So many things seemed to go wrong with the Miami dining scene this year. First there were the big-name closures, most notably Norman’s, Pacific Time, Chispa, David Bouley Evolution, and Johnny V South Beach. Then an onslaught of national chains poured in at a pace heretofore not seen in these…
Like the West Coast’s renowned In-N-Out Burger chain, the East Coast’s Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries has distinctive retro Fifties décor. In fact the motif is so similar, down to the red-and-white-checked walls, that the California chain, family-owned since 1948, allegedly once considered a copycat suit against Five Guys…
Where: Hops Grill and Brewery , 1155 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines, (954) 441-4599 What $15 Gets You: Smothered Chicken Marsala, side of vegetables, side of fries, and a drink of your choice. The food at Hops wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t great either. It was standard. Keeping in mind that…
It is, in short, a great time to be an eater.” So writes David Kamp in The United States of Arugula, and as his book’s subtitle suggests, “The Sun-Dried, Cold-Pressed, Dark-Roasted, Extra Virgin Story of the American Food Revolution” celebrates the availability of comestibles that far surpass anything “our grandparents…
We all know what time of year it is: Lots of sleigh bells tinkling and herald angels singing, ye faithful coming and shepherds quaking, not to mention a downright orgy of fa-la-la-la-la-ing, rum-pum-pum-pumming, and — for Santa’s sake — buy, buy, buying so everyone at the local mall doesn’t wind…
Where: La Estancia Argentina, 17870 Biscayne Blvd., Aventura. (305) 932 6477 What $15 gets you: prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich, your choice of sides, drink, and dessert. La Estancia Argentina isn’t just a restaurant. It’s actually also a general store, which specializes in Argentinean food. The whole concept is strangely inviting,…
A restorative mystery smoothie called a Grape Fizz, dropped off by sympathetic friends on one of those all-work-no-play days, is what originally induced me to further explore five-month-old Lemon Fizz. The remarkably refreshing, rich elixir was possibly the most satisfying smoothie I’d ever downed. An in-person look at the menu…
Juan Mario Maza and Vani Maharaj, owners of the new Alta Cocina in South Miami, have an interesting backstory to tell. Vani, from Trinidad and Tobago, and Juan, from Guatemala, met while studying cuisine at Johnson & Wales University in North Miami. Maharaj went on to work with Michelle Bernstein…
Where: Cheen Huaye, 15400 Biscayne Blvd. North Miami Beach, 305-956-2808 What $15 Gets You: Pollo a la Yucateaca, a side of rice, fried plantains and your choice of drinks (and complimentary chips and salsa). My friend had recommended Cheen Huaye, which served Southern Mexican cuisine (not Mexican Southern, I mean…
When Ludwig Mies van der Rohe said, “Less is more,” he wasn’t talking about Graziano’s. This comfortable, unpretentious Argentine steak house spits in the beer of “less.” It flips the bird to “moderation,” body-slams “cholesterol” to the pavement, and jackhammer-stomps “diet” into whining, sniveling submission. As for “vegetarian,” just one…
As the sun serenely sets into the cerulean Mediterranean sea, a familiar refrain can be heard around dinner tables throughout Greece: “Moussaka again?” Sadly the 10 million inhabitants of this country, along with their ancestors, have over many a millennia accumulated only 14 recipes. They are good recipes, mind you,…
Whelks and periwinkles are just two reasons to love Maison d’Azur, the sizzling new seafood brasserie at the Anglers Resort. The former are conchlike in texture, the “winkles” teeny and sweet, yet while de rigueur on seafood platters in France, these spiral-shell sea snails rarely crawl onto stateside menus. Their…
Tis the season! In Miami that means not only the time for Art Basel, Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and New Year’s Eve parties, but also barbecues. While the rest of the country freezes, we get to grill in our swimsuits. Only problem is, after Thanksgiving’s sweating-over-a-hot-stove marathons, we’re all cooked out…
Our arses had hardly alighted upon the seat cushions when a tuxedoed gentleman came by the table with an enormous quarter-wheel of Parmesan cheese and plunked a carved nugget of it on each of our side plates — pausing long enough only to tersely introduce it the way a classical…
If there is a Hell on Earth for small-business owners, its name is Biscayne Boulevard. What’s amusingly termed “ongoing construction” (replace con with de for greater accuracy) has left stretches of Miami’s premier boulevard looking as if they’ve been hit by ICBMs, with surfaces so potholed that even driving over…
To paraphrase an old tag line for Levy’s Kosher Rye Bread: You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy Fusion 41. But it helps. I say this not because of the restaurant’s menu, which features fresh fish prepared and presented in contemporary fashion; other than being kosher, it has little…
When a restaurant has been operating since 1975, as House of India has, it’s bound to garner faultfinders as well as fans. The most persistent criticism here has been spotty service — which was definitely at its lowest point one recent lunchtime, when a waiter called Coral Gables cops to…
American Food Writing is not a book to be put down lightly. At 784 pages, it simply can’t be done. It is a book to be put down with a thunk, picked up and read, put down with a thunk, picked up and read, again and again. The anthology serves…
Miami is a town of many charming, unique, evocative neighborhoods with very few charming, unique, evocative neighborhood restaurants. Why is this? We can venture a few guesses. Miami is a city with no real culinary tradition, at least if you exclude stone crabs and restaurants that shear tourists like sunburned,…
What do a Russian kebabery, a student-run restaurant, and a Oaxacan taqueria on wheels have in common? Nothing except delicious food, which speaks a universal language. Lula Kebab House owners Sofia and David Shifrin are from Minsk (now the Republic of Belarus). Francisco Perez and his brother-in-law Moises, proprietors of…
Unlike its predecessor, the well-loved Japanese restaurant Tani Guchi’s Place, there’s nothing kosher about Maleewan Thai and Sushi. The specials board sports something that looks like a six-point Star of David, but it’s actually the six-petal vine flower from which Maleewan takes its name. Silk flowers are now a main…
There are three sections to the 145-seat Ishq (pronounced ish): a row of tables lined up on the sidewalk of Ocean Drive, a thinly foliated rectangular outdoor courtyard that serves as dining area and link between street and recessed restaurant, and the interior, consisting of a bar inlaid with semiprecious…
