In February, Restaurants & Institutions published a report about the growing popularity of drive-thru dining. “More than eighteen percent of all restaurant dining occasions (both quick- and full-service) involved a drive-thru window in 2000, up four percentage points from 1990, according to NPD Foodservice Information Group, Rosemont, Illinois,” editor Deborah…
You don’t need to use your head to locate a good chocolate shop. Not the whole thing, anyway. Your nose will infallibly lead you in the right direction — straight to Richard Everett’s (3085 E. Commercial Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, 954-772-8856). In this carpeted strip-mall shop, which has the bare-bones charm…
If you think the drive-thru is all about typical all-American fast food, what would you say to jerk tilapia and fried yuca? Those are the Caribbean goodies you can receive through your power window at the new fast-food restaurant Island Grill (4003 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Lauderdale Lakes, 954-717-1858). In…
This summer is going to be a test of survival for our restaurants. Labor costs have gone up. Food costs have gone up. Utility costs have gone way, way up. What has gone down? Disposable income. So smart restaurateurs, those who have eateries that will make it in the long…
It might sound like a kid’s movie, but the George & Dragon (4140 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, 954-568-2207) is an upscale British pub. In fact the owners call this whopping new place a “superpub” — perhaps because it includes 4200 square feet of space and about 1000 pieces of…
The bookstores have let you know about it with displays of hardcover tomes that feature grinning males spanking lobsters with tongs. The department stores have clued you in, too, selling Dad’s Day with special markdowns on steak knives and spatulas. And the supermarkets have gotten into the act — with…
You’ve hit upon a grand money-raising scheme for your nonprofit organization — putting together and selling a community cookbook. Only now that you’ve gone to the trouble of soliciting recipes, entering them into your computer, doing a little desktop publishing, and getting the whole thing printed, you’re not quite certain…
One of the primary objections to the existence of food critics is that no two critics operate alike. Some review anonymously; others do not. Some accept freebies; others do not. Some visit a restaurant numerous times; others do not. When the range of practice varies so widely, restaurateurs want to…
I guess you could call it buffet taken to a new level. The brand-new BD’s Mongolian Barbecue (101 Clematis St., West Palm Beach, 561-655-1433), which has been hyped in recent weeks by its mascot Mongo Man — a nine-foot-tall Mongolian warrior walking around West Palm Beach frightening small children –…
Every once in a while, I’m reminded that the rest of the nation’s food media simply don’t understand the South Florida eating scene. For instance, a couple of seasons ago, Epicurious.com contacted me about reporting on our farmers’ markets for a special countrywide feature that would run from May to…
The Best of BrowardPalm Beach issue: How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee for the breadth and depth of your pages, for your biblical proportions, for your wise(-ass) advice. I love thee to the level of everyday’s most quiet need to find the best…
Like a good man, a good chicken wing is hard to find. Unless you seek out Wings ‘N’ Ale 2 (10115 Cleary Blvd., Plantation, 954-577-3669), where the poultry pickin’s are more plentiful than slim. In fact not only are the pleasantly plump wings available both Buffalo-style and grilled with your…
Perhaps it’s the Miamian in me, as I reviewed restaurants for Miami New Times for five-plus years before taking on Broward and Palm Beach. Or maybe it’s the purist in me, or the nitpicker in me, or even the snob in me. But when I walk into a Latin-American restaurant…
If you ask the staff at 12-year-old Chinese restaurant Toa Toa (4145 NW 88th Ave., Sunrise, 954-746-8833) what the name means, they look at you oddly, as if it were obvious. Finally they say something like, “You know, Toa Toa, good food, like dim sum.” Ah, that clears everything up…
Now here’s a first: Just about anything I can complain about my most recent dining experience is most likely my fault. For instance, I didn’t appreciate the lack of ambient dining music during this meal. While I’m never overly fond of, say, loud house beats vibrating my plate — and…
Here it is, the newest definition of overindulgence: the white chocolate martini. At Angelo and Maxie’s Generation 2 Steakhouse (651 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach, 561-833-6550), you can order a martini glass dipped into melted white chocolate, then filled with vodka so cold it hurts your teeth. Sip it as…
I’m always wary when I call a new restaurant to inquire about its cuisine and whoever answers the phone says something like, “Uh, hang on a minute” and passes the phone to someone else. A stunt like that usually means one of two things. Either the quicker-picker-upper on the other…
Finding some action can be pretty easy in South Florida. Scoring a piece of it for yourself is significantly harder. And despite the plethora of good pizza pies out there, to find yourself a real New York-style slice — extra-large, oozing with oil from the high-quality mozzarella, and just sprinkled…
The bare midriff is making me insane. I admit I first thought the trend of displaying tight, tanned little tummies, with or without belly ring installed center stage, kind of cutely risqué. But after pop princesses like Christina Aguilera took it to such extremes that they now present themselves naked…
So you say you like a little Scripture with your conch fritters and curry goat? Good thing Annie’s Fresh Fish & Baked Goods (1100-02 NE Fourth Ave., Fort Lauderdale, 954-763-9774) is in the book — the phone book, that is, not the Good Book. Along with the Caribbean and American…
So you’re youngish, you think you’re pretty darn cool, and you’re shopping for dinner at the Publix in the Village Square Plaza in Boynton Beach when you notice Sonoma Grille. You’re surprised, because the high-ceilinged bistro, with its widely spaced oil paintings on the walls and closely spaced tables on…
What does a restaurateur do with a location that had become known more for scandal than for food? Capitalize on it, of course. The owners of Gryphon (10076 Griffin Rd., Cooper City, 954-252-1411) recently sent out press releases acknowledging that the restaurant preceding the new eatery and nightclub, the erstwhile…
