger, the mushroom burger and the veggie burger. And…
If I sound a sardonic note or two in this review, it is likely because of my current battle with PPDS, or post-Post depression syndrome. Although affecting only a minuscule segment of the population, PPDS is highly prevalent among those who have dined at Post Restaurant and Lounge. Symptoms include…
Elsie is standing behind the counter of LC’s Roti Shop, explaining that when the neon signage outside was first erected twenty years ago, “they charged by the letter, so I shortened my name to LC.” The little storefront shanty has hardly changed a whit since — it still has more…
It’s a corporate world and we just live in it. Art, music, literature, film — not to mention daily minutiae such as toothpaste and automobiles — are conceived, packaged, promoted, and sold by gigantic, faceless entities that have all the conscience of a great white shark and all the commitment…
Renaisa Indian Restaurant, located just east of Biscayne Boulevard, boasts indoor and outdoor tables facing the Little River canal off 79th Street — not exactly a Venetian vista, but diners seem to love sitting by just about any body of water. That’s one reason for Renaisa’s success over the past…
Most locals know NE 167th/163rd Street as a shopping destination, not as a restaurant row. But the roughly three-mile strip between I-95 and Biscayne Boulevard is the closest thing our town has to a Chinatown — though it’s actually more of a Pan-Asiantown. On their way to Home Depot, Wal-mart,…
There exists an inherent elegance through simplicity.” That’s one of Chef Jeffrey Brana’s talking points concerning the cuisine at his and wife Anna Elena’s new Coral Gables dining establishment, but he could just as well be describing the 50-seat restaurant’s modest decorative scheme. Pale yellow walls in the tasteful rectangular…
Ask any resident of a major city, from San Francisco to Lima, Peru — or even citizens of not-so-major cities like Portland, Oregon; or Richmond, British Columbia — where the local Chinatown is, and they’ll have no trouble directing you to some dense enclave of Asian culture and businesses, where…
“Where Cuba meets the Far East” is Oriente at Cardozo’s motto, which on paper isn’t a bad idea. The crisp, light flavors and exotic spices of Asia offer a potentially tantalizing contrast to heartier, homespun island fare. A little yin and yang, so to speak. Throw in American-style salads and…
Is there any scarier word on a restaurant menu than healthy? Okay, maybe vegan. “Fat is flavor,” chefs say, which is why a well-marbled steak cuts like butter and tastes like heaven, why a half-pound of butter suspended in an emulsion of acid and herbs is as natural an accompaniment…
Restaurant reviewers find our prey many ways, most of them as unexciting as the way African big-game “hunters” find theirs — by using savvy local guides rather than doing any real hunting themselves. But occasionally one does stumble out of some metaphorical mist and find oneself, accidentally, in Brigadoon. (For…
There’s nothing quite so satisfying as sitting peacefully by a river and composing poetry. Finnegan’s Way? Can’t really say. Maybe that’s not entirely true — dining by a river can be just as rewarding, and even more so for those not as fortunate as I to be blessed with poetic…
The first duty of food is to be really delicious.” Cindy Pawlcyn, one of my favorite chefs in the Napa Valley, made that statement, and it’s God’s own truth. Of course, in our little town, that’s like shouting “Long live Fidel!” from atop the Freedom Tower. Too many local restaurateurs…
Brothers Nicola and Fabrizio Carro are probably a little freaked out right now. Orchestrating the daily culinary operations at a bustling newcomer like Quattro Gastronomia Italiana is a tall enough order, but the two Piedmontese chefs are also busy getting acquainted with cooking in America for the first time. This…
