Flip Burger Bar Opens This Week in North Miami

Flip Burger Bar will open Friday in North Miami at a space formerly occupied by Bocca Ristorante Italiano. Clearly we have our share of burger joints in Miami, but owner Alain Pizzutti wanted to bring a casual, hang-out place to the neighborhood.”There are a lot of university students around here…

Behind The Line: STK at The Gansevoort South Beach

STK at the Gansevoort South Beach is the nightlife answer to the steakhouse. A dark lit room, restaurant DJ, velvet ropes, a doorman, stilettos, and silicone all add up to black cards, bottles, and hot fired flesh from land and sea, truffle oil in the air, and the sides to…

The Local Panini & Flat Bar Officially Opens

There’s something about a well-hidden, undiscovered restaurant that is particularly  enticing. So when we heard about a panini and flat bar hidden in the depths of Flamingo South Beach, we headed over.. The Local Panini & Flat Bar opened quietly for Flamingo’s condo occupants just a few weeks ago, but had its…

Andrea Curto-Randazzo: Chef and TV Star To-Be, Part Two

Here’s Part Two of our interview with soon-to-be celebrity chef Andrea Curto-Randazzo. You canread the first part of the interview here.Now how did your appearance on Top Chef come about? You didn’t have enough going on?I did it for publicity because that’s what my field has become now. I’m a…

A Nicaraguan Breakfast at Pinolandia

Pinolandia is a 24-hour Nicaraguan fritanga in Miami’s Little Havana. It takes its name from pinol, the Nica national beverage of ancient mesoamerican origin made from a rough powder of the same name. Pinol is made of crushed corn kernels, herbs, and flavorings. The dueño of Pinolandia told us, “Es…

First Bite of Zuma at Epic Hotel

Does Miami really need another sushi restaurant and robata grill? We couldn’t help thinking the same thing when we heard Zuma opened its doors in the Epic overlooking the Miami River last month. So we didn’t rush in. But soon we started to hear people raving about just how good…

Quarterdeck (Which Wasn’t Really a Quarterdeck) Closes in SoBe

I drove by Quarterdeck Seafood Bar on Alton Road in South Beach yesterday and noticed that the sign had been taken down and the windows were papered over. I put in a call to Frank Zaffere, who is partner of Quarterdeck Restaurants (seven outlets in Broward and Palm Beach) with…

Sneak Review: Mercadito

A sneak peak at next week’s Cafe review of Mercadito Margarito:…Margaritas are spiked with unexpected additions such as mango, chile morita, a blueberry float…and that’s just in one concoction, the delectable Smoky Pablo. The bar drinks are great.It wouldn’t have surprised me to see those same ingredients in one of…

Fire Eater: LC’s Hot Sauce

LC’s Roti Shop is known for the wonderful flavors in the dishes she manages to put out year after year from the tiny kitchen of her restaurant in North Miami. The secret is in the sauce and this sauce is for sale.LC’s hot sauce and mango chutney ($3-$15) are made…

Pastelito de Guayaba at Alicia’s in Allapattah

A pastelito de guayaba is a delicious, flaky, puff pastry filled with semi-gooey guava paste. To make it, you seal the dough with egg wash, bake it, then brush it with syrup for a finger stickin’, flake-stickin’-to-lip experience. They can be found at most any Latin bakery, coffee shop, or convenience store…

The Inspector: Smell of Death, Live Rats, and Roach Legs

Furry bodies, segmented tails, whiskers from hell, transluscent brown wings, antennas of doom, beady black eyes; these are the visions restaurant inspectors must see in their nightmares.Luckily most of us don’t have to bear witness to these images of living disgustitude.On the other hand, we might be consuming the results…