Food Media: From Chutzpah To Mein Kampf

“One of the most accomplished, respected, and charismatic chefs in the world.” Of course you’ve probably guessed that we are speaking of Miami’s own Adrianne Calvo, 24-year old chef/owner of Adrianne’s Vineyard Restaurant & Wine Bar. What’s that? Never heard of her? Well if you’ve got $91.99 to shell out,…

Joey’s Restaurant Is a Wynwood Winner

Father/son developers Tony and Joey Goldman own more than 20 commercial properties near NW 28th Street and Second Avenue in the Wynwood Arts District. Until recently, their real estate portfolio was akin to a philatelist’s unfilled album — just so many pages of drawings and plans. But on December 1,…

Michy’s Second Season

 Michelle Bernstein returns as host of WPBT-2’s popular television show Check, Please! South Florida, and Season 2, which premieres Monday, March 9th, promises to contain almost as many new twists as the latest episodes of Lost. On second thought, maybe I’m exaggerating a bit; there are really only two changes…

RACKS Is Whack

Another day, another European-style new age trattoria/old world Italian bar/outdoor marketplace/espresso bar/chic urban pizzeria getting set to open. Welcome to RACKS Italian Bistro And Market, owned by Gary Rack, who evidently didn’t like the sound of the name GARYS. Mr. Rack, founder of Boca Raton’s Coal Mine Pizza, sets out…

Shaka Can, And Does, Downtown

Admittedly this photo sent to us by the folks at  Shaka Jon’s isn’t going to draw any comparisons with the work of André Kertész, but luckily Shaka is about food and drink, not photography. The new downtown restaurant, located at 48 East Flagler Street, offers an informal, low-priced menu of…

The New Deal Is Old — And Kosher

There’s all sorts of talk about New Deal this and New Deal that these days, which is fine by Heshy Wilensky, proprietor of the New Deal Kosher Market. Located at 1362 NE 163rd Street in North Miami Beach, it is the only butcher shop in South Florida that has operated…

A Room with a View

A burgundy stream of Cavia Malbec cascades into a short-stemmed snifter and stops abruptly as our waiter snaps the bottle upright. Lifting the glass to eye level and looking closely at the lower, liquid-filled half, I see a convex reflection of Buena Vista Bistro’s 24-seat room: black-topped tables lining the…

Musings: South Beach Wine & Food, Midtown and Root Beer

In light of the upcoming South Beach Wine & Food Festival, I propose a law requiring that no posted photo of any Food Network personality ever exceed the size of a postage stamp. Our fine dining establishments are much improved in terms of the quality of cuisine served, but they’ve…

Chocolate-Dipped Fairchild

This Thursday evening, Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden will be hosting the Third Annual International Chocolate Festival Kickoff Party. No, I didn’t know about the first two either, but this year’s one-hour shindig (6 to 7 p.m.) features hors d’oeuvres from exceptional chef Edgar Leal of Cacao Restaurant — reason enough…

Bush Banishes Roquefort

Apparently even in its’ final moments, the Bush administration’s penchant for pettiness has not yet been exhausted. The latest victim is Roquefort cheese, which has had its’ import duty rate tripled to 300% by the lame duck government. According to an article in The Guardian, the move was taken in…

Cindy Hutson, Waxy O’Connor, and Sierra Nevada

Waxy O’Connor’s South Beach, hitherto a humble pub, is getting all classy on us. This coming Wednesday, January 21st, marks the restaurant’s first foray into celebrity chef beer dinners. Cindy Hutson, chef/owner of Coral Gable’s beloved Ortanique on the Mile, will be cooking up a four-course dinner matched with appropriate…

A Restaurant Called Longevity

Hard to believe that A Fish Called Avalon has been reeling in diners on Ocean Drive for two decades, yet the Avalon Hotel’s seafood establishment is indeed celebrating its’ 20-year anniversary tonight. Congrats to the owners and chef Brian Cantrell for being able to achieve long term success in spite…

New Restaurant at the Hyatt Regency

The Hyatt Regency Miami, which underwent a $20 million dollar renovation last year, has unveiled its’ new Pure Verde restaurant. Executive chef Michael Morris will be in charge of the snazzily-designed venue, which just months ago was a dull, aging sports bar. Morris, who previously helmed Hyatt properties in Tampa…

Batty over Gotham

Gotham is a powerful word, concurrently connoting two potent icons: Manhattan and Batman. In the food world, it bespeaks a third force to be reckoned with: Alfred Portale’s Gotham Bar and Grill on New York’s West 12th Street, which nearly a quarter-century ago helped redefine the contemporary urban restaurant. Gotham…

Tea Time At Starbucks

On January 3rd, Starbucks rolled out a quintet of new Tazo full leaf tea beverages that are now available in all stores nationwide. Yesterday the coffee chain hosted “TeaTime events”, which is a civilized way of saying “free samples”. I headed to the most scenic of our Starbucks, at 14th…

Zimmern at Jimbo’s Cancelled

Short Order has received word that Andrew Zimmern’s show-taping of Bizarre Foods, scheduled to take place at Jimbo’s tomorrow, has been cancelled. …

Andrew Zimmern Meets Jimbo

Andrew Zimmern, host of Travel Channel’s popular Bizarre Foods series, will be at Jimbo’s on Virginia Key tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) in order to film part of the show’s upcoming Beach Special.  Be there at 4:30 p.m. or later if you want to take part in the party — and perhaps…

South Pointe Espresso

Segafredo Zanetti Espresso has opened yet another café, this one at 124 Collins Avenue — they already operate one on Brickell, one in Bal Harbour, and about 570 more worldwide. Segafredo South Pointe will follow the same successful formula as the rest: Coffee, snacks, cocktails, a late night lounge scene…

Miami Restaurant Musings

*After years of my pooh-poohing parsley-speckled plate rims and mindless squiggles of mango and raspberry purees on dessert plates, it seems that both fads have faded into oblivion. Thank you, but please hold your applause until after the column is finished. *Norman Van Aken has laid low of late, no?…

Second Chance For SoBe Wine & Food Tix

This coming Monday morning, January 12th, a second block of tickets for previously sold out events will go on sale. So if you were bummed at being shut out of Rachael Ray’s Burger Bash or The Best of the Best at the new Fontainebleau, you’ve been given a second shot…

Karu & Y Tries Again

I could never get it straight: Was Karu the restaurant and Y the lounge, or vice versa? No matter now, as the reopened venue’s newly christened restaurant name is Seecomar’s at Karu & Y, which I thought was a misspelling of Seacomber’s until I saw that the new owner’s name…

Mazie’s Soul Food Shines in Liberty City

Mazie’s Soul Food Restaurant and Take-Out is, at first glance, not much to look at. It appears to have once been a Dairy Queen-like operation — a stand-alone box painted orange-toned yellow and brown and fronted by an angled take-out window. This is a poor part of town, and some…