Top Chef Kenny Gilbert Goes Packing

That’s all, folks. Top Chef and new Florida resident Kenny Gilbert was forced to “pack up [his] knives and go” on last night’s episode of Top Chef D.C.Gilbert was sent home following the show’s Restaurant Wars episode, which pits two teams of four cheftestants against each other. The chefs took…

Chef Interview: Mark Militello at Trina, Part 2

Yesterday Mark Militello, executive chef at Trina, the Fort Lauderdale beach restaurant at the Atlantic Hotel, shared some of his background and how he got to where he is today. In this next part, we’ll hear more about what he has in store for the relaunch of the restaurant later…

Il Mercato Opens in Hallandale Beach

Whine not, wine lovers… Il Mercato Café & Wine Shop is here.  The 3-week-old establishment is the brainchild of restaurant vets Mike and Emily Lynch. (He: certified sommelier formerly of such local spots as Bar Rosso and Govind Armstrong’s now-deceased Table 8. She: chef from a …

A Taste of Spice 2010

The Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau (GMCVB), in cahoots with a klatch of corporate sponsors, is orchestrating the eighth-annual Miami Spice event. The two-month program presents diners with a chance to select from discounted prix fixe menus at any of 119 participating restaurants. More specific: a three-course lunch for…

Side Dish: Anny’s Thai and Sushi

There are so many Thai/Japanese restaurants around Broward and Palm Beach counties serving the same exact menu that they may as well all be photocopies. With nothing to differentiate them but their cutesy names (Too Too Thai or Bo Thai or Thai One On, etc.), there’s little to draw you…

Chef Interview: Mark Militello at Trina

Chef Mark Militello is a man of few words. This self-proclaimed “Doctor of Food” has taken the helm at Trina, the Fort Lauderdale beach restaurant at the Atlantic Hotel.  Not one to share a lot of secrets, he did not give us many details on the menu or décor, but…

Eating Around the Blog-o-Sphere

Got an interesting post or bit of news to share? Email it to Charlie and we’ll include it in Eating Around the Blog-o-Sphere.  Here’s a little diatribe on why now, more than ever, it’s important for journos to stick to the SPJ Code of Ethics.The Burger Beast braves the new…

The Inside Scoop on the Living Room’s Buxom Pinup Girls

In my review of the Living Room in Boynton Beach, I talk about how owner Lisa Mercado transformed the restaurant into a highly personal, almost schizophrenic collection of knickknacks and oddities. But one thing I left out was how she inventively altered the men’s bathroom.Get up to go to the…

Order Up: Miami Spice

This week we’re skipping a Dish review in lieu of a column on Miami Spice. The annual prix-fixe meal deal is designed to draw in diners during the slow summer/fall months and incorporates some of Miami-Dade’s better-known restaurants (119 all told). But each year, the excitement of Miami Spice is…

Where Are We Eating?

Another week, another chance to win two free tickets to Pairings, the unlimited food and wine tasting event taking place on September 16. The photo to the left needs no hints. It’s so easy, I’d be surprised if we don’t have a winner within minutes. As always, click the image…

Doggy Bag: This Week in Charlie

New Times Pairings is coming in September, and we’re asking you what local restaurants you’d like to see there.A chef embroiled in legal troubles, asking for help on Craigslist? Name that local toque. East Coast Barbecue uses high-tech smokers to turn out slow and low Southern cooking.Read an interview with…

I’m Eating What?! Wisconsin Cheese Curds

​Though it usually would take an act of Congress to get us to eat anything that rhymes with turd, we had to try cheese curds when we found ourselves smack dab in the middle of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, last week. No, this is not a joke. There is an actual city…

Pairings Tickets on Discount Friday Only

New Times’ annual Pairings food and winetasting event is coming up fast. Going down September 16 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, the three-hour festival will showcase restaurants like 3030 Ocean, Taste Gastropub, Coco Asian Bistro, Chef Allen’s, Cafe Vico, and much more, along with all the appropriately…

Steak 954 Introduces Affordable Lunch

Steak 954 — the posh steak house from Philadelphia restaurateur Stephen Starr — might be able to make a mean rib eye or tuna-foie gras taco. But for a lot of locals, the posh steak-house prices don’t exactly translate into casual lunch. Well, if you’ve been itching to try the…

Neighborhood Sports Bar & Grill Opens in Boca Raton

If you want to catch a game on TV, drink a few beers, grab a burger or a pizza or some wings, you head to your neighborhood sports bar, right?  Or you can head to Boca to the new Neighborhood Sports Bar & Grill, which staged its grand-opening party yesterday…

Pizza Rustica Hollywood Introduces Beer Tubes

What’s long, hard, and holds about 100 ounces of ice cold beer?Pizza Rustica’s new beer tubes, of course.These cylindrical, chemistry-beaker-looking vessels are finding their way onto tables at the pizza haven’s Hollywood Boulevard location. The service device — which is a replacement for normal beer pitchers — may look gimmicky…

Dean James Max’s Great American Seafood Cook-Off Dish

Last week, we reported that Dean James Max, executive chef at 3030 Ocean and at four other restaurants worldwide, will represent Florida at the Great American Seafood Cook-Off this Saturday. Competing head-to-head against 15 other chefs from different states, Max will have to woo judges with a dish that represents…

Five Most Common Restaurant Bait-and-Switch Tactics

Every once in a while, officials from the Hotel and Restaurant division of the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation office get to sleuthin’. They’re looking for “food misrepresentation cases” — usually restaurants selling you one thing but serving you another.Inspectors catch the bait and switch about 50 times…