Blues, Brews, and BBQ Wrapped Up

The third-annual Blues, Brews, and BBQ rocked the Seminole Casino Coconut Creek this Saturday, dropping more than 100 beers, plenty of great tunes, and lots and lots of smoked pig on the sizable crowd. With live music sets from Bonerama and the Radiators, the sectioned-off tent outside of the casino…

100 Favorite Dishes: Upside Down Sicilian at Nino’s Restaurant & Pizzeria

As a countdown to the Best Of Broward Palm Beach 2010, coming in May, Clean Plate Charlie is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in South Florida. Send your own nominations to john.linn@browardpalmbeach.com.No. 40: Upside Down Sicilian From Nino’s Restaurant & PizzeriaThe upside down Sicilian pizza from Nino’s…

Las Olas Café to Close in May

A fixture on Las Olas Boulevard for 20 years, Las Olas Café will shut its doors May 30 to make way for… well, nobody knows.  The venerable Fort Lauderdale eatery with the Continentalesque menu couldn’t get its lease renewed, says proprietor Paula Pace, who believes building owner Las Olas Co…

Danish Band Kashmir Shares Meaty Wisdom

If you go backstage at Antone’s, the legendary music venue in Austin, then head upstairs past whatever band is lingering on the first floor, look closely at the back wall of the small balcony and you’ll see a small door, plenty wide but only about three feet high, marked “Lilliputians…

The Five Most Horribly Fattening Items From Tex-Mex Chains

Hidden in President Obama’s health-care initiative is a regulation that requires chain restaurants to begin posting nutritional information on the food. This may seem like trouble for burger joints, but it might be Tex-Mex burrito purveyors that face the most trouble.That’s because those Chihuahua-sized burritos, overstuffed tacos, and Dumpster-style taco…

Doggy Bag: This Week in Charlie

This week on the blog:We go behind the line with that classic fondue place, the Melting Pot.Passover is easy with this matzo ball soup recipe.This week, 100 Favorite Dishes covers coco bread, gator fritters, and rock shrimp from an Iron Chef.California Burger makes creamy shakes and hand-cut fries in Fort…

As Seen on TV: Key West Dolphin Sandwich at the Whale’s Rib

Well, not quite as seen on TV. On the episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives that featured the Deerfield Beach institution the Whale’s Rib, Guy Fieri sampled the Key West dolphin sandwich in fried form. But on a recent visit, a longtime waitress at the Rib told me to try…

Sushi Samba Tosses Bluefin Back

It’s no secret that bluefin tuna is endangered. Since 1970, stocks of bluefin have dropped by more than 80 percent, thanks in no small part to its status as a prized sushi fish. In fact, scientists predict that if the rate of consumption of the fish stays the same, it…

100 Favorite Dishes: Gator Fritters From Corner Cafe and Brewery

As a countdown to the Best Of Broward Palm Beach 2010, coming in May, Clean Plate Charlie is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in South Florida. Send your own nominations to john.linn@browardpalmbeach.com.No. 41: Gator Fritters from Corner Cafe and BreweryAt the Corner Cafe and Brewery in Tequesta,…

Two Falcon House Owners Open Two Thirds Tavern in Pineapple Grove

​The two guys behind the Falcon House in Delray Beach have picked up their original concept and opened a few blocks away in Pineapple Grove.Two Thirds Tavern — named for the cross streets of Third Avenue and Third Street — is in the former Monterey Cantina spot.”We took it over…

I’m Eating What?! Seaweed & Salt Potato Chips

Potato chips aren’t really a hard sell. Sure, some like ridges, some like baked versus fried, and some prefer original instead of the flavored varieties, but Calbee’s seaweed and salt flavored potato chips could be the next big thing. Really!…

Carlos & Pepe’s to Open in Delray

Another restaurant is coming to Delray Beach’s East Atlantic Avenue, and it’s not a trattoria or a gastropub.  It’s Mexican. Well, gringo Mexican, anyway.  It’s Carlos & Pepe’s, a fixture in Fort Lauderdale for more than three decades, now branching out with a Delray spot in the tony Worthing Place…

First Look at Gratify American Gastropub in West Palm Beach

Here’s an idea: The Chinese Zodiac calendar should rename this year “The Year of the Gastropub.” There has been a whole mess of notable gastro-openings across South Florida in the past few months, many of them bringing big names to high-profile locations. Gratify American Gastropub is one of those recent…

100 Favorite Dishes: Kielbasa and Eggs From Cypress Nook

As a countdown to the Best Of Broward Palm Beach 2010, coming in May, Clean Plate Charlie is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in South Florida. Send your own nominations to John.Linn@BrowardPalmBeach.com.No. 42: Kielbasa and Eggs from Cypress NookThe combo of spicy German mustard and breakfast eggs…

Taking It Slow at Le Patio in Wilton Manors

We watched Veronique Leroux put together lunch from our table in the rear garden at Le Patio in Wilton Manors. There were no other people eating outside besides my partner and me, so Leroux had propped the back door open to give us a view inside the petite restaurant, no…

Smaller Maison Carlos Reopens on South Dixie With New Menu, Same Owners

West Palm’s Clematis Street is becoming too “watering-hole-ish” for the owners of Maison Carlos, a white-tablecloth eatery that held down a spot across from the venerable Pioneer Linens for some time. So Carlos and Lanie Farias have moved a scaled-back version of their eatery to Dixie Highway south of Belvedere…

Revved-Up Eats at Tonino Lamborghini’s Caffé Corsa

​Some days are just hard to top — especially when the Outlook calendar reads: “Dream Car tour” at 3 p.m. and “Dinner at Lamborghini Café” at 8. Talk about two great reasons to wake up, even on a rainy day… Any occasion that begins by driving not one but six…

100 Favorite Dishes: Rock Shrimp Tempura From Morimoto

As a countdown to the Best Of Broward Palm Beach 2010, coming in May, Clean Plate Charlie is serving up a hundred of our favorite dishes in South Florida. Send your own nominations to John.Linn@BrowardPalmBeach.com.No. 43: Rock Shrimp Tempura from MorimotoEach chopstick-sized bite of tender, juicy Florida rock shrimp at…

Order Up: Le Patio in Wilton Manors

This week in Dish, we look at a restaurant that describes itself as “the tiniest, cutest restaurant in Wilton Manors.” Le Patio, a boutique French bistro from ex-Sugar and Spice Cafe owners Veronique Leroux and Jean Doherty, fits that description nicely. The place is no bigger than a hallway, with…