Deals on the Alley

The Grill on the Alley is known for their prime steaks, chops, seafood and cocktails, but on April 15 it’s going to be offering tax relief a la carte: The restaurant will pick up sales tax on all drinks, appetizers, entrees and desserts sold that day (11 a.m. to 10…

Yogen Früz Slaps Miami In The Face!

Yogen Früz, the Canada-based international frozen yogurt company, operates over 1,100 venues in 20 countries, but none in South Florida. Yet. The company is getting set to open their first such location in downtown Miami (100 South Biscayne Blvd). Some will be pleased that we’ll finally have access to the…

Miami’s New Restaurant Mantra: 2-for-1 Booze

If our local restaurants can’t succeed in giving us great value for our food, the next best thing is to give us great value for our drinks. This way we can get drunk and forget how much we’re paying for dinner. And so in this spirit of cut-rate spirits, we…

Edgar Leal Will Show You How to Cook

There are cooking instructors and then there are cooking instructors. Executive Chef Edgar Leal of Cacao Restaurant, 2009 James Beard Foundation Award semifinalist for Best Chef in the South falls into the latter group. This coming Saturday, March 28, from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., Leal will demonstrate how to…

Pizza Fusion’s Daily Deals

Everybody’s talking deals these days — as in two-for-one happy hour free bottles of wine or chicken wings or dessert all-you-can-eat-type deals. Pizza Fusion, the new organic eco-friendly pizza joint in North Miami Beach (14815 Biscayne Blvd.) is running a whole bunch of daily dingers. Mondays, for instance, bring  a…

Adopt-a-Taco

Celebrations begin at 5:30 p.m. April 16 for the grand opening of Lime Fresh Mexican Grill’s Midtown Miami location (3201 N. Miami Ave.). Free beer samples from Dos XX will be on tap. There will be complimentary hors d’oeuvres, cocktails and, tacos, and a mariachi band promises to be on…

Would You Buy Your Blueberry Muffins At Benihana?

This coming Sunday, March 22nd, Taste Bakery And Cafe will open a second South Beach venue at 900 Jefferson Avenue, one block from Lincoln Road. Expect the same menu of breakfast pastries, salads and sandwiches as the Alton Road location, but with the addition of gelato and sushi. Just wondering:…

BLT Heaven to Betsy

After a series of fits and starts that have characterized Miami restaurant openings for as long as there have been Miami restaurants, Chef Laurent Tourondel will finally debut his BLT Steak at the Betsy Hotel next Wednesday, March 25th. The original BLT premiered in Manhattan in 2004, its casual take…

Restaurant Openings Delayed

Pig-trotter enthusiasts will have to cool their bacon a bit: The debut of the 24/7 Parisian bistro Au Pied de Cochon, originally pegged to open on South Beach in March, has been pushed back to April. We are also still waiting for Rack’s Italian Market, Ahnvee Restaurant & Lounge, Wolfgang’s…

Plat Bleu: The Invisible Bistro

Hungering for some hearty bistro fare, I had a friend call (on behalf of my wife and I) to request reservations at Plat Bleu in the Delano Hotel. Word came back that reservations weren’t taken, and that the restaurant was located on the right side of the indoor and outdoor…

A Cacao Concerto

On Saturday, March 21, Cacao Restaurant in Coral Gables will hold a symphonic celebration following the Miami Symphony Orchestra’s performance at Guzman Concert Hall earlier that evening. Guests will have a chance to mingle with world-renowned Miami Symphony Orchestra Music Director and Conductor Maestro Eduardo Marturet while sipping wine and…

Restaurants Must Die: A Poem

Restaurants die, it’s as basic as thatAs with people you just never know.Some exist as long as a mountain flatOthers have lifespans like snow.”High rent and costs,” the owners say”Competition is obscene.”Yet some joints rock both night and dayWith a bar scene in between.So many theories have been passedBut it…

Check, Please! Two Debuts Tonight

Season two of Check, Please! kicks off tonight on WPBT-2, with Michelle Bernstein returning to host and lead each week’s panel discussion. The show features three dining enthusiasts who escort one another to their respective favorite restaurant, then afterward in the studio, make-believe they are reviewers and dish about the…

Unlucky Thirteen: 2009’s First Restaurant Closings

Add The Food Gang to the list of 2009’s restaurant victims. We in Miami have also recently lost Christabelle’s Quarter, Two Chefs Too and Mr. Chu’s Hong Kong Cuisine. And while we didn’t notice when El Viajante Segundo became no mas, it is nonetheless shocking — the Cuban cafeteria had…

Microwbrew Tasting Tonight at Angelo & Maxie’s

Dogfish, Shipward, Lefthand, Terrapin, and Stone are five of the seven microbrews being poured tonight at Angelo & Maxie’s Steakhouse. It’s the latest in this restaurant’s series of Thursday night beer tastings, which run from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. For twenty dollars, patrons can quaff the aforementioned quintet of suds…

Chef Switch At Table 8

New Times received this email, which was sent to numerous folks, from Jason Smith, the talented chef de cuisine of Table 8:”Yesterday was my last day at Table 8 South Beach.  I have resigned and left in good standing. I have accepted the position of chef de cuisine of the…

Deal or No Deal?

Seems as though just about every restaurant is offering some sort of Miami Spice-type “deal” throughout this season. This is a good thing, but not always quite as good as it looks. Take I Corsini’s recent offer for a three course meal, including a glass of house wine, for $33…

Down By The River Gourmet Bistro

Located across the Miami River on the ground level of NEO Lofts (10 SW South River Drive), River Gourmet Bistro and Market was recently debuted by Miami natives Alina Portuondo-Freyre and Teresa Alexandria-Hernandez (the same women behind For the Love of Food Catering). The menu is a potpourri of familiar…

FIU Donates Food Fest Leftovers

Michael Moran, culinary director and chef/instructor at the FIU School of Hospitality, along with his small army of FIU student/volunteers, were able to recover more than 800 meals from events at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival and have donated them to the Daily Food Bank. The meals, culled…

Why Was Batali Even Up There?

We’re referring to Mario Batali being “up there” on stage at the SBWFF’s Wines and Food of Spain dinner. You’ve probably heard that he dropped a couple of F-bombs in front of the royal company. And speaking of F-bombs: What the fuck was he even doing on that platform welcoming…

SBWFF Trade Tasting Roundup

Friday’s Trade Tasting event at the Grand Tasting Village on the Beach brought out salespeople, restaurateurs, and a barrage of folks tenuously tied to the food and wine industry — a frolicking fellowship of flaks, frauds, food bloggers, and so forth. There was no shortage of beverages — coffee drinks,…

Behind The Scenes For SoBe Food Fest Prep

It is early Wednesday morning, and I am standing in a kitchen area in the Miami-Beach Convention Center, watching some 50 FIU students getting to work on food prep for Friday nights’ Perrier-Jouët BubbleQ event at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival. I am not the only one looking…