The differences are glaring. As coruscating as the neon undercarriage of an El Dorado cruising Ocean Drive. As in-your-face as the high beam of a rotating spotlight outside a Washington Avenue nightclub. As shiny as a supermodel’s nose, awaiting powder. Last year, when the whole world looked forward to partying…
Sad but true, happy hour has never really secured a foothold here in Miami. Sure, a couple of restaurants like Monty’s and Hardaway’s Firehouse Four have managed to draw a steady after-work crowd almost every night of the week. But serious attempts to institute happy hour have been sporadic and…
I was mindlessly slipping on my favorite Wallace & Gromit socks while getting dressed for lunch, when I suddenly became mindful of the fact that I was headed to the Govina Dining Room at the Hare Krishna Temple in Coconut Grove, the sort of place that likely would have guests…
Of course the question on every diner’s mind is not which restaurants will open this year. It’s which ones of the slew will survive the season and which ones the media will feed on like carrion. Fortunately I have come up with a foolproof method of predicting the formative successes…
The west side of South Beach once again has proved nonlucrative: Jonathan Eismann’s Westside Diner has closed. Eismann’s product was the second attempt to make something of this spot, following Johnny V’s Kitchen, run by Astor Place chef Johnny Vinczencz. “It was very disappointing, because it was a real labor…
It’s become cliché to describe a Latin restaurant in Miami as “reminiscent of an old-time Havana supper club,” but that is in fact the case at Samba Room in the recently renovated Bancroft Hotel on South Beach. Not too ritzy a club, mind you, the stylishly spare décor defined by…
Hans Viertz has gone from being corporate head chef of Club Med, a job that entailed overseeing 31.2 million meals per year, to proprietor of Estate Wines & Gourmet Foods, whose “Euro table” lunch service features a butcher-block table with communal seating for twelve, plus five additional stools at a…
Astrological geeks spend Saturday afternoons at the planetarium, while bird nerds flock to Parrot Jungle. Scientific tykes have Epcot Center, and we’ve reserved more or less the rest of Central Florida for all the other kiddies. So where do foody two-shoes go to when they want to stroll through a…
The House Restaurant recently opened in a renovated 1930s residence, giving it an automatic built-in appeal — after all, one of the best things you can say about a dining establishment is that it makes you feel at home. The welcoming attitude of the staff here reinforces homeyness, although this…
Ever wonder how local food writers keep abreast of what’s going on in the always-shifting world of Miami dining, or marvel at the way they manage to come up with all those neat adjectives, apropos quotes, and pertinent information about so many intriguing new restaurants and cuisines? It’s actually pretty…
Cautiously optimistic” is how I would have described my reaction, if anyone bothered to ask, after finding out that Suzanne’s Market in South Beach had been replaced by Neam’s Gourmet. Suzanne’s had been in my neighborhood for quite a few years, so I can attest that as an “upscale” food…
Dennis Max’s latest venture, Max’s Place, is now open in Bal Harbour Shops, in the space where Petrossian used to spoon out caviar. Things haven’t been altered much inside, which is fine, because the tall ceiling, neat cherrywood trim, and plush banquettes make for a handsome and comfortable dining room;…
So Judd Hirsch and Tony Danza both had something going with Marilu Henner while they all starred together in Taxi. How do you like that? I gleaned this tidbit of trivia while watching one of Entertainment Tonight’s behind-the-scenes specials that focus on faded TV shows. We’ve all become passive observers…
It’s always a letdown when the waiter in a quaint picture-perfect café hands out a slipshod piece of paper that passes as a menu. First thing most of us do is turn it over to see if there’s anything else written on the other side. Artichoke’s is the antithesis: The…
The primary purpose of a menu is to inform us what a restaurant has to offer and how much they charge. It may seem simple, but composing this list is one of the most difficult and important tasks of a restaurateur, as a menu also must reflect the seasonal availability…
Highly regarded food writer John F. Mariani, commenting on the culinary capabilities of American cities in the book Dining Out (Dornenburg and Page), refers to New York as “unquestionably the restaurant capital,” Seattle as “interesting,” and San Francisco as “a little pompous about their food,” which is “not such a…
Dining on Cuban food often dictates a choice between dirt-cheap dives dishing out decent fare and upscale establishments that serve nuevo Latino cuisine as incongruously overgarnished as Fidel Castro in a tuxedo. Havana Harry’s, a 200-seat family-style Cuban restaurant on Le Jeune, one block west of South Dixie Highway, falls…
Read Part 1 or Part 2 Flattery easily can turn a restaurateur’s head. Too easily, as it turns out. In 1997 snowbirds loyal to Dennis Max convinced the man and his company that the Northeast was ready for his concept. Specifically this group of investors wanted Unique Restaurant Concepts to…
It was while sitting at home, watching the presidential debate on TV, that I suddenly found myself seized by an insatiable craving for jerk chicken. Go figure. So I headed to Jerk Machine, located in North Miami (other locations include Sunrise, Opa-locka, Coral Springs, and Hollywood), a place whose motto…
Rodz of South Beach, a restaurant and lounge nestled in the center of Española Way, serves cuisine that is self-described as “Pan Asian, Continental, and Mediterranean, with an American influence.” Whenever I come across such globally ambitious concepts, a little warning flag pops up: cooks of all countries, masters of…
When restaurateur Mary Anne Richter initially dined at Café Max in Pompano Beach, about three days after it opened in 1984, she was hardly impressed. “I went in for dinner with two friends, and everything that could have gone wrong went wrong,” she laughs. “They lost the exhaust, you couldn’t…
Prologue: About six weeks ago, in Bal Harbour Shops, a restaurant called Max’s Place opened in the space where Petrossian formerly held court. It was only a few months after Petrossian had gone out of business, and the entire space needed to be revamped to fit the new concept. But…
