I know there’s something contradictory about a supermarket chain endorsing artisanal products. By definition, artisanal goods are handmade, minuscule-scale production items. But since Whole Foods Market (1400 B Glades Rd., Boca Raton, 561-447-0000) has always been committed to providing the general public with organic goods and quality produce, I suppose…
Like the attenuated Mexican cuisine in the magical realist novel Like Water for Chocolate, expertly handled Thai food seems to arouse certain predictable emotions to which no one is immune. I find, for example, that tangy, lemon grass-infused soup soothes away stress. A well-balanced curry, containing the precise amount of…
The only thing not new at Brasserie Las Olas (333 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, 954-779-7374), it seems, is the name of the restaurant. Everything else has changed, from once-major player and proprietor Mark Soyka to the chef in charge of menu development. These days, restaurateur Doug Zeif, who…
After calling the eight-month-old Cohiba Brasserie in Pembroke Pines, I wasn’t too jazzed about my forthcoming visit there. I’d phoned for two reasons — to find out if reservations were required, given that it was a Saturday evening, and what type of cuisine was served. You know, the normal questions…
Sick of stone crabs? I know that’s right. So here’s an alternative: Louisiana crawfish. It’s the season for them too, and one of the best places in town to catch some live — until they’re cooked, of course — is Rosey Baby (4587 N. University Dr., Lauderhill, 954-749-5627). Now you…
A commercial on TV for an eyeglass boutique makes an interesting connection between authenticity and value. A female customer points out to the clerk that she just saw the same pair of frames in another store for less money. He replies that the frames aren’t exactly alike because his “speak…
Thanks to the cold weather, harvests have been a bit delayed here in South Florida. But as of last week or so, strawberry season has officially arrived. And the best place to get plump, ripe, aromatic berries is at Batten’s Strawberry Farm (5151 SW 64th Ave., Davie, 954-792-0068), where the…
Seems like just about everyone I know comes back from some leisure or mental-health days off saying the same thing: “I need a vacation from my vacation.” Yeah, poor you, so exhausted from doing all that fun stuff you don’t get to partake of at home, like sipping umbrella drinks…
Michael Mondavi, chairman of the famed Mondavi winery, has gone on record saying that women have better palates than men. Apparently, Virginia Philip, sommelier of the Breakers Hotel (1 S. County Rd., Palm Beach, 561-659-8455) has known this all along. She was just awarded Master Sommelier status, a level to…
Whoever said children don’t like to follow in their fathers’ footsteps? Certainly not Tony Sindaco, chef-owner of Sunfish Grill, whose daughter Paula was a finalist in the recent recipe contest cook-off benefiting the Children’s Home Society. Her Italian-style cauliflower made Papa proud, despite the fact that the winner in her…
Where can one find the answers to such diverse questions as: In what body part can you find the tarsal bones? How many wives has Mick Jagger had (so far)? And from what musical does the song “Oh What a Beautiful Morning” come? Not Jeopardy!, but at the Frog &…
And you think I’m cynical about fine dining? Check out the recent story in SmartMoney Magazine by Michael Kaplan called “Ten Things Your Restaurant Won’t Tell You.” His list, which is fleshed out by real-life examples of how restaurants have ripped off their customers, includes categories such as “Our Food…
If your eyes are watering, your nose is twitching, and your scalp is itching, you may have noticed that the mango trees are in full bloom. And if the extensive golden-pink crowns these babies are wearing are anything to go by, this season is going to bring us more mango-daiquiri…
No doubt it was bound to happen: Like Lincoln Road in Miami, Fort Lauderdale’s Las Olas Boulevard is no longer an unchained melody. The past two years have brought us Samba Room and Timpano Italian Chophouse, both national concepts owned by Carlson Restaurants Worldwide, a company that specializes in such…
Love a farmer’s market, hate the early-morning hours required to get the best stuff? Harvest Gourmet Market (8177 W. Glades Rd., Boca Raton, 561-487-3535) has the solution: Market veggies available every day, all the time. Love those fruits and vegetables, hate to cook? This new gourmet supermarket, located just a…
What I learned from attending the 20th-annual Food & Wine Magazine Classic in Aspen, Colorado: Festivals can make for some terrific all-inclusive minivacations. Once you pay for your travel expenses, lodging, and tickets to the events, you’re pretty much guaranteed no additional costs, simply because you’ll be so well-sated by…
I do so love a man with a sense of humor. Not that I’m going to harbor any illicit feelings toward the proprietor of the Harbor Grille (815 NE Third St., Dania Beach, 954-927-3232), Neil Zucker. But he’s thoroughly won my admiration with his response to a critical review I…
I’ve been having an argument with a chef friend of mine. He was incensed because a reviewer had left his restaurant without eating dessert. Would I ever do such a thing? he wanted to know. Yup. I would, I have, and I will. I try not to make a practice…
The folks at Poultry King (2900 W. Sample Rd., Pompano Beach, 954-977-2921) really aren’t kidding — they are indeed emperors of everything that was once feathered. In addition to the familiar spit-roasted chicken, the deli-like storefront located in the Festival Flea Market Mall also offers roasted capons and turkeys. And…
“What if,” my husband began recently, “we both followed different diets — like, I could do Atkins and you could do the Zone or something — and then you compared them? Isn’t that a good idea for an article?” Let me think about that for a minute. Mmmm… no. Not…
On the Nation’s Restaurant News list of food trends for 2002, artisanal bread came in first. I can’t disagree. Artisan products, which simply means comestibles prepared at least partially by hand (as opposed to by machine), are highly worthy of the restaurant industry’s respect. And artisan breads, which range from…
When it comes to Spain, the average American mind conjures up a series of cultural images: old churches and cobblestone streets. A cup of gazpacho and a pitcher of sangría. Maybe even a bullfight or two, and a good shoe sale. But a strip mall and a rice plantation house?…
