Courtesy of Paradise Farms Organic The autumn season is rolling in, a time when crisp humidity fills the Florida air and we can almost smell the pumpkins and squashes and other odorless vegetables growing bountifully on our farms. It is a time when crunchy apples fall from trees — presumably…
Lee Klein Juan Zavala Jr. was sitting with relatives in his native Argentina when someone brought up the age-old question: “What should we get for dinner?” The choice came down to pizza or empanadas, and the latter was chosen near unanimously. That’s when Juan, thinking of the 40 million Hispanics…
Lee Klein We loved everything about M Restaurant (Kertész u. 48), including the goose leg gobbled in the photo above. We’d arrived into the city at dusk, showered, and headed out a bit weary after a very long ride in a van (from Skopje). We were going to eat at…
Lee Klein We were in the city for just four days, but that was long enough to pick up an obvious vibe: Budapest is happening. It is young. It is hip. It is, along with places such as Berlin and Barcelona, part of a new world order of cities worth…
Lee Klein On this stretch of the trip, in a tiny fishing village tucked into a pristine corner of Lake Ohrid (one of the oldest, deepest lakes in the world), we ate almost every meal at “home” — meaning prepared on a small two-burner electric oven outdoors, on a patio…
Lee Klein It was half-past midnight, and folks in the photo above were lining up for late-night street snacks. Actually, they pretty much queue up day and night at this bakery that has been operating for over one hundred years, and now is one of just a few Macedonian-owned businesses…
Friends in Skopje, Macedonia, and in nearby Dracevo, are like family to my wife and I; we’ve been here quite a few times over the years. So many people invite us to their homes for dinner that it becomes a rare occasion to eat in restaurants. We did dine at…
Lee Klein We stayed on a houseboat a bit outside the city, rode rented bicycles all over the place, and enjoyed Belgrade immensely — but truth be told, this particular leg of the journey wasn’t culinarily oriented. Generally our lunches were crafted from goods we’d buy at the market (pictured…
A stopover for lunch in New York; three days on a houseboat in Belgrade, Serbia; a week with friends in Skopje, Macedonia; eight days in a house, with many many kids, right upon Lake Ohrid, also in Macedonia; four days in Budapest, Hungary; an overnight stopover in Paris. Twenty-two days…
1 Days of Water and Roses The couple peruses the menu from plushly pillowed pods set along the perimeter of a Zen-like reflection pond. After they decide on wok-fried lobster with coconut foam and grilled Florida pompano in curry sauce, the only choice remaining is whether they should pair their…
A deluge of rain cascaded over our car as we drove toward the Spanish restaurant Costa Mar (18250 Collins Ave., Sunny Isles Beach, 305-933-5900). We continued past the gigantic, glitzy condos that have effectively severed the beach from Sunny Isles Beach along this strip of Collins Avenue (suggested neighborhood motto:…
Jesse’s Place (1395 W. Sunrise Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, 954-523-4774) bills itself as “a fine soul food restaurant.” They got that right. The room is simply arranged, a dozen or so tables for two to the left, a counter for ordering and takeout to the right. The breakfast menu contains eggs,…
Tom Jenkins’ Bar-B-Q, 1236 S. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, 954-522-5046. Lunch and dinner 11 a.m. till 8:30 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, 11 a.m. till 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday. Jack’s Barbecue and Smokehouse, 500 E. Oakland Park Blvd., Wilton Manors, 954-567-9595. Lunch and dinner 11 a.m. till 10 p.m. Monday…
Chien Chung Peng from Hong Kong opened Chung Hing Oriental Mart (9803 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines, 954-438-1060) in North Miami 15 years ago and five years later brought a second store to Pines Boulevard. The diversity of Asian food items displayed is staggering: a fresh-produce area with bok choy, taro,…
Henry Flagler established West Palm Beach to house workers who would build and staff the plutocratic palaces of the “real” Palm Beach. But then the area, which was never particularly well off, took a deep dive into drugs, drifters, prostitutes, McDonald’s, and so on. Nowadays, CityPlace and Clematis Street boast…
Let’s face it: Mexican-American restaurants are all pretty much the same. Sombreros on the wall. Margaritas. Chips and salsa. Rice and beans. Nachos, tacos, burritos, fajitas — the whole enchilada. Santiago’s Mexican Café & Grill (17185 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines, 954-432-0041) dishes decent renditions of all of the above and…
Where are we, in Riyadh?” I asked as we walked, and walked some more, from a distant parking spot to the all-white, multidomed, Saudi-styled Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. Located on its own little 86-acre oasis (technically a “reservation” — wink, wink) just off State Road 441, the 130,000-square-foot…
El Cafetal Bakery (7649 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines, 954-964-7557), a humble Colombian market situated in the corner of a strip mall, is easy to pass by without notice — until, that is, you’ve tasted its cooked-to-order, lip-smacking, Latin American snacks. Manager Lucy Garcia is pleasant in two languages and can…
The United States, with its cowboys and cattle and wide-open West, has always been considered a serious beef-eating nation. Then again, carnivorousness is relative — our American siblings down south in Argentina, with their gauchos and cattle and wide-open pampas, consume twice as much red meat as we do. The…
The South Florida chapter of the American Institute of Wine and Food (954-396-3875) has launched “Summer Sundays,” a series of wine luncheons held at top Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach restaurants. The next one takes place July 11 at Johnny V on Las Olas Boulevard, where you can catch a…
Shooters has been a fixture on the Intracoastal in Fort Lauderdale for more than 15 years. It’s a place where boaters, boozers, and bikini-clad beauties gather for waterfront vistas, live music, and affordable drinks. Although an informal menu of sandwiches, seafoods, and pastas is available, that’s not enough for some…
It has been suggested that I spend inordinate amounts of time driving around Broward and Palm Beach counties searching for the ultimate ice cream parlor. This is categorically untrue — I often return to such places more than once. Kilwin’s Chocolates Fudge and Ice Cream (809 E Las Olas Blvd.,…
