The Mysterious Honeybell Gift Box

Last Friday, the FedEx guy came by my house with a rather large box from Cushman’s Fruit. As I signed for it, I noted that it was addressed to my husband, so I left it unopened.When he came home, I told him someone sent him fruit. We opened the box…

Sonic Beach: Free Breakfast Burrito for the New Year

If you’re tapped out after spending all your money on the big New Year’s Eve blowout party (not to mention the dozen or so boxes of Alka-Seltzer that you bought and consumed New Year’s Day), then head over to Sonic Beach in Fort Lauderdale for your free breakfast burrito…

Cold Weather Alert: Soup Is Good Food

Late one evening in a tiny bungalow in Tarpon River, the intoxicating fragrance of chicken broth simmered as a backdrop for friends sipping wine. Open windows, the warmth of candlelight, a farmhouse table, and old concentric wood floors framed a sensory scene to invoke an earlier era.The interplay of homemade…

By the Numbers: 2011 Restaurant Roll Call

Happy 2012! Inspired by Harper’s Index, here reads our restaurant trends for the past year. Restaurants to open in Fort Lauderdale: 23Burger restaurants to open in Broward/Palm Beach: 6Restaurants to open in Boca Raton: 10Taco shops to open in Broward /Palm Beach, not counting Chipotle: 4Restaurants to open in Palm…

Celebrate New Beer’s Eve at Tap 42

New Year’s Eve is one jacked up holiday. Long known as amateur night, it’s basically one of two evenings each year (the other being Valentine’s Day, but don’t get us started on that one) in which people gladly pay $200 for some surf and turf and a glass of lukewarm…

Anthony Bourdain’s Festivus: The Airing of the Grievances

We just knew that Festivus was Tony Bourdain’s kind of holiday. At first we thought that Tony was becoming a modern-day Grinch with a heart that grows three sizes in one day, after viewing pictures of him assembling a Disney Princess castle for his adorable daughter. In his jammies.But just…

Gluten-Intolerant? Five Beer-Pong-Worthy, Gluten-Free Options

When making dinner plans with friends, I usually ask something along the lines of, “What type of food are you in the mood to eat?” Recently, after two botched outings with friends, I’ve realized that the first thing I should ask is, “Are you gluten-intolerant?”Last month, I met with a…

Five Food Shows We’d Love to See in 2012

I’ll admit I’m totally obsessed with shows on the Food Network, Travel Channel, and Cooking Channel. In fact, I recently upgraded my cable service (and bill) in order to get the Cooking Channel when the free trial period ended — just so I could watch Emeril tour the USA and…

The Spaniard Tapas Bar and Café Opens in Boca Raton

Chef Jorge Fernandez brings the tastes, sights, and sounds of the Iberian Peninsula to South Florida with the debut of his new restaurant, the Spaniard Tapas Bar and Café. The restaurant, located in Boca Raton, adjacent to Royal Palm Place, serves traditional  tapas items like cured meats and cheeses as…

December Openings and Closings

Despite the holiday rush, December saw no abatement in restaurant openings. Nice weather, tourism, and delayed fall debuts were the incentives. Most new restaurants fill a niche: The Wine Dive, Havana’s, Le Macaron, or Brooklyn Water Bagel, for example.January and February will feature more anticipated openings, with projections for Tropical…

An Eclectic Asian Oasis in Lauderhill

“We can shoot guns after dinner,” I said to my friend J.J. in the parking lot of the strip mall that houses Silver Pond in Lauderhill, the subject of this week’s review. In the window, a man gearing up for target practice wore a long-sleeved shirt with Mickey Mouse on…

Get Your Piping Hot Pretzels

Homemade pretzels and pretzel bread have made their menu debut over the past year, though these are the best I’ve had in Florida so far. The little footballs are served hot and salty with a hearty, grainy mustard on the side. As terrific as they are alone, the bartender recommends…

Ten Tastes for 2011

As much as a massive entrée like homemade spaghetti and meatballs might satisfy hunger or evoke a delicious food memory, a big plate can be daunting. And the tenth bite is never as good as the first. So these days, I like to graze through dinner, sampling plates and ordering…

South Florida’s Best Dive Bars

While eating at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza my second week in Florida, I met a yacht captain — a younger, thinner, clean-cut version of the John Goodman character in The Big Lebowski. We got to talking about dive bars. “I’ve got the perfect dive bar to take you to,” he…

New Year’s Eve at Home? Here’s What You Need

2011 is dying fast, and we say good riddance. We’re looking forward to a 2012 and a year full of promise. There’s only one giant roadblock standing in the way of us and the shiny baby new year — New Year’s Eve.Look, it’s not that we hate New Year’s Eve;…

Chick-fil-A Calendar: Free Stuff and Great Cows In History (Pictures)

Chick-fil-A’s 2012 calendar is a moo-ving tribute to both bargains and great cows in history.We love the fact that Chick-fil-A hires bovine marketing and advertising reps. Sure, in a zeal to save their species from the plight of being killed and consumed they offer up their feathered barnyard brethren for…

Water Is Back On, Just Don’t Drink It.

“The city should pay people back for spending Christmas money on bottled water,” said a Walgreen’s employee on Sunrise at the checkout. People snaked in lines throughout this store hoarding cases of water in anticipation of days without it. At 10 p.m. over at The Hut, patrons joked about hurricane…