Here’s the way I imagine it went down: The two proprietors of Riviera Brasserie are sitting at a table discussing their prospective new restaurant with genuine enthusiasm. One says to the other, “We’ll become known far and wide for our fine and authentic French brasserie fare.” “Oui,” responds the other,…

Part of the appeal of dining out on foods we grew up with comes from being able to proclaim, with head-shaking disapproval, “This isn’t the way my mother used to make it.” Gives us that exhilarating feeling of expertise. Unfortunately, for me anyway, there isn’t exactly a glut of Jewish…

Traditionally spas have served as tranquil retreats where the well-to-do go to shed a few pounds while being pampered with facials and massages. The pampering part was, and is, pleasant, but the dieting used to be somewhat torturous, given that spas had a reputation for offering what was pejoratively termed…

Diners are a hybrid of two distinct American eating concepts, one born in luxury, the other in relative poverty. The former notion was realized in the late 1860s when the Union Pacific Railroad premiered the Delmonico, the first dining car to feature fine linens, Turkish carpets, plush velvet chairs, and…

The Purple Dolphin. The phrase brings to mind (1) a psychedelic Sixties rock band that once opened for Moby Grape, or (2) a seedy seaside disco lounge, or (3) Dan Marino after a bevy of hard sacks. In fact, the words are reminiscent of almost anything but a restaurant that…

No doubt the name causes many people to do a double take: Sango Jamaican and Chinese Restaurant. Jamaican and Chinese? Does the place serve General Tso’s jerk chicken? Natty Dread egg rolls? What gives? A little history goes a long way toward understanding how national cuisines evolve, and in this…

When a barbecue restaurant in Muskogee, Oklahoma, was recommended to writer Calvin Trillin, a true barbecue enthusiast, his first instinct was to ask whether it used plates. “Of course they have plates,” he was told, at which point Trillin lost interest. “I have eaten fine barbecue on plates,” he explained,…

Tung Nguyen came to the United States in 1975, one of seventeen Vietnamese refugees sponsored by Kathy Manning through the St. James Lutheran Church in Coral Gables. Five years later the two women opened Hy Vong (which means “hope”) on Eighth Street. The place became renowned for solid home-style Vietnamese…

My wife turns to me and notes that we are walking on grass, noteworthy, I suppose, because we’re inside a restaurant. “If the menu has a Hee Haw theme, we’re outta here,” I tell her. But as the words leave my mouth I start taking in the room and see…