Dinner. Mezzanotte. CityPlace. Ohmygod. Dinner being the meal we like to eat in the evening. Mezzanotte being the sixth installment of a popular Italian restaurant that got its ’80s start in a groundbreaking South Beach location where models once spontaneously danced on the tables (and snorted coke in the bathrooms,…
If any executive chef can make the food at the River House (301 SW Third Ave., Fort Lauderdale, 954-525-7661) worthy of the place’s great location, it’s Doug Riess. Like owners Tim Petrillo and Peter Boulukos, Riess worked with the king of the gastronomic diaspora ’round these parts, Mark Militello, at…
Aloha,” says the valet attendant. “Aloha,” says the hostess who pulls open the door. “Aloha,” says the busboy who fills your water glasses even before you sit down. If you haven’t figured out where you are by now, let me give you a few more hints: The ukulele. The lei…
Restaurant bargain hunters usually have to settle for early-bird specials. Well, not this year. In honor of its 20th year in business, the Nicaraguan steak house Los Ranchos (2604 Sawgrass Mills Cir., Sunrise, 954-851-9665) is offering a different four-course meal every month for the rest of 2001. The cost? Just…
In our seasonal, fickle dining market, a high-end restaurant opening to unanimous rave reviews is usually an accomplishment in itself. When said restaurant is credited with revitalizing or turning around a neighborhood, well, that’s flattering too. And when, after several years in business, it has developed such a loyal crowd…
Some folks like their lasagna cooked in a casserole pan. Please. Why opt for the norm when you can have that classic dish baked in a whole new way — like on top of pizza dough? The “Little Italy,” a New York¯style gourmet pie enhanced with lasagna, Italian sausage, meatballs,…
The waitress at Moon Thai & Japanese, a month-old restaurant in Coral Springs, approached us as we were still getting settled in our bistro-style seats. “We don’t have white tuna tonight,” she informed us, looking directly at my father-in-law. My husband and I laughed — his father, Joel, is addicted…
Picture a prototypical tavern. Envision the dark, scarred wood, the frayed seat cushions, the rotund bartender pulling a draft. Smell, through your mind’s nose, the cigarette smoke vying with char-grilled burgers and ancient fried onions. Listen to the squawks and yawps of casual, unrestrained conversation. Are you there? Good. That…
Serious readers, writers, and general workaholics know about Levenger, a catalog that offers stylish tools designed to make literary endeavors easier. Most of us didn’t know that Levenger has an outlet store (420 S. Congress Ave., Delray Beach, 561-274-0904 or 888-592-7461), where items such as pens, portfolios, briefcases, and office…
If you’ve never really known exactly what a knish is and been too afraid to ask, here’s a recent definition: Executive lunch. Now businessfolk on the go can grab an authentic Coney Island potato knish — meaning square in shape rather than a puffy blob — from Coney Island Joe’s…
Nation’s Restaurant News, a restaurant-industry magazine, runs a whimsical bit every week: It features a “clever, funny or bizarre restaurant name” as “Name of the Week.” Winners have included operations the likes of the Barking Frog and Thai One On. The column is good for a chortle, and the eateries…
It’s that old misnomer again: Mediterranean Food Corner (922 Sample Rd., Lighthouse Point, 954-786-9909) actually sells Middle Eastern specialties. You can find Israeli, Egyptian, and Lebanese treats at this little shop hidden in the elbow of a strip mall. In other words superior hummus, baba ghannouj, falafel, tabbouleh, and meat…
Back when I worked in restaurant kitchens, my husband became an expert at guessing what the specials of the night had been. All he had to do was take a whiff of my clothes. “New England clam chowder,” he’d say, sniffing. “Grilled pork loin.” Sniff. “Filet mignon with,” sniff, “a…
Brilliant e-commerce ideas begin in… Boca? Apparently so. Shore to Door Seafood (67 SW Tenth Ter., Boca Raton, 800-218-8147, Shore to Door Seafood), delivers fresh seafood anywhere via overnight FedEx packaging. Started by two long-time friends and fishermen, the company purchases its products directly from the local fishing fleet (especially…
Whenever my family went to New York’s Chinatown for dinner or dim sum, my neat-freak mother would choose the restaurant with the dirtiest floor. When her astonished children would point out the grains of rice and chicken bones littering the peeling linoleum tiles, she would just smile, shrug, and let…
As a rule, a $5.99 price tag usually screams, “Stay away!” to any wine connoisseur; the celebrity-inspired reserve vintages available at 67 (5360 N. Federal Hwy., Lighthouse Point, 954-428-6255) should prove an exception. Included among this gourmet market and wine merchant’s more than 10,000 items are a series of reserve…
Sushi bars in South Florida are almost interchangeable. Each offers a ton of selections, including a roster of inventive, multi-ingredient rolls with funny names. Each serves some other kind of Asian food (usually Thai) along with the Japanese stuff. And each carries some of the freshest fish around — as…
So the holidays are over, and you’ve come to one conclusion about the parties your employers threw: They sucked. The most frequent complaints I’ve heard? (1) cheap booze, and (2) lousy food. I can’t do anything to make your bosses loosen the purse strings for top-shelf liquors, but I can…
If you need tangible evidence of the plunging economy, take a drive along Pines Boulevard and stop where it intersects North University Drive. Of the four shopping centers that sentry the corners, at least three are half empty. I haven’t seen so many “available” signs since touring the red light…
If a hot dog is this food critic’s forbidden fruit, then a fast-food hamburger is the apple that doesn’t fall far from the tree. And the joint that comes closest to Eden is Lil’ Ole Caboose (204 S. Powerline Rd., Deerfield Beach, 954-428-1597). “Home of the Boxcar Burger,” the Caboose…
If any decade of the last millennium should be written off for eternity, it’s the ’70s. The trends were horrific — feathered hair, tube tops, the Hustle. Not a saving grace among ’em. In fact, with the exception of the emergence of certain supergroups like Styx (hey, don’t begrudge me…
Apparently I’m not the only one who believes a glass of wine enhances every experience. Tout Sweet (1664 S. Federal Hwy., Delray Beach, 561-330-6464) — essentially an ice cream parlor that makes its own French custard ice cream — also has a beer-and-wine license. That’s so it can pour the…
