Think Portuguese wines and the first one that probably comes to mind is port. Sweet, syrupy, high alcohol. . . just what you want to drink in the South Florida summer blast furnace, when it’s hot enough to make your face melt and humid enough to grab a handful of…
Few things satisfy my soul like a crispy, deep-fried Florida rock shrimp. The Florida rock shrimp story is one of those happy dramas that typifies good old American ingenuity. Here was a delicious little deep-sea animal that for hundreds of years had almost completely confounded our desire to eat it…
Two pretty, perky girls as cute as ’50s pinups, Michelle Parparian and Amanda Watkins, have transformed a 1920s Florida cottage into a vintage clothing store with a cupcakery in their tiny rear kitchen — a kitchen known to turn out a thousand cupcakes at a pop for local events. But…
“Whether the knife falls on the melon, or the melon on the knife, the melon suffers.” — African proverb…
In what is, as far as I know, the first chicken pilot program in South Florida, Lake Worth organizers are looking for people to participate in an effort to teach chickens to fly fighter jets. Or, er, I must’ve misread that. Actually what they want to do is create a…
If looks could kill, you’d call this thing the plague. It’s roughly the size of a cucumber, and covered with green bumps that make it look like the bastard child of a cucumber and a head of broccoli. My trembling hands pick it up and the cold outer layer feels…
With one season (tourist) gone and another season (hurricane) upon us, local restaurants are stepping up summer promotions to make sure this season (of the witch) isn’t their last.Latest is Boca’s ZED451, the foodie churrascaria, which recently cut the price of its prix fixe. The all-you-can-gobble-until-your-stomach-explodes dinner menu dropped from…
“El Autentico Sabor de la Comida Dominicana,” reads the menu at this Pompano Beach hole-in-the-wall. And it’s authentic Dominican Republic fare, all right. Homemade specials at Latin Conga! change daily, but once they run out, forget your craving for fried chicken chunks or seafood soup. It pays to show up…
“In food, as in death, we feel the essential brotherhood of Man.” — Vietnamese proverb…
You can’t imagine how heartbroken I was this weekend when I drove up to my favorite Vietnamese restaurant, Sakyo, off of Okeechobee Boulevard and Haverhill Road in West Palm Beach, to find the parking lot empty and the windows darkened. Sakyo had closed for good. Finally this recession is really…
“Oh Lord please don’t burn usDon’t kill or toast your flock,Don’t put us on the barbecueOr simmer us in stock,Don’t bake or baste or boil usOr stir-fry us in a wok.”– Monty Python…
via Burger BeastAlthough Clean Plate Charlie is the only food blog you really need to read daily, some people just can’t get enough. Here are some highlights other food blogs:Let’s say you’ve already poured through Clean Plate Charlie, but still need more South Florida food blogging goodness. It’s impossible to…
Next Friday we launch our weekly Friday Feature, “Ask The Critic,” invented for the sole purpose of allowing us to show off. Readers: Send us your easy questions, send us your torturous riddles. “Where can I find beignet in Lauderhill?”; “Who makes the tastiest shark n bake?”; “How many calories…
3-4-30, 2-4-1: You don’t have to be a mathematician to know those numbers add up to a pretty sweet deal. By popular demand, Christine’s in Fort Lauderdale keeps rolling out its delectable deals: three small plates for $30, add a bottle of wine at half price — to be nibbled…
If you’re looking for a unique cocktail to whittle away an afternoon, the Prickly Pear Margarita served at Canyon Southwest Café in Fort Lauderdale should be at the top of your list. The exact ingredients and portions of this signature margarita are a well-guarded secret, but here’s an educated guess:…
I’ve been a wine drinker since grade school. I grew up with glasses of chilled Gallo Hearty Burgundy straight out of the fridge (we were each allowed a small glass with Sunday dinner), and by the time I had hit legal drinking age, I’d moved on to specialty California pinots…
Built on the site of the famous old ’40s outdoor burger bar called the Hut, the Top of the Point is located on the penthouse floor of Phillips Point, with 180-degree views of the Intracoastal and Palm Beach. It’s operated as an outpost of the Breakers Hotel. Just the same,…
Ever get the urge to make like Gordon Ramsay or Tom Colicchio? You know, “This tastes like shit! Pack your knives and go!” Well, at Rustic Cellar in Boca you can feed your inner megalomaniac in a blind wine tasting and judging set for Thursday, May 28. Beginning at 7…
An innocuous looking chocolate bar wrapped in silver foil and a paper Whole Foods bag sat on the table in front of me with a note reading “Try this for the food blog and don’t open the bag until you’ve tasted the chocolate.” I was confused as to how this…
While I’m far from the martini-sipping type, I can respect the breed. Powerful types and their wanna-bes, cavorting and carrying on, stemmed glass hoisted in one hand saying loudly to the world, “Bring it on, you bastards. I have gin.” The fact is, though, as the martini has become more…
In the never-ending search for wines that ride the double-yellow between cork dorkery and suckitude, it’s always a good idea to begin in Spain.In the past dozen or so years, Spanish wines have gone from cheap Rioja and a bunch of other stuff to some of the finest wines in…
Rita’s Water Ice is a Philadelphia landmark, selling a product that rivals the cheesesteak in its addictive qualities.The ingredients sound simple enough–ice, fresh fruit, sugar–but this is not your average snow cone. I’ve seen Philly natives travel miles to get their fix, craving the slushy, refreshing goodness the way normal…
