Sushi bars in South Florida are almost interchangeable. Each offers a ton of selections, including a roster of inventive, multi-ingredient rolls with funny names. Each serves some other kind of Asian food (usually Thai) along with the Japanese stuff. And each carries some of the freshest fish around — as…
As a rule, a $5.99 price tag usually screams, “Stay away!” to any wine connoisseur; the celebrity-inspired reserve vintages available at 67 (5360 N. Federal Hwy., Lighthouse Point, 954-428-6255) should prove an exception. Included among this gourmet market and wine merchant’s more than 10,000 items are a series of reserve…
If you need tangible evidence of the plunging economy, take a drive along Pines Boulevard and stop where it intersects North University Drive. Of the four shopping centers that sentry the corners, at least three are half empty. I haven’t seen so many “available” signs since touring the red light…
So the holidays are over, and you’ve come to one conclusion about the parties your employers threw: They sucked. The most frequent complaints I’ve heard? (1) cheap booze, and (2) lousy food. I can’t do anything to make your bosses loosen the purse strings for top-shelf liquors, but I can…
If any decade of the last millennium should be written off for eternity, it’s the ’70s. The trends were horrific — feathered hair, tube tops, the Hustle. Not a saving grace among ’em. In fact, with the exception of the emergence of certain supergroups like Styx (hey, don’t begrudge me…
If a hot dog is this food critic’s forbidden fruit, then a fast-food hamburger is the apple that doesn’t fall far from the tree. And the joint that comes closest to Eden is Lil’ Ole Caboose (204 S. Powerline Rd., Deerfield Beach, 954-428-1597). “Home of the Boxcar Burger,” the Caboose…
Years ago, when I taught writing and composition to college students, I used a culinary term as an example of an oxymoron: jumbo shrimp. The kids seemed to grasp that example more quickly than any other. If I were teaching these days, I’d cite a different illustration: clean dive. A…
Apparently I’m not the only one who believes a glass of wine enhances every experience. Tout Sweet (1664 S. Federal Hwy., Delray Beach, 561-330-6464) — essentially an ice cream parlor that makes its own French custard ice cream — also has a beer-and-wine license. That’s so it can pour the…
Restaurant Report, an e-mail newsletter, invites readers to post their opinions and experiences. It includes some great nuggets of advice for restaurant professionals. The latest edition, for instance, gives waiters and waitresses several tips as sterling as Oneida, including: “Servers are there to enhance the guest’s experience, not intrude on…
When it comes to Hollywood, what could have been won’t be. And what was is again. Mark Soyka, who recently opened Brasserie Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale (and owns several restaurants in Miami-Dade), will not debut an eatery as scheduled in downtown Hollywood, despite incentives such as free rent and…
Ah, the hot dog. Robustly flavored and inherently bad for you, hot dogs have a unique and universal appeal. The other day I was at a birthday party for a one-year-old whose parents had hired a genuine hot dog vendor — ostensibly for the kids. For the grownups the hosts…
Miami-Dade County restaurants may get a lot of national media attention for food, but when it comes to wine, eateries in Broward and Palm Beach counties win corks down. Indeed, of the thirteen South Florida restaurants that won the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for outstanding wine lists for 2000,…
In Kitchen Confidential, the gastronomic tell-all that convinced many folks to stop eating out, chef-author Anthony Bourdain lists a few hard-and-fast rules: Never order fish in a restaurant on a Sunday or Monday, because it was probably delivered the previous Thursday. Don’t chomp down on bacteria-friendly foodstuffs like hollandaise sauce…
To the uninitiated, Rochester Hots (1051 E. McNab Rd., Pompano Beach, 954-943-9393) might sound like the name of an adult entertainment club. But rather than scantily clad females from the frozen north, the “Rochester” refers to the origin of this supercasual eatery, which owner Nelson Liberti relocated from upstate New…
The creativity one can demonstrate with foodstuffs is astounding, and for once I’m not talking about cooking them. For instance, in his books Play With Your Food and How Are You Peeling?, photographer Joost Elffers exhibits the creatures he makes out of everyday fruits and vegetables. He turns okra into…
Only in South Florida would someone find a way to turn the election imbroglio into a sales pitch. Mike and Carol Enriquez, proprietors of Munchies (8943 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 561-784-0038), a breakfast-and-lunch joint currently under renovation, plan to reopen this week with a political agenda. A new menu…
Every serious diner has an immediate, pertinent question he or she wants answered about any restaurant. My husband always wants to know about the specials of the house. My friend Meredith needs to be informed about the dessert list before she proceeds with ordering a meal. I like to be…
A bagel is a bagel is a bagel — if you live in New York, that is. Down here we have a more difficult time locating the archetypal bagel: chewy crust, resilient crumb. In other words not a doughy roll. Enter Rodeo Bagel (10281 W. Sample Rd., Coral Springs, 954-344-6290),…
It’s a storefront room with a couple of tables and chairs, a swivel rack of Portuguese CDs, one large wooden crate of whole dried codfish, and shelves sparsely filled with a few edible imports from Portugal — mostly wines (including ports, of course) and olive oils. Yet since owners Tony…
Mark Soyka has always been something of a pioneer. In Miami-Dade County his News Café jump-started Ocean Drive in 1988, his Van Dyke in 1994 became the first outdoor café with any real presence on Lincoln Road, and his namesake neighborhood eatery opened last year as the would-be savior of…
Thanksgiving isn’t just about turkeys. Our craving for pies runs deeper now than at any other time of year, especially for seasonal favorites like pumpkin, pecan, and mincemeat. The pies themselves run deeper at Upper Crust Bakery (2015 N. Dixie Hwy., Lake Worth, 561-586-5456), which means that their 9-inch treats…
When Barbara Straub and partners opened 32 Eats (Shoppes at Addison Place, 16950 Jog Rd., Delray Beach, 561-638-0432) last May next door to their well-regarded 32 East restaurant, they brought in two players from the winning New York City takeout team of Dean and Deluca as general manager and head…
