South Pointe Espresso

Segafredo Zanetti Espresso has opened yet another café, this one at 124 Collins Avenue — they already operate one on Brickell, one in Bal Harbour, and about 570 more worldwide. Segafredo South Pointe will follow the same successful formula as the rest: Coffee, snacks, cocktails, a late night lounge scene…

Molecular Gastronomy at Enso

                                                                                                                         Jacob Katel”The exciting part for us is when people break out their cameras before they eat,” says Chef Jacob Durham from Enso. “Food is the only artform made strictly for consumption. Cooking is the oldest profession in the world, so it’s…

The Great Publix Fish Fillet Swindle

Last night I followed a craving for fish fillets into the deepest recesses of my freezer. (Do NOT make fun — we are poor writers over here; in fact, some of us survive mainly on tuna fish sandwiches).  Now, look at the image below. Do you see the writing on…

Living Raw, Sex, and the City

This girl here, livin’ somewhere in Miami, name of Suvine, pictured above, has a public, online diary documenting her life as a  fruitarian. What’s that mean? According to Wikipedia, “Fruitarians (or fructarians) eat in principle only the fruit of plants.” No meat, no dairy, no eggs, no fish, nothing cooked,…

Miami Restaurant Musings

*After years of my pooh-poohing parsley-speckled plate rims and mindless squiggles of mango and raspberry purees on dessert plates, it seems that both fads have faded into oblivion. Thank you, but please hold your applause until after the column is finished.*Norman Van Aken has laid low of late, no? I…

Miami Spice Braces For the Cold

The effects of the economy are being felt in every industry imaginable, most of all the ones that entertain and nourish us. The restaurant industry, from celebrity chefs right on to busboys, dishwashers, and even food producers and farmers are more than feeling the pinch. Fine establishments in Coral Gables…

Second Chance For SoBe Wine & Food Tix

This coming Monday morning, January 12th, a second block of tickets for previously sold out events will go on sale. So if you were bummed at being shut out of Rachael Ray’s Burger Bash or The Best of the Best at the festive new Fontainebleau, you’ve been given a second…

Smith & Jones Doesn’t Live Up to Johnny V’s Name

Here’s a quote from chef Johnny Vinczencz in 1997, at the tender age of 32, when South Florida’s most adored young foodist was rising as brilliantly as a solid-gold moon over Miami: “There’s so much glamour in this business that it’s easy to get caught up with presentation and looks…

Karu & Y Tries Again

I could never get it straight: Was Karu the restaurant and Y the lounge, or vice versa? No matter now, as the reopened venue’s newly christened restaurant name is Seecomar’s at Karu & Y, which I thought was a misspelling of Seacomber’s until I saw that the new owner’s name…

Put a Burka on that Gin Bottle!

Here’s one for my “Oh for fuck’s sake!” files:Legislators in Utah are pushing to restrict restaurants that make mixed drinks in full view of minors, arguing that all those pretty, glittering bottles and delicious-looking garnishes behind the bar constitute a sore temptation, one that could lead youngsters to an unquenchable…

Cafe Martorano Shuns the Tap

Dan, we’re guessing, drank the bottled stuff.It was somewhere before the waiter brought out what might be the world’s best grilled octopus that he broke the news. “If you want to drink water, we only serve bottled water,” he said. And I had no doubt there would be no exceptions…

Ten Restaurants Lost In The Hubbub

The din of our dynamic new wave of dining establishments has diverted attention from some solid stalwarts of Miami’s restaurant scene. These veteran eateries keep their rooms packed with that portion of the public that hasn’t forgotten, but one hardly ever sees their names in print anymore; the media has…

Fill Up on Free Fil-A

Mmm… waffle fries! And chicken sandwiches with pickles! This Thursday, a new Chick-Fil-A is opening in Lauderhill (8190 W. Commercial Blvd.), and the company is passing out coupons for free meals to the first 100 adult customers in line at 6 a.m. At first, we thought this was just a…

Abokado KO’d

A call to Abokado, the sushi-ceviche restaurant located in downtown Miami’s Mary Brickell Village, yields a message saying “We are temporarily closed”. Their website adds this: “We look forward to bringing you additional information on re-openings and new locations in the new year.” This first restaurant casualty of 2009 is…

Jimbo’s Place – Smoked Fish In Pictures

                                                                            Smoked Tuna – Jacob KatelJimbo’s Place is a Dade County institution. If you like smoked fish, cold beer, bocce ball, redneck-rock-n-roll, fishing, manatees, graffiti, choppers, hot rods, kayaks, wave runners, nature trails, family outings, drunken brawls, feral cats, wild roosters, music videos, film shoots,  bikini models, chess games, sunsets,…

Food Stamp Nation – Florida Leads The Pack

The Miami Herald reports that “In the last two years, the number of Floridians on food stamps has increased more than 40 percent to 1.7 million. That increase is the highest in the nation, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.”The numbers read like this, 356,000 food stamp recipients live…

Are You a Leg Man?

Just a reminder to mark your calendars: The Fellsmere Frog Legs Festival kicks off on January 15th and runs through the weekend to a grand finale at the Sunday Croaker Run. For my money Saturday the 17th looks like the best day to show if you’re feeling competitive: three contests…

Dinner at Morimoto Sushi Bar

Ever since Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto unveiled his latest restaurant, Morimoto, in Boca Raton Resort & Club, Short Order has been dying to go. I mean, the man is an Iron Chef, both on the original Japanese program and the new Food Network creation, Iron Chef America, and this restaurant,…

Football & Margaritas

Football and margaritas. There is less than one month left of football season; less than one month to transform your culturally bankrupt, Dorito- and Budweiser-filled Sundays on the couch into something genuinely awesome. And for that purpose, we suggest Moquila the classy nu-Mexican joint in Mizner Park, Boca Raton. An…

Speaking of Stone Crabs….

Evidently I’m not the only one fantasizing about Stone Crab claws the size of baseball mitts. Slow Food Miami, in conjunction with Friends of the Everglades, is planning an event Saturday January 31st that ought to help sate your desire, at least temporarily, for things that scuttle sideways: The Stone…

New Chef At Fratelli Lyon

Alejandro (Alex) Pinero has just been named chef de cuisine at Fratelli Lyon, the great regional Italian bistro that opened last May in Miami’s Design DIstrict. Pinero, 35, is a Miami native who graduated Johnson & Wales University with honors. Between 1996 and 2004 he worked his way through the…

Why Buy Local When You’ve Got Monsanto?

Here’s a bit of the ammunition you’ll need for a lively debate with slow food organizer Diane Campion at this Sunday’s panel discussion “Why Buy Local?” Campion, heirloom tomato farmer Walt Ross, Nancy Roe of Green Cay Farms (pictured left), nutritionist Larisa Alonso, and Cafe Boulud Chef Zach Bell are…