With the recent closing down of Coral Gables’s El Cenador de la Villa — an upscale Spanish restaurant that, until its last dying breath, vied with the still-open (and even more expensive!) Ramiro’s, located a block down Ponce de Leon Boulevard, for the “Most Outrageous and Pretentious Hispanic Food in…
Notwithstanding some peculiar (and inaccurate) ad hominems directed at yours truly in the letters section this past week, I’m gratified that the subject of food appears to stir such deep passion and allegiance in the reading — and dining — public. For it can only serve to raise standards in…
One of the greatest ever stories of multicultural misconduct was related by Peter Ustinov some years ago on The Tonight Show. A delightful raconteur and sometime wit, the portly Ustinov captivated a spellbound Johnny Carson with the tale of a wealthy Texan family at a Polynesian restaurant. As an intro,…
Not to raise a nasty terminological conundrum, but the last time I pondered the matter, a frog was most often one of two things: a salientian, web-footed, aquatic amphibian whose mug was considered the opposite of a prince’s and whose legs were traditionally hacked, sauteed, and served in the taverns…
First the good news: Though not by any means new, Kebab Indian Restaurant is another plum to add to Dade County’s ever-growing community of creative Indian tandoori kitchens. Located east of I-95 amidst the semi-squalor of NE 167th Street’s low-rent malls, run-down businesses, and adult bookstores, Kebab has been serving…
“The engine which drives Enterprise is not Thrift, but Profit.” You might be tempted to attribute this contention to Ross Perot in 1992, but in fact, the words were written by John Maynard Keynes in 1930. And yet, to take Baron Keynes’s dictum further than the great British economist –…
Writing in his Metamorphoses, Ovid claimed that time devours everything. He could have invented the governing motto for the restaurant industry, because it is hardly news to anyone that, as a vocation and business proposition, restaurants are dicey at best. Indeed, most financial pundits will tell you they’re about as…
One of the most exquisite architectural structures in South Beach is the Marlin Hotel on Ocean Drive, designed in 1939 by the great L. Murray Dixon — one of seven important Miami Beach projects the architect completed that year — and recently purchased and renovated by music magnate Chris Blackwell…
To separate cuisine — or culture, for that matter — by broad geographical parameters is one of society’s most tempting and nauseating tendencies. In America, this pervasive pigeonholing extends to the arts: Consider how writers as contrasted as Tennessee Williams and Eudora Welty are casually branded “Southern,” along with the…
Before getting to the business at hand, an announcement: New Times is looking for a permanent dining critic and food chronicler, someone with matching insights and appetite, an original, stylish writer for whom each restaurant experience is an adventure to be seized upon and savored. Let me say, by way…
Probably the first thing that comes to mind when you hear “cassis” is black currant, which is what the word means in French. Or perhaps the term conjures images of that lovely liqueur from Dijon, Creme de Cassis. But located on the western end of France’s Cote d’Azur is the…
Oddly enough, good Cajun restaurants have been few and far between in Miami. Say maque choux to someone here, and they think you’re cursing them in Creole. It’s a shame, because there’s more to the cuisine than dousing foodstuffs with a finely ground combination of black, white, and cayenne peppers…
During a recent appearance on David Letterman, Vancouver native Michael J. Fox mentioned that he, his wife Tracy Pollan, and their young son loved their visit to the new EuroDisney just outside Paris. The actor noted with a cat-that-ate-the-canary grin, however, that one of the most pleasurable aspects of the…
You don’t necessarily have to hail from the Deep South, Texas, or the far western perimeters of the Midwest to have stronger opinions about barbecue than politics, but it helps. We cantankerous Americans argue not only about whose barbecue is best, but about the very meaning of the culinary term…
Who could pass up a restaurant that last year ran away with Best Restaurant with a Chef Named Vinnie honors in New Times, and this year was named Best Inexpensive Italian Restaurant? Not me. After all, I spent my crucial years in a beer-and-shot town that boasted an Italian-American Club…
South American cuisine is taking Miami by storm – or perhaps I should say sword. The latest in this exciting turn of culinary events is a Brazilian rodizio called the Rodeo Grill, a carnivore’s paradise where all types of meats – from slabs of sirloin to chicken hearts – are…
Let me say right up front that the Outback Steakhouse is terrific. Or perhaps I should say “bewdie,” which is Aussie-speak for great, according to the menu. Like most theme restaurants, the Outback gets a bit carried away with its shtick. A New York strip is called “The Michael J…
If you haven’t explored Cuban dining recently, you’re in for some surprises. The fare offered in many of the newer restaurants goes well beyond ropa vieja and boliche, and the ambiance is elegante. La Casona, a villa-style restaurant that opened a couple of months ago on Calle Ocho, is a…
Next door to the refurbished Century Hotel on the 100 block of Ocean Drive, the Century is giving folks a reason to stray from South Beach’s beaten path. With a sleek look and menu, the restaurant is a welcome – and increasingly popular – addition to the SoBe scene. The…
Not since the short-lived but intriguing Clowns has an area restaurant so wholeheartedly followed its own muse. While the cuisine at the defunct Clowns leaned ever so slightly toward the Caribbean islands, Brasserie Coral Gables turns subtly toward South America, particularly in its European traditions. But like its quirky predecessor…
Even in Miami, restaurants don’t come much funkier than Kon Chau. Looking very back-lot Warner Brothers, a big, square room covered in well-trodden red industrial carpeting is flanked by vinyl banquettes of the same vintage as the seats in a 1955 Chevy – right down to the stuffing poking out…
Time was when the name of a restaurant gave you a pretty good idea of what sort of fare it offered. When I was a kid you didn’t go to the Burger Barn to satisfy a craving for Chateaubriand, nor did you visit the Six-Pack Saloon for champagne cocktails. In…
