Grinders are what I call ’em, due to many formative years living in New England, but elsewhere in the country monster meat/cheese/veg sandwiches go by other names, most easy to understand: submarine, torpedo, and zeppelin for the blimp-shaped roll; hero for the formidable size. Some, though, were more of a…

Around this prostitution-trafficky stretch of Biscayne Boulevard, the term “hot” has traditionally been more associated with the word “pants” than with “food.” That changed last year with the opening of Renaisa, in the rather dilapidated building long occupied by the Bimini, a basic bar/fried fish joint on Little River that…

There’s (arguably) more argument in America about what constitutes real barbecue than about what constitutes justification for declaring war — unless the war is between differing ‘cue factions, in which case just about any difference of opinion is reason enough to start shooting. Some purist pit-fired wood barbecuers even go…

Driving past you’d never notice this bar/restaurant in the Argentine enclave around 71st Street and Normandy Drive; indeed the first three times I cruised by deliberately looking, I missed it. But I wasn’t surprised to think the eight-month-old spot had already folded. I’d become aware of Il Romanaccio Caffe through…

When a good restaurant has been around for a good fifteen years and, what’s more, is the only eatery of its kind in the region — in this case, the only source, as far as I know, of Danish food in South Florida — one would expect it to be…

Now there are shopping mall food courts. But once all the classiest department stores used to have their own lunchrooms, featuring food like iceberg lettuce wedges with old-fashioned white boiled salad dressing — polite food that didn’t stain the white gloves, light food for those with lots of leisure time…

It’s not unusual for a couple to give birth a year or two after getting hitched — unless the couple is a couple of award-winning young chefs, like Andrea Curto-Randazzo (formerly of Wish) and Frank Randazzo (the Gaucho Room), and they decide to almost simultaneously give birth to a child…

The street scene in Gili’s neighborhood may be super glam when the new Performing Arts Center a few blocks east is up and running someday, probably in our lifetime. It’s already somewhat hip during nightlife hours, with Club Space and I/O drawing crowds, and if rumors that crobar or Automatic…

Of all the benefits Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro imagined might result from his midsixteenth-century destruction of Peru’s great Inca empire, a culinary revolution producing what many chefs consider the most sophisticated cuisine of any South/Central American nation probably was not foremost in the sword-swinger’s mind. Yet the cross-cultural criollo race,…

When Biscayne Bar-B-Q opened last winter in the same building as the Cactus gay bar — with, according to its ads, an outdoor poolside cookout on Saturday nights till 2:00 a.m. — I was pretty intrigued, because friends had been telling me for the whole ten years I’ve lived in…

According to a note on the menu of Mapalé Colombian Grille, the folk dance for which the restaurant is named, which was originally brought to the north coastal city of Cartagena;a by African slaves from New Guinea, is considered Colombia’s most erotic dance. The one time I saw el mapalé…

It doesn’t intrigue me that much when people report excitedly on new Mexican restaurant finds that have great red or green salsa. Sure I love the stuff, but great Mexican tomato/tomatillo salsas don’t depend on the kind of precision, balance, timing, and educated know-how that a great French sauce does;…

On a recent evening at Pan-Asian restaurant Soco, all of the half-dozen nightly specials were Italian except for one appetizer. Which was Spanish. At the bottom of the regular menu — which features dishes like a Thai fish hot pot, a Chinese Peking duck spring roll, and a Japanese sushi…

On the Website where I first found Le Petit Bistro, it sounded like a terrific concept. Categorized as French, the eatery touted itself as combining “the convenience of quick service with the tastes and selections found in an upscale bistro.” Since I subsequently noticed two other Miami-Dade Le Petit Bistros…

Upon hearing the name of Miami Beach’s new upscale Chinese restaurant, Pao, my Food TV-fan brother, who is professionally in sales, immediately attributed it to South Beach celebrity-identified public relations shrewdness. “POW!” he marveled approvingly. “So people think of Emeril’s ‘BAM!’ Clevvvvv-er! Commercial.” The bad news, for other sales-oriented folk,…

In terms of romantic ambiance, the location of this Italian-American eatery would initially seem best described as convenient; it’s in the supremely low-rent Redbird Mall, and except for some very cute 3-D paintings of Italian street scenes (similar to the Scull sisters’ playful old Havana constructions), the décor is basic…

It was a full decade ago that a few Argentine culinary pioneers like Prima Pasta’s Gerardo Cea began transforming Miami Beach’s rundown (often dangerously druggy, at best boring) eastern 71st Street area into a haven for lovers of Argentina’s Italian-influenced fun food in a festival atmosphere. Still the neighborhood didn’t…

There’s KFC, but then there’s Church’s; there’s Taco Bell, but then there’s Baja Fresh; there’s Blimpie, but then there’s Quizno’s. Which is to say, just because food is chain-restaurant fast food doesn’t mean it’s bad and/or boring food. Case in point: Golden Krust, which is certainly a chain, if a…

In the category of current food trends, there are those that are easy to understand — Back to Basics, for instance. Who doesn’t get steak and potatoes? Other trends, like Ferrán Adria’s Deconstructed/Reinvented Food, are considerably harder to grasp; dishes one expects hot come cold and vice versa, with taste…

“Are you Jewish?” the guy behind the counter at Tea for Two asked skeptically. “No,” I admitted, “but I was born in Brooklyn. That’s about the same thing.” “Nah, I can always tell,” he laughed. My non-Jewishness, he went on to explain, was noticeable because it was a novelty; evidently…