Taco Fusion in Tampa: Still Serving Lion Meat Despite Denials

People became angry in Tampa recently when it was announced that the city’s Taco Fusion was serving lion meat. They also serve gazelle, kangaroo, ostrich, beaver, otter, and other animals, but it was the king of the jungle that awakened the public’s ire. In the face of much criticism, the…

Nutella vs. World Nutella Day: The Little Guy Wins

Sometimes there are brands and products that are so well loved, they draw their own fan base and subculture. Take, for instance, Volvo owners, who push their cars until they’re ancient rust buckets in an attempt to get 500,000 or more miles out of them. Or, consider McRib lovers, who…

Making Sushi at Home Is Easy (Recipe & Photos)

For amateur chefs, sushi might seem an insurmountable endeavor — like the perfect puffy cheese soufflé or meringue-wrapped baked Alaska. But surprisingly, it’s not as difficult as it might seem, and with a few simple tools, even the most bumbling of kitchen klutzes can pull off some tasty rolls. Trust…

Zoraida Abreu Pleads Guilty in $2.4 Million Real Estate Scam

Two years ago, Miami New Times was the first media outlet to report on a crew of scammers who swindled $2.4 million out of 15 real estate investors who believed they were getting sweetheart deals on foreclosed properties. The Miami-Dade Inspector General’s Office busted the delinquents last February. Now one…

Homestead Mayor Steve Bateman Gets Put in His Place

At last week’s May 15 Homestead City Council meeting, Mayor Steve Bateman got testy with local business owner Michelle Pederson, prompting her husband Kevin to call hizzoner out. The back and forth occurred during the citizen’s comments portion of the council meeting after Homestead resident Mark Bell — hubby to…

Drew Rosenhaus Has Corrupted Football

Uncle Luke, the man whose booty-shaking madness made the U.S. Supreme Court stand up for free speech, gets as nasty as he wants to be for Miami New Times. This week, Luke says its time to investigate Drew Rosenhaus. It’s time for the NFL Players Association (NFLPA) to investigate North…

Six Worst Miami Pick-Up Lines, According to the Ladies

Listen up, fellas … Pick-up lines rarely work. Most of the time, they are lame, cliché, and straight-up ridiculous. That also means it takes a lot of courage (or several brewskies) to go up to an attractive lady at a bar and ask her if “it hurt when ya fell…

Pastelito Burger: Pincho Factory’s Epic Buns Available All Month

Donuts as buns: it’s been done. And while a nicely charred meat patty is pretty outstanding when pressed between Homer Simpson’s favorite all-American snack food, there’s another option that suits our Latin city even better. What’s that, you ask? A burger with a pastelitos on top and bottom. Yes, seriously…

Santiestebans Plead Guilty to Marijuana Trafficking

The family that grew ganja together is now the family that pleaded guilty together. In the spring of last year, federal agents and Miami-Dade narcotics detectives dismantled a clan of marijuana growers that distributed thousands of pounds of high-grade weed from South Florida to New York City. Gilberto Santiesteban Jr.,…

Mugshots Friday: The Ol’ Purple Eyebrow

Every Friday, Riptide brings you the most eye-catching mugshots taken the previous week (or thereabouts) in Miami-Dade County. Yes, there is some mockery of bad neck tattoos, but also adulation directed at perps who just plain look more badass than we ever will. This is the italicized intro to that…

WLRN Hires Veteran TIME Magazine Reporter Tim Padgett

National magazine journalism may be coughing and gagging its last breaths, but public radio is giving print reporters hope. In an email to supporters late last night, WLRN-Miami Herald News Director Dan Grech announced the station is reopening its Americas Desk. Even better: The desk will be helmed by Tim…

Kiera Wilmot Is the New Trayvon Martin

In Bartow, Florida, public school and law enforcement officials are committing a horrible injustice against an exceptionally gifted African-American teenager. By all accounts, 16-year-old Kiera Wilmot is a model student. She has good grades and has a perfect behavior record. She’s not a kid who skips classes, fights her classmates…

Reader Mail: Kiera Wilmot Is a Victim of Racism

Sins of the Father Survivors: If the tale of Gloria Hampton and Bernisa Davis, the Miami sisters who survived years of abuse from their father after he killed their mother (“Memories of Murder,” Michael E. Miller, May 9), isn’t a survival story in it’s truest form, I don’t know what…

Six Best Moves to Win a Miami Bar Fight!

Bar fights: The result of way too much liquid courage combined with high levels of testosterone. Or, in some cases, cattiness. They usually happen near the end of the night when someone either gives you the “stank eye” or hits on your man (or woman) right in front of you…

Mugshots Friday: Stinko De Mayo

Every Friday, Riptide brings you the most eye-catching mugshots taken the previous week (or thereabouts) in Miami-Dade County. Yes, there is some mockery of bad neck tattoos, but also adulation directed at perps who just plain look more badass than we ever will. This is the italicized intro to that…

BET Bets Against Blacks

Last week, Cord Jefferson, a columnist for BET Network, wrote a response to my column “Free Condoms Now.” He claimed I was wasting time giving out prophylactics and educating black people about safe sex. “The fact of the matter is that African-American young people don’t necessarily need Uncle Luke to…

Reader Mail: Medicare Fraud Will Become America’s Biggest Scam

Fraud Central Canada is better: After reading your piece about Medicare fraud in the Sunshine State (“Thieves’ Bazaar,” Chris Parker, May 2), I have to say that Americans, especially in Florida, amaze those of us in Canada. I’m glad to see your problems with Cuban rip-off artists, because it’s the…