Meatless in Miami: Om (Nom Nom) Garden

Anyone with special tastes — whether it be in food, wine or vinyl records — knows they have to seek out certain destinations to get precisely what they’re looking for. After hearing about Om Garden for ages and tragically stopping by when they used to be closed Sundays, I finally arrived…

SBWFF 2010: Daniel Boulud, Morimoto, and Friends Haiti Benefit at Tap Tap

Chefs Daniel Boulud, Masaharu Morimoto, Kris Wessel, and Jose Garces teamed up last night for a Haiti benefit dinner at South Beach’s Kreyol landmark Tap Tap restaurant.Wessel said the event, organized by South Beach Wine and Food Festival director Lee Brian Schrager, came together via twitter. “Lee put out a…

Bourbon Steak’s Rip-Roarin’ Burger Bash Entry

Spies inside Bourbon Steak’s kitchen found executive chef Gabriel Fenton hard at work hand-shaping a substantial amount of meat patties–hundreds, actually–and later discovered he was prepping for Burger Bash. He says there’s no secret to his entry, as it’s the same delicious, Michael Mina signature hamburger always served at the…

Enter the South Beach Wine & Food Fest Twitterverse

Welcome to the future. This year’s South Beach Wine & Food Festival will be the first to occur at the dawn of the age of real time media. Sure Twitter’s been around for years, but now it’s so mainstream your grandma’s on it. If she’s got food on her mind…

Talula’s Offal Tasting Menu for South Beach Wine & Food Fest

The South Beach Wine and Food Festival is in for an offal treat. That means organs, and entrails from pig, cow, ducks, and more at Talula, Miami Beach’s best kept secret.On the menu are delicacies like sweetbreads, livers, hearts, tripe, ears, and foie gras for a total of seven courses…

Better Halves: Interview with Ottavia Busia Bourdain

If you’re familiar with food porn, Ottavia’s last name should ring a bell. Her husband is print, television, and most recently Martha Stewart Living radio food pornographer Anthony Bourdain, famous for his salacious tell-all memoir Kitchen Confidential and Travel Channel show, Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. While we wish he would…

Kris Wessel Interview, Part Two

This is part two of our interview with Kris Wessel, chef/owner of Red Light Little River. You can read the first part of the interview here. Three influences that, culinarily speaking, got you to where you are today.Growing up in New Orleans. Travelling through Europe. And the lack of Miami…

Kris Wessel Interview, Part One

Kris Wessel, a tall, lanky New Orleans native, is Miami’s blue-collar superstar chef. He looks and acts it — a laid-back demeanor, a hard work ethic, and a no-nonsense, populist approach to dining. His acclaimed Red Light Little River was carved from a ruinous space wedged in a formerly seedy…

Interview: Philippe Chow Gets the 10

The battle of the Chows didn’t start in Miami Beach, but when Mr. Chow and Philippe by Philippe Chow opened mere footsteps away from each other, down came the machetes. Both gents may share the same last name (and, it seems, some similar recipes–more on this later), but so there’s…

Sneak Review: The Unofficial SBWFF Highlight Reel

Next week, in place of our restaurant review will be an overview of the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. Here’s a taste:”The most motherfucking stars of any Spanish restaurant in the U.S.,” bellowed Mario Batali from the stage in describing what he thought to be an overly generous rating…

Sushi Maki Rolls Out a Restaurant at MIA

The “sushi-roll cutting” ceremony took place on Wednesday, so it’s now official: The omnipresent Sushi Maki (restaurants, universities, Whole Foods…) has just opened a 2,000-square-foot, full-service Japanese restaurant in Concourse D of Miami International Airport. It also features a Grab-and-Go counter where customers short on time can pick up sushi…

New Altamare Food Photos

Altamare is now open for business, replacing Altamar next door. New executive chef Simon Stojanovic is redefining the immensely popular South Beach restaurant with sustainable and organic menu items. Look for contemporary combos such as Fuyu persimmon salad with heirloom tomato, toasted pumpkin seed, Swank farms petite fennel, and pear…

Miami Street Food Fest Rolling Into Town this Spring

The Miami Street Food Fest could one day be bigger than the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, but it’ll have to get its wheels on the road first.This spring, the first annual Fest will welcome carts, trucks, vendors, tents, and the people who love them to some as yet…