Good literature may not necessarily change your life, but it can revolutionize the way you feel about certain foodstuffs. For instance after reading Banana Yoshimoto’s Kitchen, a Japanese novella about death, transvestitism, and cooking school, I came away not with a new understanding of love and grief, but with a…
In the June issue of Vogue, food writer Jeffrey Steingarten, fed up with snooty maitre d’s and perpetual busy signals, decides to “not make one reservation for the entire week. I will just show up.” So he does, and has some moderate success at good New York City eateries, winding…
La Gloria is, for moviegoers, the most significant Mexican import since Like Water for Chocolate. That’s because this new taqueria is located smack-dab in the midst of Coconut Grove’s cineplexes, offering a transcendent alternative to mall-land’s predictable fare. Mexican restaurants used to be just as predictable, but in recent years…
Another South Beach restaurant. Opened just under six months ago in the nether regions of South Beach by some of the owners of The Strand’s successful Living Room, Cafe Tabac might be just another pretty cafe. It’s as stylish as Joia, as moderately priced as Big Pink across the street,…
If I could sum up Miami in one word, it would be “transient.” The good weather attracts drifters. Folks don’t settle in Miami, they merely reside for a time. Some people are only here to party on South Beach before getting down to the serious business of making a living…
It’s probably me, but I just don’t get Fish 54. The seafood restaurant opened about three months ago in the Loehmann’s Fashion Island space formerly occupied by Fish, a high-end eatery run by the Nemo and Big Pink folks, Myles Chefetz and Michael Schwartz. The pair had invested a cool…
The Holy Trinity of gastronomic delicacies comes down to this: the salted fish eggs of a pregnant sturgeon, goose livers that have been grossly force-fed, and a subterranean fungus. If you haven’t developed an appreciation for caviar, foie gras, and truffles, you might think this is one giant joke being…
Europeans like to gripe about a lot of things in America. Especially about dining out, about how all those waiters hover at your table chattering about nothing. They’d be driven right back across the Atlantic after eating at Sweet Donna’s Country Store, where we were greeted by not one, but…
Utter the phrase “food by the pound” and any self-respecting gourmet will run for the hills, (okay, the swamps). Say it to a gourmand, and you’ll witness a different reaction completely; most likely a stampede toward the nearest eatery offering comida por libra. What’s the difference? A gourmet is someone…
Sometimes my relationships with restaurants are like the ones I have with my kid and husband. They require lots of work and involve those interminable growing pains, but both can bring great pleasure on a good day. That’s kind of the way I feel about Bishop’s. This six-month-old Southern-cuisine restaurant…
Does the difference between success and failure in the restaurant world boil down to those who have versus those who have not? Those who have, after all, are able to afford an experienced management team and name chef to come up with clever menus and slick modi operandi. They can…
“Never trust a recommendation when it comes from someone who lives or works within five blocks of the restaurant,” former New York Times food critic Ruth Reichl wrote. Until now I had usually followed her advice. Until The Globe’s gravity finally pulled me in. The combination jazz club and cafe…
Several years ago a fellow writer approached me at a party and said, “I read your column, but I don’t go to any of the restaurants you recommend.” I’m used to backhanded compliments, even downright insults. So I just shrugged, “Why not?” “I’m lactose intolerant,” he admitted. When he and…
“I know what good home-style Mexican food is supposed to be about,” a friend of mine told me recently. “I’ve just never had it.” That’s understandable: She lives in Miami. Oh sure, we’ve got a couple of long-standing joints (Paquito’s in North Miami Beach and El Rancho Grande in South…
Here’s the way I imagine it went down: The two proprietors of Riviera Brasserie are sitting at a table discussing their prospective new restaurant with genuine enthusiasm. One says to the other, “We’ll become known far and wide for our fine and authentic French brasserie fare.” “Oui,” responds the other,…
It’s no secret the waiting room in the doctor’s office is the most aptly named space on Earth. But one experience there left a long-lasting scar. Over the course of several presurgery appointments to fix a broken knee, I checked my watch and clocked the waiting period at no less…
It’s difficult for me to justify a stop at McDonald’s or Taco Bell, no matter how hungry or rushed I get. As a food and travel writer I take every meal as an opportunity for research, every getaway, a working vacation. But I’m not exempt from normal human hankerings. I…
In the food of American folklore, the hamburger has gotten short shrift: It’s overshadowed by the ever-present hot dog. While the wiener has come to represent our nation as surely as baseball and apple pie, the burger stands for nothing more than greasy spoons. The exclamation “Hot dog!” has positive…
Part of the appeal of dining out on foods we grew up with comes from being able to proclaim, with head-shaking disapproval, “This isn’t the way my mother used to make it.” Gives us that exhilarating feeling of expertise. Unfortunately, for me anyway, there isn’t exactly a glut of Jewish…
For starters I was not looking forward to dining at Bice. The new Italian restaurant in the Grand Bay Hotel in Coconut Grove replaced one of my favorite eateries, the Grand Cafe, where I’d enjoyed chef Pascal Oudin’s Old World French technique practiced on New World ingredients. And in a…
It’s easy to criticize the service in South Beach restaurants. Too many waitstaffs are rude and clueless, too many managers uncaring, and too many restaurateurs oblivious to the way an eatery should be run. In short too few people seem dedicated to serving fine food and creating a fine-dining experience…
If I were to open a restaurant, I’d invite everyone I know to come and eat for free the first few weeks — their parents and their friends, too — just to ensure a full house. Maybe such a scheme would help stanch the relentless parade of restaurants that come…
