Everywhere around the nation, pools and beaches are shutting down, and people are mourning the loss of summer. Here, we're...well, we're roasting a little less than in July?

• Head on over to Little Havana tonight for Viernes Culturales (Cultural Fridays), where on 8th street, between 14th and 17th avenues, there will be food, art and music. Best part is that it's free. The event starts at 6:30.

• What would a summer Saturday be without Cooking at the Cellar? This week, check out Tantra's Sandee Birdsong (she of Top Chef fame) prepare Miami Spice dishes at the Aventura Macy's. In Dadeland, Edgar Leal of Cacao will be doing the same. Both events start at 1 p.m.

• Allen Susser of Chef Allen's continues his summer cooking classes on Tuesday with a North African flavors class. On the menu that night: charmoula-spiced mussels and preserved lemon salad. Class starts at 6 p.m. at the restaurant, and it costs $10. Call 305-935-2900 for more information.

Students return to South Florida campuses this week, so we thought we'd help the freshmen out with a little guide to where to go to escape dining hall food. This is the second in a series of five posts that will cover each local university. This time: St. Thomas and Florida Memorial University, located just a few blocks from each other.

Pizza: You have two options: Tony's Pizza Cafe, which offers New York-style pizza, and Vita Nova, which makes more of an Argentine-style pie.

Late Night: Sadly, there aren't too many options in the area. Looks like the best bet is the Miami Subs Grill on 167th street and 43rd avenue, which is open until 2 a.m.

Cheap Eats: Definitely try Jerk Machine, a local chain of Jamaican restaurants, where you can fill up on jerk pork or curry goat for under $7.

Chinese: Pickings are pretty slim, but you've got two options fairly close to campus: China City and Chop Suey for your standard lo mein and hot-and-sour soup.

On Mom and Dad's Dime: The Mahogany Grille, an upscale soul food restaurant owned by Andre Dawson, has gotten great reviews and was awarded Best Sunday Supper this year from the New Times. It's definitely worth a visit.

• How can you tell it's low season in Florida? Well, aside from the suffocating heat and humidity. Monthly restaurant promotions! In September: Magical Dining Month in Central Florida. (Must everything in that part of the state have a magical Disney theme?) [Forkhead]

• Charles Passy offers five possible explanations for Krispy Kreme's demise. [The Hungry Man]

• A review of The Room's wide selection of beers from all over the globe. [Still Life With Feet via Critical Miami]

• Alesh explores the new Roma Organic Gelato in Mary Brickell Village. [Critical Miami]

• A list of a few local restaurants with roach activity. Ick. [Stuck on the Palmetto]

The West Palm Beach police chief arrested a woman on Tuesday who was being accused by City Place Publix employees of stealing a bottle of wine, which was stashed in her purse. Turns out she had also taken a sushi tray into the bathroom, where she'd feasted before trying to abscond with the wine.

Several of the commenters over at the PB Post's crime blog claim to see this kind of stuff all the time: people eating yogurt in the dairy aisle, empty containers found on shelves, etc. We've never seen anything like this, but then again, we're not great at noticing these kinds of things. Have you seen people trying to score some free food at the supermarket? Let us know!

WPB police chief nabs suspect [Palm Beach Post]
Police chief Delta Bush caught this woman... [Behind the Yellow Tape]

The last Krispy Kreme in Palm Beach County is closed. The county used to boast three stores: one in Boynton Beach (closed in 2006), one in West Palm Beach (closed last April), and now finally the sole holdout, the Boca Raton store, is gone. According to the Post, the chain has lost money for the last 11 quarters.

If you're still craving a hot Krispy Kreme doughnut, there are two outposts left: one at 590 NE 167th Street in Miami and another at 2401 N Federal Highway in Fort Lauderdale.

County's last Krispy Kreme shuts doors [Palm Beach Post]
Krispy Kreme [Official Site]
Photo: Flickr

• The Post visits Grotto in Palm Beach, where the seating is tight, the lighting is harsh, and the food is average. [Palm Beach Post]

• The Beer Guy takes a break from the watering holes, but he does suggest some liquor stores with excellent beer selections. [Palm Beach Post]

• There's more than just noodles at Uncle Tai's, a nicer-than-average Chinese restaurant with superb crispy red snapper and crispy beef. [Sun-Sentinel]

• We tried finding a nice thing about the new Palm Beach Gardens Cantina Laredo in Gail Shepherd's review, but it was impossible. If you go, don't order the mole. [New Times]

• Three-and-a-half stars for Cafe Sharaku in Fort Lauderdale. The restaurant blends French and Asian styles for a "stellar" meal. [Miami Herald]

• There is no way you're going to find out how the jerk chicken is cooked at Betty's Place in Hollywood; all employees are tight-lipped, for fear of punishment from Betty. And judging from the reviewer's reaction, you might not want to order it extra hot. [New Times]

• What is there to do at an Argentine restaurant but gorge on meat? Actually, we can think of several other things to eat, but at Che, Pibe in Miramar, it's meat you want. [Sun-Sentinel]

• The lead story in the Herald's food section today is about seven of South Florida's sexiest bartenders. The story comes complete with photos of said bartenders sporting skimpy clothing and sultry gazes. We don't have much else to say about it, except that you can vote on which one you find the most sexy. [Miami Herald]

• DeVito's is a tossup between sweet and smarmy. Heh. [Miami Herald]

• Don't listen to those naysayers who claim there's no good barbecue in South Florida. There is, and it can be found at Shivers Bar-B-Q and Tom Jenkins Bar-B-Q. [New Times]

• Linda Bladholm visits Tatay's, which means "father" in Tagalog; it's named that way because the owner's father is the one doing the cooking. Pancit, adobo, lumpia — all the Filipino staples can be found here. [Miami Herald]

• At Trattoria Luna, which offers more than just the ubiquitous Italian-American pasta dishes, "you can eat well if not spectacularly." [New Times]

If you had a limitless supply of money, how much do you think you could spend on food each day? Joe (well, we think it's Joe) at Boca Joe's Catering tried to come up with the most extravagant meals he could possibly think of. Total spending for the day: $1,675,000, although we should note that most of that came from a diamond-encrusted fruit cake that sells for $1.65 million. The menu includes a caviar-topped frittata, a cup of Kopi Luwak (the coffee made from beans that have been passed through the digestive system of a small mammal), a Wagyu beef sandwich with foie gras and black truffle mayonnaise, and Tahitian vanilla ice cream topped with 23-carat edible gold leaf. And there's a 10-course dinner with wine pairings too; the cake is the spectacular finale.

Sure, you'd be spending $1,675,000 million on food in one day, but you likely wouldn't have to eat for the next week. So it's more like $239,285 per day. Clearly a bargain.

How much could you spend in one day on food? [Boca Joe's Catering]
Boca Joe's Catering [Official Site]

We almost missed this New York Times story today about Edible Communities, a magazine group that starts newsletters in different areas that focus on eating local. For example, (and we think this is really cool), Edible Atlanta recently gave readers suggestions on how to use kudzu, otherwise known as "the vine that ate the South." The leaves can be used instead of spinach, kale or grape leaves. It might be a good way to help control the population.

There are Edible publications in a number of different parts of the US, but Florida, unfortunately, is absent from the list. The locavore movement has made few inroads in Florida, or South Florida at least; it often seems that the easiest way to find Florida produce is to go to a grocery store in a different state. A newsletter like this might help quite a bit in that department. The owners of Edible Communities list Florida as an "interested region," so it's on their radar screen. Now they just need someone to run it. And that someone needs to have $30,000 and a good amount of free time.

Edible Communities makes it relatively easy to become a publisher: $30,000 down, the remaining $60,000, financed by Edible Communities, to be paid over five years.

For this the owner gets a crash course for the first four issues in layouts, photographs, advertising, marketing, editorial content. And the owner gets easy access to the other editors, who willingly share their expertise.

The contract requires at least 51 percent editorial content, 75 percent of which must be local. The company offers one national column, but publishers are not required to use it. After the first year the parent company takes a 5 percent royalty of gross advertising revenues.

Any takers?

How to Eat (and Read) Close to Home [New York Times]
Edible Communities [Official Site]

• The chowhounds spill on where they get their doughnuts. [Chowhound]

• The Palme d'Or at the Biltmore Hotel is delicious, says one chef. [ReMARKable Palate]

• A menu board that features "Roast Ass" and "Tun Alad." Ah yes. Only in Key West. ["Klotz" As In "Blood"]

It was brought to our attention today by Joanne Green at the New Times that Michelle Bernstein's specially created airplane dishes will be debuting on certain Delta routes on September 13. We were surprised, because we thought her dishes had already been gracing Business Elite menus for a while; Frank Bruni of The New York Times even blogged about it last month. Maybe they had a trial run?

Regardless, you will definitely see Bernstein's dishes on Delta flights after September 13, if you're lucky enough to get a seat in Business Elite. (It's peanuts for the rest of you!) There will be dishes like pomegranate-glazed lamb with pilaf and cherries, beef tenderloin with chimichurri, polenta and roasted peppers, and grilled fish with sweet corn succotash and ancho lime butter. For now, you'll only be able to get it on flights from JFK to Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Seattle.

Mile High Michy's [Riptide 2.0]
Mile-High Flubs [Diner's Journal]
Clearing the Air [Diner's Journal]
Michy's [MenuPages]

Students return to South Florida campuses this week, so we thought we'd help the freshmen out with a little guide to where to go to escape dining hall food. This is the second in a series of five posts that will cover each local university. This time: Barry

Pizza: If you haven't tried Argentine-style pizza, you should; luckily you have a Che Sopranos Pizza & Pasta nearby where you can do exactly that. We heartily recommend a dinner of empanadas, beer and pizza; that's pretty much what we lived on during our study abroad program in Buenos Aires.

Late Night: You've got one option in the area, but it's a tasty one: Cliff's, a West Indian restaurant open until 3 a.m. Thursdays through Saturdays. You can get everything from curry goat to stewed conch here, and on the weekends, there's live reggae too.

Cheap Eats: Head over to Esther's on 103rd Street for classic American favorites. You can't beat breakfast for $4, lunch for $1 more.

Chinese: Aurora Restaurant is both Cuban and Chinese, and they deliver. So you can have maduros with your honey chicken. Or fried rice with your bistec de palomilla. The combinations are endless!

On Mom & Dad's Dime: North One 10, just over in North Miami, is definitely worth a visit. Chef Dewey LoSasso, one of the original Mango Gang members, creates traditional American dishes with a Florida twist.

Remember that problem of empty condos and failing businesses in downtown Miami? Looks like Tampa's having similar problems, on a smaller scale. People who bought condos during the boom are stuck and are having trouble renting them out, and the thriving downtown that was promised — with restaurants, a museum, shopping, basics like a dry cleaner and a grocery store (both currently lacking) — hasn't materialized. From the Tampa Tribune:

Real estate experts say what's happening in downtown Tampa is normal for a city trying to reinvent itself into a place where people live and work. The difficult housing market puts added pressure on people who purchased units, and many could be stuck with mortgage payments for longer than they anticipated. Foreclosures, which are plaguing the single-family market, are likely to seep into the condominium market, and that could drive down prices, said Mike Larson, a real estate analyst with Weiss Research in Jupiter.

"Urban renewal and reviving downtowns was a great marketing pitch for condos in Florida downtowns," said Larson, who tracks real estate trends in Florida. "What we're seeing now is that the promise was a little more hype than substance."

Still, he predicts, downtown restaurants and shops plus renewed demand for condos will catch up to the inventory. "People expected a gold rush, and it's more of a trickle."

There are 44 residential loft and condominium projects either under construction, recently completed or planned in the downtown area, according to the city. Fourteen of those are complete.

Sound familiar?

Downtown Miami Needs Warm Bodies To Fill Those Condos [MP: South Florida]
Market Reality Blurs Vision of Downtown [Tampa Tribune]
Photo: Flickr

• Tomorrow at Mr. G's Rock & Roll Bar & Grill in West Palm Beach catch reggae band Bradley Brown and Rhythmation. The show starts at 10 p.m., and ladies drink free 9-11.

• There will be a large party at Jetsetter Lounge in Lake Worth this weekend; that much is clear. We're trying to parse the rest of the information from this e-mail, but the bright colors (think aqua, purple and lime green) are giving us a headache. There will be drink specials, artwork, music (the above-mentioned Bradley Brown will be there on Sunday), and a Polynesian menu. If you want more information than that, go to the restaurant's website.

• There's a huge sale going on at Premier Wine Club in downtown Miami; the owners are liquidating the entire store's stock. In this process, they've also discovered a few rare and unique wines hidden among the other bottles, and they're inviting people to come have a taste. This Thursday, from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m., for $20 you can taste these wines, some of which never make it to the retail market. For a reservation, call 305-416-5187.

Alejandro Gonzalez, whose family owns the two David's Cafes in South Beach, was shot in the torso yesterday afternoon and dumped into Biscayne Bay, left to float with the current underneath the Venetian Causeway. Luckily, some construction workers saw him and managed to get him out of the water. He's now recovering from emergency surgery at Jackson Memorial Hospital.

Gonzalez was at one of the restaurants Monday morning, but in the early afternoon he drove over to Maurice Gibb Park, where he was robbed and then shot. The suspects stole his watch and his Land Rover, but then got away on a boat. (Where'd they put the Land Rover? We're confused.) The family thinks it was just a robbery, but we get the feeling something else was going on too. We also imagine that the CSI Miami writers are already working on an episode based on the story.

Man robbed, shot, left in Biscayne Bay [Miami Herald]
David's Cafe
David's Cafe
David's Cafe [Official Site]

We've just received word that the Rosa Mexicano in the new downtown mall Mary Brickell Village is finally opening this Friday, Aug. 31 at 5 p.m. Those of you in Palm Beach Gardens are likely already familiar with the restaurant chain, which has a location in Downtown at the Gardens. We're told the menu at the Miami restaurant will be the same, featuring upscale Mexican cuisine. Popular favorites are the guacamole en molcajete, which is mashed tableside, and the pomegranate margaritas.

Rosa Mexicano [MenuPages]
Rosa Mexicano [Official Site]
Mary Brickell Village [Official Site]

• Paula gives us the lowdown on Ver-Daddy's Taco Shop. [Mango&Lime]

• Is it the oven or the pizza maker that makes a good pizza? [From the Test Kitchen]

• Tropical Chinese edges out Kon Chau in the dim sum wars. [Chowhound]

• Vix's Miami Spice experience gets a grade of "excellent." [Chowhound]

We've got four brand-spanking new menus for your enjoyment today:

• Boteco, 916 NE 79th St in Miami, 305-757-7735

• Bangkok Palace, 4345 N State Rd 7 in Lauderdale Lakes, 954-733-0069

• Taverna Eros, 8 E Atlantic Ave in Delray Beach, 561-272-8220

• The Lunch Room, 7957 NE 2nd Ave in Miami, 305-722-0759

• Social Miami is deemed a good Miami Spice destination. [All Purpose Dark]

• The Restaurant at the Setai continues to be the big hit of this Miami Spice season. [consumable joy]

• The croquettes with parmesan ice cream (and the rest of the Miami Spice menu) are winners at Ola. [Chowhound]

• More raves, this time for Talula . [Chowhound]

• Talula again, except a bit more lukewarm in the praise. [consumable joy]

A friend of ours went to Dada in Delray Beach last night and told us about a storytelling project going on there called VOX. On the last Sunday of each month at 8:30 p.m., anyone can sign up for a 5-7 minute slot and basically just get up there and tell a story. Which sounds terrifying to us, as we're not big on the whole public speaking thing. But we enjoy a good story. And a good story with good food and drink sounds like a great night to us.

At the end of the night, the first- and second-place storytellers get $50 and $25, respectively. The program is run by Florida Atlantic University and often hosts storytelling slams in other venues as well, but the Dada one seems to be the only regularly occurring one. So head over there next month, do your thing, and see if you can win any cash. Check out the South Florida Storytelling site for tips on how best to tell your story.

South Florida Storytelling Project [Florida Atlantic University]
Dada [MenuPages]
Dada [Official Site]

Controversy in the juice aisle! The St. Petersburg Times reports that the Florida Department of Citrus is cracking down on deceptive labeling of orange juice cartons. At issue are HomeMaker Premium cartons that say "100% Pure Florida Squeezed" at the top; on the bottom, in smaller print, is "Blended with Valencia orange juice. From concentrate."

The department has ordered the juice's maker, TWS Marketing, to remove the logo from HomeMaker Premium cartons. Any cartons with the logo that are still on store shelves must be removed by Oct. 1 or the department will seize them.

"That label is a circus," said Kenneth Keck, executive director of the Florida Department of Citrus. "Between fraud and deception, it's all there, we believe."

We're not sure we'd go to the extent of "fraud" or "deception," since it is still stated on the front of the carton, although it's true that most people wouldn't pay attention to it. The article also mentions that Minute Maid gets its juice from Costa Rica and Brazil and that Tropicana blends Brazilian orange juice with Florida oranges. These are listed in really fine print in the back, just below the nutritional information. (HomeMaker uses only Florida oranges.)

HomeMaker has been given until October to redesign its cartons.

Business: Orange juice labels: pulp fiction? [St. Petersburg Times]
Photo: Flickr

• MP:Chicago marked a year since the foie gras ban took effect, and found that there is still plenty of foie gras to be had in the Windy City.

• MP: Philadelphia shows us a bacon-wrapped doughnut. We're not sure that looks appetizing.

• MP: Boston is craving blackberries. Come to think of it, so are we.

• MP: San Francisco reports on a Jamba Juice in the Bay Area doling out a little extra with that "boost."

This isn't what we had for breakfast, although it looks far preferable to the bagel we ate. And yes, it might be a little odd to have ice cream (or gelato) for breakfast, but really, is there ever a bad time for ice cream? We don't think so.

Photo: miami fever's Flickr

The rumors are flying like they never have before. We suggest getting to Versailles, because if they are true, you'd better believe that's where the party will be. And if they're not true, well, at least you get a cubano and a cafecito out of it.

The University of Miami is leaving the Orange Bowl, but not until next year. In the meantime, they need a little help for this upcoming season:

I need game day supervisors, grill cooks and stock people for the Orange Bowl Stadium in Miami.
Also looking for a clerical girl in the office 30 hours or so.
This is for the university of Miami and Florida International University home football games.
I also need non-profit groups to work the stands.
Come have fun with us at the games this year.

So go hawk hot dogs at the Orange Bowl in its last season. Think of it as an extended goodbye to the once-proud stadium now rendered useless with age.

Concessions Orange Bowl Stadium [Craigs List]

Students will be returning to South Florida campuses next week, so we thought we'd help the freshmen out with a little guide to where to go to escape dining hall food. This is the second in a series of five posts that will cover each local university. This time: FIU

Pizza: Jerry & Joe's is closer to the Tamiami campus and they deliver, but we think Frankie's Pizza is worth the short car trip. Those of you taking classes at the Biscayne campus in North Miami have an Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza not too far away.

Late Night: The recent opening of a 24-hour Sarussi within walking distance of the Tamiami campus must have been a great boon to the late-night studying crowd at the library. Cheap, filling, delicious, and available at any hour of the day or night. What more could you ask for? Not far from the Biscayne campus is Steve's Pizza, open until 3 a.m. most nights and 4 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.

Cheap Eats: Natural Chicken Grill in the shopping center across the street from Publix is good for a good, inexpensive lunch, and of course, there's always Pollo Tropical. But for really cheap eats, go to Blue Sky Food By The Pound, where two can happily eat from their portions for one.

Chinese: The Canton on 97th and Tamiami Trail is serviceable, and they deliver. In North Miami, you've got two Bamboo Gardens, one on 163rd street and 13th avenue and the other on Biscayne and 132nd, within a short drive of the campus.

On Mom & Dad's Dime: If you're in Westchester, we suggest going with steak. Want flashy? Go to Texas De Brazil at Dolphin Mall. Want something more intimate? Try La Porteña, tucked away in a shopping center on Tamiami Trail. And if you're at the north campus, definitely head to Chef Allen's.

• Plenty of curry and kabobs at the Pakistani Independence Day Festival at Bayfront Park, where some local Indian and Pakistani restaurants will be selling platefuls of food. [Miami Herald]

• Two Cooking at the Cellar events on Saturday: at the Aventura Macy's, you can watch Smith & Wollensky's Robert Mignola prepare a dish from the Miami Spice menu, and at the Dadeland Macy's, you'll find Ginger Grove chef Donna Winter. Both events start at 1 p.m.

• From Pakistan to Argentina: on Monday, Novecento's Brickell location is hosting a five-course dinner featuring the wines of Michel Torino and the cuisine of northern Argentina. This should be interesting, as the food from the northern areas like Salta and Tucumán differs a bit from the Porteño food common in local Argentine restaurants. Northwestern Argentina is arid and Andean, so while there's still a lot of beef, dishes include more corn items, like tamales, and the Italian influence so ever-present in Buenos Aires is absent. Dinner starts at 7 p.m. and costs $80 plus tax and tip. Call 786-515-7007 to make a reservation.

• If wine isn't for you, try the four-course tequila pairing dinner at Cafe Sambal. Dinner starts at 7 p.m. and costs $90 plus tax and tip. Call 305-913-8358 for a reservation.

• Deborah passes on a tip from a reader on where to buy good flatbreads in the area. [From the Test Kitchen]

• Food blogger Catherine Jheon enjoyed eating in Miami recently, although she wasn't as happy about the heat. [All Purpose Dark]

• Why online menus are better than paper ones: they cannot be used to swat waitresses in the rear. [Restaurant Gal]

• Tere and Victoria learn that by ordering half portions from the regular menu at Michy's, they could get a meal for just under the Miami Spice price. Also, the food is excellent, but you already knew that. [FoodTastic!]

• Plum visits Evolution's chef de cuisine Pierre Saussy, who makes a phyllo-crusted Florida shrimp in an ocean herbal broth that looks like it would be incredibly difficult to make in a home kitchen. [Plum]

Florida tops the nation in food poisoning outbreaks traced to restaurants, according to the website HealthInspections.com. Not surprisingly, the top five states — Florida, California, Ohio, Michigan and New York — also happen to be the most populous, as this wasn't done on a per-capita basis. We doubt this information will make anyone think twice about where to eat out, as the article suggests, but the numbers are interesting:

Florida restaurants were responsible for making more than 300 people sick in 77 separate outbreaks of "food poisoning" – which is the term most people use for getting sick from food.

Seafood and ethnic foods were the leading culprits for making Florida restaurant customers sick.

The Florida outbreaks also raise questions about the cleanliness of those popular all-you-can-eat buffets. They were the third leading cause of food poisoning in the Sunshine state. And half of the outbreaks traced to buffets were cause by "ethnic buffets" according to the CDC.

This makes sense. We've got a lot of ocean down here, so seafood's a favorite, and if cooked improperly (or served rare improperly), there can be problems. As for "ethnic" foods, we're not sure what to say about that, except that the term casts a very large net. Perhaps we should be dining only at Applebee's?

We wonder if Florida's high percentage of retirees plays a role in this business, as the elderly are more susceptible to disease from improperly prepared food. Mostly though, we think this is just a function of having so many people here; 300 people out of the millions of residents, tourists and snowbirds isn't bad.

EXCLUSIVE: The Most Dangerous States For Eating Out. Florida Tops The List [Health Inspections]

• Gail Shepherd thinks Taverna Kyma in Boca is the only one of the new Greek restaurants that will be able to challenge Taverna Opa, at least in the food department. Taverna Eros and Avra Taverna, on the other hand...well, just don't go for the food. [New Times]

• Three new places in Broward for pizza, burgers, and wings. First there's New River Pizza Cafe (1970 Sawgrass Mills Circle in Sunrise), the third branch — and the first sit-down one — of the original New River Pizza in Fort Lauderdale. Five Guys (1818 Cordova Rd in Fort Lauderdale, with six more locations planned in South Florida) serves up tasty burgers and fries. And Hurricane Grill & Wings, visited by the Beer Guy last week, just opened a new branch in Plantation. [Miami Herald]

• Charles Passy pays a visit to Brewzzi, an "Italian-American bistro and microbrewery." They serve burgers, typical Italian-American dishes, and a "mile-high meatloaf." Portions are huge, and while the food is generally good, the kitchen can occasionally send out a dud. [Palm Beach Post]

• The Beer Guy visits The Monkey King in Stuart, a microbrewery over in Martin County. But good news for Palm Beachers; they're looking to expand, possibly with a location in Wellington. [Palm Beach Post]

• We had a bit of deja vu when we saw Prime Blue Grille in the Herald this week. Then we remembered that Lee Klein had reviewed it in last week's New Times. A few descriptive phrases Victoria Pesce Elliott uses: "cooked exactly as ordered," "flawlessly executed," "superb," and "immensely flavorful." We think she liked it. [Miami Herald]

• Lee Klein is pretty harsh on Wish, often considered one of Miami Beach's best restaurants. He writes, "...one doesn't expect crackly ice cream, overcooked pork, undercooked pheasant, green-mango-less mango salad, warm water, and uninformed waiters." Ouch. [New Times]

• Linda Bladholm tells us of what we consider her most interesting find yet: B & M Market, a small, mostly takeout place that turns out West Indian specialties like curry goat, ackee and saltfish, and roti. Everything sounds delicious, but really, just the mention of jerk chicken and rum cake is enough to set our mouths watering. [Miami Herald]

• Doraku: better than your average sushi bar. Best time to come is Friday 5-8 p.m., when for $9 diners get two drinks plus unlimited trips to a buffet that features some basic sushi rolls, chicken wings, sake-steamed mussels and fruit salad. Any other day or time, those $9 will only get you one drink. [New Times]