Jaguar Ceviche Spoon Bar & Latam Grill is a mouthful of a moniker to pronounce, yet if the aim was for a definitive nomenclature, it should be called Jaguar Ceviche Spoon Bar, Latam Grill & Mexican Restaurant. Now all you need to know is that Latam stands for Latin American…
Sugo is a new Italian restaurant situated inside Sanctuary, a recently opened spa/salon/boutique hotel on James Avenue in South Beach. With Casa Tua, Blue Door, and Nobu nearby, this neighborhood is becoming something of an epicenter of epicurean cool. Sugo owner Tommy Billante might seem like the new kid on…
I don’t deny having visited two recently opened Mexican joints with shot-glass-half-empty expectations. I mean the local track record concerning cantinas, taquerias, and the like is abysmally predictable: sombreros on stucco walls, margaritas in fish-bowl-size glasses, chips, dips, wretched Tex-Mex fare, and, after a short period of time, adios! Plus…
Il Migliore’s chef/owner Neal Cooper is really a chef: Trained at a prestigious culinary institute, he’s knowledgeable in gastronomy, gastropods, gazpacho, gastriques, gas burners, the effect of garbanzos on the gastrointestinal system, and everything else pertaining to running a restaurant. Meaning you’re going to enjoy dining at his quaintly appointed…
Not too long ago an unflattering review of Baleen’s brunch adorned these pages. The oak-paneled, forest green, chandelier-sophisticated dining room (curiously themed with monkeys) didn’t bother me, nor did the circular, fully foliaged outdoor patio, whose Biscayne Bay backdrop makes Baleen one of the area’s most romantic locales. Rather it…
If you’re in the vicinity of the Village of Merrick Park and aching for a big, thick, juicy steak, you most likely head to the Palm. Should you be more in the mood for dazzling, contemporary Latin-inspired cooking, you choose Chispa. But how many folks simply can’t decide between the…
This past February we took a stroll down Lincoln Road and noted numerous violations of sidewalk café permit rules governed by the Public Works Department of Miami Beach. We allowed some time to pass and then decided to contact code enforcement, which writes tickets for these offenses. After leaving many…
Flapjack Flip-Off Five fittingly flits our way in the fifth month of the new millennium’s fifth year and, as always, promises to be as ebullient as bubbling blini batter. Grab on to your griddle as new twists and unexpected thrills spill like faux maple syrup as a quintet of unwitting…
Most folks will have to head north on Biscayne Boulevard to arrive at Plein Sud, whose translation “far south” apparently references France. This is, after all, a new 50-seat French bistro (formerly inhabited by Luba Café and Café Bella Donna) plunked down in a small, obscure strip mall next door…
Nestled within the cozy nautical confines of Haulover Marina, Solo on the Bay couldn’t have a lovelier setting. Almost all the 400 seats are located on a spacious outdoor deck boasting billowy white curtains and an aesthetically pleasing vista of the Intracoastal Waterway. It’s a serene spot for breakfast or…
The Forge is something of a time machine. The faded colonial-style gray-and-white facade is fronted by tall, black, nineteenth-century-inspired gas lamps. Inside the Miami Beach institution is a group of eclectically rococo dining rooms, though to call the décor eclectic is like saying Michael Jackson is a little odd. Still,…
Resplendent in polished wood, Italian marble floors, Biedermeier furnishings, and silk damask drapery, the 126-seat Bizcaya restaurant exudes the classic Ritz-Carlton refinement, comfort, and taste. The space is divided into two similarly decorated dining rooms, though the one closest to the entrance has prettier salt and pepper shakers, and votive…
The nice thing about reviewing chains, even small three-shop operations like Tarpon Bend Raw Bar & Grill, is that they come packaged with a mission statement that makes evaluation more facile. Tarpon Bend number three opened in January on Miracle Mile, following the splash of the first two fish-themed restaurants…
Since its inception on Brickell Key in 2001, Azul has been a gastronomic gem glimmering alongside the exquisite Mandarin Oriental Hotel. Miami native Michelle Bernstein helmed the Mandarin’s signature dining establishment from the start (the underrated Café Sambal is located downstairs), and though she had held executive positions at Red…
The Henry Hotel is a seedy little South Beach venue on Washington Avenue just north of Fifth Street. Still, Sport Café did a brisk business while situated there between 1992 and 1999, which is when it moved to classier digs up the block on the corner of Sixth and Washington…
Guinness introduced porter and stout beers to the world at the turn of the Nineteenth Century (the former named after porters from London’s fish and vegetable markets who preferred a potent brew). In the current century, ten million glasses of Guinness are consumed worldwide every day. On a recent afternoon…
If an Israeli and a Honduran were to open a restaurant together, what kind of cuisine would they serve? If you answered hummus in coconut shells or gefilte fish ceviche, nice try. But the correct answer is Italian — or at least that’s the case with Moshe Petel and Spurgeon…
So I suppose I’ll see you at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival’s “Tribute Brunch” this Sunday at the Loews Hotel. It’ll be great — Francis Ford Coppola in the flesh to accept recognition for his esteemed Niebaum-Coppola Estate Winery, and we, sampling those luscious wines while enjoying Tuscan…
In an old New Yorker cartoon, two men stand in front of a luncheonette with these words emblazoned upon the window: “COOKED FOOD.” One man turns to the other and says, “It was the first theme restaurant.” Anthony Bourdain’s Les Halles Cookbook: Strategies, Recipes, and Techniques of Classic Bistro Cooking,…
When Andre’s Steakhouse on Marco Island changed its name to Tara Steak & Lobster House last year, it was a strategic gesture in advance of a planned expansion to at least four other outlets in South Florida. The basic steak-house formula is simple enough to replicate, which is probably why…
The word tinello, according to Tinello Cucina Italiana’s menu, translates as a “cozy dining room where friends and family get together.” There might be some positive adjectives we can summon for this place, but “cozy” isn’t one of them. The sparsely furnished, 70-seat restaurant sprawls in rather stark fashion across…
Most of the outdoor seating permits for Lincoln Road restaurants were first issued in 1997, a time when the City of Miami Beach was attempting to promote the pedestrian mall’s revival. The city’s plan worked much like George W’s Iraq war — it was “too successful,” with no contingency plans…
