If I had to choose one nation as my favorite food source, it would be China. Over the years and around the world, I’ve found a reliable indicator of great Chinese restaurants is the presence of fish tanks. Not the decorative kind but the sort in which sea creatures are…
Having once been stung by a man-of-war, I was less than excited to be seated with my back to a tall, narrow tank filled with gracefully flowing jellyfish, glowing translucently in blue neon light. The waiter’s chatter about chef James Wierzelewski’s concept of global cuisine and how the kitchen crew…
Ogbe and Felitia Guobadia, he from Nigeria, she from Virginia, met at Rutgers University and married in Nigeria’s former capital Lagos, where they opened an American fried chicken joint. Political turmoil prodded the two back to New Jersey, where they operated a successful African art gallery/Ethiopian restaurant. They next landed…
“Give me liberty or give me Parrilla Liberty.” I think a famous freedom fighter said that. If he didn’t, he should have, because a meal at Parrilla Liberty — an ink spot of an Argentine steak house just blocks from Lincoln Road — will definitely set you free: free from…
I have long maintained that if the axiom “you are what you eat” were true, the language among Argentines would be reduced to only one word: moo. The Knife and Matador, a pair of all-you-can-stuff-your-gut-with Argentine steak houses that have recently set up ranch in these parts, reinforce the notion…
A house alone is not a home, according to the saying. For that transformation to happen, a building needs life. And for the same reason, neither is Miami’s “square mile of style” (a nickname from the Seventies) a neighborhood. Revival efforts over the last decade have made the Design District…
Jaguar Ceviche Spoon Bar & Latam Grill is a mouthful of a moniker to pronounce, yet if the aim was for a definitive nomenclature, it should be called Jaguar Ceviche Spoon Bar, Latam Grill & Mexican Restaurant. Now all you need to know is that Latam stands for Latin American…
Wouldn’t it be nice if every restaurant were named as truthfully as Le Bon (an Italian dialect for “it’s good”)? Then we’d be seeing restaurant names like these: “It’s Okay: We suck only a little bit.” “It’s Mediocre: We suck a lot but the tourists don’t know the difference.” “It’s…
Our life is frittered away by detail … simplify, simplify,” wrote Henry David Thoreau in Walden. But that was more than 150 years ago, a time when life’s big basics could be altered by an individual, rather than being bureaucratically locked on a course way beyond our control. These days,…
Sugo is a new Italian restaurant situated inside Sanctuary, a recently opened spa/salon/boutique hotel on James Avenue in South Beach. With Casa Tua, Blue Door, and Nobu nearby, this neighborhood is becoming something of an epicenter of epicurean cool. Sugo owner Tommy Billante might seem like the new kid on…
Editor’s note: Periodically we will publish capsule reviews like those below in addition to our weekly full reviews. Contributors to this installment include Lee Klein, Pamela Robin Brandt, Greg Baker, Becky Randel, and Karen Figueiredo. More than 430 capsule reviews of local restaurants can be found by clicking on Dining…
I don’t deny having visited two recently opened Mexican joints with shot-glass-half-empty expectations. I mean the local track record concerning cantinas, taquerias, and the like is abysmally predictable: sombreros on stucco walls, margaritas in fish-bowl-size glasses, chips, dips, wretched Tex-Mex fare, and, after a short period of time, adios! Plus…
Since biblical times, bread has been referred to as the staff of life. According to Psalm 104, bread “strengthens man’s heart.” Although my grandmother never went quite as far as King David, she always insisted the family eat the crust, claiming it promotes strong teeth. On a gut level these…
Il Migliore’s chef/owner Neal Cooper is really a chef: Trained at a prestigious culinary institute, he’s knowledgeable in gastronomy, gastropods, gazpacho, gastriques, gas burners, the effect of garbanzos on the gastrointestinal system, and everything else pertaining to running a restaurant. Meaning you’re going to enjoy dining at his quaintly appointed…
Judging by appearances, Sushi Chef is definitely plain-Jun. On a charmless stretch of that tree-lined drag strip we call Coral Way sits an unassuming storefront, its drab façade giving no clue that this little place is anything other than one of those yawn-and-you’ll-miss-it South Florida sushi bars that have the…
Not too long ago an unflattering review of Baleen’s brunch adorned these pages. The oak-paneled, forest green, chandelier-sophisticated dining room (curiously themed with monkeys) didn’t bother me, nor did the circular, fully foliaged outdoor patio, whose Biscayne Bay backdrop makes Baleen one of the area’s most romantic locales. Rather it…
If Merrick Park were a real village, then Villagio would be a real Italian restaurant. Wait a minute. Villagio is a real Italian restaurant. Is it possible? Can this fashionable village of presumptive consumption — whose inhabitants drive shiny new Mercedes, glide around on Manolo Blahniks, and gorge on designer…
If you’re in the vicinity of the Village of Merrick Park and aching for a big, thick, juicy steak, you most likely head to the Palm. Should you be more in the mood for dazzling, contemporary Latin-inspired cooking, you choose Chispa. But how many folks simply can’t decide between the…
Getting old is a bitch. Take Grass, for example. When it first sprouted two years ago, the open-air space in the heart of the Design District was the hottest, coolest kid on the block. It became instant flypaper for all the self-anointed hipsters — the celebrities and big shots, models…
Flapjack Flip-Off Five fittingly flits our way in the fifth month of the new millennium’s fifth year and, as always, promises to be as ebullient as bubbling blini batter. Grab on to your griddle as new twists and unexpected thrills spill like faux maple syrup as a quintet of unwitting…
To someone accustomed to urban walking neighborhoods like Manhattan or South Beach, the prospect of living in Miami’s Upper Eastside has always seemed claustrophobic. Yes, there were beautiful homes and condos in the residential neighborhoods, but no pedestrian-friendly places to which residents could stroll for a cup of coffee in…
Most folks will have to head north on Biscayne Boulevard to arrive at Plein Sud, whose translation “far south” apparently references France. This is, after all, a new 50-seat French bistro (formerly inhabited by Luba Café and Café Bella Donna) plunked down in a small, obscure strip mall next door…
