The first change you notice about the place is its name — part Chinese, part gay, all cute and commercial, as owner Chong Li (a former employee of the Chinese Restaurant Formerly Known As Charlotte’s) well knows: “Hey, that’s the neighborhood, right?” Right. Since opening barely four months ago, the…

There’s no way anyone who lives in Miami doesn’t know this rustic whitewashed wooden fish house with the knotty-pine-paneled interior. It’s everyone’s neighborhood joint, even for those who don’t live in the neighborhood. Because, besides being on a busy Biscayne corner, it has that look, the one that somehow speaks…

Even a few words into this review you might already be thinking, “Geez, she sounds a whole lot less moronic this week.” And if the strange symbols on the back of the menu at Yakko-San are to be believed, you might be right. Because on recent visits to this restaurant,…

Located two blocks north of Miracle Mile, informal Italian deli La Gastronomia is easily overlooked. This is not because the food is forgettable but because the casual eatery is relatively small (two rustic rooms); relatively understated (no big sign, no touts out front); and, mainly, buried in a wall-to-wall packed…

To most Americans Danish cuisine means three things: herring, lots more herring, and Tuborg beer. And of the three, only the last really has caught on. Despite the fact that it is said Danes have a different herring preparation for every day of the year, none of the 365 has…

Until recently when one person in a couple wanted Indian food and the other wanted to grab a sub sandwich, the only solution was divorce. For the past two years, though, Silver Spoon Subs & Grill has been putting marriage counselors out of business. Here at this miniscule Indi-Italian (yes,…

There is no such thing as authentic Italian cuisine, at least not in Italy. That’s because until about 150 years ago, there was no such thing as Italy. Before political union there were a couple of dozen independent regions, and in terms of food culture, that proud individuality still exists…

Kane Concourse is a pretty exciting stretch of road if one is looking for, say, a cardiogram. As far as food goes, though, even Arthur Godfrey Road, with its almost unbroken stretch of banks, is more promising for people looking for a little lunch. Culinary excitement in the 96th Street…

When Shoji Sushi opened in mid-March, it was an occasion of great relief. After all, the particular block of lower Collins Avenue on which Shoji is located was perhaps the only one in SoBe that didn’t already house two or three sushi bars; weary south of Fifth-sters were tired of…

Next time you have out-of-town visitors who insist on cruising Calle Ocho (invariably a disappointment as a sightseeing site since tourists, not getting that it’s just a normal working neighborhood, always expect some sorta cute Disneyworld: Cuba!), or next time you get the 2:00 a.m. desire for something a bit…

When the former owners of Mezzanotte finally closed that long-running fashionista-favorite restaurant/nightclub last year and opened Carnevale, a self-billed “Venetian café,” two questions instantly occurred to me: Would this really be like eating in Venice? And, since the space’s former occupant was so model-friendly, could you get blow in the…

When dinner hour approaches at Captain Jim’s, a friendly fish market that’s also an informal (five Formica tables) restaurant, everybody eats in, even if they’ve just come for take-out. That’s because while the crowd waits for orders or service, the personnel behind the fish counter (who remain friendly even when…

Even if the food at Red Fish Grill were only so-so, the restaurant’s spectacular setting alone would warrant many visits. Located at the furthest tip of wild Matheson Hammock Park, on the shores of a very nonwild saltwater lagoon (in fact you could call it downright gentrified; there’s an extensive…

It’s one of those days that feels, from the amount of work you’ve done, at least 40 hours long — but you need a few more hours to finish up the work that still needs doing. No time for food, for sure, unless it’s a bite between phone calls/appointments/important meetings…

Several encouraging things were immediately apparent when Milkyway Café opened several months ago in my neighborhood, which is predominantly populated by people who walk to synagogue wearing fur hats and floor-length wool clothes in August. The most optimistic note was that the restaurant replaced Adam’s Ribs, a kosher joint serving…

Although food writing is a highly professional-type journalistic operation, with databases and secret information sources that put the CIA to shame, the best word to describe how I found Hiro’s Sushi Express would be roundabout. Well, dumb luck also comes to mind. I’d wandered for the first time into Hiro’s…

When a casual, reasonably priced, old-fashioned Florida fish house opens on South Beach’s Attitude Avenue (a.k.a. Washington Avenue) with no hype, hoopla, velvet ropes, door Nazis, or deafening disco music, it’s time for serious diners to grab the car keys. But be prepared to find your own meter, because New…

Like many curious New Yorkers whose acquaintance with Cuban food was largely limited to the tasty but pretty basic mom-and-pop Cuban/Chinese joints that once sprouted on every block of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, I devoured the New York Times piece that came out shortly after Douglas Rodriguez’s Yuca first opened…

Icebox Cafe. 1657 Michigan Ave, Miami Beach; 305-538-8448. Open every day except Monday, 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (lunch/brunch) and 7:00 to 11:00 p.m. (dinner); on weekends open till 1:00 a.m. for pastries.

Rarely has a restaurant in South Florida been so anticipated as pan-Asian Bambú, largely because of its co-owner, Cameron Diaz, who hooked up with her restaurateur/hotelier partners Karim Masri and Hubert Baudoin while shooting There’s Something About Mary in Miami. For months preceding the opening this past February, strollers regularly…

There are times when it’s awfully difficult to explain why one lives in Miami. Like now, during this period of embarrassing Elianmania, with the national media trumpeting the arrogant antics of one small but stupid-as-a-stump group of right-wing refugee residents as they loudly and proudly point out that our county…

In the mid-1800s, a huge wave of Chinese immigrants, approximately 100,000, most from Guangdong province around Canton, came to Peru to work. They worked in virtual slave-labor jobs — mineral mining, migrant farm work, railroad construction, and shit shoveling (literally: bat guano was a major Peruvian industry 150 years ago)…