No doubt it was a fluke that during a random sampling, the Food and Drug Administration found salmonella bacteria in some cumin packaged by Miami-based American Spice Co. Probably it was coincidence I came down with a stomach malady the same evening a batch of the spice was recalled from…
“Jaboticaba.” Johnny Vinczencz says the word as if he’s chewing it, standing in what can only be described as Delray Beach’s singular tropical Eden. “Jaboticaba.” Or, perhaps he says it as if he’s getting used to uttering it. The latter’s probably the more apropos metaphor, since he’s now picking that…
At the risk of sounding like a food snob, I too often find German cuisine in South Florida to be akin to writer’s block: a big, empty space where creativity and inspiration should be. It’s as if our local German-American chefs and restaurateurs invest both hearts and stomachs in dour,…
Of all the species of restaurants in the world, the steak house is no doubt the most universal. Nearly every dominant culture that morphed from hunting to herding — Italian, Japanese, Brazilian — has a themed place for steak. And each gives a simple piece of meat its own distinctive…
The campaign in Portugal is on: convince the wine-drinking world that natural cork is the only renewable resource appropriate to stop up a bottle of vino. Portuguese cork harvesters (yes, it really does come from trees) and cork-stopper manufacturers have banded together to enforce industrywide standards that will ensure a…
Funny how many elephants were in the restaurant the night I dined at the six-week-old “Thai Kitchen & Sushi Bar” Galanga in Wilton Manors. You know the kind. They’re really obvious — trunks, tusks, and all — but no one seems to notice them. Either that or the pachyderms are…
Can the owner of TGI Fridays and Krispy Kreme franchises find happiness and truly Italian cuisine in a giant shopping mall in Boca Raton? In a word, yes. Hey, I didn’t believe it either. But in the case of Pranzo, a spacious, airy space in the sprawling shopalopolis of Mizner…
A clue is a terrible thing to waste. Take Indigo, the upscale pan-Asian restaurant in the charming but inept Riverside Hotel on Las Olas Boulevard. There is, in fact, the whiff of a hint of a semblance of a real clue here: that a hotel with tony pretensions on Fort…
I’ve been bothered ever since I read Al Martinez’s essay, “Confessions of an Ice Cream Fanatic,” published in the August 2000 issue of Gourmet magazine. At first, I couldn’t pinpoint the source of my distaste, but after two years of reflecting on the article’s thesis — that the “Statue of…
If there’s one thing the six-month-old Westin Diplomat Resort & Spa offers, it’s a dizzying number of choices. First, you must decide between pulling into the valet station or self-parking in the lot across the street, then taking the second-story pedestrian bridge over to the hotel. Then you have to…
Betrothed relatives and dear friends, please take note: I will not review the food at your weddings. Not even in jest. I will give whatever hotelier, restaurant, or caterer you hire my highest accolades. I will praise your decision to serve chicken over pork and vigorously applaud whatever version of…
Mexico wants you to know: It’s not all about the Corona. At the recent Food & Wine Magazine Classic at Aspen, the country sponsored a media luncheon titled “A Sublime Feast.” The purpose was to “introduce” members of the press and restaurant industry to both the elements of Mexico’s cuisine…
It’s easy to get the wrong idea about the Falcon House. A drive by this four-month-old restaurant, located in a Delray Beach house built in 1925 for a wealthy attorney, offers a view of typical old South Florida restoration: muted taupe colors with a brighter turquoise trim; Spanish-tile roof; tropical…
Small-business restaurateurs, listen up: I have discovered the key to success. Forget about offering value for money or supplying a hitherto-overlooked cultural demand or even trying to please your regular customers. If you really want to make a go of your culinary foray, all you have to do is paint…
Where on earth has New World cuisine gone? A decade ago, it was the up-and-comer, the regional fusion fare set to kick Southwestern’s spicy, sassy ass. Diners could stuff themselves from Café Marquesa and Louie’s Backyard in Key West to Café Arugula and Darrel & Oliver’s Café Maxx in Pompano…
If there’s one thing I’ve learned from a decade on the culinary circuit, it is that restaurants named for and themed around an entirely fictitious-slash-lovable character, complete with fake bio written on the back of the menu, don’t generally offer much of value to anyone who enjoys a decent meal…
What’s the difference between intention and execution? At the six-month-old Harbor Grille, it’s a corkscrew. The 450-seat Harbor Grille, overlooking the water in a pleasant boating community of Dania Beach, is a remake of the former happy-hour staple and local, decades-old landmark Tugboat Annie’s. The eatery now has four bars…
Steve Martorano, it’s fair to say, is not a patient man. If you call him during the day, the chef-owner of Café Martorano in Fort Lauderdale won’t even answer the phone, since he doesn’t take reservations. If by some miracle he does pick up, he’ll probably be curt, limiting your…
Restaurant critics are often faced with a conflict of interest: We stumble on these great, unknown, hole-in-the-wall eateries that we’d like to keep for ourselves and the few loyal customers they’ve already won. But such finds are too good for anonymity, so we write sterling reviews about them and publicize…
At first glance, it might appear that aside from a fondness for serving beef, Angelo and Maxie’s Steakhouse in West Palm Beach and Tusk Steakhouse in Fort Lauderdale don’t have much in common. And why should they? After all, Angelo and Maxie’s is owned by Chart House Enterprises, which bought…
I’ll never forget the genuinely baffled look on my mother-in-law’s face when the proprietors of a northern Chinese restaurant in North Miami Beach handed her a rather large ceramic Buddha as a souvenir. Here she’d been busy complimenting the folks, as is her métier, but I doubt she was expecting…
My husband insists that, good or bad, I always get what I deserve. Which is why, when I got stopped at the metal detector before entering the courthouse for jury duty, he found it hysterical. Apparently, the security guards thought I had a pocketknife stashed in my purse, and I…
