Side Dish

Now I know where humor columnist Dave Barry gets his zest for life: at my favorite Indian restaurant Anokhain Coconut Grove, where I dined at the table next to him last week. He's as full of fun-'n'-games in person as he is in print: When my daughter wandered over to him dangling her dad's car keys from her fist, he jokingly offered to trade vehicles with her. "I've got a Lexus," he said. We were seriously considering giving up our trusty Subaru when he added, "But it's leased."

•Restaurant publicist Sheila Shapiro hosted a sumptuous bris for her newborn son, Ian Howard Shapiro, at the Chabad House in Coconut Grove. The crowd was a slightly odd mix of her and business partner Terry Zarikian's A-list clients (including Cindy Hutson and Delius Shirley of Ortanique on the Mile) and Orthodox temple members, most of whom bee-lined to the open, top-label bar for a sip-sip after the snip-snip. Barton G Catering supplied a feast of smoked fish, salads, and pastas so delectable it almost makes me want to try for a boy so I can hire the company, too. Then again, maybe I'll throw a party just for the heck of it. Compare nine months of morning sickness to a one-day hangover and there's really no contest.

Kvetch: I pulled up to the drive-thru at the McDonald's on US1 and 27th Avenue. Before you go jumping to any conclusions, I was only getting a large coffee to counteract the sleepies I got from the wine I drank with lunch. The total came to 95 cents, so I handed the teen a five-dollar bill. She looked at me agape. "Don't you have anything smaller than this?" she asked incredulously. "I'm sorry, I don't have a dollar," I replied. "You're lucky I didn't give you a twenty." "Thanks for nothing," she snapped back before giving me my change. Hullo? Don't we live in the same world of ATM's and bills bigger than a buck? But her attitude wasn't the last insult -- turns out the coffee hadn't been brewed yet, and I had to park the car and head inside for a cuppa. So much for the convenience of drive-thrus.

Send your tasty tidbits to Jen Karetnick at 2800 Biscayne Blvd, Miami, FL 33137. Or e-mail kavetchnik@aol.com