In the summer of 1996, the considerable European jewelry collection of an elderly Italian woman vanished from a safe-deposit box at Intervault, a private vault on Galt Ocean Mile in Fort Lauderdale. The woman claims an olive-skinned man who introduced himself as a Brazilian jewelry-buyer accompanied her inside the vault…
Dim sum is the feast of a Chinese brunch, available in any urban Chinatown, that includes a dizzying array of dumplings, noodles, and barbecued meats. The problem in satisfying a dim sum craving is that such a feast rarely lends itself to dining solo. In most places you bring six…
Where does a young chef go after he’s sauteed for Madonna and filleted for Sylvester Stallone? What can he do after he’s worked with a South Florida pioneer like Mark Militello (who helped coin the phrase “New World cuisine”) and then hopscotched among the kitchens of some of the trendiest…
A disturbing trend is sweeping through South Florida. I like to think of it as the “theme-parkization” of good taste. It’s a Disney-style, mass-market approach to repackaging urban trends in food, drink, and entertainment in which bigger, louder, and slicker are considered better. You’ll find it in Fort Lauderdale at…
These days folks are stuffing all kinds of things inside the familiar pita. But tofu and alfalfa sprouts are not what Middle Eastern bakers had in mind when they invented the flat, round pocket bread. Luckily, small places abound where you can find authentic pita fare like gyros, shawarma, souvlaki,…
Larry Harris is the Colonel Sanders of South Florida — an hombre who knows his pollo. You may want to get to know his pollo, too. There are almost a dozen fast-food joints in Broward and Palm Beach counties where you can sample Harris’ pollo (that’s “chicken,” for all you…
You make a commitment to part with a significant amount of cash when you give your car keys to the young man handling the valet parking outside what may be the trendiest restaurant in Palm Beach. Any other time of year, that same young man would probably look you up…
Where can you find a Swiss corkscrew, Danish cookware, a Japanese spiral vegetable-cutter, and dips and sauces from New York to the Mojave Desert? All these items and some 10,000 more are tucked into every nook and cranny of Charlene Caruso and Margaret Leiser’s tiny little shop for cooks on…
When do you yell “opa”? A) When the fire from a plate of flaming Greek cheese races toward the ceiling. B) While smashing a shot glass into the floor after an exceptional Greek meal. C) After you’ve downed so much ouzo you feel you’re on top of Mount Olympus. D)…
The three-year-old Kilwin’s franchise on Las Olas Boulevard (809 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, 954-523-8338) is time travel for the sweet tooth. They have enough old-fashioned fudge and homemade peanut brittle to transport you to small-town Michigan circa 1947. That’s the year Don and Katy Kilwin opened their first…
I once rode an ostrich across the dusty grasslands of the Great Karroo, the vast savanna in the South African heartland. My wild ride lasted but a few seconds. The big, stupid bird took off with a jolt, and I quickly slid off its tail feathers and into a cloud…
