Britto’s paintings are boastfully commercial in nature. Those in the art world can debate whether this quality diminishes his reputation as a serious artist, but there’s no doubt the bold lines and bright colors make for a cheery, even dazzling dining room décor at his namesake restaurant in South Beach…

There are no menus handed out at Macaluso’s, a smart-looking Italian restaurant sitting almost secretly in a ministrip mall off Alton Road in South Beach. Instead most of the ten appetizers and seventeen main courses were rapidly enumerated by our waiter, a practice that I believe unfairly punishes those of…

In 1975 President Gerald Ford dodged Squeaky Fromme’s bullet, South Vietnam surrendered to the communists, Sonny and Cher called it quits, and House of India opened on Merrick Way in Coral Gables. “I hope they’ve given it a paint job since then,” I said to my wife on the way…

“Little man felt very bad/One meat ball was all he had/And in his dreams he hears that call/’Ya gets no bread with one meat ball.'” –“One Meat Ball,” Depression-era song written by Louis Singer & Hy Zaret. I’m not saying our economy is going to stay down in the dumpster…

When Gary Danko’s eponymous restaurant opened in San Francisco three years ago, it won the James Beard Foundation’s “Best New Restaurant” award and received the first of three Five-Star ratings from Mobil. At the same time Chef Danko, previously selected as one of the ten best new chefs in America…

Fritas are Cuban-style hamburgers, a beef patty seasoned with paprika and onions, griddle-fried, and stuck in a bun with a thatch of canned shoestring potatoes. It’s the ultimate Cuban street food, eaten on the go from stands, and wolfed down in lieu of hot dogs at ballparks. It is the…

French doors of mahogany and glass front the big, bistroish 150-seat Orsini, the restaurant’s tables, chairs, and sizable bar crafted from the same dark wood. Rose-shaped milk glass chandeliers hang on decoratively tiled walls, as do large mirrors and hundreds of old photos of famous and semifamous people; the floor…

I can’t say I’m surprised the Florida Motor Vehicle Department rejected my suggestion to change state license plate tags to read “Land Of Mediocre Bakeries”; it is, after all, a lot of letters to fit on a plate. In retrospect maybe it would be more appropriate as a motto for…

Next time you find yourself craving vegetarian kosher Italian food prepared by a French chef, don’t panic — Cine Cittá Caffé serves just that. Many people associate kosher restaurants with dowdy mom-and-pop operations that cook up dumplingesque dishes topped by sour cream, or falafel joints festooned with travel posters of…

Most workers, regardless of what trade they ply, will accumulate some “tricks of the trade,” the sort of insider shortcuts that only savvy veterans are privy to. One of my favorites in the restaurant-reviewing biz is “the hard-boiled egg trick.” Here’s how it works: Choose a restaurant, like, say, Café…

Located in the St. Moritz tower of the Loews Hotel, the elegant, slightly ostentatious 146-seat Gaucho Room wears its handsome cowpoke décor in a comfortable, cocky, quirkily romantic manner — sort of like John Travolta in Urban Cowboy. Western touches such as rawhide-and-rope table lamps, black-and-white photos of gauchos, a…

At the end of a Coconut Grove street that boasts alfresco Indian and Italian dining, a giant log cabin-styled sports bar, and a Spanish restaurant lavishly designed to replicate the town of La Mancha, Red Lantern stands downtroddenly apart. The French-doored storefront is blockaded by banquettes on the inside, and…

I ran into Ernie, an old acquaintance of mine, when he was recently down in Miami on some business. It was his pasty complexion and rotund figure that back in college days earned him the nickname “Dough Boy”; I hadn’t seen him in many years. Thanks to a daily gym…

I have been told it takes awhile for contests to ripen into widely publicized, well-respected, duly recognized affairs — believe it or not, the first World Series wasn’t even televised! So I am neither disappointed nor surprised that the topic around South Florida’s water coolers this week hasn’t centered on…

When we think of crêpes we think of France — the tantimolles of Champagne, the landimolles of Picardy, the chialades of Argonne, the sanciaux of Limousin and Berry. Well, all right, maybe we don’t think of that, but it is true that all of the really interesting crêpe traditions are…

Suppose you’ve got a foursome from out of town here on a visit, and you’re taking them on the obligatory stroll of Lincoln Road. It is getting near lunchtime, so you’re at the right spot — there are approximately 800 restaurants to choose from, or so it would seem from…

If the adage “you are what you eat” were true, the Argentine language would consist of just one word: moo. Cambalache, a new Argentine restaurant in Sunny Isles, features, as all Argentine restaurants seem to, the parillada, whose dual translation can imply “grill” as well as “many grilled meats, some…

Richard Nixon and Sen. Joe McCarthy wear nervous smiles while seated at one of Christy’s tables, steaks in front of them, a flash of the bulb capturing the moment for black-and-white eternity. Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis, Jr., mug for the camera, each waving a lamb chop in the air;…

Daily Bread, a Middle Eastern market and eatery that opened on the tip of South Beach just over two months ago, is a spinoff of Daily Bread in South Miami. These operations should not be confused, though both will be, with two other Daily Bread Middle Eastern markets, one on…

The Italian menu is likely to appeal to most everyone: pastas, panini, antipasti, salads, calzones, and thin-crust pizzas. The décor is cookie-cutter direct: clean brick columns, wooden floors, and tables covered with white or red-and-white checkered cloths; walls painted in warm colors, a few shelves upon them stocked with blue-and-yellow…

Even if you don’t recognize Cane Á Sucre as being the French way of saying “cane sugar,” and don’t notice the sign outside and on the front of the menu that says “French bakery, café, gourmet sandwiches,” chances are you’ll still know you’re in a French-style lunch spot. For one…

Ma-roosh goes the fan as it sweeps across gray embers and revives their red glow, which is how this Mediterranean restaurant in Coral Gables gets its name. Although new to the neighborhood, owner Samir Al-Barq has been dishing Middle Eastern specialties at Maroosh’s former Kendall site for more than a…