• Paula samples cakes from Allie Herrera, who's starting her own cake business called No Cakes Like Home. Even that coconut cake looks tasty, and we're not big fans of coconut. [Mango&Lime]

• Deborah Hartz is still in the throes of moving, and the poor thing is resorting to far too many boxed dinners. Here's hoping she can get back to a real kitchen soon. [From the Test Kitchen]

• Tere explains her disillusionment with the Food Network. We feel her pain. [Foodtastic!]

We remember when there was just one Shorty's Bar-B-Q, down on US1 in South Miami, where as children we enjoyed making a mess eating corn on the cob dripping with melted butter and squirting barbecue sauce everywhere except our plate. In the past few years, new locations have popped up everywhere (OK, not quite everywhere—this was nothing like the rapid-fire proliferation of Don Pan). We just learned that as of 5 p.m. yesterday, the fifth Shorty's location is open for business in Deerfield Beach. We assume this location is similar to the one in the Doral, with newfangled things like a full bar and lounge. We can't vouch for that, but we can recommend the Brunswick stew and corn on the cob.

Shorty's Bar-B-Q [MenuPages]
Shorty's Bar-B-Q [Official Site]

We're in a philanthropic mood today, and that's a good thing, because Share Our Strength's annual Taste of the Nation is in Miami on Wednesday. The event, at the Ritz-Carlton in Key Biscayne, will feature food from 40 participating South Florida restaurants. General admission is $125, but for double the money, you get access to the food an hour earlier and admission to a champagne reception. And all that money you're spending goes to support local agencies, like Camillus House and Daily Bread Food Bank, that work to combat hunger in the area.

"Ending homelessness is as easy as eating lunch." That's the slogan of The Lord's Place, a homeless shelter that offers an upscale soup kitchen, where homeless men and women can eat meals on linen-covered tables. They've also run a chef's apprentice program since 2001, and now, they've unveiled a catering service, offering wraps, sandwiches, salads and cookies, all prepared by the people in the apprenticeship program. The Palm Beach Post has a short story and a nice video about the program.

Cafe Joshua adds catering [Palm Beach Post]
The Lord's Place

One hundred eleven years ago today, 344 people crammed into the second floor of The Lobby, (it's the two-story building to the left of the small building in the center of the photo) and voted to incorporate Miami as a city. We imagine standing in such cramped quarters with no air conditioning on a Miami July day was probably miserable — we envision the pioneers putting their sweat into the city charter, both literally and figuratively — but we're glad someone was willing to do it.

Photo: Claude Matlack Collection, Historical Museum of Southern Florida

Today is the grand opening of the latest Jamba Juice, inside International Mall (1455 NW 107th Ave). We hear there will be free smoothies from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. So if you happen to be at the mall, make sure to drop by around lunchtime.

• Tere bemoans the lack of independent coffee shops in downtown Coral Gables. Also, she's not a fan of Cafe Demetrio. [Coral Gables]

• Paula, predictably, loved the mango festival at Fairchild. [Mango&Lime]

• Deborah reports that the Benihana in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea has re-opened after its renovations, mainly the addition of an elevated sushi bar. [From the Test Kitchen]

• Lee Klein reports that Indomania, which opened a few months ago on Miami Beach, will be closed all of August. [Riptide 2.0]

• It was love at first sip for Charles Passy and Metromint. [The Hungry Man]

That honor goes to "Anonymous" (how original) for his (or her) review of Upper Deck Ale & Sports Grill in Hallandale Beach:

Good food.

And that, dear readers, is the entirety of the review. (The review title was exactly the same as well.) Allow us to present this as an example of one way your review will not be approved for the website. We've been receiving lots of these one-line reviews, but we really think they're not very helpful to other users who are trying to decide on a restaurant. We don't want a 5,000-word essay either, but a couple sentences about the dining experience would be useful. So keep that in mind next time you're raving about your new favorite sushi place or lamenting the money spent on a subpar dinner.

• Tinta y Cafe and Tobacco Road are sponsoring a 111th birthday bash (that's a lot of candles!) for the City of Miami with art installations, food and booze. The event begins tomorrow at 9 p.m. at the Jose Marti Building, 801 SW 3rd Ave. A $50 VIP pass gets you all the food and drink your stomach desires. [Camposition]

• Two Cooking at the Cellar events this Saturday, one at the Aventura Macy's (19053 Biscayne Blvd) with Kurtis Jantz, the executive chef at Neomi's, and the other at the Dadeland Macy's (7675 N Kendall Dr) with La Cofradia executive chef Jean Paul Desmaison.

Dear MenuPages,

Yours, Hungry in Hallandale

Hi HH! Thanks for e-mailing. Yes, we South Floridians love our dolphin. We have fond memories of munching on fried dolphin fingers as a child at Bahamas Fish Market in Miami. Dolphin fish that is, not dolphin the mammal. Flipper is protected by federal law.

You probably know dolphin (the fish) by its more commonly used name, mahi-mahi, Hawaiian for "strong-strong," but they're also known as dorados. We're not sure when mahi-mahi became the more popular moniker, but we here in South Florida are a stubborn lot, so you'll continue to see dolphin on menus throughout the area. Besides, it's funny seeing the horrified expressions of tourists and newcomers when they first see dolphin on a menu. Apparently Islamorada Fish Company's expansion into other parts of the country is causing some confusion; they're keeping "dolphin" on the menu.

There are plenty of great places to eat dolphin (the fish) in South Florida. We'll start at the southern tip with Blue Heaven in Key West, where the fish is listed as both dolphin and mahi-mahi (we assume so as not to confuse the tourists). You can get it Cuban-style at Las Culebrinas in Miami, or you can eat it dockside at Bimini Boatyard in Fort Lauderdale.

We found this photo and couldn't not share with you. Taken at sunrise on Miami Beach. Enjoy.

Photo: Flickr

We'll start where we left off, with the Sun-Sentinel's Judith Stocks, who visits Mississippi Sweets in Boca Raton (there's also one in Lake Worth). There, she feasts on ribs, Brunswick stew, okra, and an assortment of other barbecue delicacies. Rotisserie fans beware: the rotating rotisserie is broken for now.

We're quickly becoming fans of Dan Oliver's "Watering Hole" features on the Palm Beach Post's website. This week he's at Tiki Waterfront Sea Grill in Riviera Beach, where the chef puts out some pretty fancy dishes for what looks like a laid-back waterfront bar. Try Thai-style snapper with fresh mangoes and papaya in a Thai chile sauce.

And Charles Passy is back from vacation, but he's still in a New York state of mind. Apparently he didn't quite get enough of the Jewish deli when he was up there, so he's at Ben's Kosher Deli in Boca Raton this week, the only Florida outpost of the New York-based chain. Our favorite part of the review:

And don't forget the amusing aphorisms — they're called "Ron-ifications" since they come courtesy of Ben's founder Ronnie Dragoon — that are posted everywhere. One example: "For five thousand years, we were a wandering people. Then we found Boca Raton."

Mississippi Sweets BBQ Co. [Sun-Sentinel]
Jewish 'soul food': Boca deli has roots in working class tradition [Palm Beach Post]

The Herald spent a lot of time in Broward this week. First up, an article about three newcomers in south Broward: Piola in Hallandale Beach (same company as the Piola in Miami Beach), Wine Cellar from Werner Staub of Peppermill on the Waterways, and Aizia, which is in the spot Satine used to occupy at the Hollywood Westin Diplomat.

Also in the Herald, Linda Bladholm stops by L & L Market Bistro in Miramar, which features microbrews and hard-to-find cheeses.

On to the Sun-Sentinel. We were hoping that the recent website revamp would mean a more user-friendly dining section. Eh, we're not impressed. Sure there's the restaurant guide, but everything else is pretty bare-bones. Anyway, Judith Stocks has only good things to say about the Korean fare at Myung Ga in Weston. And that's about it for Broward.

New dining draws around the drawbridge [The Miami Herald]
Global bistro plus microbrews in Miramar [The Miami Herald]
Myung Ga Tofu & BBQ [Sun-Sentinel]

We love hot dogs. We love plain dogs, dogs with the works, fried dogs, beef dogs, pork dogs, etc. As you can imagine, we were excited to learn of La Perrada de Edgar, a Colombian hot dog shop written up by Category 305:

Stepping into La Perrada, an unsuspecting diner is confronted with oh, so much more. Forget about onions, chili, or relish. Here a hot dog is the foundation for a smorgasbord: the Roman ("bun, sausage, mozzarella cheese, bacon, meatballs, potato sticks, cheese sauce"), the Hawaiian ("bun, sausage, mozzarella, cheese, pineapple, potato sticks, cheese sauce"), and the Super Edgar ("bun, sausage, mozzarella cheese, shrimp, crab, potato sticks"). Taking nothing for granted, the descriptions note that each hot dog comes with a bun. All of these combinations are topped with special sauces invented by owner Edgar Gomez, a one time fashion designer turned hot dog vendor.

The story about how Gomez got into the business is great too: he went to a fashion trade show in Dallas and ended up in the wrong building, which happened to be hosting a fast food convention (who booked those two together?), where he fell in love with the hot dog.

La Perrada de Edgar
6976 Collins Ave, Miami Beach
305-866-4543

New Dog in Town [Category 305]

We're already tired of the old Thursday format of one post per publication, so we're going to split it up by county today. Here goes!

Victoria Pesce Elliott gives the rundown on Miami Spice: you'll be treated well at Tuscan Steak, Timo and North One 10, Neomi's and Touch were a little less kind to value-seeking diners last year, and The Restaurant At The Setai (where she once spent a month's salary on dinner for four) has actually agreed to participate for 2007. We're thinking $35 for dinner might be a good deal there. Book. Now.

There's no dancing on tabletops at Maria's Greek Restaurant in Miami, but there is plenty of good food according to Lee Klein. The New Times also checks out Bayside Grill at The Standard hotel, and finds the waterfront setting calming and the shoestring fries heavenly.

The best ways to add Miami Spice to your dining [The Miami Herald]
Greek to Me [Miami New Times]
Toque on the Water [Miami New Times]

Bartow, Florida. We had to look it up on the map (it's close to Winter Haven and Lakeland in Polk County). We imagine that area as a large expanse of citrus groves, but according to a recent Florida Trend piece, blueberries are taking over.

Connecticut investor Stan Phelps is spending millions to convert some of the 18,000 acres of reclaimed phosphate mines he’s bought in and around Bartow to create a blueberry operation. In March, the Wall Street veteran opened a 103,000-sq.-ft. berry packing and distribution center in Bartow. During its first harvest season this spring, the Clear Springs Packing House and Distribution Center processed and packed 1.2 million pounds of blueberries — a quarter of the state’s overall production — for 33 growers. Clear Springs also is expanding its blueberry farm from 150 acres to 1,000.

1.2 million pounds in the first year? Not too shabby. We didn't think blueberries could withstand the heat of a Florida summer — they are popular in Maine, after all — but we learned that blueberries have been grown in north-central and north Florida for quite some time. Now, they're just ramping up production. Between hurricanes and the recent citrus canker outbreak, I imagine blueberries might look appealing to weary citrus growers. And there's a market for them too — Florida blueberries ripen during March, April and May, just after the Chilean imports stop coming and just before blueberries from northern states.

Blueberry fields forever [Florida Trend]
Florida's Commercial Blueberry Industry [University of Florida IFAS Extension]

Photo: Florida Trend

• It's Caribbean Carnival this weekend at Jetsetter Lounge in Lake Worth. There'll be a special Islands menu on Saturday and Sunday. [Jetsetter Lounge]

• Spain is taking over Vino Miami in Miami Beach tomorrow night. Sip on Spanish wine and pick at tapas while watching some of Pedro Almodovar's finest films. Actually, we're not sure exactly what you'll be watching (details are sketchy), but it will definitely involve Almodovar. Tickets are $20 per person. [Vino Miami]

• Local poet Howard Camner, who was once nominated to be the state's poet laureate, will be at North One 10 in North Miami for an evening of food, wine, music, and of course poetry. The menu item names are a hoot. "Uncensored wild salmon on the road of wheat, mango chutney" anyone? [North One 10]

Ah, to be rich and famous and get away with something so incredibly obnoxious as bringing your own personal chef to cook for you at a restaurant. The chefs at Casa Tua just wouldn't do for Sting and his wife Trudi, who insisted that their personal chef be allowed to prepare them a meal in the restaurant's kitchen, according to a recent article in The Sun. The restaurant's regular chefs, however, were deemed good enough to make food for Sting's guests. Oh, to be a fly on the wall in Casa Tua's kitchen on that night.

We also learned that Sting had some recent problems with another personal chef, whom he fired when she couldn't keep up with the 14-hour days he and his wife demanded. Did we mention she was pregnant at the time?

It seems the fussiness doesn't extend to the rest of the band members; Andy Summers, The Police's guitarist, was recently spotted dining at Versailles. We'd love to see what would happen if Sting were to bring his personal chef there.

Every chef you take, eh Sting? [The Sun]
'Sting and Trudy cast me out for having a baby,' chef tells tribunal [The Daily Mail]
Vigil Recap: Synchronicity [Babalu Blog]
Casa Tua [MenuPages]
Versailles [MenuPages]

Photo: The Daily Mail

At 12:01 a.m. today, thousands of divers descended into the ocean to catch their share of Florida lobster during the two-day sport season. OK, so we're not sure that they dove in the dark just after midnight (although we wouldn't totally be surprised), but the point is that they were allowed to.

For those of you who prefer terra firma, here are a few Keys restaurants where you can sample Florida lobsters without having to dive for them yourselves. Just keep in mind that the commercial season starts on August 6, so restaurants likely won't have local lobster available until then.

• The Florida lobster tail at A & B Lobster House in Key West comes broiled and served with coconut pecan rice and baby vegetables.

• Fish House in Key Largo offers a standard half Florida lobster tail broiled with drawn butter.

• You can get your Florida lobster fried at Rusty Anchor in Key West

• Marker 88 in Islamorada offers Florida lobster three ways: steamed in bouillon, baked and stuffed with crab meat, or Lorenzo style.

So where will you be dining next week? Miami Spice, a two-month-long promotional event organized by the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau, starts a week from today. During August and September, three-course lunches and dinners will cost $22 and $35, respectively, at 80 participating restaurants in Miami and Miami Beach. (FYI: That price doesn't include drinks, tax, or tip.) At some places, that's a not-so-great deal, but at others, it's definitely a good value. So peruse the list (most restaurants include their special Miami Spice menus) and start making reservations!

• Charles Passy finally returns from New York. [Hungry Man]

• Lee Klein tells you where to go to get the best value during Miami Spice, which kicks off next week. [Riptide 2.0]

• Paula weighs in on the anxiety revolving around the Miami restaurant scene. [Mango&Lime]

We've been moving lots of menus onto the site, so here's just a sampling of what went online last night:

• Woody's Famous Steak Sandwich, 13105 Biscayne Blvd in North Miami, 305-891-1451

• Cibo e Vino, 2775 E Oakland Park Blvd in Fort Lauderdale, 954-567-2444

• Sophie Bistro, 142 SE 1st Ave in Miami, 305-577-6156

• Maryland Fried Chicken

Think you can tackle this guy and win? Here's your chance to try. The two-day lobster mini season starts on Wednesday morning at 12:01 a.m. and ends exactly 48 hours later. We'll run down the rules for those of you who plan to dive in the Keys or elsewhere for lobster:

• You need a saltwater fishing license with a lobster stamp. If you don't have one already, you might want to get one. Now.

• No more than six lobsters per day per licensed harvester in Monroe County, no more than 12 per day elsewhere in Florida.

• No diving at night in Monroe County, and no diving within 300 feet of private property in the Keys.

• And there are a few prohibited zones: Biscayne Bay/Card Sound Spiny Lobster Sanctuary, the Everglades, the Dry Tortugas, and John Pennekamp State Park.

2007 Lobster Mini Season in the Florida Keys [Florida Keys Treasures]
Photo: Flickr

We hate to start the week with gloom-and-doom articles, but it seems like there are a lot of those about Miami these days. According to Bloomberg, the condo glut in Miami can push the entire state's economy into recession as early as October. Fun! And today, The Miami Herald looked into why it's so tough for restaurants to stay open in the Magic City.

Restaurants are sharing the region-wide pain of rising rents, insurance, property taxes and gasoline prices. Those added costs can simply make the equation unworkable in an industry where profit margins are already razor-thin.

Chef Tony Sindaco expanded his Sunfish Grill in Fort Lauderdale this year and watched bills double. ''We're trudging through,'' he said.

Van Aken said his occupancy costs quadrupled during his dozen years at Norman's. Eismann said his rent was 500 percent higher on his last day of business than when he opened Pacific Time in July 1993. Rents in prime South Beach locations now run as much $100 per square foot, which can translate into a monthly bill between $30,000 and $50,000.

We can't even fathom a 500 percent rent increase over the course of 14 years. That's unbelievable. Of course, that's also in South Beach, which has completely transformed in the last two decades. The way to go for new restaurateurs might be to set up shop in less glitzy, fashionable neighborhoods; they may not be able to charge as much, but the costs would be dramatically lower. Then there's this quote:

''In the next 18 months, we're going to see one of the biggest shakeups in the restaurant industry that we've seen in a decade,'' said restaurant consultant Richard Lackey. ``Because of the increased costs, it is going to be more and more difficult for the independent, fine dining guy to exist.''

So, let's sum it up: The condo glut is going to cause a recession sometime soon, which will keep diners at home, which will hurt restaurants already struggling to pay rent. If the prognosticators are right, the next two years in Miami are going to be rough. Here's hoping they mixed up their numbers.

Miami Condo Glut Pushes Florida's Economy to Brink of Recession [Bloomberg]
Rising costs forcing out gourmet restaurants [The Miami Herald]

• Alesh tries an ugly tomato (doesn't look so bad in that photo), expresses approval. [Critical Miami]

• Paula dines with Slow Foodies at North One 10, leaves with a full stomach and a wine buzz. [Mango & Lime]

• Soya & Pomodoro owner considers closing shop, decides to stay put. [Riptide 2.0]

• Deborah Hartz complains about both the bitchiness of Top Chef judges and the summer camp feel-good among the cheftestants. We're not sure in which direction she'd like this show to go. [From the Test Kitchen]

Well, you learn something new every day. Thanks to Dan Oliver, aka "The Beer Guy" at the Palm Beach Post, we now know that a square grouper is a "floating bale of pot." Excellent. We learned this in Oliver's latest Watering Hole feature; he visited the Square Grouper, a low-key bar on the Jupiter Inlet.

We liked the articles on top flops and surprise hits from chefs and home cooks. Who would've thought that a dish of seared foie gras with fresh honeycomb, cayenne pepper and kumquat-hazelnut chutney would've been inspired by a meal of chicken McNuggets? (Well, the dish failed, so maybe we weren't so surprised.)

The only review we found was a short one for Java Room, a new coffeehouse on Northlake Blvd in West Palm Beach. Is Charles Passy still on vacation in New York?

Square Grouper [MenuPages]
Square Grouper [Official Site]
Java Room emphasizes socializing [Palm Beach Post]
Home cooks, and the dishes that failed them [Palm Beach Post]
Top chefs tell of top flops (and favorites that surprise them) [Palm Beach Post]

Well, at least this one won't have her name all over it. (We're looking at you, DeVito.) Queen Latifah is planning to open a Fatburger franchise — the third one in Florida — on South Beach by the end of the year. It has apparently been her dream to open one for several years, but no word just yet on why she chose Miami Beach. We can't wait to watch bronzed, muscular bodies walk by a large sign proclaiming "Fatburger."

Queen Latifah to Open Burger Joint [ABC 2 News]
Fatburger [Official Site]

Lee Klein took a 17-year-old Macedonian boy who'd never been out of the country to a jam-packed Christabelle's Quarter for his first meal in the United States. Quite an introduction! Klein encountered O.J. Simpson and a waiter who was "not at liberty to say" why he was certain Klein absolutely wouldn't like the crawfish etouffee. Verdict: Christabelle's Quarter looks better than the food it serves, but, as Klein wrote, restaurants of this size take a little longer to get into a rhythm. We're hoping whatever is wrong with the crawfish etouffee is fixed.

Also in Miami New Times: La Provence Bakery in Coral Gables, which turns out wonderful breads.

Over in Broward, we head to two Persian restaurants, Darius Palace and Kuluck Restaurant and Lounge. Both feature standard kebab-heavy Persian menus and pretty good food. At least that's what we got from the review.

Gumbo Limbo [Miami New Times]
Christabelle's Quarter [MenuPages]
Lovely Loaves [Miami New Times]
Iran, So Far Away [Broward-Palm Beach New Times]
Kuluck Restaurant and Lounge [MenuPages]

After the Judges' Table, we had a feeling Lia would be the one to go. It was unfortunate, because we'd just started to like her (CJ's still our favorite!), and she'd just rocked last week's elimination challenge. But the poor thing just seemed totally out of her element when asked to make a Latin dish. Maria Frumkin, owner of now-closed Duo and guest judge for the night, seemed to think her lack of familiarity with Latin flavors was unacceptable; we're a little more forgiving in that regard. We would've preferred to see Hung "pack his knives and go," but alas, he makes for good television and has excelled at past challenges, so we have grudgingly accepted the fact that he and his smug attitude will be around for several more episodes.

The Elimination Challenge, for those of you who missed the episode, involved making a Latin-inspired dish for the cast and crew of the Telemundo telenovela Dame Chocolate. (By the way, apparently Carlos Ponce stars in this telenovela. When did he go back to acting? Hadn't he embarked on a singing career? But we digress.) Quite an appropriate challenge, we thought. The cheftestants were given three hours to cook, and then they had to take their dishes to Star Island, where the telenovela was being filmed, to feed the crew.

But of course, there was a catch: shortly after the cheftestants had started cooking, Tom Colicchio walked in and announced an "unexpected" twist; the filming schedule had been moved up, and they'd now have just an hour and a half to cook. Howie, who looked like he'd have the most trouble adjusting to the time constraints, actually pulled off a win with his braised pork with yuca. It looked seriously delicious, and it was good to see the Miami chef take the Latin challenge. (The recipe on the Bravo site says there's "sour orange mojo," but the ingredients include only "orange juice." Usually, the substitute for sour oranges, which are not like regular oranges, is a mix of orange and lime, but there's no lime mentioned. We're confused.)

Photo: BravoTV

It's Thursday, the day of the week when local papers all turn their attention to restaurants and food. We like Thursdays.

So, on to the Miami Herald, where Rochelle Koff tells us to put our bibs on and start working on those crabs at Dania Beach's Rustic Inn. We must say that the Alaskan king crab — cooked in the secret garlic sauce, we presume — in that photo does look tasty. In addition to crabs from Alaska, they also serve Florida favorites like fried frog legs and gator chunks.

It took us a bit of poking around the Tropical section to find where the Miami-Dade review was, but we finally found Victoria Pesce Elliott's review of Chef Innocent at Hotel St. Michel in Coral Gables. The steakhouse (yes, as if we needed another one), gets two-and-a-half stars.

Put on your bib, get crackin' at Rustic Inn [Miami Herald]
Rustic Inn [MenuPages]
Hotel St. Michel steakhouse joins a crowded field [Miami Herald]
Chef Innocent [MenuPages]

Paula, over at Mango & Lime, alerted us to an interesting discussion over at Chowhound about the "dumbing down" of menus at Miami restaurants to please the masses. It all began with a complaint about Yuga's new menu:

I inquired with the waitress why the change and, as I expected, she said the menu had changed due to people's tastes. I have to admit that it was the most packed I had ever seen the place, but they were basically serving food you can find on almost any corner here (she even admitted that the menu had come from one of their other restaurants). Basically, the new take on Japanese small dish menu they had wasn't bringing in customers but their McDonald's-like sushi menu was packing 'em in. We walked out and the hostess apologized and looked rather disappointed.

While we hardly think this is a Miami-specific phenomenon, it is discouraging to hear in a city with a culinary scene that is trying hard to be taken seriously. As long as diners flock to places with more style than substance, that won't happen.

The original poster is trying to come up with a phrase to describe the process of dumbing down for the uneducated diner. We think a variation of the theater saying "ham, no eggs" (suggested by another chowhound to describe an actor with a big ego and no talent) would translate somewhat well to this scenario. Somehow. Any ideas?

Are Miami diners 'dumbing down' menus? [Mango & Lime]
ARRRGGHH! Frustrated with Miami dining [Chowhound Florida Board]
Yuga [MenuPages]
Yuga [Official Site]

• We've got great local fruit, but good luck finding it. [Riptide 2.0]

• Publix has plans to open a "green" store in Palm Beach Gardens. [GreenerMIAMI]

• Deborah isn't too pleased at J. Mark's Restaurant & Bar in Pompano Beach. [From the Test Kitchen]

We were flipping through the latest issue of the New Times when we noticed a number of irate letters to the editor in response to Lee Klein's recent review of Chef Adrianne's Vineyard Restaurant & Wine Bar. It seems the restaurant has already developed a devoted following.

Food for thought: I cannot believe this review for young chef Calvo. Aside from her true talent, she is a savvy businesswoman trying to succeed in an area where it is not common to find a restaurant like hers. Instead of supporting such positive movements in our community, what Lee Klein is doing is disgusting. Perhaps he is envious. Perhaps it is difficult to accept that a 23-year-old has accomplished what most middle-age men cannot and will not. There is some food for thought.

The comments left on the article's online version are pretty angry too. We haven't been to the restaurant, so we have no idea what the food is like, but we thought the review was appropriately deferent to her crazy list of accomplishments and pretty fair-minded. Most of Kendall apparently disagrees with us. Looks like a trip to the restaurant might be necessary.

Letters from the Issue of July 12, 2007 [Miami New Times]
Fame Game [Miami New Time]
Chef Adrianne's Vineyard Restaurant & Wine Bar [MenuPages]

We were in heaven this weekend at the International Mango Festival at Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden. There were mango tastings (our favorite was a variety from Jamaica), m