Zapata’s Place slugs the front of its menu with this slogan: “The First Authentic Mexican Gourmet Food in Florida.” That’s a pretty bold claim for this North Miami newcomer to make. Surely somewhere in Florida there’s an honest-to-goodness gourmet Mexican eatery that has been in business for more than six…
Douglas Rodriguez is the man. He’s a player. He’s got it goin’ on. The former Yuca chef-partner and originator of nuevo cubano cuisine could have easily suffered from small fish/big pond syndrome when he left the restaurant in 1993 to start his own operation. Though he’d looked at several possible…
The Old Cutler Oyster Co. & Raw Bar (O.C.’s to its many fans) may be the most delayed comeback story in the annals of Hurricane Andrew lore. The family-style seafood restaurant was a five-year-old storefront in the Old Cutler Towne Center before being leveled by the big wind. When Doc…
A restaurateur often experiences an understandable preoccupation with his restaurant, particularly if he spends every minute nurturing it, christens it with his own name, or takes dramatic steps to prevent its death. Should he choose (or be forced) to sell it too early — say, in the first few years…
New York Times restaurant critic Ruth Reichl kicked off a recent food/travel piece about Chinese food in Los Angeles’s San Gabriel Valley with the words, “It is Friday night and I have just eaten my twelfth meal in 36 hours. I’m a little full and sort of hoping that the…
Bad luck breaks over me like a South Florida thundercloud. My skies could be clear for months at a time and then wham! A car accidents, leaky roofs, insurance hikes, and appetite-threatening diseases will rain down with gale-force intensity, cramming a year’s worth of personal disasters into an alarmingly short…
You gotta give chef Jonathan Eismann credit. A couple of years ago his award-winning creations at Pacific Time were visionary for South Beach, offering a much-needed option to a pasta-weary populace. These days, though, his culinary philosophy has become somewhat familiar — and it’s not because he’s any less skilled…
The past few years’ influx of New York chef-owners and New York customers brought New York prices to Miami eateries. Miami-born restaurants followed suit, charging in excess of twenty bucks for a single entree. And it only took a major recession and some very empty restaurants to prove South Florida…
I’m a freak for heat. Not the kind we South Floridians are far too familiar with. I’m talking about the fire that makes you sweat from the inside out. I’m talking about chili peppers. I’m not as bad as some, like our copy editor Ann, who drizzles Tabasco sauce on…
The first time I visited South Beach’s newest Thai restaurant, Cafe Thai Bistro, a waiter told me not to return. We had an argument over a two-dollar sharing charge with which he’d padded the bill, and which I had no intention of paying. As is the custom in Asian restaurants,…
In a Mexican restaurant some years ago, my sister and I were scraping up the last of our guacamole with tortilla chips and slurping what was left of our salt-rimmed cocktails. We hadn’t been spending much time together, so we were content to be doing something we both loved –…
Viewed from Collins Avenue Treffpunkt Biergarten might appear intimidating. The year-old German seafood-and-steak house squats in the parking lot of the R.K. Sunny Isles Plaza, framed by an extensive strip mall. A large square building, the restaurant features tinted glass walls, which at night look black as a thundercloud, prohibiting…
As a South Beach resident, I know how it goes: The old hotels and storefronts on a major strip — Ocean Drive, say — are renovated. Rents skyrocket, forcing out the kosher butchers, the shoe repair shops, the family-run drugstores and bodegas that have been there for eons, and bringing…
Like the Honda convertible of similar name, Cafe del Sol has plenty to do with the sun. Opened in early February, the restaurant replaced the Terrace Cafe in the lobby of the Crowne Plaza Miami (formerly the Omni) as part of a nine-million-dollar renovation of the hotel. I haven’t seen…
I’ve had a fondness for British pubs ever since I worked in one in California, even though that experience wasn’t wonderful. The hours were long, the tips were horrendous, and the manager, who called me Jenny (a name I’ve always despised), gave out my phone number to customers. I got…
Yvonne Helmick may not have done herself a favor in naming her five-month-old Kendall Plaza (on U.S. 1 south of Dadeland) bistro Food by Trolls. Most Americans, after all, think of trolls as malformed creatures that live under bridges and practice extortion. Or, perhaps, as kewpielike dolls with perpetually surprised…
I wasn’t surprised in the health-conscious Eighties when rich, fattening French cuisine fell out of fashion. Nor am I shocked that with today’s retro fascination with steak and potatoes, French restaurants are popping up all over subtropica. Yet the successes of two new eateries A Brasserie L’Entrecote in Coconut Grove…
The recent decline in formal restaurant service has alarmed many a food connoisseur, including Andy Birsh, whose column in the March issue of Gourmet addresses what the author calls “the unwritten agreement that might be said to exist between present-day restaurateurs and their patrons.” Given that his beat is New…
Leaf through just about any magazine and you’ll likely find at least one article that begins “There is….” As a sometime teacher of composition and literature, I can’t help but be disgusted by the predominance of what New York Times Magazine columnist William Safire calls a “dummy subject.” To paraphrase…
As dining in the Planet Hollywood-dominated Nineties continues to be more about entertainment and less about food, kitschy “theme” restaurants are all the rage. Two such New York City eateries are so hip they’ve drawn national attention: Jekyll & Hyde, whose horror movielike decor includes paintings with eyes that follow…
Diego’s Restaurant ought to be the quintessence of Spanish dining in Coral Gables. The four-month-old restaurant possesses all the elements: a wide-ranging menu highlighting the various regions of Spain; an extensive wine list heavy on the Riojas; a 140-seat dining room handsomely outfitted in earth tones and contrasting textures; and…
Like a cat, a good theater piece enjoys more than one incarnation: Long after the first run has ended, a new director, cast, and crew come along and stage a revival, often with great success. Apply the revival theory to a restaurant and you’ve got Embers, an American-style eatery that…
