It’s a quiet Monday morning, and you’re in your kitchen, making yourself a cup of fresh ground coffee with your Starbucks Barista coffee grinder. You pop some beans into the hopper and press the grind button. Ah, smell that fresh coffee smell. After a few seconds, you remove the cap…
Florida spiny lobster season opens today and runs through March 31, meaning restaurants across South Florida should begin to stock the tasty, clawless buggers. The operative word here is should. Because, in reality, Florida lobster is a lot harder to get your mits on in a restaurant than you’d think…
Artisanal pizza is no longer a moron of the oxy variety, with pizzerias like Una Pizza Napoletana in New York, Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix, Pizzeria Delfina in San Francisco, and Pizzavolante in Miami’s Design District. And now you can add Dak Kerprich’s Pizzeria Oceano (201 E. Ocean Ave., Lantana, 561-429-5550)…
Even before I went on Saturday for lunch, there was little doubt that I’d hate Seasons 52, even though New Times named it Best Chain Restaurant in 2005. I mean, the place is run by the fine folks who brought you Red Lobster and, for Christ’s sake, Olive Garden. Then…
The Peruvian street food anticuchos is a dish with magnetic properties — you’re either instantly attracted to or completely repelled by it. The grilled chunks of meat are actually beef hearts. But if they’re rendered properly — like the ones at Taurus Steakhouse in Tamarac — they taste more like…
You may have thought cooking was just a way to get something to eat. Actually, it’s why homo sapiens developed bodies strong enough to bench-press a dump truck and brains that could create incomprehensible “financial instruments” to sell to widows and orphans and crash the world economy like a drunken…
This week, I was tasked with finding myself something for the blog. That actually seems worse than just showing up with something new on my desk. It’s almost like having to pick your method of execution. I knew I couldn’t get away with picking something that looked delicious, so I…
When Facebook started gobbling up MySpace users, you were one of the first to jump ship. These days, your Twitter account has hundreds of followers and you update your status bi-hourly (4 minutes ago: I remembered why I used to love Captain Crunch so much as a kid). Well now…
If you’re not a subscriber to our weekly Café Bites dining newsletter for Broward and Palm Beach counties, here’s a taste of what you missed this week. Click here to subscribe. A new Lake Worth restaurant combines good-for-you eats with good-for-the-soul activities. The new Organic Music Café has a menu…
• Fire and ice cream is not a happy marriage, as the folks at Palm Beach’s Sprinkles ice cream shop found out last weekend. A kitchen fire gutted the shop, which not only dishes everyone’s favorite hot-weather treat but breakfast, lunch, and assorted retail items. Sprinkles expects to be again…
Vegans beware: Fort Lauderdale’s Chima Brazilian Steakhouse is perhaps your worst nightmare. But for those who enjoy copious amounts of meat carved table-side, you will find Chima to be practically food porn. That’s why this week our cameras dropped by the restaurant to check out why we picked it as…
* We’re in the peak of a sweltering summer, and ice cream shops seem to be opening as fast as people can shovel cones down their scorched gullets. This weekend, Cold Stone Creamery is opening at the Promenade in Coconut Creek (4425 Lyons Rd.). The ice cream shop takes its…
Every week in Coming Attractions, we give you a taste of what’s on deck in our Dish review column. This week, we take a look at Taurus Steakhouse, a Peruvian-style Parrillada in Tamarac.UPDATE: Please read the full review of Taurus Steakhouse here. Anyone with a modicum of skill can take…
There’s nothing like walking into an Italian market and finding it packed with customers debating the pronunciation of gabagool and capicola. Doris’ Italian Market is that kind of place. Straight-off-the-boat Italians and hardcore Sopranos wannabes alike flock to Doris’ to pick up freshly made Italian sausage, cold cuts, homemade mozzarella…
It seems as if food has become almost as popular a subject for television programming as reality shows — when the two are combined, like on Top Chef, Kitchen Nightmare’s, and Hell’s Kitchen, the result is stratospheric. To be honest, I’ve never really been a fan of contest-style reality programming,…
Sauvignon Blanc is forever the underdog, settling for whatever flickers of limelight its better-known Chardonnay partner might cast aside. But Sauvignon Blanc actually has much to offer. For one, it’s almost always cheaper than Chardonnay, which can demand premium prices no matter how insipid the wine in the bottle. For…
For as long as I can remember I’ve had this nervous habit of opening up people’s fridges. Whenever I visit someone’s house, no matter how well I know the person, I get the irresistible urge to open up their refrigerator door and poke around. Some people would ask me, “Are…
Although Clean Plate Charlie is the only food blog you really need to read daily, some people just can’t get enough. Here are some highlights of other food blogs.By now, you’re probably checking out Burger Beast regularly, thanks to its reviews of Checker’s’ Baconzilla Burgers and tips on ordering from…
One of my first “grown up” summer jobs was as a cook. Started out with seafood, moved to grill. I was about 19 years old, and I fucked up more burgers than I can count. I blamed it on the waitrons, of course, but it was all me, baby, because…
The world of wine speaks a language all its own. Urdu, mostly. With a soupcon of bullshit and a faint whiff of pretension. So in keeping with Clean Plate Charlie’s commitment to calling a spade a goddamned shovel, he presents this modest glossary of wine terms for your amusement, edification,…
Sure Chili’s is a mega-chain restaurant, something we normally shy away from and turn our noses at. But sometimes hitting up a chain is a necessity, like when you’re stuck at an airport for an hour long layover or when you’re dining with unadventurous family members who refuse to eat…
Once upon a time, the old Testa’s restaurant in Palm Beach was famous amongst the resident teen population for its banana and strawberry daiquiris. Those drinks were dessert with a kick; they suited our untrained palates. And the see-no-evil policies of the managers and bartenders suited the desire of kids…
