Summertime’s so slow ’round these parts, at least in terms of what restaurants are up to, that rumormongers have nothing else to do but jump to conclusions. Some of the gossip has panned out as truth: Café Arugula did indeed close. Both ZAN(Z)BAR and East City Grill were forced out…
If you’re anything like me, you have a bunch of different kinds of kitchen knives. Some you’ve been given as gifts. Some you’ve inherited from grandparents. Some you’ve bought yourself. All are good quality — too good, at least, to throw out or give away. Only problem is, none of…
Feeling fat rather than fit this summer? Pizza and other good stuff suddenly off-limits? No longer, thanks to Esposito’s Pizza Restaurant (2221 S. University Dr., Davie, 954-916-5667). Namesake proprietor Lynne Esposito, a veteran pizzeria owner from Long Island, bakes a “diet pizza,” which is made with low-fat cheeses and a…
In an industry that takes itself far too seriously, I admire any form of irreverence when I find it. I appreciate dry humor or sarcasm. I can even go for a touch of cynicism. Perhaps that’s why I like Johnny Vinczencz so much. Johnny V, the executive chef at Astor…
Though Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties are logistically very close together, each county has distinct characteristics and inhabitants. So it takes a unique restaurant to draw customers from all three areas. Most of the eateries that have succeeded in doing so have been très upscale spots with celebrity chefs,…
In Miami-Dade Marc Soyka is known as a restaurateur with a real-estate agent’s instincts — he’s all about location, location, location. The proprietor of the international attraction News Café on Ocean Drive in South Beach (along with Van Dyke Café on Lincoln Road in South Beach and Soyka on Biscayne…
How you view a cuisine in general often depends on your first exposure to it. Diners who have good experiences in restaurants exotic to them, like sushi bars, often become fanatically devoted to that type of fare. On the flip side, those who have the misfortune of encountering faulty ethnic…
At Julie’s Italian Ices, Hoagies & Subs (508 N. Dixie Hwy., Lantana, 561-586-2030), the specialty is the last on the list — submarine sandwiches. A 12-inch sub, sliced meats garnished with your choice of cheese, onions, sweet peppers, jalapeño peppers, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, and assorted condiments, weighs as much as…
Bless other people’s rudeness, for it often sets up an antimodel for our own behavior. Too proverbial a message? Allow me to illustrate. I was witness to an extremely unpleasant scene on a recent Friday evening at a small, perhaps two-month-old South American eatery called Los Andes in Pompano Beach…
Forget about having burgers your way; now you can order wings to your specifications — and not merely hot, medium, or mild. At Wings Place (7210 W. McNab Rd., North Lauderdale, 954-722-7878), you can choose from 13 different sauces, including hot (hot sauce and Tabasco), barbecue, honey mustard, teriyaki, or…
Many restaurants are like adolescents — they suffer from identity crises. Who am I? Do others see the “real” me or just what I present outwardly? And while we’re at it, who am I going to be when I grow up?Nevis, in these terms, is clearly a budding teen. The…
Folks are always bemoaning what we don’t have in the Broward/Palm Beach ethnic dining scene: No Nepalese food. No Tibetan. No Malaysian. Not a drop of Ethiopian, or any cuisine from the African continent, for that matter. One oversight has recently been corrected, though. Thanks to La Molienda (119 W…
Curses on the foodie(s) who came up with the term Mediterranean cuisine. The tag sounds specific, as if this type of fare could be neatly identified and pigeonholed. But the label is actually nebulous, since it takes into account all the regions of southern Europe, northern Africa, and various other…
I don’t usually devote this space to businesses that no longer exist, but Arugula Café and Darrel & Oliver’s East City Grille both deserve a proper postmortem. Along with Café Maxx, chef-proprietor Dick Cingolani’s Arugula Café was a New World groundbreaker back in the late ’80s. Cingolani recently closed his…
The jungle is one of those settings that’s easy to romanticize. Huge shade trees, filtered light, mysterious but musical animal calls — sounds appealing, right? And we have plenty of examples to aid us in our rose-colored visions. There’s the jungle in Romancing the Stone, where Kathleen Turner and Michael…
The Pineapple Grove District in Delray Beach is finally coming into its own. Just a touch north of Atlantic Avenue, the sleepy section was redone a couple of years ago but has only just started to attract business. And so far the attraction has proved ethnic: Joining Kyoto Sushi and…
In the ’80s and early ’90s, when restaurants finally acknowledged that food-savvy diners were as interested in process as in product, many fine establishments did something about it: They installed a table in the kitchen. This way patrons could stare fascinated at the chef even as they supped on his…
You’ve heard of galas before, but this one promises to redefine the word. On Monday, June 26, from 7 till 8:45 p.m., the United States Sommelier Association, Inc., is hosting the Gala French Wine Trade Tasting at the spankin’-new Diplomat Resort Country Club & Spa (501 Diplomat Pkwy., Hallandale Beach;…
A few weeks ago, the proprietors of a restaurant that I had negatively reviewed published their displeasure in our Letters to the Editor section. That’s fine with me — everyone should be able to express his opinion, not just me, and besides, I had the chance to respond formally to…
Need help spending your money? Broward County-based businessman Doug Turner is eager to assist. His company Millionaire’s Concierge (954-564-7074) will aid you in booking whatever luxury items you want, including exotic car rentals and hot-air balloon rides. I’m most interested in his Little Palm Island package, which includes two days…
Zemi. 5050 Town Center Cir., Boca Raton, 561-391-7177. Lunch daily from 11:30 a.m. till 2:30 p.m. Dinner nightly from 6 till 11 p.m.
Readers with ravenous appetites, fair warning: This article is about crepes. By definition crepes are lacy pancakes, sometimes stuffed with savory or sweet fillings, sometimes left mostly plain and just sprinkled with sugar. They can be a good snack — in France, in fact, crepes are considered street food, much…
