In March, Bon Appetit reported that 70 percent of the students at the French Culinary Institute in New York City are former professionals (lawyers and doctors) looking for a career change. I asked Doreen Nordstrom-Moore, executive chef-owner of the newly opened Palm Beach School of Cooking (25 N.E. 2nd Ave.,…
As a little girl, I loved watching the artists who gave lessons on TV. One flick of a wrist and birds would be flying in a stark-white sky. A swoop here and there and pine trees would appear in the distance. A few more brush strokes and those same trees…
Chef Tony Sindaco called me a couple of months ago to ask me what “peripatetic” means, which is how I’d described him in a review of the now-defunct Cafe Erte in Hollywood, where Sindaco cooked for a while. He thought I was insulting him. “It means you move around a…
Mention feng shui to someone who’s never heard of it, and you’ll most likely get a “Gesundheit” in return. Discuss feng shui with an interior designer, and you’ll receive one of two responses: an enthusiastic nod of recognition or a sigh of exasperation. The ancient Chinese art of placement, feng…
Dim sum, the Chinese dumplings and finger foods served from metal carts, has long been popular for brunch and lunch. But now you can inhale authentic goodies like beef ball with bean curd skin, sticky rice in lotus leaf, turnip pudding, and steamed chicken feet (along with the more familiar…
I was attracted to Jean Claude Patisserie and Cafe (3320 NE 33rd St., Fort Lauderdale, 954-563-5406) by the lace curtains at the window. I stayed for the bargains — entrees, which hover around twelve dollars, are bookended by salad and dessert. But I returned for the sweets. This unassuming French…
It was an Alpine moment. Leggy in lederhosen, the Bavarian leather shorts worn with suspenders, about eighteen guys in their twenties trooped into Bistro Double U, joking with each other in German. Their lean torsos and muscular calves gave away what our server confirmed: that they were members of a…
A funny thing happened on my way to becoming a restaurant critic — friends stopped inviting me over for dinner. It didn’t happen gradually or politely. One day I was a welcome guest who always brought a bottle of wine; the next day I was persona non grata at their…
The garlicky fragrance of home-cured kim chee wafts through the air at Han Yang Oriental Market (8033 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Sunrise, 954-746-0980), inexorably drawing patrons to the refrigerated cases that keep the spicy cabbage cool. And, once attracted, people find it hard to leave without a large jar of…
When I was living in California, back in the early ’90s, the competition for waitressing jobs was tough; the aspiring actors, singers, and dancers had more experience than I did. So when I was offered a position at Ricco’s, a new Italian joint, I broke a cardinal rule by taking…
In Life on Mars, novelist-journalist Alexander Stuart’s nonfiction account of his somewhat bizarre experiences in eclectic South Florida, he dedicates one chapter to the romance of turn-of-the-century train travel. Having “chanced upon a gleaming, polished-bronze, private Pullman carriage from another era… unhitched to any engine” while waiting for a friend’s…
I’m always looking for ways to improve my quality of life while continuing to indulge my laziness. So when I heard about Cyberchefs (www.cyberchefs.com), I thought I’d found the perfect solution to the work-at-home blahs: order lunch through my computer. The Cyberchefs Website downloads complete menus from local restaurants, and…
My wife turns to me and notes that we are walking on grass — noteworthy, I suppose, because we’re inside a restaurant. “If the menu has a Hee Haw theme, we’re outta here,” I tell her. But as the words leave my mouth, I start taking in the room and…
These days, unfortunately, South Florida is known as much for its strip malls as its palm trees. But let’s face it: While some of us bemoan these street-side monstrosities, we’d be hard-pressed to give up the convenience of one-stop shopping and go traipsing all over town in search of, say,…
You’d think with the plethora of New Yorkers down here and the inundation of Italian restaurants that I’d have no problem finding one of my favorite desserts. But cannoli seem to be in short supply, and my longing for the pastries increases with each failed attempt to find one. My…
Forget about picking up a hamburger on your way back to the office. Now you can order an entire diner to go. A snap to assemble, a stainless steel Starlite Diner can be shipped anywhere in the world from Ormond Beach, Florida, where it’s manufactured. Just pour your foundation, put…
Ginger, Sporty, Posh, Baby, and Scary. Yeah, right — those so-called “spicy” chicks are as bland as butter compared to the real Spice Girls: Fifi’s Nasty Little Secret, Bad Girls in Heat, Hot Bitch at the Beach, Lottie’s True Bajan, and my favorite, Mean Devil Woman. Along with Marie Sharp’s…
Usually I go into a brief spell of mourning when a chef I admire leaves a restaurant. But when Robbin Haas left Bex (561 E. Palmetto Park Rd., Boca Raton, 561-391-0000) for Red Square (an eatery in South Beach) four weeks ago, I wasn’t as upset as I thought I’d…
Weston freaks me out: the subdivisions, the shopping plazas, the hordes of race walkers. Pink stucco buildings notwithstanding, the unrelenting conformity gives me unwelcome flashbacks to my New Jersey childhood. The rock group Rush said it best: “The suburbs have no charm to soothe the restless dreams of youth.” Insert…
It was after dinner, while waiting for the valet to retrieve our car, that we got confirmation on what we already knew about Aquaterra, the much anticipated Palm Beach restaurant located on Sunrise Avenue across from the Palm Beach Hotel. As other patrons milled about, waiting for their cars, the…
I remember butchers. Where steaks and chops glistened behind glass. Where freshly ground chuck was weighed and wrapped in white paper, not some cellophane-strangled package dripping blood. And where a friendly, familiar face complied with special requests, saving bones for stock, slicing meat to specifications, stuffing a chicken. If you…
For months it was just a construction site in Pompano Beach, one that I knew would produce something wonderful. So every time I drove by, I practiced the art of patience. When the third independently owned East Coast Burrito Factory (614 E. Atlantic Blvd., 954-785-4111) finally opened on January 7,…
