Archive for the ‘Restaurants’ Category
On the road: Bouchon Las Vegas
This comes a little late I know, but here it is finally. While in Vegas some weeks ago I visited Thomas Keller’s Bouchon. I hadn’t heard of Bouchon until about a month before my trip, when at a wine bar I had a long conversation with a stranger who told me stories of his dinners [...]
Sandrine’s Cafe + Bakery
[Update: Sandrine's is now closed.]
I think I’ve said it many times before, how breakfast is my favorite meal of the day. Well, if not for a friend who forwarded me an email about Sandrine’s Cafe + Bakery I may have never learned about the place and their Sunday breakfasts.
“Sundays are for enjoying life,” the [...]
Feed the Parents: A quick guide
Before our parents arrived in Miami for my birthday celebration, D and I gave much thought to where we wanted to feed them. Places that would satisfy both tastes, — my parents are Latin; his are American — somewhat showcase Miami and not empty our their wallets. We did good, for they left happily fed [...]
Birthday No. 30 at Bin No. 18
No, I’m not trapped under a rock. Today I turn 30 plus one day, you see, and I had a very eventful birthday weekend with lots of food in the company of family and friends. I would’ve told about it much sooner but with my and D’s family in town for the big celebration, time [...]
Chipotle opens Friday
Advisor Girl over at Chowhound has a love affair with Chipotle, which led to her near-stalking of the self-proclaimed gourmet burrito chain. Her devotion paid off with a great tip for her and other Chipotle fans. The restaurant officially opens in North Miami Beach on Friday, but on Thursday you can sample their food for [...]
Miami Spice: River Oyster Bar
As I waited to use the restroom at The River Oyster Bar yesterday, I read the restaurant’s glowing reviews, nicely framed and hung on the walls, and wondered what had gone wrong with our Miami Spice lunch there. It was my first time at the restaurant and I had read great comments so I didn’t [...]
On the Road: Cova
This weekend I’m visiting my parents in Houston. Typically I don’t travel this much, believe me. But that’s beside the point. Yesterday evening, I invited my parents and my brother to Cova, a wine bar we first visited a few years ago at my brother’s suggestion.
Located in a shopping plaza in Houston’s Kirby Drive, Cova [...]
Miami Spice: The Grill at the Setai
I was long overdue for another Miami Spice outing, so I gathered a group and headed to the Setai. The Restaurant was top on my list but for some reason they didn’t have reservations at the time we wanted. We were a large party of seven so I figured we’d try The Grill. Couldn’t be [...]
La verdad about VerDaddy’s
Being that airlines no longer even give you a peanut sample on their flights, I was in dire need of a bite when I arrived back in Miami yesterday evening. Somehow we ended up at Ver-Daddy’s, the taco shop on 75th and Biscayne that we always drive by and say we have to try. A [...]
Pretty little things
I’m a sucker for pretty little things. Pretty is subjective, I know, but there are some things that just meet the universal definition. Or maybe it’s just mine. Regardless, they make me feel all giddy inside.
In New York on Saturday, I had brunch at Prune and then visited Marie Belle, a chocolate store in Soho [...]
Miami Spice: The Food Gang
[Food Gang is closed]
Maybe it was my crappy day at work … On impulse I decided I wanted to go out for a nice dinner Tuesday. Almost as a reward to myself for having to withstand one of those very annoying workdays, I called The Food Gang and made reservations for two not that we [...]
Miami Spice: Oceanaire
(When D told me he was going to Oceanaire for lunch today, I suggested he try their Miami Spice menu and let me know how it was. After all, this was one of the restaurants on my Miami Spice to-do list. But after he told me about his experience, I figured I’d just let him [...]
Casa Mono (New York)
I chose Casa Mono. You know, for my one New York meal. I ditched the daring and picked this self-dubbed Spanish tavern, mainly because we wanted to make our New York night entertaining. Somehow tapas are more fun than a regular dinner — maybe it’s the sharing and picking at different foods. Adam Platt put [...]
Another one on Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink
I hesitated about writing this post because so much has been said about Michael’s Genuine Food and Drink already. And my impressions on my first visit last week weren’t much different from what I’ve read about Michael Schwartz’s recent addition to the Design District. Then again, how could I not write about it? This is [...]
First impressions: Canela Cafe
It’s important to make a good first impression, people always say — and that goes for restaurants, too. Unfortunately, Canela Cafe didn’t do a very good job at making a good impression during my first dinner there on a recent Friday night.
Let me regress for a minute. My very first impression of this Upper East [...]
Discovering wine in downtown
Ever since I enlisted to write a guide to wine bars, it seems like wine is everywhere I go. I enrolled in a wine appreciation class (as you know, I’m no wine expert); I went to a tasting; I saw Sideways for the third time; and I purchased more wine bottles than I ever have [...]
Coimbra: A little taste of Portugal
(Photo: Coimbra, Portugal)
They say the Portuguese know 365 ways to make bacalhau (codfish). They also say the Portuguese are the biggest consumers of this fish. It’s no wonder, then, that Coimbra on 42nd and Flagler, devotes almost a full page of its menu to bacalhau entrees.
This was my first encounter with Portuguese food, courtesy of [...]
Tapas ‘del carajo’
For most of our drive to El Carajo International, D thought we were going to a place called Gas Station. I guess I confused him when I said that the place where we were meeting our friends on Friday night was at a gas station. When we pulled into the Citgo on the dark corner [...]
Decadence in a sandwich
Getting your mouth around a chivito is like a choreographed exercise routine. Step one: hold it firmly between the fingers of both hands. Step two: squeeze a little to flatten. Step three: say aaah. Step four: bring into the mouth and bite. It’s no wonder. The chivito, a Uruguayan sandwich, is made up of a [...]
Eat fresh at Fresco
Over the weekend, I picked up a copy of 944 magazine on South Beach. I thought to myself, great, like Miami needs another glossy magazine. But the publication redeemed itself when I found featured on its pages one of my all-time favorite Miami eateries and they were right on point.
“This homely little local’s joint is [...]
