Years ago, when I taught writing and composition to college students, I used a culinary term as an example of an oxymoron: jumbo shrimp. The kids seemed to grasp that example more quickly than any other. If I were teaching these days, I’d cite a different illustration: clean dive. A…
When it comes to Hollywood, what could have been won’t be. And what was is again. Mark Soyka, who recently opened Brasserie Las Olas in Fort Lauderdale (and owns several restaurants in Miami-Dade), will not debut an eatery as scheduled in downtown Hollywood, despite incentives such as free rent and…
Restaurant Report, an e-mail newsletter, invites readers to post their opinions and experiences. It includes some great nuggets of advice for restaurant professionals. The latest edition, for instance, gives waiters and waitresses several tips as sterling as Oneida, including: “Servers are there to enhance the guest’s experience, not intrude on…
Miami-Dade County restaurants may get a lot of national media attention for food, but when it comes to wine, eateries in Broward and Palm Beach counties win corks down. Indeed, of the thirteen South Florida restaurants that won the Wine Spectator Award of Excellence for outstanding wine lists for 2000,…
Ah, the hot dog. Robustly flavored and inherently bad for you, hot dogs have a unique and universal appeal. The other day I was at a birthday party for a one-year-old whose parents had hired a genuine hot dog vendor — ostensibly for the kids. For the grownups the hosts…
To the uninitiated, Rochester Hots (1051 E. McNab Rd., Pompano Beach, 954-943-9393) might sound like the name of an adult entertainment club. But rather than scantily clad females from the frozen north, the “Rochester” refers to the origin of this supercasual eatery, which owner Nelson Liberti relocated from upstate New…
In Kitchen Confidential, the gastronomic tell-all that convinced many folks to stop eating out, chef-author Anthony Bourdain lists a few hard-and-fast rules: Never order fish in a restaurant on a Sunday or Monday, because it was probably delivered the previous Thursday. Don’t chomp down on bacteria-friendly foodstuffs like hollandaise sauce…
Only in South Florida would someone find a way to turn the election imbroglio into a sales pitch. Mike and Carol Enriquez, proprietors of Munchies (8943 Southern Blvd., West Palm Beach, 561-784-0038), a breakfast-and-lunch joint currently under renovation, plan to reopen this week with a political agenda. A new menu…
The creativity one can demonstrate with foodstuffs is astounding, and for once I’m not talking about cooking them. For instance, in his books Play With Your Food and How Are You Peeling?, photographer Joost Elffers exhibits the creatures he makes out of everyday fruits and vegetables. He turns okra into…
A bagel is a bagel is a bagel — if you live in New York, that is. Down here we have a more difficult time locating the archetypal bagel: chewy crust, resilient crumb. In other words not a doughy roll. Enter Rodeo Bagel (10281 W. Sample Rd., Coral Springs, 954-344-6290),…
Every serious diner has an immediate, pertinent question he or she wants answered about any restaurant. My husband always wants to know about the specials of the house. My friend Meredith needs to be informed about the dessert list before she proceeds with ordering a meal. I like to be…
I’ve got to admit, the gyros are pretty tempting at the Steak Shop & Deli (1801 E. Sample Rd., Pompano Beach, 954-941-5790). But I just can’t get past the Philly cheesesteak, a signature item at this pleasant, Miami Dolphins-color sandwich shop. You can get it prepared traditionally: some sautéed onions,…
The thesaurus contains relatively few synonyms for restaurant, and even those aren’t necessarily synonymous. An eatery is not a diner, which is not a café. A bistro isn’t quite a brasserie, and neither of those is anything like a trattoria. Even a seemingly generic word like place conjures up some…
So swordfish is off your fish wish list because it’s endangered. Same with Chilean sea bass, which is really Patagonian toothfish and has been overfished to the point that boats have to roam the Antarctic Sea for it. And you’re just plain sick of snapper, grouper, and dolphin. What’s a…
Restaurants employ a variety of tactics to win customers. Mustang Sally’s, a four-month-old steak house in a desolate Flamingo Road shopping plaza out in cow country (a.k.a. Cooper City), is currently utilizing a time-honored method. No, it’s not exploitation of the Wilson Pickett song, the all-American car, or even the…
Of course we locals know that Palm Beach County has been blossoming with good restaurants, but does the nation know it? Well, it does now, considering that Nation’s Restaurant News just featured PBC in its “What’s Hot” column. Among the restaurants featured, Big City Tavern (224 Clematis St., West Palm…
People make much of first impressions. You either believe in them or don’t, trust them or not. They’re always wrong, or they’re always right. You should base your judgments on them, or you shouldn’t. Why doesn’t anyone debate the merits of last impressions? When it comes to restaurants, these are…
The design might look like Oh! Howard Johnson’s, but Oh! Mexico (300 SW First Ave., Hollywood, 954-527-5969) promises satisfying, hearty Mexican items. That means not fried clams but fried chimichangas, burritos, fajitas, and the like. Best of all, a tequila bar offers succor to the weary road warrior; the two-month-old…
A woman, one member of a party of six at Baredo Café in Boca Raton, got up suddenly from her table and began marching around the dining room, glancing pointedly at other tables and their parties. We knew she was a customer, but she looked for all the world like…
Forget about Tipperary — it’s a long, long way to Texas, so before you hit the road, you might want to make a pit stop in Dania Beach. That’s where you’ll find Charlie’s Bar-B-Q (1302 S. Federal Hwy., 954-924-0109), a Texas-style eatery sandwiched between a Pizza Hut and a McDonald’s…
Diners often think that restaurant critics have elaborate systems for rating restaurants, and of course we have many complex reasons for admiring or disliking a particular eatery. But when all’s said and done — digested and written — I like to keep it real with one simple question: Would I…
If you’ve ever wondered why tomatoes from the grocery store taste so flat and look so pallid, consider the source: Those that must stay in Publix or Winn-Dixie for days on end have been picked too soon but chemically treated to look ripe. You can really tell the difference between…
