Argentina and asado (beef barbecue): synonymous? Not only in Miami but also everywhere in Argentina — with the exception of cosmopolitan Buenos Aires — it seems that nation’s cuisine consists of grilled beef, more grilled beef, the occasional pizza (often grilled, on the same parrilla as the beef), and then…

Despite many mediocre meals and the occasional dangerous one — food poisoning is an occupational hazard — food-writing is fun. Rarely does a dish move me to thoughts of murder and mayhem. That level of ire generally seems a more appropriate reaction to, say, our president than an equally clueless,…

Less is more — or is it? With apologies to modernist architect Mies van der Rohe, less seems more like loss, at least with regard to the removal of the humongous high-heel shoe sculpture that formerly occupied the Melin Building’s courtyard. Thanks to this festively mirror-festooned, two-story-tall, Cinderella-like slipper —…

Since opening a few months ago, Lost & Found Saloon has lived up to its name: Lost behind bulldozers and mounds of street construction, this tiny Southwestern-theme neighborhood eatery/wine-and-beer bar has been difficult to find. But those who have waded through the clouds of construction dust have discovered what the…

Claiming to make “the best damn sandwich on the planet,” as Big Slick’s Deli does, is no small feat, considering the competition. In Manhattan, Craft’s famed New American chef Tom Colicchio recently opened Witchcraft, where the tuna fish sandwich is an innovative — and high-quality — combination of Sicilian tuna,…

One little-known fact about food writers: The background of many American restaurant reviewers does not include a stint at culinary school. Rather, these critics including the New York Times’ Eric Asimov, Gourmet’s Jonathan Gold, the Village Voice’s Robert Sietsema, and many more — were musicians. The connections between expertise in…

The Japanese traditionally consider a huge variety of ingredients appropriate for use in sushi: pieces of egg omelet, a myriad of pickled or fresh vegetables, and most anything that swims in salt water, excepting foods that do not pair well with vinegared rice, such as oysters. In the Western world…

Barely a week after Canela opened two months ago, a very picky Cuban-American friend of mine — who happens to be a stickler for authenticity — returned from a lunch at the small yet stylish café with a convincing report. She was particularly impressed with not only the daily special…

It’s clear you are in the country when you pull up to a four-way intersection — with no traffic lights, just stop signs — and the vehicles on the three other roads include a tractor, an open-back tomato truck, and an arch-neck paso fino horse. And it’s apparent you are…

When one fantasizes about a perfect fish house, certain criteria are universal: waterfront location, preferably with an outdoor dining deck; fun décor; friendly “no shoes, no problem” ambiance; and a fresh fish market component, which imparts a certain confidence that the food is supremely fresh. Captain Nate’s, which opened about…

Roughly 50 zillion locales in Paris bear signs saying salon de thé. Yet one finds serious tea — the loose-leaf kind, precision-brewed by the establishment, in a pot — at only a handful of these spots. More often than not, patrons are offered a serious-looking, snazzily decorated box displaying an…

There’s good Chinese food, and then there’s bad Chinese food — the latter being something in which Miami-Dade County specializes. Sadly, though, this category also includes a whole subgenre of food that isn’t necessarily bad at all. It is sneered at merely because it is Chinese-American rather than authentic regional…

We make the BEST sandwich on the island.” Such was the claim I noticed, while cruising food Websites one day, of a place I normally would have cruised right past in my car, given the island in question. Key Biscayne is, to put it kindly, not exactly a worth-a-special-drive destination…

When in Rome, fourth-century Italian Saint Ambrose advised Saint Augustine, do as the Romans do. In terms of food, that would mean eating appetizers such as supplì al telefono (mozzarella-filled, deep-fried rice balls); entrées like abbacchio alla Romana (milk-fed suckling lamb sauced with garlic, rosemary, anchovies, and vinegar); hearty panzanella…

“Ya can’t please everyone, so ya got to please yourself” — at least according to the lyrics of Rick Nelson’s 1972 song “Garden Party.” But the folks at Kafe Gol appear, for better or worse, to disagree. Although Gol’s goal may not be to please diners from absolutely every nation,…

Have you ever eaten at a restaurant where a new convert to healthy eating plunks an unadorned ear of corn on your plate, raving about how much more flavorful it is without the distraction of all that melted butter? Well, I have, and it’s not a place I want to…

Northeast 167th Street may not be a walkable strip like New York’s Mott Street, but with more than a dozen Asian restaurants and grocery stores, it’s the closest thing Miami has to a Chinatown. Covering the window of PK Oriental Mart is bright red graffiti touting housemade Chinatown-style barbecue. Sure…

No average diner would ever mistake the traditional dishes of Denmark for those of France, or confuse Japanese cuisine with Indian. Much more difficult, though, is differentiating between the fare of Latin American nations. Onion, pepper, garlic, and tomato sofritos, for instance, are ubiquitous throughout the region, and doesn’t every…

In the early Nineties, before South Beach rents became terminally stratospheric, there was no lack of fun-fueled, reasonably priced neighborhood eateries — like Lulu’s, a Southern truck stop on acid whose entire second floor was designed as a shrine to Elvis Presley. Then there was the Strand (the original one,…

If a restaurant closes at 8:30 p.m., one counts on being able to walk in and order food until 8:30 p.m. At Miami Juice, diners with such expectations will be disappointed. Arriving one recent evening at 8:14 p.m. with a hankering for MJ’s “Special Rice,” temptingly described on a menu…

In a town where sushi bars are as common as crooked politicians, it’s hard to get excited about another one. This is especially true when the sushi operation is tacked onto a Thai restaurant, an almost sure sign that commerce, not quality, provided the motivation. A Thai/Malaysian combination would make…

This is the motto at Giardino Gourmet Salads: “Real, simple food.” That, however, makes the place sound a lot simpler than it is. With the exception of a soup of the day, a stuffed baked potato, several desserts (including some fabulous seasonal fruit mousses), and some nonalcoholic beverages, salads are…