Christmas is already upon us. To us at Clean Plate Charlie, that means drinking lots of eggnog, wearing ugly reindeer sweaters, and making frequent stress-filled trips to the mall to buy presents.It’s also the time of year to help people who won’t have a great holiday season. Especially children.Each year,…
Competition barbecue is serious business, with prize money and, perhaps more important, bragging rights at stake. But you wouldn’t guess that from the team names, which often use double entendres as if they’re saucing their meat.Most competitions, such as the Jack Daniels Invitational, involve competing in categories such as pork…
Regardless of whether a burger is from a fast food place or a gastropub, they inspire fierce loyalty and love. Indeed, some folks dedicate their lives to the pursuit of the perfect burger. Just ask The Burger Beast, whose third annual Burgie Awards are coming up this Saturday. In the…
This past weekend, we round up some links to help out home cooks with Thanksgiving menu planning and wine selection. Now we’re reminding you of the simple solution: Just add bacon. Behold: some ideas for how to make any dish better — from appetizers to sides to the big bird…
“This is my life,” said Dave Crumbaker of Smitty’s Old Fashioned Butcher Shop in Oakland Park. It’s where he’s worked seven days a week, even when it’s closed on Mondays, for the past 30 years. On a recent afternoon, a handful of people browse among the pork bellies, crown roasts,…
The Simpsons’ episode The Food Wife aired last night, bringing the jaundiced cartoon family into the food blog world.When Marge, Lisa and Bart start their Three Mouthkeeters blog, they immediately turn into food snobs, taking Anthony Bourdain, Mario Batali, and Gordon Ramsay (to name a few) along for the ride.The…
Called the 9-9-9, “Only a drink based on a catchphrase will suffice for a candidate so vaguely unsettling and unsettlingly vague that he appeals primarily to voters otherwise inclined toward the negative space on the ballot,” writes Good’s mixologist/writer Ken Walczak, who named the cocktail after Cain’s taxation plan. “It’s sweet…
Why don’t they just change the name of this show to Humiliation in Bikinis? We admit that we sometimes watch America’s Next Top Model. It’s usually on a rainy hungover Saturday when there’s a marathon of an entire season. We’re not proud of this behavior, but admitting a problem is…
Kate Gosselin, mom to eight children (nine, if you count the big baby she divorced), is rocking some hair extensions and a new gig as a coupon blogger.The reality star alum, who’s Jon and Kate Plus 8 (Kate Plus 8 after the divorce) kept us glued to the edge of…
“Hello, bonsoir,” said the manager as he breezed through the dining room of the East End Brasserie last night. His mix of English and French would seem appropriate for the 2-week-old restaurant. The menu is somewhat French, a bit English, and, overall, pretty impressive. Impressive is applicable here, at the…
Tundra on Las Olas had its soft opening last Sunday, the ice-themed restaurant conceived by David Berman and Alex Podolny. The centerpiece of dining is a 15-course tasting menu for $59, which includes kobe beef meatballs, ceviche, potato black crusted grouper, and butter poached lobster. And yes, that is an…
Are French fries the next add-to-everything item? Just as eggs have become the latest haute garnish on burgers, fried rice, pizza, you name it, it seems French fries are making an appearance as a topping rather than a side. Here are five things I’ve seen recently that signal an oncoming…
Momofuku’s David Chang was on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon last night. Joining them was none other than D-lister Kathy Griffin.”Feed me, feed me,” Kathy chants even before Chang starts to demo some of his creations, which include piña coladas (hint: Use frozen fruit instead of ice for an undiluted…
At the bar, behind a glass plate, kusshi oysters live on a bed of fresh-shaved ice, announcing their pedigree on a hand-penned placard next to $40 Maine lobster and New England littleneck clams. Like most of the clientele in 3030 Ocean, a restaurant tucked inside the oceanfront Harbor Beach Marriott…
Top Chef judge Gail Simmons is writing a memoir.According to AdWeek, the 35-year-old chef, food writer, and Bravo celebrity wanted to tell her story of how she became a judge and host on two of Bravo’s most popular shows.Of course, that’s not all she’s done. In addition to her television…
I’ve been on a quest for breakfast tacos, and while I’ve found a decent one, it’s led me on a quest for meals to go that don’t involve a drive-through, grade-D meat, and trans fat. Surprisingly, I’ve found a few that take me through to dinner for under a fiver…
I’m riveted by Chipotle’s jobs campaign, since I don’t think of opportunity in the form of a wrapped burrito, presented in a thunk of rice-stuffed tin foil. But I may be the anomaly, considering that even Willie Nelson works for Chipotle. The job fair is this Friday from 8 to 11…
If you ever needed proof that spending the day searching YouTube is a fruitful endeavor and not a waste of the precious time you have left on this planet — here ya go!We just came across the simply titled Chicken With Pears by dogdocla. It’s a video of a man…
We love when Coco has chefs on his show because never does anything go south as quickly. Case in point last night, when Conan had the lovely Christina Tosi, dessert chef at New York’s Momofuku’s Milk Bar and author of the new same-titled book.Christina is there to make cereal milk…
Woooooooosshhhhhhh… That’s the sound of a cappuccino machine frothing milk, as you anticipate getting the first sip of your tasty hot beverage.There’s something about cappuccino that’s so sophisticated. We can’t have one without imagining sitting in a café in Rome after a long day of painting or writing poetry. Only…
Be on the lookout this afternoon for my review on 3030 Ocean and the cuisine inspired by chef Dean Max, the local celebrity toque whose name has been behind the restaurant for more than ten years. Max, who has earned this newspaper’s Best Chef and Best Restaurant in Fort Lauderdale, drives…
“Grill Girl” Robyn Lindars is a local grilling and BBQ fanatic and blogs about her adventures at grillgrrrl.com.Those of us addicted to the art of barbecue — a method of cooking meat low and slow for hours to achieve succulent, smoky results — sometimes speak in a secret language that…
