No longer just a toll-free way to zip from Miami to Miami Beach, the 79th Street Causeway is becoming a surprisingly hip restaurant row — not a walkable one, but at least a strip with enough interesting eateries to justify the drive. Some of the road’s new charms, though (like…
Where: La Nonna Restaurant, 117 SW 107th Ave, Sweetwater. What $15 Gets You: Linguine with garlic, basil pesto sauce, salad, a glass of wine I needed to find a restaurant near school that didn’t serve hamburgers, subs, or anything that even remotely resembled a sandwich, so I asked around. A…
Not so long ago, the notion of putting a wine bar at the corner of Biscayne Boulevard and NE 69th Street — one that sold something other than Mad Dog and the kind of fortified brake fluid that has to be hidden inside a brown paper bag — would have…
Upscale-casual dining establishments compose the fastest growing sector of the restaurant industry. The best ones provide comfortable, attractively designed dining rooms; fresh, flavorful cuisine; cheery service; and family-friendly prices. That’s Bonefish Grill in a clam shell. Alas, there are no clam shells to be found at this new Coral Gables…
Where: Nice Mon. 19695 NW 2nd Ave, Miami. What $15 Gets You: Jerk chicken meal, Jamaican beef patty, a drink. As I was traveling down Northwest Second Avenue one day, I noticed this green roofed building with a big yellow sign in front that said Nice Mon: Jamaican Restaurant and…
Sushi Club is located in an area of Miami Beach often referred to as “Little Buenos Aires.” But don’t expect the cutting-edge black and orange décor, loungelike ambiance, valet parking, live DJ, Thai and Vietnamese dishes, or all-you-can-eat sushi offered by the famous Sushi Club chain in, um, Big Buenos…
Big fat Americans like big fat food. That’s why God gave us The Cheesecake Factory. Michael’s Kitchen, a hit in Hollywood before its relocation last month to the Newport Beachside Hotel & Resort in Sunny Isles Beach, is a step above that cheesy chain but shares the same cuisine-as-circus-act sensibility…
When Alice Waters recently appeared at Books & Books to tout her new book, The Art of Simple Food: Notes, Lessons, and Recipes from a Delicious Revolution, she was asked if there were any restaurants in Miami that seemed to be following her organic canon. The prophetess of slow food…
One day the country’s learned gastronomes should study the gravitational pull of sushi in Thai restaurants. Is it some sort of sexy come-on? “Hey, big boy, wanna hand roll?” Savvy marketing ploy? “Buy two green papaya salads, get one California roll free! But wait, there’s more!” Out-and-out bribery? “Congressman, I’ll…
So many things seemed to go wrong with the Miami dining scene this year. First there were the big-name closures, most notably Norman’s, Pacific Time, Chispa, David Bouley Evolution, and Johnny V South Beach. Then an onslaught of national chains poured in at a pace heretofore not seen in these…
Like the West Coast’s renowned In-N-Out Burger chain, the East Coast’s Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries has distinctive retro Fifties décor. In fact the motif is so similar, down to the red-and-white-checked walls, that the California chain, family-owned since 1948, allegedly once considered a copycat suit against Five Guys…
Where: Hops Grill and Brewery , 1155 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines, (954) 441-4599 What $15 Gets You: Smothered Chicken Marsala, side of vegetables, side of fries, and a drink of your choice. The food at Hops wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. It was standard. Keeping in mind that…
It is, in short, a great time to be an eater.” So writes David Kamp in The United States of Arugula, and as his book’s subtitle suggests, “The Sun-Dried, Cold-Pressed, Dark-Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution” celebrates the availability of comestibles that far surpass anything “our grandparents…
We all know what time of year it is: Lots of sleigh bells tinkling and herald angels singing, ye faithful coming and shepherds quaking, not to mention a downright orgy of fa-la-la-la-la-ing, rum-pum-pum-pumming, and — for Santa’s sake — buy, buy, buying so everyone at the local mall doesn’t wind…
Where: La Estancia Argentina, 17870 Biscayne Blvd., Aventura. (305) 932 6477 What $15 gets you: prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich, your choice of sides, drink, and dessert. La Estancia Argentina isn’t just a restaurant. It’s actually also a general store, which specializes in Argentinean food. The whole concept is strangely inviting,…
A restorative mystery smoothie called a Grape Fizz, dropped off by sympathetic friends on one of those all-work-no-play days, is what originally induced me to further explore five-month-old Lemon Fizz. The remarkably refreshing, rich elixir was possibly the most satisfying smoothie I’d ever downed. An in-person look at the menu…
Juan Mario Maza and Vani Maharaj, owners of the new Alta Cocina in South Miami, have an interesting backstory to tell. Vani, from Trinidad and Tobago, and Juan, from Guatemala, met while studying cuisine at Johnson & Wales University in North Miami. Maharaj went on to work with Michelle Bernstein…
Where: Cheen Huaye, 15400 Biscayne Blvd. North Miami Beach, 305-956-2808 What $15 Gets You: Pollo a la Yucateaca, a side of rice, fried plantains and your choice of drinks (and complimentary chips and salsa). My friend had recommended Cheen Huaye, which served Southern Mexican cuisine (not Mexican Southern, I mean…
When Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said, “Less is more,” he wasn’t talking about Graziano’s. This comfortable, unpretentious Argentine steak house spits in the beer of “less.” It flips the bird to “moderation,” body-slams “cholesterol” to the pavement, and jackhammer-stomps “diet” into whining, sniveling submission. As for “vegetarian,” just one…
As the sun serenely sets into the cerulean Mediterranean sea, a familiar refrain can be heard around dinner tables throughout Greece: “Moussaka again?” Sadly the 10 million inhabitants of this country, along with their ancestors, have over many a millennia accumulated only 14 recipes. They are good recipes, mind you,…
Whelks and periwinkles are just two reasons to love Maison d’Azur, the sizzling new seafood brasserie at the Anglers Resort. The former are conchlike in texture, the “winkles” teeny and sweet, yet while de rigueur on seafood platters in France, these spiral-shell sea snails rarely crawl onto stateside menus. Their…
Tis the season! In Miami that means not only the time for Art Basel, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Eve parties, but also barbecues. While the rest of the country freezes, we get to grill in our swimsuits. Only problem is, after Thanksgiving’s sweating-over-a-hot-stove marathons, we’re all cooked out…
