Art Basel 2009 Miami Restaurant Guide vol. 3 – Downtown Area

Downtown Miami is a special place, especially because zoning laws allow for 24 hour liquor licensing. Damn right. Art Basel 2009 Miami brings with it a week of satellite fairs, many of them concentrated where most of the Design District and Wynwood galleries and Northern Downtown event spaces are, and…

Michy’s Wine Tasting: Zinfandel with Stalin?

Michy’s (6927 Biscayne Blvd., Miami) is presenting a distinctively different wine tasting. For one thing, it will be held on a Saturday afternoon (December 12, 2:30 to 3:30 p.m.). And instead of pairing the dozen sampling wines with foods, they will be matched according to the following format:Flight 1: match…

The Italian Mojito

Arturo Sighinolfi is the Director of Mixology and Spirits Education for Southern Wine and Spirits of Florida. From 1996 to 2003 he tended bar at the Hotel Astor in South Beach, during which time he was selected as Miami New Times Best Bartender of 1998. Part of Arturo’s job is…

Magical Dominican Elixir at Mamajuana Café

​Forget Viagra and Tamiflu, the only reliable way to shake off your erectile dysfunction and H1N1 woes is a sweet, dark shot of that ancient alcoholic cure — mamajuana. So, poor sufferer, head to local outpost Mamajuana Café (225 Altara Ave., Coral Gables) where you can get your dose of…

Got Brined Turkey Recipes, Now What The Hell Is Brined Turkey?

Seems like every year there’s a new Thanksgiving phenomenon about how to cook your turkey. From deep fried, to smoked, grilled, boiled, flambeed, and wokked out, it feels like we’ve heard it all.Well this year it’s brined. Brined turkey this, brine soak your turkey that, but what the hell is…

The Miami Turkey: Double Stuffed, Bacon, Pork, Black Beans & Rice

Chicago’s got the smokehouse turkey stuffed with hot dogs.Los Angeles turkeys get botox in their gobblers, and surgical breast enhancement.Arizona turkeys get left to cook by solar power on the sidewalk.So what is the signature Miami turkey? Here’s how to make one yourself.Find a Dade County farmer with pigs and…

Feelin’ Groovy: Beaujolais Nouveau Luncheon at Au Pied de Cochon

Another year, another Beaujolais luncheon, another boast that the current crop is the best in years. “You get a vintage like this every century. Last one as good was 1947,” insisted winemaker Stéphane Queralt. I didn’t want to say this to Stéphane, but in spite of a positive spin on…

Plymouth Rocks: Notes From Eos’ Gin Dinner

The evening began with talk of a “vodka backlash” occurring in New York. Too many brands, too much ubiquity, too neutral a flavor. Enter gin, with its’ aromatic botanicals and complex flavor — the ideal antidote to dull cocktails. Or at least that’s the world according to Simon Ford, the…

Six Glasses of Sangria at Versailles

Versailles is an odd place. Long legendary as a pow-wow spot for local politicos, celebrities, gangsters, and politically connected celebrity gangsters, this fabled Cuban restaurant’s got all the ambiance of some kitschy-haute cafeteria at an upscale senior citizens’ resort. But, hey, that’s OK because you’re not here for the Louis-XIV-explodes-all-over-Denny’s…

Urbanite Bistro Monthly Beer Dinner for November

Last time we had a beer dinner it consisted of a malt liquor tall can and a bag of chips in a parking lot downtown. Little did we know that the Urbanite Bistro (62 NE 14 Street, Miami) is doing a better version of the same thing starting Friday, November…

Waxys On The River Goes Reggae Wednesdays with Kulcha Shok Muzik

Every bar/restaurant that’s into getting green should throw a good reggae night. What better for the kitchen than a high-life crowd of hungry people smoked out on the river?Waxy’s On The River (690 SW 1st Court) is taking a piece of the action with their new Reggae Wednesdays. $3 Budweisers,…

Setai’s New Cocktail Menu May Make You Squeal With Delight

Hold on to your curly little tails, folks. It’s no secret that pork flavors have somehow made their way into the world of trendy cocktails (still haven’t tried a Bacontini or Bacon Bloody Mary?), so perhaps it was just a matter of time before the essence of our favorite squealers…

Eleven Brown Ale by the Native Brewing Company

Each and every worker drone dreams of escaping the gray, soul-crushing confines of the office for the warm, womb-like safety of his very own microbrewery. You, me, and your boss have all had the exact same 4 p.m. fantasy: “Make beer, get rich!” And yet, here we sit in our…

Short Order Samples World’s Strongest Beer, Survives

Doesn’t the dude above (video by Jake Katel) just look-and sound- like the human embodiment of a Boston-brewed beer with a whopping 27% alcohol content? All he needs is one of those colonial get-ups and, like, a drunk horse by his side.Sam Adams brewmaster Bob Cannon invited Short Order to…

Top 5 Sassiest Drink Names

Just when you finally matured enough to order the Rooty Tooty Fresh ‘N Fruity with a straight face from your friendly neighborhood IHOP server, some local mixologists are testing your tolerance with feisty names for their favorite cocktails.Celebrate the departure of the Fuzzy Navel, Sloe Comfortable Screw, and Sex on…

Booze Hound: Sip, Sip and Dance, Dance at Tap Tap

Outside Tap Tap, there’s a truck parked under a palm on a patch of grass between the sidewalk and the street. It’s a Toyota that’s been pimped with Haitian folk art flourishes: hand-painted murals splashed across the hood and sides, an iron headboard adorned with the word Rezistans, and some…

Best Halloween Drink: The Brain Hemorrhage

Screams, laughs, naughty nurses, dudes in drag, and more drunks than you can shake a pitcher at. That’s right, Halloween is almost here.Some might say it’s spirit that fuels the revelry, but we know it’s really just alcohol. Here’s the recipe for a drink that has the look and packs…

DRB Miami is the Democratic Republic of Beer, Now Open

Fourteenth Street is the Janis Joplin of Downtown. She came into some money, her legs are wide open, everybody’s welcome, and she’s down to party. Here’s a new notch in her belt. DRB Miami (255 NE 14th Street, between NE Second and Biscayne) is a bar and restaurant that just opened…

Grandpa’s Martini Test at Chicago’s Steakhouse & Tavern

You know, Tom Brokaw was right when he called our grandparents the “Greatest Generation.” Not only did they fight World War II and rescue the world from the evil clutches of fascism, but Grandpa and Grandma totally knew how to party. Oysters, steaks, and a half-dozen martinis all in one…

Loire Valley Wines at Two Chefs Restaurant

Last Thursday afternoon, Two Chefs Restaurant hosted a wine tasting of Sauvignon Blancs from the Loire Valley in France. Loire Valley Wines are produced over a wide swath of the country, and so of course as one travels from east (Touraine) to west (Sancerre, Pouily-Fumé) the characteristics change dramatically. We…