1500 Degrees: bland decor, carefully crafted cuisine

The new 1500 Degrees, unveiled in October as the final piece in the Eden Roc Renaissance’s $220 million renovation, dubs its menu “farm-to-table eating, with a heavy steakhouse sensibility.” That’s as good a self-description as you’ll get from a restaurant. Executive chef Paula DaSilva spent a decade as Dean James…

Scenes From Last Night’s Biscayne Triangle Truck Round-up

Dude. Tuesdays at the Biscayne Triangle Truck Round-up are fuckin’ awesome. Lots of trucks. Lots of people. Lots of all different types of food. People brought their dogs. People brought their bikes. The on-duty cops hung out by the doughnut truck all night. It was a cool, beautiful Miami night…

Burger Beast Introduces Street Food Fridays

If you’re not a subscriber to our weekly Café Bites dining newsletter, here’s a taste of what you’re missing. Click here to subscribe.Food trucks, food trucks, food trucks. You may be tired of hearing about them, fatigued from keeping up with their every move and still trying to figure out…

S&S Diner Proves That Not All Change Is Good

In this city of cookie-cutter architecture and assembly line cosmetic enhancements, “classic” is usually dismissed as “old.” S&S Diner, appropriately situated inside Allen’s Drug Store in South Miami, is an apple-pie-sweet respite from an otherwise cold, harsh reality…at least for those of us who still consider the word “old” to…

Picnic Is Over: The Backstory

The Picnic is over. The restaurant on 20th Street in the Sunset Harbor neighborhood of South Beach might have been able to overcome its questionable concept (Brunch…It’s what’s for dinner!), and even its weird menu (fried bologna sandwiches, mac & cheese spring rolls with gouda sauce, etc.), had it been…

Miami’s December 2010 Restaurant Openings and Closings

Well, it’s the last day of the year and it’s safe to say Miami saw some great additions to its restaurant scene, including a few notable ones in the last month of 2010. Following are notable openings and closings in December (or before and not included in our November restaurant…

Sneak Review: 1500 Degrees at Eden Roc

A small slice taken from next weeks meaty Cafe review of 1500 Degrees at Eden Roc.Executive chef Paula DaSilva spent a decade as Dean James Max’ chef de cuisine at Ft. Lauderdale’s 3030 Ocean, and, even a greater testament to her endurance skills, toiled for weeks under Gordon Ramsay on…

Vino & Olio disappoints

Vino & Olio is expansive in ambition, extravagant in design, and expensive in price; that’s not what the times demand. Most of the 5,600-square-foot Design District restaurant is elegantly dressed in curvy blond woods, and a large window into the kitchen offers a compelling view of gastronomic proceedings. But the…

Liberty Gas Station Has An Unexpected Pan-Latin Bakery

It is always a dandy surprise when you find the something great in unexpected surroundings. Discovering primo vintage duds at a flea market is an example. Well, such is the case with the Liberty gas station on SW 22nd Avenue and Coral Way. Like any other station, you can pull…

First Bite of Cha Cha Rooster at Lords South Beach

Today marks the grand opening of Cha Cha Rooster at Lords South Beach at Nash. Now there’s a mouthful, huh?Speaking of full mouths, Cha Cha invited us to preview their menu so we took a few pics for ya last week.Adora greeted guests at the bar and helped them get…

Kingdom Gone: Biscayne Boulevard’s Best Bar Closed

Kingdom, the friendly open air bar/eatery on Biscayne Boulevard is closed. The place, which offered 20 kinds of beer and normal sports bar type chow, was a favorite on Main Street Miami. You could watch both high rollers and bums commiserate about everything from Dolphins losses to the high price…

Harrison’s Sports Grill is Hit or Miss

I visited Harrison’s Sports Grill in search of something specific–namely, the BBQ brisket that I had heard so much about. I was even willing to forgo the brisket for any other barbecued meat they had on hand, but alas, there was none. Indeed, Harrison’s food was somewhat of a disappointment…

Jimmy’z Kitchen Wynwood Locale Opens Wednesday

If you’re not a subscriber to our weekly Café Bites dining newsletter, here’s a taste of what you’re missing. Click here to subscribe.Good news: Jimmy’z Kitchen is crossing over from South Beach to Wynwood at 2700 N Miami Ave, Miami (ground floor of the Cynergi building). The second location of…

How Robert Siegmann Sent a Bomb Through the TSA Checkpoint

Read the first part of this interview with Icebox Café’s owner Robert Siegmann and chef Andrea Landini here. C’mon–surely you have time. We know you aren’t really working today, anyhow.So how did Icebox Café at MIA come about?I always felt, as a traveler and a foodie, that good food at…

Wynwood Kitchen & Bar: artful and improving

Annually, Art Basel inadvertently gives birth to new restaurants in the city. Just as Hollywood lines up blockbuster debuts at the onset of Oscar season, opening dates for dining venues are moved up (or pushed back) to coincide with the start of the nation’s largest art fair. One of this…

Izzy’s Cubi-Thai Cuisine Is Revamped and Ready To Fly

Israel “Izzy” Valdes is a single dad whose kids “could never decide where they wanted to eat. It was always either Chinese food, or McDonald’s, or stuff like that. So I thought ‘If they can’t decide, how many other people really can’t decide where to go?” So Izzy got busy…

Sustain Restaurant & Bar Preview Dinner in Photos

Sustain Restaurant & Bar opened to the public this past Saturday. I was invited to Friday’s social media preview (complimentary) dinner.The space is airy and open. Most eye catching is a massive wooden rib cage structure hanging along one wall, which managing partner Jonathan Lazar told us is made of…

Open Season at Knaus Berry Farm in Pictures

Knaus Berry Farm bakery probably makes the best cinnamon rolls anywhere in the world. We can’t guarantee it, but most people who’ve had them agree. “The recipe isn’t neccessarily secret, but we don’t share it,” says Thomas Blocher, bakery manager. He has been in charge for the past 27 years…

Marc Randazzo on Jail Eats and Mickey Rourke’s Nose

Were you knocked out by yesterday’s interview? If not, read part one again… or we’ll beat you up.New Times: You’ve got tons of photos of celebrities on your walls. Who’s the most famous you’ve cooked for?Marc Randazzo: I cooked for President Clinton and his wife. And a lot of fighters…