Eating ‘Round the Globe at Epcot’s Food & Wine Festival

All Whole Foods locations in Florida are doing a promotion until October 18 giving customers a shot at free tickets to the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, so I considered it my duty to go on an investigatory road trip. If you’ve already been, you know the drill: Each “land”…

Ooh-la-la, Le Haute Burger

You don’t need a weatherman to know the wind is blowing the rich, beefy aromas of hamburgers sizzling on the grill all over the country. Upscaling the humble burger is more popular than straight white teeth and money in the bank nowadays, as even recession-shafted diners can pry a few…

Don’t Hate on the Ham

When I was growing up, ham and I had a difference of opinion. Upon arriving at a holiday soiree at which the main course was ham, I’d fantasize about taking it outside, blindfolding it, stepping back 25 paces or so, and letting loose with an AR-15 rifle on the big…

Beer of the Week: St. Rogue Red

Unrepentant beer drinkers, rejoice! Each week, Clean Plate Charlie will select one craft or import beer and give you the lowdown on it: How does it taste? What should you drink it with? Where can you find it? But mostly, it’s all about the love of the brew. If you…

Caribean Sizzles: The Misspelling Makes It Delicious

I’m familiar with the Caribbean: Tropical islands, year ’round sun and humidity, and unique cuisine. I am not at all familiar with the Caribean. Shopping around my local farmer’s market, I find a clear plastic bag filled with four large, brown cakes labeled “Caribean Sizzles.” As has become my unfortunate…

Stone Crab Season Starts Today

Get those crackers ready, folks; stone crab season officially opens today. The meaty claws will be available from now through May 15. You can stop drooling on your keyboard now.The start of the season also means the haven for all things crabby, Joe’s Stone Crab, reopens today for the 97th…

L’Hermitage Pairs Organic Veggies and Wine

If you’re not a subscriber to our weekly Café Bites dining newsletter for Broward and Palm Beach counties, here’s a taste of what you missed this week. Click here to subscribe.Organic. It’s not just for vegetables anymore. It’s for wine too, and put both of them together and they’re greener…

Latitudes Beach Café Makes Us Wonder About that Top Chef Thing

Haitian-born chef Ron Duprat lasted six episodes on Top Chef Las Vegas, eventually succumbing to some subpar paella. A jovial guy with a hearty laugh, Duprat is an easy person to like — if only the same could be said of the food at his restaurant in the Hollywood Beach…

Gran Forno Bakery on Las Olas is Aromatic Bliss

Here’s what New Times wrote about Gran Forno Bakery in our 2001 Best Of Issue:To find Gran Forno, you could look for the storefront window that displays bakers at work, or you could simply close your eyes (mind your step) and follow your nose. The smell of bread, savory with…

Todd English Moving into Seminole Hard Rock?

Jazziz Bistro, the swank supper club in the Seminole Hard Rock and sister “venue” to Jazziz magazine, closed in April of this year. Since then, the site has remained empty, with a lot of speculation as to what is going in there. Now the rumor mill is brewing, and some…

Anatomy of a Bad Meal at Latitudes Beach Cafe

Last week I checked out Ron Duprat’s restaurant in the Hollywood Beach Marriott, Latitudes Beach Cafe. I high hopes for Duprat’s food after catching the Haitian-born chef on this season of the Bravo series Top Chef, even if longtime critic Gail Shepherd had once ravaged the place with such a…

Go Green(market)

If you’ve been making do with brown lettuce and rock-hard tomatoes from your local giant-mega-supermarket and counting the days until you could buy produce with real flavor from the people who actually grow it, you have only a few more days to check off.  Most Palm Beach County greenmarkets will…

Rock + October + Fest = Beer

If you’re not a subscriber to our weekly Café Bites dining newsletter for Broward and Palm Beach counties, here’s a taste of what you missed this week. Click here to subscribe. The second annual Rocktoberfest is a day-long celebration of the twin pillars of American civilization – as in, beer…

Order Up: Mustard Seed Bistro

On deck this week: our review of Mustard Seed Bistro, a quaint French-inspired eatery in Cooper City. It’s the product of Tim and Lara Boyd, a pair of restaurateurs now in their second location since selling Plantation’s Upper Crust Cafe in 2004. Like their last effort, Milk and Honey, the…

Bamboo Fire is Hot Stuff in Delray

If you’re not a subscriber to our weekly Café Bites dining newsletter for Broward and Palm Beach counties, here’s a taste of what you missed this week. Click here to subscribe. You’ve probably heard about all hot stuff going on along Atlantic Avenue in Delray Beach. Linda Bean’s (as in…

Dish Deconstructed: World’s Best Egg Salad Sandwich

Pictured: World’s Best egg salad sandwich with Florida avocado salsa.Egg salad: Hard boiled eggs. Mayonnaise. Dijon Mustard. Louisiana hot sauce. Salt. Pepper. Cayenne chili powder. Avocado salsa: Florida avocado, diced. Campari tomato, diced. Spanish white onion, sliced long. Cumin. Lemon juice. Salt. Pepper. Olive oil.Finish: Toasted, whole grain bread. Big…

Troy’s in Boynton Delivers BBQ Goodness

For me, passing a barbecue stand on the side of the road is like seeing a leprechaun handing out gold bullion — I pull my car over as fast as possible and get in line. So when I came across Troy’s Bar-Be-Que this weekend, I had to check it out…

Cheap Wine That Doesn’t Suck

No wine gets a blanc stare faster than Chenin Blanc. It may be the white wine grape of France’s Loire Valley, but in these parts, you see it about as often as snow drifts on Ocean Drive. It had a few minutes of fame in the 1960s and 1970s and…

Weekend Blog Watch

Although Clean Plate Charlie is the only food blog you need to read on a daily basis, some people just can’t get enough. Here are some highlights of other food blogs to keep you going.Chow and Chatter is a little cluttered with the banners and side bars, but the content…