Oprah’s Vegan Chef at Sublime

Dude comes with a price tag. Deconstructed Press Release: Ft. Lauderdale—Fresh from his stint as Oprah Winfrey’s chef for her 21-Day Cleanse… um, correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t the point of a “cleanse” to stop eating for a while? Don’t you drink a lot of juice and warm…

King of Cacao

After almost six years, thousands of meals, and enough accolades to cause any normal person’s head to swell larger than Ohio, there’s only one problem with Edgar Leal’s Cacao. You want to eat everything on the menu. Let’s see, classic Peruvian corvina ceviche or wild boar antichucho? Corn soufflé with…

Miami Spice Review: Table 8

Table 8, the chic-Los Angeles import tucked into the Hotel De Soleil at the north tip of Ocean Drive, isn’t too coy on its Miami Spice preview page about why you should pay a visit: the chef, Govind Armstrong, is “famous”, the ambience is “trendy”, and the “celebrity fan-base” includes…

Good and Badrutt’s

It’s a restaurant, a lounge, a nightclub, and a cigar bar! It’s a tony retreat for power-lunching suits, a semi-Med eatery for condo-canyon urbanites, and a late-night hot spot for causeway-averse trendoids! It’s Badrutt’s Place! If this slickly packaged newbie at South Miami Avenue and Coral Way had any more…

Sushi & Stroll at the Morikami

Feeling the beat with Ronin Taiko A few years ago the Cornell Cafe at the Morikami Museum & Japanese Garden got a big boost when the Food Network declared it one of the three best museum eateries in the country. So I went, and lemme tell you: The award does…

Tap Tap Has the Haitian Eats in Miami Beach

“Undersell and overdeliver.” That’s the philosophy of restaurateur David Chang, as recently expressed on The Charlie Rose Show. Mr. Chang, as most epicures know, is chef/owner of three hugely popular and critically acclaimed Momofuku noodle and ssäm bars in New York City. As recipient of the 2007 James Beard Foundation…

The Only Thing Better Than the Food at Tap Tap — the Music

Tap Tap’s house band. It’s sort of a shame that the most popular Haitian restaurant in Miami is in South Beach rather than, say, Little Haiti. But Moped Whitey’s fear of an unknown ‘hood isn’t the only reason — although it probably helps — for Tap Tap’s (819 Fifth Street,…

Taco Tuesdays

Taco Tuesday. For months, New Timesers went to Treasure Trove every Tuesday for Taco Tuesdays, a special day on which chicken, beef, or veggie tacos are just $1. We haven’t been in a while now — you can only ingest six- and seven-taco meals for so many weeks in a…

Gold Medal Wine Tour Ends Hunger

[Picasso, Blind Man’s Dinner] And if you’re feeling flush as ever, or pretending you are… You can help end childhood hunger and satisfy your own in one shot. The “Gold Medal Wine Tour” will be making its way around some of the best South Florida restaurants this fall, pairing wines…

Gong Show Returns

Remember The Gong Show? Talentless hacks interrupted in mid-performance by a huge, cruel gong, signaling to the whole world the imminent and permanent separation of the hapless artists from the airwaves (and from their egos)? The concept is back at Dada’s (52 N. Swinton Ave), every Monday night at 9:30…

For Good Chinese, Fill up at Philippe

Clad in white elegance and black lacquer floors, this two-level, 400-seater in the Gansevoort Hotel is as debonair as one might expect from a Chinese restaurant named Philippe. The space soars with supper-club sophistication. Central focal points include a lengthy bar, a black slate water wall, and a wall of…

Wrap up: Purple Pie Launch Party at Pink Ghost

If you weren’t at Pink Ghost Saturday night you missed one hell of treat: Not only was it the premier of the Ghostie’s Eight-by-Eight art show, but it was also the launch party for the Purple Pie Company, a very DIY-style operation run by Miami gal, Alex Van Clief. There…

Bottled Water Gets the Boot

1. Days of Water and Roses The couple peruses the menu from plushly pillowed pods set along the perimeter of a Zen-like reflection pond. After they decide on wok-fried lobster with coconut foam and grilled Florida pompano in curry sauce, the only choice remaining is whether they should pair their…

Fratelli Lyon Brings Authentic Italian to the Design District

“Just like being in Italy.” That’s what people who have never been to Italy often say about their favorite Italian-American restaurants, inevitably the sort that serve huge platters of pasta topped with gallons of red sauce and mounds of melted mozzarella. I wonder what the reaction is when these poor…

New Times Iron Fork at the Miami Science Museum

Amazing what you’ll find out reading Miami New Times. Apparently we’re putting on a terribly cool culinary event on September 10th: Iron Fork, in which “Top Chefs Battle Head to Head for the Prestigious Golden Fork Award.” Who knew? Celeb judges include Susser, Dean James Max, Clay Conley, Zach Bell,…

Flavor Palm Beach Participants

Don’t have a cow: The list is finally here Flavor Palm Beach, which runs through the month of September, has posted its list of participating restaurants offering a three-course dinner for $30, lunch for $20. The line-up is so disappointing, so baffling, it’s given me an ice-cream headache. Hardly any…

Chicken Wings, Romanian-style

Hot enough for ya? Wings’n’Curls, arguably the most beloved and hopping little wing joint in all of Hollywood, has a new menu. They’ve dropped the trans fats from all their dishes and added a shit-ton of new items: buffalo shrimp, sliders, a double-stuffed Philly Cheese Steak, and plenty more. They…

First Bites: Victoria Fedden

Last week Victoria Fedden sent us this awesome memory of finding free food in Delaware: “Each summer we were chicken-neckers. We stood on bridges in the dawn’s mist, over nearly stagnant creeks or nearly up to our knees in eelgrass, dragging strings tied to raw chicken necks through the dark…

Kris Wessel’s Red Light Shines

Kris Wessel is this town’s most daring and enigmatic chef. The lanky, easygoing Big Easy native was in 1995 the original pioneering partner of Paninoteca, on then just-awakening Lincoln Road. After selling his share of the biz, he dropped out for a bit and later resurfaced in 1999 with Liaison,…

Ten Bucks, Good Food

Ten bucks will buy three pairs of multicolored clown eyelashes or two bargain-bin “best of” CDs by your favorite Sixties bands or a used copy of The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana (spend $30 on all three and have a fun night!). But what will $10 procure for the savvy spender…