There are two reasons Monica Palacios and Andres Tovar opened Viva México y Algo Más just doors from their beloved Viva México. The first is so loyal fans can get hold of tacos filled with various pig parts delicately braised in their own fat on Mondays, when the original restaurant…
Mamaliga seems out of place next to spring rolls and tuna tartare. The slightly sweet, off-white corn porridge is a staple in Eastern Europe. It’s a kind of filler, similar to rice in Asia or the doughy, cassava-based fufu of Africa and the Caribbean.
For the past two years, Azucar Ice Cream Company’s Suzy Batlle has been trying to secure some warehouse space for her ice cream. She’s battled utilities, the city, and a few months will finally get the 2,700-square-foot space open. However it won’t be a storefront, like her Calle Ocho shop…
Juan Manuel Barrientos wants to tell a story. Part of it is about days spent at his grandmother’s house in Fredonia, about 30 miles south of Medellín. There, she prepared lunches of thick carrot soup with chopped plantains and guava. At El Cielo, which opened in early January nearly hidden…
Living in Miami for a while can leave a diner jaded. So when I was driving down 12th Avenue earlier this week and saw a little spot named Viva Mexico y Algo Mas has opened just up the street from Andres Tovar’s Viva Mexico I figured it to be an…
In early 2013, Mimi Gross told her husband she wanted Cuban food. That man was Hans Seitz, owner of the downtown barbecue spot Sparky’s along with Kevin Kehoe, who was testing ham recipes and fortuitously had Dijon mustard, pickles, Swiss cheese, and some bread on hand. Thus Sparky’s Cuban Ex-Patriot…
Oversize purses of fresh pasta are filled with milky ricotta dotted with basil speckles. Before they’re sealed, a raw egg yolk is nestled in the cheese. The whole thing is briefly poached before a quick toss in brown butter sauce followed by a dusting of savory, salty Parmesan cheese. There…
There’s no better way to start a meal than with a puff of steam floating off a bamboo tray packed with swollen soup dumplings. At Momi Gyoza Bar, which joined the fray in Brickell two months ago, chef and owner Jeffrey Chen’s version of xiao long bao relies on the…
Oysters and wine will soon join the miniature Japanese empire Jeffrey Chen is building on a streetcorner near Brickell Avenue. Chen, who opened Momi Ramen in 2012 and Momi Gyoza Bar in January, plans to launch Momi Oyster & Raw Bar and Momi Wine later this month. See also: Momi…
Where and how Cuban ice-cream sandwiches began is a mystery even at Tío Colo Bocaditos de Helado, the Hialeah shop that pumps out hundreds a day. “It’s an older thing, I think, from before the revolution,” says Rosali Verdecia, age 23, who along with her husband, Jose Hernandez, opened the…
The trendy Fontainebleau Miami Beach, a onetime Frank Sinatra haunt, is the raucous pinnacle of Miami nightlife. Eight miles north, at the tip of Miami-Dade County, is Turnberry Isle, a more family-oriented yet no less extravagant resort. They share several things. Both are owned by the Soffer family, Dade County…
Oracio Garrell has been making jerk since he was 11. As a kid in Montego Bay, Jamaica, he used to work for his cousin, Ayenee, slathering whole birds in the spicy, piquant paste. “I needed summer money,” says Garrell, who’s 30 and goes by the nickname Jay. “He did it…
Faded pictures of Cuban sandwiches with pressed ham and pork ooze a taxicab-yellow mustard flash on signs that line the bustling avenues of Little Havana. Follow them and soon you’re parked, waiting for one at a ventanilla where an espresso machine hisses in the background…
The crowds and lines of Burger Bash were mostly absent Saturday night as the sands of South Beach were dominated by the ceaseless devouring of the animal kingdom…
Now in its third year, the South Beach Wine and Food Festival’s Oyster Bash arrives during the height of Miami’s own oyster boom. It moved indoors to Lure Fishbar, where it didn’t take long for the masses to squeeze in shoulder-to-shoulder for slurping. See also: All the coverage from South…
The South Beach Wine & Food Festival arrives February 19 through 22 with more than 75 events, tastings, parties, seminars, and dinners. The bash, which benefits Florida International University’s dining and tourism programs, brings thousands of fans and celebrity chefs to Miami. As the spotlight shines on the sand and…
At Mainzer’s German Deli in Pinecrest, the regulars begin flooding in at noon for liverwurst and egg salad sandwiches on dense rye bread. No one leaves without a scoop of the pale-yellow potato salad, dressed in vinegar and flecked with bits of carrot and parsley. Cheryl Mainzer and her gruff,…
Food isn’t all that makes a French brasserie. Sure, there’s tangy cheese and the rich, peppery aroma of steak frites. But just as important is the frazzled waitress with a pack of cigarettes peeking from her purse. And then there are the throngs of caf�goers, who crowd the sidewalk to…
Update: Following an abrupt closure due to permitting issues The Broken Shaker reopened Friday night while 27 Restaurant & Bar will resume dinner service Saturday, a spokeswoman said. “Brunch will resume as normal next week,” Caroline Sloan wrote in an email…
Alfredo Patino, owner of Edgewater’s Bin No. 18 and Tap 79, is jumping into the taco fray with plans to open his own spot not far from his 79th Street gastropub. Patino said he’s in the middle of construction and hopes to open Firito Taco open by mid-March. Expect simple…
Every Wednesday morning Yos Schwartz shuts himself and few co-conspirators up in the Shul of Downtown’s kitchen, packing dozens of checkerboard paper-wrapped sandwiches into small boxes destined for nearby offices. Last Wednesday, the offering was a baguette stuffed with beef sausage and the smoky, spicy North African links called merguez…
There’s little doubt that eating in Miami improves with each passing year. Our chefs become better at business, cooking, and sourcing topnotch ingredients. But over the past few years, a new twist in Miami’s ever-changing food scene has taken hold. It’s local, small-batch producers like Proper Sausages’ Freddy and Danielle…
