The days when Florida was the last to get wind of a trend are over. So over, in fact, that folks like Cyril Camus, fifth-generation cognac producer, chose Miami over New York and Los Angeles to launch the “new generation” product, Camus 4U. The 31-year-old marketing and development director of…
By definition, fine-dining chefs aren’t your average day-jobbers. Their hours are mostly converse to those experienced by the rest of the vocational world. Their kitchen society is a caste, made up of which group has the right to instruct another bunch on how to chop onions. Their duties can range…
It seemed not inappropriate to me that the recent opening of Jerry’s Famous Deli, in the sleek South Beach space long occupied by the nightclub Warsaw, was accompanied by the kind of media brouhaha normally reserved for the premiere of exclusive restaurant/lounges co-owned by celebrities. The prospect of great hot…
Yep, holiday gift-giving season has arrived, want it or not. And what will all of you workaholics who’re too busy to shop be giving this year — a bouquet of flowers … again? Since this isn’t the flora but the food section of the newspaper, let’s talk about fruit flowers,…
The townhouse was a novelty on South Beach. The first of its kind to be conceptualized, it was one of only five units. With three bathrooms, three bedrooms, two balconies, two covered parking spaces, and a location two blocks north of then-burgeoning Lincoln Road, the numbers made so much sense…
You wouldn’t think that giving diners what they want would be a particularly unique strategy for operating a restaurant. Even those with no experience in the hospitality field would no doubt assume that pleasing customers is something every potential restaurateur would seriously focus upon from day one. Yet this apparently…
For perhaps the tenth time in the last month, I opened a bottle of tainted wine a few nights ago. The 2001 Sauvion Pouilly-Fumé, a generally reliable white wine made from Sauvignon Blanc grapes grown in the Loire Valley, had clearly gone off. The cause, most likely, was either oxidation…
Under the heading of Most Incredulous Incentive, the “Eat The Vote” campaign kicks off in Fort Lauderdale November 1. Show your Florida voter’s reg card (yes, it must be valid) or proof of voting in the November 5 election, and you’ll be eligible to receive various freebies — drinks, desserts,…
If you look very hard high up on the ceiling of Doraku, a sophisticated spot with minimalist mode-of-the-moment décor (relying largely on the natural elegance of contrasting polished woods), like a Terence Conran-type take on a traditional Japanese teahouse, you will notice that the subdued mesh-muted lights appear to be…
Here we are on the cusp of November, and I’m just getting around to writing about Oktoberfest. Very tardy on my part — after all, we know that Oktoberfest takes place in September. What’s that? You thought it took place in October? Jeez — we better start from the beginning…
As a food reviewer who does not keep kosher (I’m not Jewish), but who fields many requests for truly tasty kosher noshes from diners who do, I was excited early this year when new Kosher Gourmet opened with ads touting two things that run-of-the-mill kosher bakeries rarely have: prepared foods…
Julian, the waiter at Tantra, presented my husband with a bottle of 1993 Deutz Trio champagne and a large knife. We were celebrating our tenth wedding anniversary, and Julian thought it would be a charming demonstration if Jon “saber-ed” the bubbly, a technique which involves positioning the blade just underneath…
You can’t really fault the Cheesecake Factory people if, over the years, they’ve developed a bemused attitude while the front window of their popular eatery in the Aventura Mall food court has intermittently reflected the changing of restaurant signs in the space across the way. Soyka tried a News Café…
When it comes to choosing a bottle of wine, decision-making is endless. Red or white? Still or sparkling? New World (California) or Old World (France)? Cork stopper or screwcap?Come again? Naturally no serious Miami wine drinker wants a bottle of vino that’s as easy to open as a two-liter jug…
Recently I had a houseguest who presented a bit of a challenge in offering her a truly impressive dining experience. She’d grown up with a grandmother who was English, who was so wealthy that her idea of shopping was taking the QE2 over to Manhattan for an afternoon on Fifth…
“Mornin’ General,” my mostly African-American co-workers would say as I’d drag myself through the doors of Bagel World in Queens, New York, at 5:30 a.m. The nickname had nothing to do with any military bearing or bulldog attitude on my part; when I was first introduced one of the guys…
In terms of lunch-hour possibilities, 41st Street is a great place to make a bank withdrawal, but not such a great place to spend same on grub. Not that there aren’t eateries dotted here and there among the ATM machines. It’s just that almost none are appealing; in this neighborhood…
Where have all the Bahamians gone? The short answer: home. Seems like when I moved here a little more than a decade ago, Bahamian culture was dominant, and its influence was reflected in the epicurean scene — as in, nearly every menu, from low-end to high, boasted conch fritters and…
Was it the Brady Bunch who sang something like, “When it’s time to change, you’ve got to rearrange?” Well, it might as well have been the Mango Gang. Joining Norman Van Aken in sourcing new Coral Gables gastronomic projects, Robbin Haas has left Baleen. He’s going it on his own…
I could blame Zagat for my heading to Caffe Vialetto with visions of haute conch and upscale callaloo in my head, but I’m too big for that. It’s true the dining guide ranks the restaurant number three in the “Top Caribbean” category, yet while I had never been to, or…
Early last spring I got an e-mail from a reader recommending a restaurant I’d actually noticed myself while reviewing another place in the same neighborhood, the increasingly lively area right off Circle Park. The quite overlookable spot (décor, as seen through a plain storefront, is basically beer neon and fishing…
Skepticism, I’m told, is an unattractive trait. Well, call me homely and be done with it. My nature refuses to allow me to take things at face value and endorse them blindly, which is why I voiced initial doubts about the inaugural Miami Spice project, a month-long promotion that concluded…
