Welcome once again to the Ron Duprat Top Chef Las Vegas recap. If you’d like to catch up, read the first, second, and third recaps while we wait here. Back? Great! Here’s what the fourth episode had in store for Hollywood’s favorite cooking show reality contestant.This week’s episode was clearly…
Mall fast food is a pretty goddamned dismal mouthful, but this little joint in CityPlace has gotten enough foodie buzz for Charlie to put his intestinal tract on the line and check it out. Italian Oven Café is the sole and way-slimmed-down survivor of the Pittsburgh-based Italian Oven chain that…
I have a friend who is obsessed with seasoning her own food. When she sits down at a restaurant, the first thing she’ll do is look for the saltshaker. If it’s missing, she figures, “Any chef that makes me ask for salt is too full of himself.” I shrug whenever…
Saigon Cuisine has come a long way from its roots as a humble deli — no, not the knish and bagel kind. The kind that turns out banh mi: Vietnam’s take on the submarine sandwich that shoehorns a fluffy baguette full of roasted pork, pâté, pickled vegetables, and spicy jalapeños…
Last weekend, perhaps Miami’s best-known restaurateur, Michelle Bernstein, made the trip up north to Palm Beach and debuted her new restaurant, MB at the Omphoy. From her days at Tantra and Azul to the opening of her flagship restaurant, Michy’s, in 2005, Bernstein has long captivated Miami with simple, elegant…
Vietnamese is fun food. Playing with the various condiments available — fish sauce (nuoc cham), chili paste, soy, lemongrass and garlic spread, hoisin, sriracha, and more — requires a bit of lightheartedness coupled with a willingness to experiment. But the results are very exciting, especially at Basilic Vietnamese Grill, a…
Here’s what you missed this week on Charlie:Check it out: Brett Gillin delights in finding out what beverage bartenders hate to make, then masochistically tortures them by having them make it. Turns out, suffering tastes delightful.Local chef Ron Duprat barely escapes the boot on Top Chef Las Vegas. Next week:…
Although Clean Plate Charlie is the only food blog you need to read every day, some people just can’t get enough. Here are some highlights of other food blogs.Fancy Fast Food takes everyday chain food and makes it beautiful to look at. No word if it can improve the taste,…
Welcome back to the Ron Duprat Top Chef Las Vegas recap, folks. To take a peek back at episodes one and two, click the links. Otherwise, read on to find out what episode three had in store for our Haitian homeboy.Episode three:The show starts off with the cast commiserating on…
Andrew Garavuso labors in front of the twin stone hearths in his restaurant, Sicilian Oven in Lighthouse Point. He’s thin and youthful, with a penciled mustache and a ball cap that covers his bald head. In one smooth motion, he flicks his pizza peel underneath a pie sitting near the…
Today, I’m trying to “unthink” lunch. KFC launched a line of healthier grilled chicken options a few months ago, and it’s about time Clean Plate Charlie gives it a try. I’ve never been a fan of KFC. It’s chicken is always far too greasy, sitting under heat lamps for a…
Two weeks ago, former Atlanta Falcon’s superstar Michael Vick appeared on 60 Minutes to give his first interview after his release from jail. For those of you living under rocks and sustaining yourselves on grubs and nightcrawlers, Vick was charged in December 2007 with running an illegal dogfighting operation out…
The Perfect Pizza is an elusive animal. Mostly because everyone has his or her own idea of what makes a great pie. But I’d like to think of the pizza at Sicilian Oven as the Great Uniter; no matter what the preference — Napolitan or New York style, wood- or…
This one didn’t work out so well. The boss went on a shopping spree a couple of weeks back at Little Market Indian Grocery & Spices (3062 N. Andrews Ave., Fort Lauderdale). He picked up last week’s gem as well as a couple of bags of betel nut. I went…
Say what you will about Fort Lauderdale, but America’s Venice knows how to put together a sandwich. It’s not that there’s a higher concentration of sandwich joints than elsewhere; it’s just that what local places here are tend to make some badass, honkin’ big sandwiches. There are some great ones…
Melted, fatty goodness was en vogue this week on Clean Plate Charlie. The above pic hailed from our post on the Big Bear Bistro Burger, New Times’ best burger of 2009. Check out what else you missed this week on CPC below. The Meatist returns again this week to talk…
Although Clean Plate Charlie is the only blog you need to read every day, some people just can’t get enough. Here are some highlights of other food blogs.Burger Beast is fast becoming my favorite food blog, especially after this post on the Mc Gangbang.Along with great blogging and some great…
The advertisements for the “Angry” line of sandwiches at Burger King is foreboding. Filled with huge flaming letters and steam lines, they seem to promise punishment to anyone foolish enough to try one. I was feeling up to the challenge, so I pulled in the drive-through and ordered the Angry…
Have you ever had one of those moments when you look in your fridge and see that beauty of a steak that you bought a few days ago and forgot about, and it looks a little… funny? And you think, “Well, maybe it will smell all right,” but you know…
OK, after our encore Ron Duprat recap of Top Chef Las Vegas episode one, it’s time to move on to episode two. Maybe we’ll see some more of Ron’s jolly ways this time around? I’ll settle for some more of him cooking. Now on with the show…
Episode two of the new Top Chef Las Vegas premiered last night, which means we’ve seen Hollywood Beach Marriott Executive Chef Ron Duprat twice now on the program. Each week, we’re going to recap what happened to the Haitian native Duprat on the show — and maybe point out some…
Carnivores dating vegetarians. They go together about as well as milk and lemon, Alaskan beauty queens and New York liberals, alcohol and text messaging. Which is to say the combination, though horribly problematic, creates something so fiery, so alive with pent-up energy, the sparks could become an alternative to fossil…
