Convenience is just about the biggest turn-on for me these days, but I find it hard to force myself to visit the drive-through windows of fast-food restaurants, even when I’m desperately hungry. Recently I solved that problem by putting gas in my car. At the Texaco Longstar Gourmet Deli and…
When Brooke Lee, a Hawaiian woman, was named Miss USA in 1997, pageant experts correctly predicted she’d also take the title of Miss Universe. Their reasoning was simple: Lee’s ancestry is multicultural, so her brunette good looks are at once domestic and exotic to people in several different countries. And…
Where does a young chef go after he’s sauteed for Madonna and filleted for Sylvester Stallone? What can he do after he’s worked with a South Florida pioneer like Mark Militello (who helped coin the phrase “New World cuisine”) and then hopscotched among the kitchens of some of the trendiest…
Dim sum is the feast of a Chinese brunch, available in any urban Chinatown, that includes a dizzying array of dumplings, noodles, and barbecued meats. The problem in satisfying a dim sum craving is that such a feast rarely lends itself to dining solo. In most places you bring six…
These days folks are stuffing all kinds of things inside the familiar pita. But tofu and alfalfa sprouts are not what Middle Eastern bakers had in mind when they invented the flat, round pocket bread. Luckily, small places abound where you can find authentic pita fare like gyros, shawarma, souvlaki,…
A disturbing trend is sweeping through South Florida. I like to think of it as the “theme-parkization” of good taste. It’s a Disney-style, mass-market approach to repackaging urban trends in food, drink, and entertainment in which bigger, louder, and slicker are considered better. You’ll find it in Fort Lauderdale at…
You make a commitment to part with a significant amount of cash when you give your car keys to the young man handling the valet parking outside what may be the trendiest restaurant in Palm Beach. Any other time of year, that same young man would probably look you up…
Larry Harris is the Colonel Sanders of South Florida — an hombre who knows his pollo. You may want to get to know his pollo, too. There are almost a dozen fast-food joints in Broward and Palm Beach counties where you can sample Harris’ pollo (that’s “chicken,” for all you…
When do you yell “opa”? A) When the fire from a plate of flaming Greek cheese races toward the ceiling. B) While smashing a shot glass into the floor after an exceptional Greek meal. C) After you’ve downed so much ouzo you feel you’re on top of Mount Olympus. D)…
Where can you find a Swiss corkscrew, Danish cookware, a Japanese spiral vegetable-cutter, and dips and sauces from New York to the Mojave Desert? All these items and some 10,000 more are tucked into every nook and cranny of Charlene Caruso and Margaret Leiser’s tiny little shop for cooks on…
I once rode an ostrich across the dusty grasslands of the Great Karroo, the vast savanna in the South African heartland. My wild ride lasted but a few seconds. The big, stupid bird took off with a jolt, and I quickly slid off its tail feathers and into a cloud…
The three-year-old Kilwin’s franchise on Las Olas Boulevard (809 E. Las Olas Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, 954-523-8338) is time travel for the sweet tooth. They have enough old-fashioned fudge and homemade peanut brittle to transport you to small-town Michigan circa 1947. That’s the year Don and Katy Kilwin opened their first…
Walk into your average mall’s food court, and you can order fast Chinese, fast Mexican, fast Italian, even fast Middle Eastern (hummus and falafel). There are certain cuisines, however, that have stubbornly refused to become fast. And Indian cooking, with its intricate tapestry of spices and arcane cooking methods, has…
The namesake all-butter croissants are certainly one reason to frequent Croissan’ Time French Bakery (1201 N. Federal Hwy., Fort Lauderdale, 954-565-8555). But they’re not the only one: The bakery also stocks some of the best napoleons and eclairs in town, not to mention wonderful cakes and pies, breads, baguettes, and…
One of the biggest paradoxes in Boca Raton is the Royal Palm Plaza. Nicknamed the “pink plaza” on the sign, the shopping center pretty much characterizes the town: There seem to be more stores than parking spaces, and many of those spaces are filled with poorly parked luxury cars. Yet…
I don’t usually mention chains in this space, but Cracker Barrel recently impressed me. It’s not the cuisine at this Southern-style restaurant and country store that’s such a treat, though the biscuits ain’t bad. It’s the audio library the chain offers as a service to travelers — and as an…
The Subaru salesman who was in the process of selling me a car a couple months ago was nearly as excited about my impending road trip to Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina, as I was. “I just got back from Savannah,” he said. “You’ve got to try this one…
I’ve got this thing about ordering Maine lobster in a steak house: Generally I think it’s a rip-off. In the high-end houses, lobsters run $16 to $18 per pound, usually at a two-and-a-half pound minimum. That’s one pricey crustacean. Not so at the Porterhouse Bar & Grill (7050 W. Palmetto…
I’m always on the lookout for good restaurants in Weston. But my network out there (friends and relatives) usually answers my inquiries with the same response: “Well, we’ve got some Italian restaurants, and that’s about it. But we don’t mind, ’cause the kids really like pizza and pasta.” Even the…
Sometimes flowers just don’t cut it. So when an occasion warrants a more elaborate gift, consider Winners Circle Basket Case, Inc. (3341 NE 32nd St., Fort Lauderdale, 954-564-1093). Described in its brochure as a “gourmet product and fine wine emporium,” the store puts together and delivers beautiful baskets, more than…
Self-professed Caribbean food aficionados seem to operate under a misconception: The shabbier the shack, the tastier the cuisine. In a recent review of Calypso, a Pan-Caribbean restaurant in Pompano Beach, Sun-Sentinel critic M.L. Warren writes, “Anyone who has traveled much in the islands knows that most great island restaurants are…
A customer who doesn’t honor his or her reservation is a restaurateur’s biggest pet peeve. So I do my best to play by the rules, which vary from eatery to eatery. I provide a name (a pseudonym, of course) and a phone number (a real one). I call if I’m…
