“Best Supermarket in Town” to Open Tomorrow in Sunrise

New York Mart in Sunrise is set to open tomorrow in Timberlake Plaza at 8 a.m. The chain has set off heated responses in New York, chronicled by the Wall Street Journal in “Changes in Flushing Set Off Food Fight” when the grocery store replaced a crappy Key Foods to…

The Food Of A Place

One of the things I like about this gig is observing how a region’s food culture reflects the demographics, education, priorities, and values of the people who call it home. So when I was asked to write this week’s review as a companion piece to Lee Klein’s reflection on Miami,…

Top Ten Food Truck Dishes

Tomorrow is the Miami food truck rally at the Seminole Hard Rock, the last-Thursday-of-the-month event sponsored by BurgerBeast. I find that a strategy among the land mine of offerings helps, so I don’t end up eating five tacos, fries on a stick, and an ice cream sandwich over more popular…

Cruise Ships to Accommodate Fatter Passengers

The U.S. Coast Guard is the last to acknowledge that people on boats are fatter than they were in 1960. So while cruise ships nixed armrests and installed wider seats years ago, the U.S. Coast Guard has just gotten around to raising the Assumed Average Weight Per Person from 160…

Cold Weather Alert: Soup Is Good Food

Late one evening in a tiny bungalow in Tarpon River, the intoxicating fragrance of chicken broth simmered as a backdrop for friends sipping wine. Open windows, the warmth of candlelight, a farmhouse table, and old concentric wood floors framed a sensory scene to invoke an earlier era.The interplay of homemade…

By the Numbers: 2011 Restaurant Roll Call

Happy 2012! Inspired by Harper’s Index, here reads our restaurant trends for the past year. Restaurants to open in Fort Lauderdale: 23Burger restaurants to open in Broward/Palm Beach: 6Restaurants to open in Boca Raton: 10Taco shops to open in Broward /Palm Beach, not counting Chipotle: 4Restaurants to open in Palm…

December Openings and Closings

Despite the holiday rush, December saw no abatement in restaurant openings. Nice weather, tourism, and delayed fall debuts were the incentives. Most new restaurants fill a niche: The Wine Dive, Havana’s, Le Macaron, or Brooklyn Water Bagel, for example.January and February will feature more anticipated openings, with projections for Tropical…

An Eclectic Asian Oasis in Lauderhill

“We can shoot guns after dinner,” I said to my friend J.J. in the parking lot of the strip mall that houses Silver Pond in Lauderhill, the subject of this week’s review. In the window, a man gearing up for target practice wore a long-sleeved shirt with Mickey Mouse on…

Get Your Piping Hot Pretzels

Homemade pretzels and pretzel bread have made their menu debut over the past year, though these are the best I’ve had in Florida so far. The little footballs are served hot and salty with a hearty, grainy mustard on the side. As terrific as they are alone, the bartender recommends…

Ten Tastes for 2011

As much as a massive entrée like homemade spaghetti and meatballs might satisfy hunger or evoke a delicious food memory, a big plate can be daunting. And the tenth bite is never as good as the first. So these days, I like to graze through dinner, sampling plates and ordering…

South Florida’s Best Dive Bars

While eating at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza my second week in Florida, I met a yacht captain — a younger, thinner, clean-cut version of the John Goodman character in The Big Lebowski. We got to talking about dive bars. “I’ve got the perfect dive bar to take you to,” he…

Water Is Back On, Just Don’t Drink It.

“The city should pay people back for spending Christmas money on bottled water,” said a Walgreen’s employee on Sunrise at the checkout. People snaked in lines throughout this store hoarding cases of water in anticipation of days without it. At 10 p.m. over at The Hut, patrons joked about hurricane…

Fort Lauderdale, Do You Have Water? Because We Don’t.

Fort Lauderdale to Oakland Park is experiencing low water pressure to no water pressure due to a water main break at 8 p.m. this evening. Lago Mar Resort reports no water at all, while other restaurants closer to Oakland Park are reporting limited pressure (and restricted restroom use). We’re guessing…

Company’s Coming: Places to Take Visitors for the Holidays

Cheers!Here’s hoping today you’re in full on holiday mode. If that mode happens to be here, we’ve round up a list of places to appeal to every visitor, from the olds to the boozy younger brother. Selections are recommendations from readers and colleagues. I need advice too, since it’s my…

Union to Open December 30 in Delray’s Caliente Kitchen Space

Union: An Asian Gastro Lounge will have its soft open a week from tomorrow, says owner/restaurateur Scott Kennedy. He and partner Stephen Chin acquired the restaurant seven weeks ago, built out the former Caliente Kitchen space, and revamped the patio to open in record time for the restaurant biz. The…