An instrumental version of “Send in the Clowns” was playing as we entered Casa Nostra, an Italian restaurant at the intersection of Mary and Oak streets in Coconut Grove. It’s the sort of schmaltzy song you might hear in a neighborhood Italian joint in Brooklyn or Jersey, which is what…
Some of the best tapas in Miami can be found at a gas station. “Right,” you say. “I want some of what he’s been smokin’.” My response is simple: Yes, that’s right. And, no, you can’t have any. If you don’t believe me, then join the sludge of traffic oozing…
The good old days ain’t what they used to be. Take Fox’s Sherron Inn. Created in 1946, its scruffy, blue-collar ambiance; midnight-in-an-inkwell lighting; and jukebox full of tunes by Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, and Patsy Cline say “bygone era” the same way Dick Cheney’s lip-curling death leer says war-mongering greedhead…
Lounges that serve food provide one-stop shopping for those interested in dinner, drinks, and a high-spirited evening of socializing without having to get into and out of automobiles in between. Staying put in one place saves time. It saves gas. It also prevents the heartache of abandoning a prize parking…
A debuted two months ago on the northern fringe of Miami’s Design District. It is named for the train line that traverses three boroughs of New York City. The moniker makes sense in light of the original A being located on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, but the spare and funky…
Since opening a few months ago, Lost & Found Saloon has lived up to its name: Lost behind bulldozers and mounds of street construction, this tiny Southwestern-theme neighborhood eatery/wine-and-beer bar has been difficult to find. But those who have waded through the clouds of construction dust have discovered what the…
Those who relish a waterfront disaster need not rely on the silver screen’s Poseidon: Just head to Café Sambal for dinner. Well, perhaps that is a bit harsh. The sushi bar tenders a first-rate array of pristine maki rolls, nigiri sushi, sashimi, and temaki (cones) — even the California roll,…
If you really want to bitch-slap a restaurateur, taste his food and then say, “It’s not authentic.” The words should be delivered with an audible sniff, as if someone launched a particularly foul cloud of gas in your direction. The tone should be haughty, dismissive, condescending — the same tone…
If the comprehensive story of hotel dining is ever written, it should be titled Upstairs, Downstairs, Downstairs. Upscale restaurants are generally located upstairs, often on the top floor. (If it’s a Hyatt, the room might even rotate.) Informal eateries tend to be situated at street level, thus easily accessible from…
Claiming to make “the best damn sandwich on the planet,” as Big Slick’s Deli does, is no small feat, considering the competition. In Manhattan, Craft’s famed New American chef Tom Colicchio recently opened Witchcraft, where the tuna fish sandwich is an innovative — and high-quality — combination of Sicilian tuna,…
When it comes to contests, the number six has historically portended unexpected outcomes. The sixth Summer Olympics, for instance, were to take place in Berlin in 1916 but were canceled because of World War I. Cavalcade copped top prize at the sixth annual Academy Awards in 1933, and nobody has…
Expectations are a bitch. Take Creek 28. Before coming to the cozy little restaurant in the off-the-eatin’-path Indian Creek Hotel, chef Kira Volz made the Abbey Dining Room — in the almost as obscurely located Abbey Hotel — into one of the best least-known dining spots on the Beach. It…
Jafar Shabani, who formerly owned The Fifth Street Market and La Factoria on Collins Avenue in South Beach, says Persian food is what he wanted to do all along. Jafar, born in Tehran and raised in Toronto, fulfilled this ambition by opening Rice House of Kabob on the Beach a…
One little-known fact about food writers: The background of many American restaurant reviewers does not include a stint at culinary school. Rather, these critics including the New York Times’ Eric Asimov, Gourmet’s Jonathan Gold, the Village Voice’s Robert Sietsema, and many more — were musicians. The connections between expertise in…
If I tell you Spiga’s dining room is one of the most beautiful and romantic in town, take the praise with a grain of salt: I put my two cents into the design. The man directly responsible was Peter Hawrylewicz, one of Miami’s premier architects. It was 1994, and having…
There is something endearing and a little scary about The Bamboo Shak, as if you went to dinner at your neighbor’s house and found he had built a fully operational 767 out of matchsticks and discarded washing machine parts. But you really have no idea until you step inside the…
The Japanese traditionally consider a huge variety of ingredients appropriate for use in sushi: pieces of egg omelet, a myriad of pickled or fresh vegetables, and most anything that swims in salt water, excepting foods that do not pair well with vinegared rice, such as oysters. In the Western world…
The official name of Bangkok, deemed lengthiest in the world by Guinness World Records, is Krungthep Mahanakhon Amorn Rattanakosin Mahintara Yudthaya Mahadilok Pohp Noparat Rajathanee Bureerom Udomrajniwes Mahasatarn Amorn Pimarn Avaltarnsatit Sakatattiya Visanukram Prasit. Bangkok likewise boasts the largest Chinatown outside China, is sinking at an alarming rate of two…
There was one line in there that hit me hard,” Michelle Bernstein said, her cutting board directly opposite mine at the far end of the long, narrow kitchen at Michy’s. “And it has stuck with me ever since.” She was referring to my review of Azul when it opened at…
In 1994, when South Beach was a sleeping giant just beginning to stir, Sport Café became the first budget Italian restaurant to set up shop. We forget how quickly times have changed: Sport’s location, Washington Avenue just off Fifth Street, was still considered an iffy place to walk around after…
Maroosh is the busiest restaurant I’ve seen that not one person claims to have heard of. On a recent Saturday evening, it was packed tighter than Lil’ Kim’s silicon-plumped zeppelins. And why not? The food is consistently tasty and well prepared, the portions are huge, and the prices are on…
Barely a week after Canela opened two months ago, a very picky Cuban-American friend of mine — who happens to be a stickler for authenticity — returned from a lunch at the small yet stylish café with a convincing report. She was particularly impressed with not only the daily special…
