Happy Hour: The Jib Room in Fort Lauderdale

​The place: The Jib Room, 2104 E. Oakland Park Blvd., Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-564-3581. The hours: Noon to 7 p.m. every day.The deal: All beers are 50 cents off, and all liquors and wines are 75 cents off. Normal prices range from $3.50 for domestic beers and $4 for imports…

Beer of the Week: Xingu Brazilian Black Beer

Unrepentant beer drinkers, rejoice! Each week, Clean Plate Charlie will select one craft or import beer and give you the lowdown on it: How does it taste? What should you drink it with? Where can you find it? But mostly, it’s all about the love of the brew. If you…

Happy Hour: Bru’s Room in Pompano Beach

​The place: Bru’s Room Sports Grill, 235 S. Federal Highway, Pompano Beach. Call 954-785-2227.The hours: 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. every night.The deal: Daytime happy hour gets you half-price domestic drafts, well drinks, and house wine and $2 domestic longnecks. Late night,…

Beer of the Week: Beer Mixology

Unrepentant beer drinkers, rejoice! Each week, Clean Plate Charlie will select one craft or import beer and give you the lowdown on it: How does it taste? What should you drink it with? Where can you find it? But mostly, it’s all about the love of the brew. If you…

Easy, Low-Fat Recipe: Summertime Orzo Pasta Salad

When I think of summer food, I think bright, bold flavors that won’t weigh you down. And this summertime orzo pasta salad delivers on all fronts. It’s got everything you’d want to awaken your palate in this brutal heat: There are woody kalamata olives; tart marinated artichoke hearts; cooling-sweet tomato;…

World of Beer Has Big Impact on Promenade Businesses

At the new World of Beer in the Promenade at Coconut Creek, customers can enjoy more than 500 craft beers from places like Belgium and Japan. But the beer bar, which opened earlier this month, actually has no kitchen. Instead, World of Beer has a special arrangement with restaurants located…

Beer of the Week: Harpoon UFO

Unrepentant beer drinkers, rejoice! Each week, Clean Plate Charlie will select one craft or import beer and give you the lowdown on it: How does it taste? What should you drink it with? Where can you find it? But mostly, it’s all about the love of the brew. If you…

Happy Hour at T-Mex Cantina in Fort Lauderdale: Loco BOGO

The place: T-Mex Cantina, 204 SW Second St., Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-463-2003. The hours: 4 to 8 p.m.; 4 to 10 p.m. on Wednesday. The deal: Buy one drink, get one free (of equal or lesser value). The digs: Formerly San Loco, this location and its South Beach sister store…

Scottish Brewer BrewDog Makes History With 55 Percent Alcohol Beer

The End of History from BrewDog on Vimeo.Holy crap, where is all this discretionary income coming from? $70 hot dogs, $100 burgers, and now… $800 beers? That’s right, the supergourmet, superexpensive trend has extended into the craft beer category with a new brew from Scottish beer maker BrewDog. And boy,…

The Secret to Killer Veggie Fajitas

If there’s one thing I love about Tex-Mex-style fajitas, it’s the veggies. That sizzling mix of onions and peppers is about my favorite part of the whole fajita entourage. To me, it’s all about the caramelization. When the vegetables are rendered down, they become the sweet and luscious backbone behind…

“My Cold Beer” for a Long, Hot Summer

Toby Cecchini has discovered that it’s hot in New York in the summer.  Stop the presses!  Writing last week in the New York Times, he weighed in on the heat-soothing aspects of the chelada and michelada, beer-based Mexican cocktails that include, in varying number and proportion, tomato juice, clamato juice,…

World of Beer Delivers Countless Brews and Good Times

Spending an afternoon at World of Beer, a new beer bar in Coconut Creek, is really like entering a different world, one where the right answer is always another pour. I hung out there for a few hours this weekend, wasting away the afternoon with espresso stouts and hoppy strong…

And the Worst Beer in America Is…

Drum roll, please.Olde English “800” Malt Liquor. Yep, users at ratebeer.com have voted pretty much unanimously, giving the “swilly” malt liquor a dismal 0.97 average out of a possible 5 (the lowest possible is 0.5). Users of the website have ranked it lower than hellaciously bad beers like Natty Ice…

Bahia Cabana Happy Hour

The place: Bahia Cabana, 3001 Harbor Drive (A1A) Fort Lauderdale. Call 954-524-1555.The hours: Three, count ’em — three happy hours a day. 7 to 11 a.m., 4 to 7 p.m., and after 10 p.m.The deal: During the morning and afternoon shifts, all drinks are a dollar off. Two-for-one piña coladas and…

Beer of the Week: Stone Brewing Co. Smoked Porter

There was a time when exotic beer didn’t enjoy the cachet it does today and instead was classified as downright weird. Folks were prepared to accept the division of lagers/ales/porters and stouts), but anything escaping those boundaries was unacceptable. Fruity beers existed, but you had to go to a fancy…

Making Ceviche With Whole Foods’ MSC-Certified Swordfish

Last week, I wrote about the MSC-certified swordfish on sale throughout the summer at Whole Foods. Well, this weekend, I decided it would be fun to try to actually cook something with it. So I hauled on over to the Coral Springs store and took a look firsthand at the…

Beer of the Week: Building Your Collection

Unrepentant beer drinkers, rejoice! Each week, Clean Plate Charlie will select one craft or import beer and give you the lowdown on it: How does it taste? What should you drink it with? Where can you find it? But mostly, it’s all about the love of the brew. If you…

Boca Beer Lovers Meet-Up Next Tuesday at World of Beer

If you missed last month’s Boca Beer Lovers gathering at New Times’ Best New Bar in Palm Beach, the Lodge, it’s no biggie. You can hit up the next meet-up, taking place July 20 at the new World of Beer in Coconut Creek. The sudsy Valhalla, which opened last Tuesday,…