Confessions of a Meat-Eating Vegetarian

I recently accepted an offer to judge a burger competition, as I do from time to time.  Recently, our food critic, Melissa McCart, asked me a question about the deep, dark secret I usually keep from Clean Plate Charlie readers. “You’re a vegetarian,” she said. “How are you going to…

Farm-Raised Salmon? Not on This Yacht

Chef Sara Ventiera is setting off on a three-week trip to the Bahamas, manning the kitchen on a 91-foot yacht. She will file regular updates from the waters about what it’s like to work on a yacht, from pretrip provisioning to seaplane produce delivery.As soon I saw the “Norwegian Atlantic…

Cooking on a Yacht: An Insider’s Guide

Chef Sara Ventiera is setting off on a three-week trip to the Bahamas, manning the kitchen on a 91-foot yacht. She will file regular updates from the waters about what it’s like to work on a yacht, from pre-trip provisioning to seaplane produce delivery.It has happened to every South Floridian:…

Does Raw Milk Make You Sick? We’ll Soon Find Out.

“Wow, that’s pure, concentrated milk,” said my co-worker when I offered her a sip of raw milk. Like me, she’s a 2%-er, so any whole milk is going to be especially, well, milky: even when I poured cream off the top. It’s delicious, though. I want to cook with it,…

Sick of Cooking, Lake Worth Woman Stabs Man

There’s a point in every person’s life when the age-old question rears its ugly head — “What’s for dinner?”  This question may be posed by child, spouse, or roommate, but it always brings a shudder of dread — especially accompanied by the inherent whine of “not pasta/burgers/salad again!”The Sun-Sentinel reported…

Three Intrusive Features That Restaurant Websites Need to Lose Immediately

The craptacularness of restaurant websites is a well-explored topic, including here on Clean Plate Charlie, where we’ve certainly voiced our displeasure with pervasive issues like impossible-to-find phone numbers, prices, and location info. Unfortunately, no matter how loudly food writers and frequent diners whine provide constructive criticism on the topic, little…

“Pork of the Sea” and South Florida Dining of the Past

Tucked in the sixth floor of the Bienes Museum of the Modern Book at the Broward Main Library is a foodish exhibit of cookbooks, menus, artifacts, and recipes as part of the exhibit of “Bountiful Broward: Eating in South Florida, 1880s -1980s.” A week from today, on March 13 at…

How Much Can You Earn in the Restaurant Industry?

One of the top three questions I get comes from chefs, line cooks, bartenders, and servers has to be, “Who’s hiring?” “We’re always looking for great help,” said manager Christie Ajakie, of G&B Oyster Bar, the subject of this week’s review. “Even if we’re fully staffed, if someone is a great…

Foodies Needed for Mission to Mars (Sort Of)

The world is apparently divided into two types of people — those who wanted to be astronauts when they grew up and everyone else. In case you think your dreams of being part of a rocket to Mars have been dashed by cuts in the space program (and your inability…

Broke America Sees Hot Pockets Commercial, Reacts

A blandly artsy loft-style apartment, perhaps in New York. Bicycle in the corner, posters on the wall. Perhaps a half-dozen young people sitting on couches, talking and laughing and eating what we shall soon discover are Hot Pocket Snackers. Some of the young people look conservative. Some look like hipsters…

Dog-Friendly Dining

I was wondering the other day when we crossed the line in indulging our dogs when I saw a pooch jacket section that rivaled the kids’ selection at Target. Pink, orange, brown, green, and blue jackets in an array of sizes, for those cold(ish) Florida days when a dog’s real…

Shit Foodies Say (Video)

There are about a gazillion different Shit (Fill in the Blanks) Girls Say videos. I love ’em all, especially Shit Miami Girls Say.Anything that pokes harmless fun at our neighbors south of the border (and by border, we mean the Miami-Dade/Broward county line), because it really applies to all of…

Kobayashi Sets Twinkie-Eating Record: Here Are Some Records Set in Florida

Champion eater Takero Kobayashi set a Guinness World Record on the Wendy Williams Show by successfully eating 14 Hostess Twinkies in one minute.Kobayashi downed the endangered treats while a studio audience and a Guinness official watched. In fact, the official had the… ummm… interesting task of checking Kobayashi’s mouth after…

Binge Drinking in Florida? Feds Say Not Here

The Onion has penned many parodies of this state, including Florida Legalizes Taking Guns to Work; Florida State University to Phase Out Academic Operations by 2010; and ‘Ravaged’ Named Florida’s Official State Adjective. Though it reads like it, this stat is no parody. According to the Centers for Disease Control,…

McNugget News: Are You Gonna Eat That?

Tastes like chicken!Making the rounds online and on the Face — again — is “poultry paste,” mass-produced chicken that even has a USDA-official name: mechanically separated poultry. If you’re a meat eater and you’ve ingested grocery-store hot dogs, frozen chicken patties — or if you had McNuggets prior to 2003…

Coupon’s New Rules: Coupon Information Corporation Issues Guidelines

When times are tough, people get creative with how to save a dollar or two. Looking for sales and using coupons are strategies that almost everyone uses to some extent when buying groceries (we especially love the little pop-up instant coupon machines at the supermarket).Some people, however, take couponing to…

TSA: Cupcakes Are Okay, Unless They’re In a Jar

The Transportation Security Administration has some complicated rules about bringing food on airplanes. For example, you can’t bring jam, but a pumpkin pie is okay.But what about a nice, precious cupcake? Surely that shouldn’t raise alarms.In a recent uproar dubbed “Cupcakegate,” the TSA stopped a traveler flying out of Las…