Big Al’s just got a little bigger with the debut of its third South Florida cheese steakery, this one in Boynton Beach. The latest Big Al’s Steaks (1000 N. Congress Ave., 561-424-0089) is the largest of the trio (the other two are in Coconut Creek and Delray Beach), with indoor…
If you ever went to the old Reef Road Restaurant and Rum Bar and thought it, well… sucked, Tarik Solomon is here to tell you it no longer inhales the fat one. Solomon and partner Alexander Tomasso, two nightclub operators who split their time between ventures in Rhode Island and…
Americans love gadgets. It’s in our DNA, hard-wired in our brainpans, infused in our mother’s milk. If some nitwit on late-night TV promises that his cheap ‘n’ cheesy invention will shave a few seconds off a simple task or make it easy enough for a blind, paraplegic monkey to perform,…
A new restaurant in West Palm that isn’t on Clematis Street? Well, yes. It’s Indus Herbal and Indian Cuisine, and it’s way off the eatin’ path not far past the decrepit Palm Beach Mall just east of I-95. It’s a pretty swell-looking place inside, much swankier than your usual Indian…
• Determined to make its happy hour even happier, downtown Fort Lauderdale’s Big City Tavern has rolled out a new martini menu and roster of half-priced appetizers. The “8 for $8” martinis are offered from 4 to 7 p.m. daily and range from a “health cocktail” with blueberry vodka, pomegranate…
The latest shot in our ongoing Burger Wars is chambered and ready to fire with the coming debut of Boardwalk Fresh Burgers & Fries, set to open in November in Boca Raton’s Shops at Boca Grove. The Maryland-based chain of patty purveyors, which seems to be a Five Guys-ish knockoff,…
If you have a lemon, you make lemonade. If you have a preserved lemon, you can make just about any damn thing taste a little more interesting. Except lemonade. That would really suck. Preserved lemons are a staple of Moroccan cooking, basically just lemons stuffed in a jar with lots…
• The, uh. . . economically challenged Bal Harbour Square in Fort Lauderdale will be getting a pair of “fast casual” eateries as part of its $8 to $10 million makeover. Come next March, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Pei Wei Asian Diner should make their debut in a new space…
The former Tentazione in Boynton Beach is now Capriccio Bistro Wines & Tapas (141 N. Congress Ave.; 561-731-2627), a name change that signifies a change in both menu and concept. The menu retains many of its classic Italian dishes but gets the addition of more than a dozen pan-Mediterranean small…
Fiorentina’s Joshua Santangela and Jamie Fournier.Downtown Lake Worth gets a welcome shot in the arm when one its prime restaurant locations, shuttered since Ouzo Blue went into the great beyond, is thriving once again with the debut of Fiorentina (707 Lake Ave.; 561-588-9707). Chef-proprietor of the regional Italian eatery is…
Walk down the aisles of your local giantsupermegamarket and you’ll see enough prepared sauces, marinades, rubs, spice blends, and assorted condiments to stack all the way to Pluto. Go online and their number increases to infinity and then some. Most of them are crap. Except for the ones that are…
• The 15th Total Wine & More in Florida should debut sometime late this year or early next in the space soon to be vacated by World Market in Wellington’s Shoppes at Isla Verde. The gigabooze warehouse joins brethren in Palm Beach Gardens, Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and…
Two days of food, booze, and entertainment at Mizner Park — it’s not exactly Woodstock, but you won’t leave hungry or thirsty. Boca’s toniest mall hosts its annual Tastemakers at Mizner Park progressive food, wine, and cocktail tasting next week, from 6 p.m. until you can’t eat and drink no…
After a controversial stint in Hollywood and a less-than-satisfying one in Sunny Isles with a pair of Michael’s Kitchens, local top toque Michael Blum has landed in Palm Beach Gardens, where he’s heading the kitchen of the new Holy Smoke’s American Bistro & Bar (2650 PGA Blvd.; 561-624-7427). The 4,700-square-foot…
• So long, Soma; we hardly got to know you. That would be the West Palm Beach Soma Center, the veggie-vegan-raw café and “holistic wellness center,” which closed last week after opening only two months ago on booze-and-greasy-burger Clematis Street. No reason for the sudden shutdown, but the Lake Worth…
It’s the hottest thing to hit the pizza world since Wolfgang Puck smeared a crust with crème fraiche and topped it with smoked salmon and caviar. That would be the coal-fired oven, both figuratively and literally the hottest, as it can crank up to a fearsome 800 to 900 degrees,…
One of the best reasons to cook Mexican food at home is to avoid the canned and processed foods and giant vats of grease that seem to be mandatory in all too many local Mexican restaurants. If you like golden, crispy tortilla shells (whether flour tortillas for tostadas or corn…
It looks like both chefs from Azul, the über-luxe eatery in Miami’s posh Mandarin Oriental hotel, (will) have restaurants in Palm Beach. Michelle Bernstein was first with her eponymous eatery in the opulent but financially troubled Omphoy resort. Now her successor, former Todd English culinary director Clay Conley, is leaving…
Despite numerous predictions of death, destruction and days of no cable TV, so far this hurricane season we’ve gotten off pretty easy. Well, that looks like it’s about to change. You don’t need to be a professional doomsayer or a WSVN panic-monger. . . I mean, meteorologist, to peek at…
Is there any food more delicious, more comforting, more soothing to the soul and taste buds than a perfectly juicy, succulent, crisp and golden-skinned roasted chicken? In a word, no. Unfortunately, finding that perfectly juicy, succulent, crisp and golden-skinned roasted chicken is about as easy as finding a slab of…
Everybody’s a critic. Everybody’s a rock ‘n’ roll guitar player. Everybody’s an expert. Problem is, most times, “everybody” isn’t. They just can’t do it. Not very well. Not very often. Not really. Some dishes are like that, too. It seems almost every restaurant serves Caesar salad, fries, and tiramisu, to…
• It’s “pack your knives and go” time for former Top Chef contestant Kenny Gilbert again. This time, though, it’s by his own choice. It seems that less than two months after he signed on as chef at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, he’s signed off to move to…
