Rock ‘n’ Troll

When you think of neighborhoods, the sprawling, traffic-gagged morass of Kendall doesn’t exactly leap to mind. Neighborhoods are bucolic little areas with quiet, tree-lined streets, full of quaint old buildings and cute new boutiques, where everyone knows everyone and says hi when they run into each other at the store…

ADM: Supermaggot To The World

Who ever heard of a vegetable oil-aholic? “We have a saying in our company: “Our competitors are our friends. Our customers are the enemy.” — A comment made in the early 1990s by Archer Daniels Midland (ADM)’s then-president James Randall, as quoted in Fast Food Nation The Archer Daniels Midland…

Côte of Charms

In just the past year, if the food media are to be believed, Miami’s dining scene has gone from being the very picture of promising adolescence — about to finally grow up — to going to Hell in a hand basket. Suddenly it’s a place that is, according to some…

Get Haughty

Everybody loves Danny DeVito. As Louie De Palma on Taxi, he was hairier, scarier, but just as cute as Knut the polar bear. In most of his films, too, DeVito comes across as a likable rascal, a diminutive Everyman with a conniving dark side — which we laugh at because…

Hot Scoops On The SoBe Wine & Food Festival

Perhaps you’ve read recent announcements concerning Paula Deen’s Poker Party, Emeril’s Sugar Shack Dessert Party, and other attractions that have been scheduled for this season’s Southern Wine and Spirits and FIU’s 2008 Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival. New Times has uncovered some other, as yet unconfirmed events…

So You Wanna be a Food Critic, Huh? Part 1: The Big Night

Let’s begin with an easy question: A triangular-shaped sheath of pink-tinted plexiglas arrives in the mail. It is an invitation bearing engraved party details that trumpet an extravagant opening night party honoring the arrival of the latest, greatest restaurant: Cocktail reception at 7:30 p.m. (spirits provided by the latest, greatest…

The Tides Has Turned

Since its extensive renovation in 1997, the Tides South Beach hotel has anchored the north end of Ocean Drive with a graceful and stately presence. A number of respectable chefs have ably steered the property’s signature restaurant, 1220 at the Tides, but they’ve come and gone like the ebb and…

The Young Man and the Seafood

You know what kind of guy Pilar is. Nice guy. Good-looking, quiet. Dresses well, not flashy. Solid, honest; no cheesy come-ons. Other guys might have more money, a fancier car, firmer pecs. But when it comes time to stand and deliver, well, let’s just say he stands up straight and…

Goodbye, Krispy Kreme, I Knew Ye All Too Well

Looks good. What are the other customers going to eat? Dear Krispy Kreme, When we first met, I was still so young. My metabolism posed no threat to our hot and steamy trysts. Everything was all so fresh and new. I admit, I got a little obsessed. Not in a…

A Season Preview for Dining

Who you callin’ Fatburger? A contemporary Asian fusion restaurant is going to debut down the street from Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in the Design District. Chef will be Timon Balloo, who has worked locally at Chef Allen’s, Azul at the Mandarin Oriental, and La Broche (in fact he spent…

Indomania Takes a Vacation

Pieter and Ineke Both of Indomania, which only started up on the Beach a few months ago, will be closing shop and taking August off so they can return to Amsterdam — jeez, these Dutch people are lazier than the French! They say it’s to see family and look for…

Greek to Me

You won’t find people smashing plates and dancing on tabletops at Maria’s. It’s not that kind of place. Rather this snug, 52-seat family-run eatery dishes home-cooked Greek taverna fare free of contemporary tweaking. And that’s it. Maria Sotiriou’s recipes are not likely to inspire Homeric verse, but they aren’t meant…

Toque on the Water

Waterfront: Miami’s got a lot of it. Twenty percent of the county’s total area is water. Waterfront restaurants? Hmm. If you mean places diners can get up close and personal with nature — where they can virtually feed fish from their table, and the sound of salt water lapping is…

Miami Spice Kicks Off Next Week

The sixth annual Miami Spice restaurant promotion deal kicks in on August 1st and continues through September. This season brings more than eighty participants, each of which will be offering special three-course prixe fixe lunch menus for $22, dinners for $35. Be discriminating with your selections — my guess is…

A Touching Tribute to John Lucente

John Lucente, chef de cuisine at Touch Restaurant and Lounge for the past three years, has been battling cancer at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. To help, Touch is hosting a fundraising dinner, “Touched By John,” on Sunday, July 29th, at 7:00 p.m. All profits will go to…

Gumbo Limbo

My wife and I were graced with a special dinner guest when we dined at the grandiose new Christabelle’s Quarter in Coconut Grove: Bozhan Arizankovski, our 17-year-old summer visitor from Sköpje, Macedonia, whom we have known since he was a wee lad. He is an extremely smart young man; exhibits…

Lovely Loaves

Miami has a great many things — sun, sand, spectacular ocean views, trolling celebutantes with more plastic parts than an Xbox. One thing Miami doesn’t have much of is great bread. Sure, some of the upscale so-called gourmet markets do a passable variation on the classic baguette, ciabatta, pan au…

Soya Staying Put

A disheartening email arrived at New Times this week, in which a reader informed us that Armando Alfano of Soya & Pomodoro was closing his hip, informal downtown Italian eatery and moving back to Italy. Thankfully the news isn’t true. Mr. Alfano considered doing so for personal reasons, but assures…

Ask the Food Critic: What’s Up With Crabby’s Smoke House?

Lee, Do you know if Crabby’s Smoke House BBQ and Seafood are still open? I have heard conflicting reports Ani Corbett Orlando Florida Ani, I had assumed that Crabby’s was very much still going strong, but after reading your email I tried calling and, sure enough, the phone has been…