Though it sounds like the name of a train station, Key West Crossing (617 Lake Ave., Lake Worth, 561-588-9900) is actually just as you’d expect: an ice cream parlor. Yeah, OK, I didn’t know what it was either, given the plethora of crafts and artsy objects crowded into the windows…
Like the French, Greeks have specific names for different types of restaurants and the cuisine served in them. In Greece, restaurateurs generally conform to what is expected of their establishments. For instance, an estiatorion, or upscale restaurant, has tablecloths. A psistaria features a spit for barbecuing pork, lamb, and chicken…
Even if we weren’t in a recession, we’d still be watching our wallets: Now that it’s post-holiday season, the credit card bills have started to bring us back to fiscal reality. But there is a wonderful way to indulge and pamper ourselves without spending any more than we would during…
When I was living in Southern California, I worked in a seafood restaurant located at the end of a pier. During my shift, I occupied my time with waiting tables, doing sidework, and watching the fishermen bring in their catches of bottom-feeders: rays, crabs, the occasional soda can washed in…
Don’t call Baja Fresh Mexican Grill (7036 W. Palmetto Park Rd., Boca Raton; 561-620-9922) fast food. Yes, items like the Baja fish taco, chicken torta, steak burrito Mexicano, and side order of cebollitas (seasoned, roasted green onions) are available almost immediately. True, it’s counter service, and you can eat in…
If the anonymous author in The Quotable Cook is correct and it’s true that “The hostess must be like the duck — calm and unruffled on the surface, and paddling like hell underneath,” then we need to turn the hostess at Gary Woo Asian Bistro upside down. As it stands…
Now here’s a great idea for St. Valentine’s Eve: On February 13, Whole Foods Market (1400 Glades Rd., Boca Raton; 561-447-0000) is hosting its first “Find Your Heart in the Cart,” a date-matching game for singles. Entrants will be given a shopping cart and a five-minute time limit, during which…
People often ask me how I choose the restaurants I’m going to review. I give ’em the old party line: I do extensive research; I vary the reviews by city, ethnicity, and price range; I look for a good back story. At least, that’s how it’s supposed to work. The…
You have to read the fine print to know that the new steak house Tusk (3411 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, 954-396-6960) is actually adjacent (as in connected) to the Pure Platinum nudie bar — sorry, make that nightclub. But even if you tend to overlook details, you don’t have…
Talk about the ghosts of future pasts.It’s one thing to go to a new restaurant and be able to remember the eatery that occupied the site before. It’s another to recognize so many elements left over from the previous restaurant that it feels like the second one is haunted. Take…
Is there any point in summing up the past year? It doesn’t seem to matter what we’re talking about — dining, music, politics — all trains of thought lead to the wreck of September 11. For most of us, it’s as if the first eight months of the year didn’t…
Well as it turns out, Fatboys Gourmet Grill (4115 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, 954-568-5004) has confirmed what I’ve long — and I do mean long — believed: Size does matter. In fact, this burger-and-dog joint, which has its origins in the Jersey shore, takes that credo as its slogan,…
I know you’ve been wondering, as I have, exactly what a few million bucks buys you these days. Well, for one thing, it gets you a high-concept, modern, Italian restaurant like Sopra (110 E. Atlantic Ave., Delray Beach, 561-274-7077), which after a long delay has finally opened its costly doors…
You know a social trend is on the way out when the restaurant industry gets hold of it.Remember Smoke in Fort Lauderdale? Probably not. That’s because the steak house-cum-cigar lounge, which intended to capitalize on the newfound joys of sucking on stogies in public dining rooms, opened after the habit…
Whaddaya mean, you’ve never had monkfish liver? Roy Villacrusis, sushi chef at Mark’s CityPlace, claims it’s the “foie gras of the sea.” Of course, you’ll have to taste it to believe it, and now you can do that not only at CityPlace but at Mark’s Mizner Park (344 Plaza Real,…
Tim Zagat is an opinionated man.Perhaps that’s not surprising, given the fact that in 1979, he and his wife, Nina, founded the Zagat New York Restaurant Survey. Started as an informal restaurant rating system, derived from detailed questionnaires distributed among a group of friends (including the Rubell family, of Studio…
If you think all empanadas are created equal, then you haven’t been to Argie Grill (Las Olas Riverfront, 300 SW First Ave., Fort Lauderdale, 954-463-2686). Not only are the empanadas here a step above the standard but each one is flavored distinctively. That means the differences between the beef and…
Question: How do you score a table at Pearl by the Sea, a popular Russian restaurant and cabaret in Hallandale Beach that also goes by the name Club Pearl? A. Speak Russian or English with a Russian accent, or have a Russian surname. B. Know that “semi-formal attire is required”…
Just when it looked as if all the really good meal deals were happening in Miami-Dade County, Angelo and Maxie’s Steakhouse (CityPlace, 651 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach, 561-833-6550) weighs in on the subject. A new prix fixe menu offers three courses, starting with soup or caesar salad and ending…
OK, let’s set the scene: It’s Wednesday night, right before Thanksgiving, the start of a long weekend that typically means big tourist business in big tourist hangouts. At Las Olas Riverfront, a pay-to-enter party is being held on the ground floor, pushing regular ol’ customers up to the second floor,…
Forgive me, Armadillo Cafe, for I have sinned. It has been one year since my last supper. Since that time, I have displayed gluttony. I’ve had impure thoughts twice (OK, three times, tops). I have cheated on you. And I have committed the worst culinary crime of all: I lost…
The hibachi trend continues unabated. Like Sushi Yama, Kyojin Buffet, and Kansai in Boca Raton, Japanese Village (350 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale; 954-525-8386), one of the oldest restaurants on Las Olas Boulevard, has joined the grill-as-entertainment club. The restaurant has just added a Japanese-style steak house, where chefs…
