The Park Central Hotel on Ocean Drive used to have a cool Deco lobby replete with pool table. Now, as a dining room for Quinn’s, it is filled with linen-covered tables that extend onto a comfortable outdoor patio and up the crowded street. Alfresco dining on this pedestrian thoroughfare always…

If you enter a restaurant in China and ask for “egg foo yung,” a puzzled look will most assuredly cross your waiter’s face. The term is meaningless in that country, the dish nonexistent, yet it’s long been a popular staple in Chinese-American eateries. At Sang’s Chinese Restaurant in North Miami…

The upside to our modern-day obsession with food is the increase in availability of all things culinary, from greenmarkets to green-apple martinis to green restaurateurs. The downside is that it is an obsession, and obsessions nearly always turn ugly. We are already dealing with consequences such as rampant obesity, the…

Tap Tap, South Beach’s only Haitian restaurant, has exhibited precipitous ups and downs since opening on Fifth Street nine years ago. What started out as a fun, funky, crowded joint with enchanting island fare turned into a not-so-happening joint with not-so-enchanting fare. Then the place enjoyed an upward tick, followed…

I recently poked gentle fun at Granny Feelgood’s for its pseudo-approach toward health food, so I guess you could file my experiences at Food Without Fire under “Better watch what you ask for because you just might get it.” There is nothing phony about this “gourmet raw market & deli”…

There were crullers and beignets aplenty in New England circa 1803, but Elizabeth Gregory, of Portland, Maine, added nutmeg, cinnamon, and lemon rind to her batter and placed a nut in the center of each one. She called these “doughnuts.” Her aim was to create a pastry that her son,…

The post-9/11 climate, from SARS to orange alerts to worrisome economic conditions, has led to a dining trend toward affordable neighborhood restaurants that offer simply designed, well-prepared foods served with a friendly face — upscaled Happy Meals for nervous adults, if you will. Tim Zagat goes so far as to…

Perhaps it’s time to start marking Miami restaurants on a curve — this way I could say only nice things about Granny Feelgood’s, because, in relation to other local “health food” establishments, there’s a lot to feel good about. If compared with a real health-conscious eatery like, say, one that…

The people of Pinecrest and South Miami don’t go for a whole lot of fancy stuff. That’s probably why hoity-toity eateries that open here, often to great fanfare, find themselves turned inside out as quickly as cheap umbrellas in a windstorm. Two Chefs has weathered all sorts of competition by…

I don’t deny that the reason I decided to eat lunch at this particular sandwich spot was because of its quacky moniker. I thought: Surely any food shop called the Rubber Duck has to put out a pretty creative product, right? Well, as it turns out, not really, but this…

Taverna Opa is perfectly named, the word “opa” being a carefree yelp of joy — the Greek version of “yippee!” The place sizzles like lamb on a spit — Middle Eastern music blares, belly dancers jingle, patrons partake of Greek tabletop dancing, fire-grilled foods emit aromatic smoke balls, hundreds of…

Some (me) liken it to the Super Bowl, Oscar night, and New Year’s Eve all rolled into one. Others (my editors) see it as a self-indulgent waste of space that could be put to better use — like maybe reviewing a restaurant. Still the Flapjack Flip-Off is steamrolling into its…

Little Italian Tavern used to be housed in front of a Hallandale trailer park, and was critically and popularly acclaimed for solid, home-cooked Italian fare, friendly service, and low, low prices. Ten months ago owners Juan and Diana Rubin transferred Tavern to North Miami Beach, in the space occupied many…

Astor Place Bar & Grill, with chef Johnny Vinczencz at the helm, was not too long ago considered one of the Beach’s better dining establishments. Thus it came as something of a surprise when Hotel Astor owner Karim Masri shut the restaurant for extensive renovations, and re-opened it in December…

To say that Bali Café is the top Indonesian restaurant in Miami is just as true, and misleading, as lauding Robert De Niro for being the finest actor in Meet the Parents. Both are better than that, and Bali is in fact the best restaurant in downtown Miami. Period. And…

I don’t make a habit of reading press releases or studying menus prior to reviewing, partly in the belief this leads to fresher, less studied perceptions that are closer to those of a typical diner, and partly because of a lifelong aversion to research. Every now and then, though, I…

Boats, beaches, bingo, and beer would all make the lengthy list of “Things Floridians Like More Than Books.” Yet while we are not, overall, the most literate of Americans, here and there are signs of intelligent life. For proof you need look no further than Books & Books, both on…

It has become apparent in recent months that Miami restaurants are finally catching on to certain dining trends that have long been established elsewhere around the country — like, for instance, an emphasis on letting foods speak for themselves in clean and sensible fashion. David Bracha, chef/owner of the new…

It’s understandable if you haven’t yet heard about Casa Tua (pronounced “too-ah”). After all it doesn’t advertise, and there’s no signage on the restaurant, which, to daytime passersby on Seventeenth Street in South Beach, appears to be nothing more than a stunning stone Mediterranean-style beach house. An iron fence and…

A great sandwich consists of great bread plus great filling (GS=GB+GF). What makes a great bread is freshness, flavor, and texture. The breads at Zooz are baked on site, right before your eyes if you arrive early enough, steam rising from a seven-grain bread as the baker sliced it into…

I’d like to offer a big warm welcome to all you frigid foodies flying in from afar for the second annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival this weekend, and at the same time ask that you please remove your galoshes at the door. Congratulations to those who’ve managed to…

I was sipping a glass of Australian Shiraz at Vin Amante, a new wine bar on Española Way, marveling at just how many crummy dining establishments could be crammed into one short stretch of this quaintly sweet street. On the night of our visit Vin Amante’s tiny dining room contained…