Food & Drink

Past 8 p.m. on a weekday, the staff at Sunfish Grill polishes glasses and runs credit cards as customers trickle in. “You just coming off work?” says a server. The patrons nod. Curtains like sails are folded for a luff, despite that the restaurant is housed in a strip mall…

It’s nearly time for winter’s Thanksgiving, also known as The Super Bowl. If you haven’t broken your New Year’s resolution about healthy eating, it’s a good day to do so. Some links to rev up the appetite, or something: 1. Check out these amazing Superbowl meat platters found from sister…

I walked past a coworker eating a beautiful spinach salad and asked her where she got it. I should have known:Fresh Market. Today, of course, was opening day.She thought it was pricey, as do many who have never been to a Fresh Market. But more than the all-organic stuff at…

Last week, we told you about the Food List Challenge, the Facebook app of 100 dishes and drinks to prove you’re a foodnik. So far, 335,345 people have tried it, including former food critic for the Washington Post Phyllis Richman (97) and former New Times critic Gail Shepherd (85). Some…

Ahhh, Valentine’s Day. The quintessential Hallmark Holiday, invented to divest coupled folks of hard-earned cash (in turn for typically meaningless trinkets) and to remind singles of how sad they should be about being alone on during this most wondrous day of the year. As baffling as Valentine’s Day seems — so few people seem…

Tomorrow at 9 a.m. is the opening of the Fort Lauderdale Fresh Market, an occasion marked by the breaking of a wheel of Parmigiano-Reggiano. From the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, this cow’s-milk cheese goes through a number of processes as it’s shaped, branded, brined, and aged for a year before…

Attention, health fiends and Meatless Mondayites: Energy Kitchen, a health-conscious concept in which no menu item is more than 500 calories, opens Friday. Does under 500 calories mean healthy? Peruse a McDonald’s menu and a slew of items fits that bill: a hamburger (250), cheeseburger (300), double cheeseburger (440), McDouble…

Chef Roy Villacrusis made big news last week when he claimed he quit Kapow! Noodle Bar after the owners put sliders on the menu. So it only made sense that Clean Plate Charlie try these controversial sliders. And the verdict? Nobody should quit over these sliders. In fact, these damned…

Florida Sen. Ronda Storms is causing an uproar all the way to L.A. — as seen in today’s Los Angeles Times — with her proposal to forbid Florida food stamp recipients from using the program money to buy junk food. Storms’ bill was approved by the Senate Committee on Children,…

This photo of Schrute Farms is courtesy of TripAdvisorThe internet is going crazy with talk of a spinoff of The Office, featuring none other than Dwight Schrute at his Beet Farms bed and breakfast.We would watch that in a heartbeet… errr, heartbeat.  We’re awaiting the official announcement of the show…

It’s the middle of winter in South Florida, and while people from northern climes are flocking to our beaches, Floridians are breaking out the boots and bundling up in sweaters.  Some may say that we’re namby-pambies who pull out the mittens when the thermometer reads below 75 degrees, but that’s…

In Belgium, when eating mussels, use an empty shell as a tool to eat the rest. from 43 Films on Vimeo.Saturday night saw a full house at G&B Oyster Bar, the sibling to Coconuts from Elliott Wolfe, Luc Limage, and chef Merv Jonota. Despite the tourista location by the beach,…

No more animal crackers for iron at your kid’s cafeteria. In the first overhaul of school food in 15 years, all schools must be in compliance with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s school food rules by July 1. Florida schools have prepped for the changes by switching control of the…

The Whisky Water Trick from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.Hope your weekend was delightful. First up for this morning’s links, see above for a new bar trick brought to our attention from Yardbird. Practice up for the weekend, and read on for this morning’s roundup…

Taco Tuesdays are here to stay. On Friday, Treasure Trove hammered through negotiations with landlord Sophia Enterprises Inc. to allow the bar to remain open. The beloved dive has been a Fort Lauderdale institution owned by Jeff Rudd for 17 years…

As we wrap the week, Clean Plate Charlie wants to call your attention to a few things elsewhere on the site. We broke the news that Michelle Bernstein is leaving the Omphoy. Our new news guy, Rich Abdill, follows up on the “terrifying” Omphoy owner, Jeff Greene.Don’t forget to check…

During a recent lunch meeting over tacos, the Clean Plate Charlie crew debated the relative merits of the entertainment juggernaut known as the Super Bowl. While some looked at the sporting extravaganza as a sort of second Thanksgiving — wake up late, start drinking early, and stuff yourself silly with fattening…