Costa Rica

Salt Life Food Shack: You've Seen the Bumper Stickers; Now Try the Restaurant

Vaughan Lazar of Kapow! Says the Local Scene Needs More Locally Sourced Food and Zombie Killers

The exclamation point is an official part of the name Kapow! Noodle Bar in Mizner Park. That enthusiasm is brought in no small part by the CEO and co-founder, Vaughan Lazar. Although Lazar was once known for his skills as a DJ spinning house music at club parties across South Florida, today he's be ... More >>

Five Hottest Players on the Fort Lauderdale Strikers Soccer Team; Season Starts Saturday

I'll say it: Soccer is the sport with the hottest athletes. (Is my U.S. citizenship revoked yet?) It's true. They're fit without looking like a bank vault. They don't chew tobacco. They don't chase people with chainsaws. Maybe it's all that quality time with mom in the minivan instead of some sadis ... More >>

Salt Life Food Shack in Coral Springs: A First Look

Have you happened to notice the increasingly prolific Salt Life stickers on the back of cars and SUVs? If not, we're wondering where the heck you have been. They're everywhere.Now the ubiquitous Salt Life brand has taken on a new life in the form of a small chain of restaurants. The second location- ... More >>

Whole Foods Is Your Travel Agent: Foodie-Inspired Trips with Whole Journeys

So, you consider yourself a foodie. But are you an adventurous foodie? You haven't really taken the plunge into becoming a full-fledged gastronome until you've traveled to some far off destination with stories about how you hand-picked coffee berries straight from the tree in Costa Rica.If you think ... More >>

Starbucks Launches Coffee For Seven Bucks a Cup: Jimmy Kimmel Holds a Taste Test

Starbucks has long had a reputation of serving a good albeit expensive cup of coffee. That business model has served the chain well, with each store seeing lines of people trading their hard-earned money for lattes, coffees, and teas. Recently, though, Starbucks outdid itself by introducing its most ... More >>

Julio Iglesias Says: "It's Not Singing for Money. I Sing Because It Is My Life."

Frank Biden Waiting for Ducks to "Quack" on Costa Rica Development

Frank Biden, Ocean Ridge resident and younger brother of Joe Biden, has been talking for years about developing a country club in northwestern Costa Rica. On Friday, the Tico Times published an article saying backers of the $106 million Guanacaste Country Club "hope to begin construction in the next ... More >>

Strikers Soccer Team Pairs With Food Trucks for Home Games

The Fort Lauderdale Strikers soccer team has scored a partnership with five food trucks to offer eats this season. Arepabox, B.C. Tacos, Che Grill, Dog Eat Dog, and Dolci Peccati Gelato will park at every home game in the northwest corner of Lockhart Stadium from 5 p.m. until kickoff at 7:30 p. ... More >>

Online Poker Faces Assault From the Feds

South Florida's Best Coffee Shops

​ People are particular about coffee, whether they take it light and sweet, black, or muddy. Then there are the matters of beans: how recently they were roasted, whether they're fair trade, or whether any of it matters once they're in the cup, brewed by a Krups machine, a French press, or drip fun ... More >>

UPDATED: Joe Biden's Brother Is President and "P.T. Barnum" for SoFla Charter School Chain

UPDATE: The Palm Beach County School Board's vote on three new Mavericks schools has been postponed. Read more after the jump.When owners of a for-profit charter school chain go before the Palm Beach County School Board tomorrow night seeking approval for three new high schools, they'll have a celeb ... More >>

Mitchell Olin Sentenced to Prison for Using Clients' Money for Costa Rican Casino Venture

zazzle.com​Mitchell Olin -- the former Broward attorney who jacked more than $380,000 from his clients -- was sentenced to eight years in the slammer yesterday.As a real estate and insurance claims lawyer for seven families, Olin took the money from a trust account belonging to the families and de ... More >>

Pura Vida Makes West Palm Debut

​If you're "full of life" (or something) and are looking to tie one on, then get your full-of-it, party-hearty self over to CityPlace, where the new Pura Vida Lounge & Nightclub (700 S. Rosemary Ave.; 888-561-0232) is bringing a little bit of Costa Rica (AKA "the happiest place on Earth") to W ... More >>

Farewell, Gradnite.

The Magic Kingdom at night.​Last week, the Sun Sentinel ran a sad little story about the death of Grad Nite. Do you know about Grad Nite? If not, you're probably not from around here.Grad Nite was an event instituted at Walt Disney World shortly after the park opened, in imitation of a similar eve ... More >>

Subway Beats McDonald's for Title of Largest Fast-Food Chain

​Subway is beating the crap out of McDonald's to win the title of largest fast-food restaurant chain. According to the Wall Street Journal, at the end of 2010, Subway had 33,749 restaurants worldwide, compared to 32,737 for McDonald's. The number of McDonald's stores was disclosed in an ... More >>

An Immigrant's Heart

To survive the ordeal of escaping Guatemala, Julia needed a big heart. But not this big.

Two Latin American Shows Take the Museum of Art|Fort Lauderdale Beyond King Tut

A Complete Idiot's Guide to: Gallo Pinto

John Linn​The Costa Rican specialty gallo pinto was one of my favorite parts of visiting the Central American country. I ate the stir-fried rice and beans just about every morning in Costa Rica, often accompanied by eggs, fruit, cheese, fresh tortillas, and sour cream. There's nothing like enjoyin ... More >>

Orange Juice Squeezed by Manatees?

Leonid MamchenkovMmmm....​A good way to start your day: with a glass of orange juice and a dose of happy news. This morning, word came across the transom that Fort Pierce company Natalie's Orchid Island Juice scored a win "In the David versus Goliath battle for dominance over America's breakfast ... More >>

Swell Films

Bamboo Fire Café in Delray Beach Is Worth the Wait

Pride of Boca, Jozy Altidore Helps U.S. to Win of Draw in World Cup Qualifying Match

That's Boca Raton native and American soccer star Jozy Altidore in an interview he gave late last night to ESPN after the U.S. earned a 2-2 tie against Costa Rica. In doing so, the Americans won the draw, after having qualified earlier for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.The match came after Alt ... More >>

On NBC Prime Time, Fort Lauderdale Cast as the Poor Man's Thailand

Flickr User: jojo_is_cuteRyan from The Office dazzled by Fort LauderdaleHalfway through this past week's episode of NBC's The Office, while the Michael Scott Paper Co.'s three employees sit on the floor of their closet turned headquarters, swapping stories of personal failure, the character Ryan off ... More >>

Wild Iguana Catchers/Eaters Welcome in Florida

Alexander Rust and Vanessa Palm should have vacationed in South Florida instead of the Bahamas. The pair of 20-something Midwesterners were arrested over the weekend for catching, then grilling and consuming, an endangered iguana in the Exuma Cays. Here in Florida, tho ... More >>

Throwback Tuesdays: Manu Chao "Desaparecido"

When Manu Chao released his landmark album, Clandestino, in 1998, it was regarded as an instant classic by most people who heard it. The 16-track disc was a funky underground pop album aimed right at the cultural left (and bourgeois right) of Spain, France, South America and Mexico all at once. Bet ... More >>

Culinary Travels in Costa Rica: Part 3

I'm going to wrap up this short little porthole into Costa Rican cuisine talking a little bit about everything -- probably in a very rambling, tangential sort of way. Just a fair warning. Native fruit is definitely one of the more unique aspects of eating in Costa Rica. You've got your average tr ... More >>

Culinary Travels in Costa Rica: Part 2

One of Costa Rica's many beach-side sodas, shaded from the hot coastal sun by an umbrella of tall trees. Yesterday I talked a little bit about Costa Rica's plato tipical, casado - and more specifically, rice and beans. Now, when you're producing rice and beans in such quantities as to make it the c ... More >>

Watch Out, Red Baron

The 'Pipe breaks loose

Culinary Travels in Costa Rica: Part 1

A view of Volcan Arenal from a hiking trail that traverses old lava flow from its 1992 eruption. Arenal is the third most active volcano in the world. We hiked through rainforests and gasped at volcanoes, lounged on white sand beaches and wound our way around perilous mountain passes. Oh yes, we al ... More >>

Photographer Exiled From Cuba

Wingin' It

Fledgling Guardian Angels get the call from gang-riddled Lake Worth

Your Fish Is My Command

Want it? McCormick & Schmick's can get it.

Sharkwater

Matchhead

Carlos Arredondo did the unthinkable with gasoline, a Marine van, and a propane torch. Two years later, he still burns.

Big Breasts and Cold Champagne in the Penthouse

The sheer massiveness of mammaries at Bova leaves us flummoxed.

Tailpipe

Energizer Con Man

Capsule reviews of current area art exhibitions.

Last Call

Beerfest goes down Saturday!

Tailpipe

Nixon/Agnew '04

Just Like the Rest of Us

"Hispanic heritage" is hard to find at ArtServe and Gallery Six By Michael Mills

For Grown-ups Or-chids

Murdered in Havana

After the Catholic Church banished him, Cuba welcomed him. But the vibrant new life George Zirwas created for himself soon ended in tragic death.

You Too Can Yucatan

Fresh ingredients and friendly service add up to a satisfying (if not very authentic) trip to the Yucatán

The Art of the Deal

Skot Foreman brings big-name art to an unexpected seaside town

Best Nursery

Living Color Garden Center

Undercurrents

Here Today, Gone to Maui

Cyber Stakes

South Florida is at the heart of the internet gambling boom -- and of the war to stop it