Julia Ning dredges and fries juicy chicken thighs in a wispy blend of cornstarch, tapioca starch, and turmeric. The result is gluten-free and healthful. But that’s not why the 33-year-old does it. She remembers that it once prepared her and now-shuttered Khong River House chef Sudarat Loasupho for long days…
Angel Torres glances at his meat case in dismay. “It just isn’t like it was in the old day anymore,” he says, presiding over whole flap steaks, smoked salmon sides, and vacuum-sealed bags of oxtail. Once, decades ago, Torres would rise before 5 a.m. to get to the now-defunct (and…
As news that former Piripi executive chef Najat Kaanache had been ousted from the Merrick Park restaurant that so touted her presence a number of neigh sayers came forward to express concerns over mistreatment and underpayment at the hands of the much-hyped Spanish restaurant. However Kaanache (who learned of her…
By 6 p.m. on a recent Saturday, Piripi, the new Spanish/Basque restaurant in Coral Gables’ Village of Merrick Park, is coming to life. Just inside the glass front door, two young, attractive hostesses smile as they ask arriving diners whether they prefer indoor or outdoor seating. Behind the sleek concrete…
A 900-degree wood-burning oven fires out nine-inch pies layered with salty speck and meaty zucchini disks, but it’s the calzones you want. They ooze imported buffalo mozzarella, chicken, and a fruity, fragrant pesto or savory cotto ham and milky ricotta. There’s a brief pause between the blistering oven and your…
From Spain to Ecuador and Mexico to Argentina, each of the world’s 20 Spanish-speaking countries has its own unique cuisine. So it would seem a risky proposition to bring the food of Spain, Central America, and South America together under one banner. But that’s what 31-year-old Venezuelan chef Francisco Anton…
Mark Soyka has been eyeing a coral rock building just down the street from his namesake restaurant for nearly two decades. By the end of this year, the 71-year-old restaurateur says it will be revamped and turned into a 100-seater focused on vegetable dishes and wood-fired proteins. “I finally got…
Try to find a quick French lunch downtown and you’re faced with a rubbery baguette layered with industrial brie and some overly salted, greasy saucisson sec. No more. Chef Philippe Jacquet has expanded his much loved, longstanding Cafe Pastis in South Miami to a downtown Miami street whose lunchtime cafes…
When Dario Cestaro opened Buon Pane Italiano on Miami Beach in mid-April he quickly realized he couldn’t keep up with the bounty of breads, pizzas and pies Alberto Lionetti began pumping out at 3 a.m. that morning. “He was able to make 40 different things, and I didn’t even know…
Moroccan chef Najat Kaanache who until today helmed he widely publicized, big budget Merrick Park restaurant Piripi have parted ways due to accusations of unfair labor practices. “The restaurant’s owners became aware of the ex-employees’ complaints today for the first time,” spokeswoman Karen Barofsky wrote in an email. “They are…
Usually Michael Pirolo’s pristine handmade pastas at Macchialina Taverna Rustica ring in at at least $20 a plate. There’s the beet-filled mezzaluna with hazelnuts and brown butter ricotta salata at $22 or cavatelli with meat balls, porchetta and pecorino for the same. But starting tomorrow (Thursday) and occurring each week…
Past a downtown convenience store’s money remittance window awaits a seemingly perfect hole in the wall. There, in a back room sit about a half dozen steamer trays packed with sour pork adobo, spicy sisig, and boiled baby squid plumped up with ground pork. The two fat, vivacious cockroaches scurrying…
Sam Konata pauses to recall the first time he cooked a vegetarian meal for someone. He squints, lifting his eyes toward the enormous red, black, and green crocheted cap perched atop his head. Inside the hat are more than 16 feet of dreadlocks that he began growing when he became…
Miami could host a temporary version of Grant Achatz and Nick Kokonas’ Alinea when the famed Chicago restaurant shutters for remodeling later this year. “It is something we are exploring,” Kokonas wrote in an email to New Times. The Chicago restaurant will close later this year for about two months…
The deep dish-or-New York-style pizza debate isn’t an easy cut. More so when the former at South Beach’s Pi Pizzeria comes with a piece of cardboard astray under a thick layer of tomato sauce. It came with a thousand apologies, an offer of a new pie, and ended up taken…
You visit Indo-American Store (13760 SW 84th St., Miami) for a bag of dal, a tin of dried green mango-infused chaat masala, or a snack of crisp papadum made of lentil flour. But then something unexpected happens. Two hours later, you’re still there, in deep conversation with owner Suresh Sheth as…
When the longing for fragrant blends of coriander, cumin, and cardamom woven into rich gravies strikes, Miami’s choices are few and far-flung. You could head toward Coconut Grove and grab a table at the now-larger Bombay Darbar. Or you can make the trek to Imlee Indian Bistro in Pinecrest to…
Toscana Divino and former Executive Chef Julian Baker are parting ways. Baker, who helped open the regional Italian eatery in the heart of Mary Brickell Village in 2012, will depart for Houston where he says he has another Italian concept in the works. “It will be a little more social,…
At Klima Restaurant and Bar, the striking Spanish-Mediterranean spot that opened in March steps away from Collins Avenue in Mid-Beach, dessert means a glass bowl filled with a puckery passionfruit cream and coconut foam that evokes the tart, sugary contrast of a good piña colada. A core of crushed ice…
Two of Miami’s largest real estate development companies are facing off to see who can turn Doral from a drive-by traffic jam into a bustling, quasi-urban hub. The first, the Shops at Downtown Doral, comes form Codina Partners and Lennar Commercial and promises another outlet of Coral Gables’ Bulla Gastrobar…
These days, the ritual of getting the mail has devolved into a steady stream of circular and credit card offers making their way from the box to the recycling bin. So finding a real piece of mail, something someone sat down, wrote, addressed, and stamped, can be confusing. Such a…
Vanessa Rivera and Gian Carlo Accinelli had a choice. Get married or open a restaurant. The paperwork is signed, but the chapel-and-dress affair is on hold after they opened their sandwich spot Mr. & Mrs. Bun. The initial plan was to bring a more modern spin on Peruvian cuisine to…
