Michael Psilakis’s Bistro E Debuts Today

It’s not often you get to enjoy a three-course lunch conceptualized by a Michelin-starred chef, in a drop-dead gorgeous dining room with a 15th-floor vista of the city, along with a pint of beer, for $15! Usually it costs about ten times that much. But beginning today, at the spanking-new…

Tap Tap Wheels Out New Snow-Cone Cart

When Gary Sanon-Jules was growing up in Port-au-Prince, he and his classmates would stream out of school at 3 p.m. and run to the fresco tap-tap — better known here as a snow-cone cart.This past Friday, Gary wheeled out a fresco tap-tap in front of Tap Tap Haitian Restaurant, on…

The Villa by Barton G. Is Changing Chefs

Short Order has learned that The Villa by Barton G. is in the process of changing executive chefs. This means chef Justin Albertson is out, his sous chef has temporarily taken over, and a new top toque will be in tow “within the next few weeks,” according to a Barton G…

Chicken Yakitori at Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill

Sugarcane’s chicken yakitori works equally well as a palate-prickling starter to stimulate the appetite or as a bar accompaniment come cocktail hour. What’s not to like? Plump pieces of juicy breast meat, interspersed with snippets of leek-like Tokyo scallions, get lightly charred in a robata grill and glazed with a…

Sneak Review: Racks Italian Kitchen

Pizza isn’t the official headliner, but it surely steals the show. There are four choices each of vaguely oval-shaped red-sauced or white-cheesed pies. The most basic version gets topped with tomato sauce, fiore di latte and Reggiano cheeses, olive oil, basil, and little crackles of sea salt. The dough is…

Top 5 Miami Restaurants for LeBron James to Dine

OK, LeBron, all you have to do is let the word Miami mellifluously slide from your lips tonight and everybody will be happy. Extremely happy. And we know you’ll be besieged with all sorts of stuff as soon as you make your announcement, so feel free to print out this…

Last of the Lychees

July 4th weekend traditionally signals the end of lychee season. Earlier this week, my wife snared a bag of the last of lovely Paradise Farms’ Sweet Heart lychees. More to the point: Gabriele Marewski, bless her sweet heart, knows how much my wife loves this fruit and put some aside for…

Pascal’s Gnocchi With Oyster Mushrooms, Mascarpone, and Truffle Oil

Pascal’s on Ponce is flat-out one of this city’s best spots for dining. The food is prepared so delicately, and the flavors are divine. Pascal’s isn’t necessarily known for its gnocchi, but this stuff is unbelievably good: twisted, spätzle-size pearls of ethereal potato-based pasta adorned with oyster mushrooms, creamed with…

First Look: Nany’s Café on South Beach

Nany’s Bakery, a Pembroke Pines favorite for the past four years, now has a South Beach branch — except this one is called Nany’s Café. The Colombian restaurant opened in May on a stretch of Washington Avenue that is suddenly getting busy with new eateries (such as Miss Saigon and Otentico)…

Summer Fruit: A Country Garden Cookbook

This is the second installment of our ongoing series that spotlights interesting cookbooks. Some will be new and familiar, chosen because we think they’re really good. Others will be highlighted as a means of introducing you to cookbooks you might not know about — and that we also think are…

First Look: Bernie’s L.A. Café on South Beach

Bernie’s L.A. Café opened to a packed house on Alton Road last week, and it continues to pack ’em in this week. Part of the built-in appeal is the familiarity with chef/owner Bernie Matz, who has a following from his Café at Books & Books. There is no literary backdrop…

First Look: Miss Saigon on South Beach

As we reported last week, Miss Saigon is now open for business on South Beach. Locals are familiar with the Vietnamese restaurant from its Coral Gables and Pinecrest locations. The menu is similar here, although the emphasis is weighted more toward take-out; there are just six seats in the petite…

Blue Mountain Coffee Now at Starbucks

On this, the morning after a frolicking July 4th weekend, you might find yourself in want of a good cup of coffee. Or maybe you crave something better than that, like a cup of coffee made from some of the world’s most heralded beans — those from Jamaica’s Blue Mountains…

Sneak Review: Otentico Fresh Food Restaurant

A small bite of the upcoming Cafe review:Otentic is a clean, bright, contemporary bistro that looks out of place on this fast food stretch of Washington Avenue. Most everything at Otentic is slow: The cooking of food, the movement of workers, seemingly time itself. Yet after you finish off a…

Miss Saigon Opens Today on South Beach

Miss Saigon, the popular veteran Vietnamese restaurant from Coral Gables, quietly opened a second, smaller branch on Washington Avenue today — less than an hour ago, actually. The space is quaint, the menu extensive — including bánh mì sandwiches, which should prove popular in this neighborhood. Also on the menu…

July 4 Cocktail Plea: Give Me LiberTea or Give Me the Recipe

All sorts of recipes seem to come our way, including lots of cocktail ideas. Concerning the latter, we try to pass on only those that are distinctive in some way, or at the very least those that offer sparkling refreshment for Miami heat. The LiberTea, a Fourth of July marketing moniker cooked…

Graeter’s Ice Cream Available at SoBe Scoops

The ice-cream industry is really pushing the National Ice Cream Month promo this year, but in South Florida, every month is ice-cream month. That’s probably why local hotels are finally getting into the act with a new focus on inventive ice-cream offerings. (Riki “off-my-cleanse-diet” Altman featured La Marea’s selection yesterday.) A…

A July 4th Cookbook, Culinaria: The United States

This is the first of what will be an ongoing series that looks at interesting cookbooks. Some will be new and familiar, chosen because we think they’re really good. Others will be highlighted as a means of introducing you to cookbooks you might not know about — due to being…

Crazee Olive’s Late Night Falafel On South Beach

How can it be that a new falafel joint opened almost a year ago and nobody told me? I had to sniff it out myself while riding by last night on Washington Avenue. Crazee Olive Mediterranean Grill is actually more than just a falafel joint — it offers a pretty…