If you’ve ever met Jenny Benzie you’d know that “sommelier” isn’t French for “pompous, arrogant asshole” but for “wine steward.” And a very nice one, at that. Benzie, who spent three years as sommelier at Michael McCarty’s seminal Michael’s restaurant in Santa Monica before assuming the same position at Café…
Now that it seems finally safe to haul out the grill and charcoal and fire up some barbecue, it’s also time to start thinking about what wash down all those desiccated hunks of burnt and blackened animal protein with. There’s beer, of course: the breakfast of champions. But there are…
• Just to prove that pizza really is the new black comes word of yet another upscale pizzeria to set up shop in PBC. It’s Henry’s Brick Oven Pizza (3676 Collins Drive, West Palm Beach, 561-433-9390) from Enrico “Henry” Olmino, founder of Mario’s of Boca and Mario’s East. Expect all…
The 24-hour news cycle has long since moved on from the January earthquake that devastated Haiti and the agony of its aftermath, but for Haitian native and former Top Chef contestant Ron Duprat, forgetting is not that easy. So he’s teamed up with four South Florida Whole Foods Markets to…
Summer’s almost here, and a hungry man’s fancy turns to… barbecue. And maybe cracked conch too. If that’s your fancy, Sheila’s Famous BBQ, Conch and More in Lake Worth (S. Dixie Highway at 12th Avenue; 561-951-2723) is your place. Local restaurateurs Sam and Dania (AKA Sheila) Johnson opened the modest,…
It’s either the best thing to happen to wine since the invention of thirst or the most revolting development since that abomination known as White Zinfandel. The “it,” in this case, is Yellow Tail Chardonnay. Produced by Australia’s Casella Wines, it was the first of what became known as “critter…
Now that the Sunshine State has actually seen a couple of weeks of sunshine, all those fruits and veggies that were hiding out for our wretched winter are now, well… blossoming. And with our weekend farmers’ markets in full swing and such full-time produce markets as Harvest Time (4361 Hypoluxo…
In California, when it comes to red wine, Cabernet Sauvignon is king. Unfortunately, when it comes to California red wines that are decent values, Cabernet Sauvignon is also a bitch. Not the 2007 Five Rivers, though. For less than ten bucks, you get a wine that can pimp-slap more expensive…
Food from more than 40 local restaurants, some 20 wines and beers, a band of rock ‘n’ roll doctors, and KOOL 105.5 radio personalities are all on tap for the second-annual Legacy Place Food & Wine Experience, set for 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, April 22, at the Palm Beach…
• There’s plenty of vin to go with the American bistro fare at Cesare Palazzolo’s new Vin 21 Bar & Grill (251 U.S. 1, Jupiter, 561-743-7743, vin21barandgrill.com). Some 60 wines are offered, along with classes and monthly tastings geared to all levels of oenophilia. And no, that’s not a disease…
It’s pathetically easy to get depressed nowadays. Look at your bank account. Try to find a new job. Watch network television. Hell, just crawl out of bed in the morning. And here’s another one: Check out the produce at your local giantsupermegamarket. Talk about depressing. Fruits and veggies that look…
• Cynics among you (though certainly not Charlie) might consider it akin to choosing between typhoid and malaria, but the Hollywood City Commission has picked Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville over Sly Stallone and Bruce Willis’ Planet Hollywood to build a $100 million hotel/restaurant/resort complex on the city’s six-acre beachfront property at…
Sometimes the best accompaniment to a good wine is a little history. A million or so years ago, I read a review in the old Gourmet magazine about this great little French restaurant in Sausalito, just across the Golden Gate Bridge from where I lived in San Francisco. In it,…
Sharpen your sweet tooth and consider making an appointment with your dentist if you plan on hitting up two coming additions to the dining mix at CityPlace. Sometime this month, look for the debut of Sugar Chef, a cupcake specialist and custom-cake design shop that will go into a tiny…
A fixture on Las Olas Boulevard for 20 years, Las Olas Café will shut its doors May 30 to make way for… well, nobody knows. The venerable Fort Lauderdale eatery with the Continentalesque menu couldn’t get its lease renewed, says proprietor Paula Pace, who believes building owner Las Olas Co…
• After more than 30 years on Lake Avenue in downtown Lake Worth, it’s time to bid adieu to L’Anjou, one of a fading breed of old-school French restaurants in ever-trendy South Florida. Declining business and illness in the owning Cela family were reportedly the cause. Though generally flying under…
How cheap can a wine get and still not suck ball bearings through a straw? Try three bucks. If that sounds cheap enough to you, try the 2009 Down Under Cabernet Sauvignon. For less than it would cost to sniff the cork of some fancy-pants wine with a name you…
Another restaurant is coming to Delray Beach’s East Atlantic Avenue, and it’s not a trattoria or a gastropub. It’s Mexican. Well, gringo Mexican, anyway. It’s Carlos & Pepe’s, a fixture in Fort Lauderdale for more than three decades, now branching out with a Delray spot in the tony Worthing Place…
South Florida is blessed with an abundance of fresh fish and shellfish, yet one of the world’s great seafood wines is about as well-known here as Bashar al-Asaad. That would be Muscadet, a white wine from France’s Loire region that’s as crisp as a freshly minted dollar bill and as…
For chef Marc Henderson, the recent debut of Sky309 as a dining destination is something of a welcome-home present. The top floor of Roxy’s Pub (309 Clematis St., West Palm Beach; 561-296-7699, ext. 222) opened late last year, touting its party-friendly bar, open-air “island” vibe, and panoramic view of downtown…
I miss Italian Oven Café. For a quick, inexpensive, Italianesque lunch in a contemporary, cleanly designed room, this now-long gone eatery in West Palm’s CityPlace did it better than just about anybody. What did it in apparently had nothing to do with the food but with a much-delayed opening that…
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