“Yes Pecan” – Ben & Jerry’s Launches Obama Ice Cream

Business-hippies Ben & Jerry know ice cream cross-branding is a powerful way to push a message and make people smile. Hell, their corporate language refers to the CEO as “chief euphoria officer.” With that in mind, they’ve chosen January as a month of change wherein their famous butter pecan flavor…

Bush Banishes Roquefort

Apparently even in its’ final moments, the Bush administration’s penchant for pettiness has not yet been exhausted. The latest victim is Roquefort cheese, which has had its’ import duty rate tripled to 300% by the lame duck government. According to an article in The Guardian, the move was taken in…

Booze Hound – DiLido Beach Club

After a hard day of filing my nails, receiving deep tissue massages, and ordering Manolo Blahniks from Neiman Marcus’s online store (THANK GOD for the plummeting economy – sales are faaaabulous), there’s nothing that I like more than grabbing my komodo dragon and baby panda-fur lined purse, driving my Hummer…

Christine’s Embraces Change

One of our favorite restaurants in Fort Lauderdale, Christine’s on Oakland Park Boulevard, rolled out a new menu this week featuring, in addition to entrees, a pretty delectable line-up of small plates priced between 10 and 14 bucks. A good idea, thinks us, especially because the joint is becoming known…

Arnold’s Royal Castle Reopens

There are few places in South Florida that have such a devoted following like Royal Castle. Its devotees are so faithful, the original, White Castle, never found success here. Naturally, it was a grim day for many when Wayne Arnold’s Royal Castle was forced to close down a few year’s…

Cindy Hutson, Waxy O’Connor, and Sierra Nevada

Waxy O’Connor’s South Beach, hitherto a humble pub, is getting all classy on us. This coming Wednesday, January 21st, marks the restaurant’s first foray into celebrity chef beer dinners. Cindy Hutson, chef/owner of Coral Gable’s beloved Ortanique on the Mile, will be cooking up a four-course dinner matched with appropriate…

A Restaurant Called Longevity

Hard to believe that A Fish Called Avalon has been reeling in diners on Ocean Drive for two decades, yet the Avalon Hotel’s seafood establishment is indeed celebrating its’ 20-year anniversary tonight. Congrats to the owners and chef Brian Cantrell for being able to achieve long term success in spite…

Jamaica Kitchen On Food Network

In  “Diners, Drive-ins and Dives” a Food Network original series, host Guy Fieri rides around  looking for  real-reality through specialty joints. In this episode he visits Jamaica Kitchen, an authentic Jamaican and Chinese-Jamaican establishment serving up pure fire. In 2007 the place won Miami New Times “Best Chinese Restaurant.”  Check…

In Other Recession News…

Hey, you. Yeah, you, the unemployed guy sitting on your couch surfing the Internets for a job. I would change those boxers, man. Shortly after doing that, I would head to epynomous sports pub Beef ‘O’ Brady’s for what the Sun-Sentinel’s John Tanasychuk says is a sure thing. No, not…

Michael Wagner has a Beard (named Lola)

No, not that kind of beard. It’s a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world these days fer sher, but at least we can take comfort in comfort food, and nobody does it with quite the panache of chef Michael Wagner of Hollywood, one of a handful of chefs invited…

New Restaurant at the Hyatt Regency

The Hyatt Regency Miami, which underwent a $20 million dollar renovation last year, has unveiled its’ new Pure Verde restaurant. Executive chef Michael Morris will be in charge of the snazzily-designed venue, which just months ago was a dull, aging sports bar. Morris, who previously helmed Hyatt properties in Tampa…

Ouzo Blue and Skorpios II Restore the Glory That Is Greece

It’s unclear how you take the owners of one mediocre Greek restaurant, combine them with the chef from another similarly unremarkable taverna, and come up with something as wonderful as Ouzo Blue. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found out that Odis Giakis, former owner/chef…

Closings: The Palm Beach Gardens Balloon has Burst

What happened to Downtown At The Gardens? What was once a lovely dining destination is rapidly becoming a restaurant graveyard, staffed by people with bad attitudes and bunker mentalities. We called and spoke to someone in The Gardens’ marketing department about a wild rumor about the fact that four –…

Tea Time At Starbucks

On January 3rd, Starbucks rolled out a quintet of new Tazo full leaf tea beverages that are now available in all stores nationwide. Yesterday the coffee chain hosted “TeaTime events”, which is a civilized way of saying “free samples”. I headed to the most scenic of our Starbucks, at 14th…

Behind the Line at Wish

Chef Marco Ferraro from Wish, winner of Miami New Time’s “Best Outdoor Dining” award in 2007, one of 4 “Best of’s” we’ve awarded the hotel/restaurant, says “I’m Italian. Our cuisine is contemporary-American with a global influence. We do new-American food with an emphasis on fresh, local ingredients. Local is great…

The McDonald’s Rationalization

“Where you been, bitch?”Last week, I did something bad. Really, really bad. It was Wednesday, and I was very hungry. But I was also very busy, and short on cash. And so I decided, with a sorrowful resignation, to do something I hadn’t done in ages: I went to McDonald’s…

Zimmern at Jimbo’s Cancelled

Short Order has received word that Andrew Zimmern’s show-taping of Bizarre Foods, scheduled to take place at Jimbo’s tomorrow, has been cancelled. …

What Will You Cook in 2009?

A friend just sent me a copy of I’m a sucker for these kinds of inspirational rags-to-riches stories, so I’ve been thinking about taking on some crazy year-long project of my own, like training my mutt, pictured left, who we adopted when she was a pregnant, teenage, unwed mother, to…

Slow Food Gets Maxed Out at 3030

This month’s Slow Food Glades to Coast dinner, on Thursday January 15, focuses on our local waters with a meal hosted by Chef Dean James Max at 3030 Ocean in Fort Lauderdale. Max, as we know, has a masterly way with anything that sports fins, scales, or claws, and his…

Commission Gets Fat on Avocadoes

If you thought the Federal ethics charges against Mary McCarty and her band of merry Palm Beach County and City Commissioners was scandalous enough, you haven’t heard what the California Avocado Commission has been up to in the past three years. McCarty, after all, only accepted a few free hotel…

Andrew Zimmern Meets Jimbo

Andrew Zimmern, host of Travel Channel’s popular Bizarre Foods series, will be at Jimbo’s on Virginia Key tomorrow afternoon (Tuesday) in order to film part of the show’s upcoming Beach Special.  Be there at 4:30 p.m. or later if you want to take part in the party — and perhaps…