That stuff will kill you If there is anything worse for a restaurant than having one of its customers contract food poisoning, it is having that stricken diner be in the process of reviewing the establishment. The good news for Rotelli Pizza Pasta Perfect, at 501 E. Atlantic Avenue in…
Some words are just natural red flags. When a politician says, “Honestly,” it means he’s getting ready to spew a load of horse effluent. When an insurance company talks about its “good hands,” it means you’re about to get the big finger. When an actor whines about “exhaustion,” it means…
Chéen-huyae is the sort of feel-good, fail-safe restaurant that timid American tourists visiting the Yucatan might approach with enthusiasm. A glass storefront façade lends an airy ambiance to the neat and petite 30-seater, even if it offers only the lackluster vista of a parking lot. Beige walls bedecked with sepia-tone…
“You’ve reached what was previously known as Madiba Miami,” says the recorded voice on the telephone. “We are now open for private parties and catering only.” And so we bid farewell to this hip import from Brooklyn, which had seemingly settled in comfortably on the west side of South Beach…
Keep Out! Someone recently regaled me with too many details concerning a bout of food poisoning she suspected having caught at the raw bar of a waterfront seafood restaurant in Coconut Grove. I hear such tales quite often, and as one who dines out multiple times weekly, can sympathize with…
The lentils are chilled, bits of red bell pepper flecked within, baby greens beneath. Aged sherry vinaigrette joins the cool salad tangle, plus three warm, tiny discs of octopus, all served in a white bowl with a high back — which it seems everyone is using these days. Nobody, though,…
Considering Miami’s predominance of Cuban immigrants, it’s astonishing that truly wonderful, home-style, traditional Cuban meals are rare here. One theory as to why this is so: These days the chefs in the kitchens are mostly from other Latin American countries. To an experienced food professional, this statement is not objective…
In 1984, Rudy “Butch” Stanko was sentenced to six years in prison for violating the Federal Meat Inspection Act. Court papers show that his Cattle King Packing Company was not only riddled with rats and cockroaches, but also workers at the facility routinely processed animals that were dead before arrival,…
Karma is the Buddhist principle that says what a person does in this life will determine his destiny in the next. If that’s the case, then the folks behind Karma, a très moderne pan-Asian restaurant just off the eatin’ path in downtown Coral Gables, should be raking in some serious…
Lots of restaurant deaths to report in the Miami dining world these days. For those keeping score: SouthWest NY didn’t last a New York minute in the Dolphin Mall. Maybe it’s because the menu read like a fast food Tex-Mex joint (“with French and Latin influences”) — which is not…
Tommy Pooch, Alan Roth, and Eric Levin are seasoned party promoters and entrepreneurs, and as such boast more of a background in bouncers, booze, bimbos, and blasting music than in proffering fine cuisine. Excepting Rumi, which started out with excellent fare, Pucci’s Pizza (since sold) and SoBe Wraps are about…
When Deco Sandwiches, originally advertised as a 24-hour gourmet deli, opened just more than a year ago, the first thought that came to mind was the management must have a death wish. What other explanation could there be for opening another sandwich joint barely a block from La Sandwicherie? The…
Always hungry Barton G. Weiss of Barton G. The Restaurant is South Florida’s most ambitious restauranteur, constantly working with his chefs to develop outrageously clever menus and eye-popping presentations, only to revamp and start again the next season with newly brilliant concepts and concoctions. So it seemed like a perfect…
Many years ago I found myself sitting on the outdoor patio at Joe’s Seafood Restaurant — a photogenic vista of the Miami River on the horizon, a piece of depressingly overdressed fish on the plate. It was agonizing to think, as I slowly poked at the sorry specimen with my…
Boring old hot dog — mustard, relish, maybe a little chopped onion. Trendy new haute dog — wasabi mayo, banana chips, avocado. That’s the idea behind Franktitude, a way-slick eatery that appears intent on doing to the wiener what eateries like Lindburger and Oneburger have done to the hamburger, essentially…
Where’s the beef going? “I didn’t want to change it,” Isaac Starkman told me a few years back when asked about his strategy for renovating Wolfie Cohen’s Rascal House. “I wanted to perpetuate it.” And for good reason, as during one thirteen-year period alone the landmark delicatessen in Sunny Isles…
If you haven’t yet made it through your holiday gift list, do the following two things immediately: 1. Finish reading this review. 2. Go shopping. More specifically, drive to Bal Harbour Shops and buy the damn gifts already! Why Bal Harbour? Partly because the bargain stores have long been emptied…
When the clock strikes twelve on New Year’s Eve, the Cuban tradition is to eat twelve grapes to ensure good luck for each month of the new year. The custom evidently originated in Spain, around 1900, derived from the hope that one year’s good wine grape harvest might be repeated…
Table 8 Coming to a plate near you David Bouley Evolution, the South Beach outpost of one of New York’s finest chefs, and Table 8, the South Beach outpost of one of Los Angeles’ finest chefs, have opened their doors, almost simultaneously, less than two blocks apart from each other…
They are the unclean, the defiled. Outcasts. Outlaws. Social pariahs, shunned by the righteous for their apostasy. They’re smokers, the only group it’s still PC to hate. But even these bottom-dwellers, the dregs of the dregs, smokers of the Duffel Bags of Death known as cigars, deserve a place to…
Sometimes it seems as though you can’t swing a strand of spaghetti in this town without hitting an Italian restaurant — and not just any Italian restaurant, but one whose idea of authenticity is white linens on the tables, Ol’ Blue Eyes on the stereo, and a big-bellied waiter in…
It might seem like we first began hearing about Karu Restaurant & Y sometime during the Clinton administration, but in actuality it has been only two-plus years since Cesar Sotomayor began work on his mega-ambitious project to create “a sanctuary of art, cuisine, and entertainment.” Sanctuary is an apt word,…
