Baby wants Amarone Always planning ahead, I am, and this year you can skip the chocolate-covered chocolates on Valentine’s Day and buy me tickets to Vinitaly instead. I know it seems like our favorite romantic occasion is months and months away, to say nothing of the MAJOR PRESENT HOLIDAY we…
A decade ago this month, chef Gary Robins inaugurated Wish Restaurant in The Hotel with a brash and brilliant haute vegetarian menu. The public didn’t bite; Robins went on to achieve fame and acclaim in New York City. Andrea Curto took over the South Beach spot, made Wish come true,…
You haven’t quite missed the bargains this year: Dine Out Fort Lauderdale has been extended until December 14th for 22 of the restaurants originally participating. Among them, Cero (they have a new chef, Toby Joseph has left to go to Bova Prime); Four Rivers, and 3030 Ocean; Lola’s on Harrison…
Sandy Skoglund, “The Cocktail Party” Got 100 people coming for a holiday shindig? Stupidest idea you EVER had, right? Believe it, we’ve been there. But four of Palm Beach’s top chefs are taking pity this season and throwing a bash at Cafe Boulud that might help prevent us from totally…
Michelle Bernstein had wanted to name her upcoming Design District restaurant “Buena Vista”, as it is located in the historic Buena Vista Post Office, and would also fit the Spanish nature of the place. Alas, there is already a Buena Vista Cafe, so Michelle has decided to call her tapas…
‘Tis the season for South Beach restaurants to bloom like so many poinsettia at Christmas. The neighborhood south of Fifth Street is going to get especially crowded with new eateries during the coming weeks and months. Topping our Pavlovian anticipations is Au Pied de Cochon, which will debut at the…
John Currin, Thanksgiving, 2003 I’ve volunteered to do Thanksgiving again this year, complete with Heritage bird, and though there’s a part of me that really gets off on shoving my butter-coated fist into a turkey cavity this isn’t a job I’d really wish on anybody. It’s just too messy, too…
Bengal’s contemporary two-level space is lovely. Walls of pastel mint green are minimally adorned with brightly colored sconces that illuminate the restaurant at night; during lunchtime, a soothing natural light comes in courtesy of floor-to-ceiling storefront windows. Tables on terrazzo floors are topped with white linen over maroon undercloths that…
For those of you who’ve been waiting to grub out at chef Toby Joseph’s new Bova Prime, your moment has arrived. Bova is still operating under its old marquee — it was Riley McDermott’s, and so it shall remain for a week or three — but the menu is all…
Teaching an old town new tricks? It looks like the island of Palm Beach is going to try to shake its image as the most boring resort city on the planet. I don’t know what happened — when I was a teenager the island was fun: We actually had a…
Le Bouchon du Grove has long been one of Coconut Grove’s best restaurants: The French fare is solid, prices are reasonable, and a boisterous ambiance beckons. So upon hearing of a second bistro with the same owners, I expected something special. Yet like so many movie sequels, Le P’tit Paris…
Don’t forget that New Times’ ultimate food and wine event, Pairings, is coming to the Broward Center this Thursday night. Tickets are just $29 if you order online now, as opposed to $40 at the door, so get yours fast. Click here to get a more info on the event,…
Ahnvee, a Cajun-Creole restaurant and “laid-back lounge” will open at 621 Washington Avenue (the old “Strand” location) in late-2008/early 2009. Executive chef Tom Azar, most recently having served the same function at Emeril’s Miami Beach, will be putting out skillet cornbread with honey butter glaze; fried alligator; crawfish-and-rice croquettes, and…
I’m not saying Chef Allen’s décor used to be dull, but when I first reviewed the restaurant, one of my dinner guests fell asleep at the table. Granted she was only nine years old. And she was medicated owing to an allergic reaction. But still — the place wasn’t exactly…
There’s nothing like a dame, particularly if the dame cooks good. And no dame cooks as good as Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international group devoted to supporting and mentoring women in the culinary professions. The new cookbook Les Dames have just published was almost enough to make me get off…
Come January, chef Jonathan Eismann of Pacific TIme fame will be opening Pizzavolante (“flying pizza”) at 3918 N. Miami Avenue, in the Design District. According to Eismann, the contemporary-styled 900 square foot space will be offering “creative wood-oven pizza” with organic and local ingredients, and “some gluten-free products”. Emphasis will…
Tickets for the 2009 South Beach Wine and Food Festival go on sale this coming Monday, October 27. We mention this because in past years tickets have sold out very quickly — especially for the more popular events, such as Rachel Ray’s Burger Bash ($200), Bubble Q ($350), and Wine…
“Shalom, y’all” might sound like the start of a Southern politician’s stump speech in Boca Raton, but it is in fact one of the mottos posted at Sara’s Vegetarian Café in North Miami. So is “good, hot, and a heckuva lot,” which likely refers to the hefty portions but could…
“Saving the Earth, One Pizza at a Time” is the motto of Pizza Fusion, the first ever organic pizza franchise that is getting set to open at 14815 Biscayne Boulevard in mid-November. The Fort Lauderdale based restaurant chain offers pizza, ciabatta sandwiches, salads, desserts, and organic beers and wines, all…
Michelle Bernstein Michelle Bernstein hopes to have her new tapas place open “before Art Basel”. She says the menu is “almost done”, and will include items such as boquerones, tortilla española, and artesanal Jamón Serrano. “We’re going to do blood sausage and stuff like that, and I’m playing with all…
Change might carry a lot of currency these days, but Nemo is having none of it. When co-owners Myles Chefetz and Michael Schwartz opened the artsy neighborhood café in 1995, it was the hottest haunt in town (and Esquire magazine’s pick for one of America’s best new restaurants). It looks…
El Palacio de los Jugos, which makes the best batidos, arepas, lechon asado — heck, let me just say it’s my favorite Cuban joint in town — is negotiating a lease for a new location across the street from the Federal Courthouse in downtown Miami. Owners Beatrize and Reinaldo Bermudez…
