Just think — local beef, from Cuba? Well, so it's not local in the strict 100-mile interpretation, but still. John Parke Wright, a Florida rancher whose ancestors were very involved in the Havana-Tampa trade route, is just waiting for the day he can set up a cattle operation on the island. Here's why:

"From 1860 to 1960, Cuba had some of the best land for cattle in the Western hemisphere," says Wright. In 1960, Cuba had about 6 million people and 2 million cattle, but now has only 2 million cattle for 12 million people, he explains.

"There's a tremendous need to restock Cuba's ranches, and the opportunity has to be given to people like me," he says, adding that he'd start out by sending 3,000 head of cattle, tractors, trucks, and irrigation equipment to Cuba as soon as the two nations adjust their policies to allow for that.

Photo: justydrink/flickr

Hello local foodies! I am so excited to be the new stringer for Broward and Palm Beach Counties, so please allow me to introduce myself. I'm a 28 year old who loves to eat — especially food I don't make myself! Although I'm a native Floridian, I never go in the sun without sunscreen and, therefore, have been given the self-imposed title of "Whitest Girl in Florida." I'm a decent cook, but food just always tastes better to me when someone else makes it, which is why my husband and I eat most of our meals at restaurants or by take-out. I've been called Sally (as in "When Harry Met Sally") because I can sometimes (who am I kidding? MOST TIMES) have the same ordering techniques ("I'll have the B.L.T, with crispy bacon, but I want the lettuce on the side, unless it's Romaine, then I won't have lettuce at all . . ."), although I've never gotten quite as excited as she in a deli. I'm really looking forward to sharing my local discoveries with you and hope you enjoy reading about them!

Hi readers! You may have noticed a couple of exclamation-mark-heavy posts recently (I'm working on it), so I wanted to briefly introduce myself: I'm a local writer and editor, as well as the new Miami-Dade stringer for MenuPages. Due to long hours, crazy deadlines, an inherent laziness and my utter lack of cooking skills, I eat out constantly, and I'm willing to drive just about anywhere to quench a craving. I look forward to sharing my dining discoveries with you — and hearing about yours!

We absolutely love Southern food, and we did our very best to eat as much of it as possible during our four days in Georgia. Here we present the photographic evidence:

Continue reading "Georgia Eats: A Photo Essay" »

We're leaving you again. This time, we're jetting off to Atlanta for a few days in the city and in the northeast Georgia mountains. We're at the age when many of our friends are getting married, and the weddings are scattered all over the place. Not that we mind; it gives us an excellent excuse to get out of town for a few days. (We don't usually need much of an excuse anyway.)

Among the restaurants that we will be visiting:
• Smith House, Dahlonega
• Tomlin's BBQ, Rabun Gap
• Home Restaurant & Bar, Atlanta
• Harold's Barbecue, Atlanta
• The Varsity, Atlanta
• Mary Mac's Tea Room, Atlanta

Much fried chicken and pulled pork will be consumed. We may need to start some sort of diet on Monday. See you then!

Photo: The Blissful Glutton/flickr

We're leaving tonight for a short jaunt to Buenos Aires. It's been five years since we've been to the city of good air, or anywhere in South America for that matter, so we are very excited about returning. We're especially excited about the food, and we expect to return with tales of excellent beef and triple dulce de leche gelato. (The latter was our favorite mid-afternoon snack when we studied abroad there; yes, we were a bit chubbier back then.)

We'll be back on Monday morning; in the meantime, posting will be just a bit lighter than usual.

Photo: Lucypassos [Flickr]

Diners at Moon Thai & Japanese, across the street from the University of Miami, now have a sleek new menu featuring pictures of all of the restaurants signature rolls, appetizers, and entrees. The handy little flipbook is a new take on the restaurant menu and a clever marketing ploy. We went to lunch yesterday for Moon Thai’s fantastic Red Thai curry and just had to order the Popeye Roll, spinach, cucumber, and spicy mayo after seeing it on the menu.

Moon Thai & Japanese [MenuPages]
Moon Thai & Japanese [Official Site]

At the Fruit and Spice Park in Homestead, six dollars gets you a trip around the world and a taste of the freshest possible exotic fruit. Located at the corner of 248th street and 187th avenue, the county owned park was founded in 1944 by the Miami-Dade County Parks and Recreation Department to promote knowledge of local and exotic produce that grows in tropical climates. The result is a 35-acre property that offers a feast for the eyes and the taste buds. Friendly and knowledgeable park staff takes guests on a guided tram tour through sections of African, South Asian, and Caribbean botanicals. Guests can roam the parks on their own, but without much knowledge about the Dr. Seuss-like flora, we opted for the 45-minute tour. While on the tour, our guide explained the life-cycle of bananas, the growing season for Thai garlic, and the secrets of the calabash. She also showed us how to harvest mulberries, jaboticaba, wild Everglades tomatoes, Key apples, and even nasturtium flowers. By the mid-point of the tour, we were well over our five-a-day quota. We particularly loved the super sweet mulberries, the creamy jaboticaba that grows off the branches of the tree (pictured at left), and the spicy nasturtium flowers. The Australian section can be reached on foot, just beyond the baobab trees in Africa, but we decided to continue our adventure at the gift shop where samples of all the parks produce are free for the tasting and locally made jams, jellies, and spreads are available for purchase. If the trip inspires you to plant a little bit of Africa, Australia or the Caribbean in your backyard, the Fruit and Spice Park offers a list of nurseries that carry these exotics.

Fruit and Spice Park [Official Site]

Talk about a real hit at a party. The New York Times' John Tierney posted a blog entry celebrating Pi Day, the geekiest holiday in the history of civilization, which happens to be today. First celebrated by the Exploratorium in San Francisco exactly 20 years ago, March 14 (3.14) is a day to sit back and marvel at the mathematical miracle that is pi.

Here are a couple of Tierney's food-related suggestions on how to ring in the day. Hold on to your pocket-protector:

There's a method of calculating pi that involves throwing hot dogs onto a piece of paper. You'll have to check out Wiki-How for that one.

You could eat a slice of pie at pi second: 1:59 p.m. (3.14 1:59)

Our own humble suggestion includes a nod to the time of year. We've been eating oranges like they're going out of style because, well, they are. At least, they're going out of season. But these globular fruits also encompass nature's love of a certain mathematical equation. So, using the round fruits and a round pie pan, please enjoy the following orange pie recipes.

Fresh Orange Pie [Recipe Zaar]
Mandarin Orange Pie [Essortment]
Orange Meringue Pie [Allrecipes]
Key Orange Pie [Diana's Kitchen]

Photo credit: Profkaren [Flickr]

Hilarious. You know, there can be a lot of fun in translation. Just ask the folks at Engrish. But rarely do you get a gem of this caliber. Ass-hot chicken? You know it! A plate of ass steak? Nothin' butt! (Sorry — that was cheeky.) Too bad there's no ass hot dog up there. Ah, the golden age of film...

Anyway, here's why this exists: It's a menu for a burger stand in Quebec, where they speak Franglais. "Ass" stands for "assiette," which basically means "assortment plate," according to Neatorama. But dude, by this time they have to know how funny it is. You've got to hand it to them for the sheer commitment. "Ass 2 pain?" We bet.

And what's with the soft-porn lamp hanging down there on the right? That thing deserves a menu board all its own.

Ass Burger! [Neatorama]

Bad news in the follow-up to our Pink Grapefruit Mentos post yesterday: Candy Blog maven Cybele commented yesterday, and Mentos parent company Perfetti Van Melle confirmed in an e-mail today, that the pink pellets of grapefruit goodness are over and done for.

According to Jacqueline (no last name given) of PVM, "Pink Grapefruit was a limited time flavor and is no longer available." Oh. Okay, then. It would appear that the time is right for moving on, however now that seems impossible. Now that it's confirmed we'll never get to taste this candy that received a "10" from Candy Blogs, and that our friend went on and on about Sunday, it is the one and only goal we have left in life.

So what are your/our chances of ever tasting this mystery candy? Well, slim, obviously. Cybele indicated the grapefruit may still be in production for the Indonesian citrus-mix Mentos. Meanwhile, a Google search turned up a store in San Francisco, Miette, that is tracking the issue.

"Yes we have carried them in the past and I'm trying to find them again," says Miette Confisserie manager Kelly. "Currently, I'm searching for them. I'm trying to find a vendor." Kelly said the candies moved well, but that if they must be imported in future, the price may jump. It might still happen, though. These Miette people are enthusiastic about their candy. "We're in love with them. We're obsessed with the grapefruit flavor. We make a macaroon [and a layer cake] with grapefruit flavor and we carry Haro gummies. They make a white and a pink grapefruit slices... We also carry Jelly Bellies' pink grapefruit jelly beans."

Well, if anybody can track down this mystery sweet, surely Kelly will. Meanwhile, it looks like this will be a chocolate-and-jelly-bean kind of Easter. Boring.

Miette [MenuPages]
Miette [Official Site]
Perfetti Van Melle [Official Site]
Candy Blog [Official Site]
Photo: Jeffrey Zalesny [Flickr]

This? Is awesome. Thank God somebody over at Required Eating keeps up with Improv Everywhere, because we don't, or at least we haven't been (Welcome to day one), and there's a chance we would have missed this fantastic video. The so-called spontaneous musical takes place in a Los Angeles shopping mall, which is in on the joke and rigged with hidden cameras. The music, according to IE, is piped in through the mall's sound system. Watch and marvel, then click over to IE to get the inside scoop on how they did it.

Food Court Musical [Improv Everywhere]
'Spontaneous' Musical Performed in Mall Food Court [Required Eating]

Get ready, folks. With Easter around the corner, the internets are abuzz with opinions on egg-shaped confections. Whether they're plastic prize eggs filled with jelly beans or foil-wrapped Cadbury cream eggs, this is the season for ingesting far too much oval candy.

But before we get into the nitty gritty discussion of which Cadbury is the best (cream, duh), it's been suggested that a new, rare and highly valued candy join the pastel ranks left by that weird clucking rabbit. A friend yesterday described pink grapefruit Mentos as "the perfect blend of sweet and tart," and we concluded that with their pink color, minimal mess and apparently sophisticated flavor, they might be the perfect plastic-egg-stuffer for grown-ups.

But where to get these elusive treats? Our friend said they were purchased by chance from some corner store in Brooklyn, never to be seen there again. According to the Mentos website, "flavors of the world" include grape, mint and strawberry. But they're holding out on us.

An August, 2007 post on the Candy Blog documented the grapefruit flavor as part of a citrus assortment sold in the Phillipines, but there is little information currently online about where to find these candies in the here and now. If you have information, it would be welcome here. In the meantime, keep your eye out for these pink wonders and stock up if you find them. They don't stick around very long.

Mentos Plus Citrus Mix [Candy Blog]
Flavors Of The World [Mentos Official Site]
Photo credit: The Candy Blog

We always thought the uproar over MSG was a little overblown. (See also: red wine tannin headaches.) So we were happy to read this New York Times article about how the anti-MSG craze started and how the stuff has slowly inched its way back into tons of supermarket products.

Cooks around the world have remained dedicated to MSG, even though they may not know it by that name. As hydrolyzed soy protein or autolyzed yeast, it adds flavor to the canned chicken broth and to the packs of onion soup mix used by American home cooks, and to the cheese Goldfish crackers and the low-fat yogurts in many lunchboxes.

It is the taste of Marmite in the United Kingdom, of Golden Mountain sauce in Thailand, of Goya Sazón on the Latin islands of the Caribbean, of Salsa Lizano in Costa Rica and of Kewpie mayonnaise in Japan.

“It’s all the same thing: glutamate,” said Dr. Nuripa Chaudhari of the University of Miami, who was part of the first research team to identify human glutamate receptors.

Yes, MSG, the Secret Behind the Savor [New York Times]

Photo: Flickr

Sorry to start your morning with sad news, but we thought we should mention the passing of Ronnie Arbetter, the Miami hot dog legend who died on February 28 of pancreatic cancer. We wrote about him last November and hoped that he would have some more time to dole out some more hot dogs.

The restaurant was closed this weekend, but it's back open today.

Some Sad News From Arbetter's [MP: South Florida]
Ronnie Arbetter [Miami Herald]
Arbetter Hot Dogs [MenuPages]

Mint Leaf opens today, as we mentioned earlier this week. If you're in the downtown Coral Gables area, you might want to try one of their lunch specials. When we called and were told that the lunch specials run between $13 and $15, we thought that was a little steep. Then we heard what it includes. Your lunch thali comes with a curry (choice of vegetable, lamb, chicken or shrimp), a canapé, two vegetables, a lentil stew, salad, raita, papadums, bread and rice. Even if the portions are tiny, that's still a fairly big lunch.

The lunch specials are only available for sit-down lunch this week; they'll start doing take-out next week.

Opening: The Mint Leaf [MP: South Florida]
Mint Leaf [MenuPages]
Mint Leaf [Official Site]

We get so few good hot chocolate days. Not that we're complaining -- we like our winters nice and warm. But it's nice to have an excuse, at least a couple times a year, to indulge in a wonderfully thick hot chocolate. If you're thinking the same thing this morning, here are a few places you might want to try:

• Jimmie's Chocolates and Cafe bills itself as Florida's oldest chocolatier, so we're sure they've learned a thing or two about making hot chocolate in the 60 years they've been open.

• La Palma Restaurant (6091 SW 8th St in West Miami) has some of the best churros around. And as you all know, churros are perfect for dunking in hot chocolate.

• A La Folie Cafe offers a regular hot chocolate plus three other varieties: a 'chocolat parisien' with cream and vanilla, a 'chocolat viennois' with whipped cream, and a 'chocolat fou' with grand marnier. Pair with a croissant for a perfect breakfast.

• Romanico's mostly sells boxed chocolates, but you can go in there and ask for a hot chocolate.

Photo: Flickr

Two neighboring Long Island restaurants end up not too far away from each other in South Florida:

“On Nassau’s famous Jericho Pike (which could double for Federal Highway), there have been two landmark restaurants for about 50 years: Umberto's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria in New Hyde Park (operated by the Corteo family) and Arturo's Italian Restaurant in Bellerose, run by the Gismondi family.”

“Both places are about a mile apart, have distinguished themselves as solid, neighborhood restaurants serving ‘old world’ family recipe Italian cuisine,” said Frank.

“An odd coincidence came to me recently,” he said. “With all of the places to vacation and go in America, both of these restaurants spontaneously wound up a short distance apart in southeast Florida.”

And it was done, he noted, without any communications between the two families.

Umberto's actually has two locations – on State Road A1A in Pompono Beach and on Commercial Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Frank said. Arturo's is on North Federal Highway in Boca Raton.

Vincent Gismondi, who owns Arturo’s in Boca Raton, seemed amused by the coincidence.

Long-distance neighbors [Boca News]

There's a great discussion going on over at Chowhound about the frustrating nature of Florida produce. Everything is grown down here, but it always seems to get shipped up north before the locals can get their hands on it. And it's frustrating to think that New York City gets the best of our produce while we have to settle for fruits shipped from California. Here's what lax2mia had to say about it:

After endless attempts at finding local, Florida grown or sourced produce and seafood I've almost had it.

Was in NYC this weekend and dropped into Dean and Deluca. While looking through the produce I saw picture perfect meyer lemons and some not so good looking fava beans. Where were both of them from? Yep, Florida grown baby. At the fish counter what did I see? Whole pompano and skate wing. Guess from where?

I'm so sick and tired of our best local product being shipped out and almost impossible to find locally. When was the last time Publix had pompano? But I'm sure every Publix will have farm raised Chilean salmon at $5.99 a pound. And meyer lemons? Last time I saw them at a local market specializing in produce (Norman Brothers) they were imported from California. And fava beans are non-existant until spring when we get them in from the West Coast?

I've got plenty of theories, all of which tick me off. One is that growers and fisherman get more for their product if they export it out of state. To me this doesn't hold water because the lemons and beans were going for the same price as the specimens we get from California. Is it that Floridians don't care about what's growing in their own backyard and farmers don't have a choice but to export their product? Possibly. Ask your friends if they know (a) what a meyer lemon is and (b) that they're grown in Florida.

As for restaurants, we're still way behind the curve on this one. The only one we can think of that gets a good portion of local items on its menu is Michael's Genuine Food & Drink. According to another Chowhound post, Table 8 also uses some local citrus and lettuce, as well as fish. Local fish is common (although not as common as one would think). We also learned from that same post that Florida is the 12th largest beef producer in the country -- who knew? It'd be nice, for once, to see one of these steakhouses that seem to open up every five minutes around here use Florida-raised beef.

Does FLA export its best stuff? [Chowhound]
Going Local Florida [Chowhound]
Michael's Genuine Food & Drink [MenuPages]
Table 8 [MenuPages]

Photo: Flickr

It's Valentine's Day, and we've got chocolate on our minds, so we went over to the Kilwin's site. Did you know that they have live video of their chocolate factory? We took a snapshot (there's a feature for that too!) of the machine that makes chocolate-covered nuts. The nut clusters move on a conveyor belt through what appears to be a cascade of glorious chocolate. We imagine that if we worked there, we'd be constantly tempted to stick a finger underneath that flowing chocolate.

If you're looking for chocolates to buy your sweetie, there are Kilwin's in Coral Springs, Deerfield Beach, Delray Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Palm Beach Gardens, Pembroke Pines and Weston.

Kilwin's [Official Site]

Apparently Mark Bittman likes to show love the same way we do: with coffee-chile braised short ribs. We're using bison, he's using beef (the former has less cholesterol, by the way), but it's essentially the same. It made our morning to see the video of Bittman making his short ribs. He's using a different recipe from the one we're following, although we like his use of a chipotle pepper instead of the jalapeño called for in our recipe.

If you're craving short ribs, Michy's does a good version served with mashed potatoes. The ones at The Food Gang come with roasted root vegetables. Tuscan Steak offers chianti-braised short ribs with a chocolate espresso demi-glace. Bistro Ten Zero One makes a braised version (is there any other way?) with garlic and mashed potatoes, and Cafe Sharaku has a short rib stew in red wine sauce on the menu. And finally, one of the specialties at Vincent Restaurant is braised short ribs with wild mushroom gravy and creamy polenta.

Recipe: Short Ribs With Coffee and Chilies [New York Times]
Coffee-Marinated Bison Short Ribs [Epicurious]

Photo: Flickr

Ladies and gentlemen, we present The Wine Rack, a sports bra that can be filled up with alcohol, so that one can surreptitiously drink from a tube attached to said bra. Seriously. The scariest thing is that size medium is out of stock, which means that people are actually buying this thing. It can hold up to 25 ounces of wine and increase cups size by two full cups. (Guess it's cheaper than implants?) The only problem is that the thirstier you get, the more they shrink.

Hey Dave, think this could make your annual Christmas gift list?

The Wine Rack [Firebox.com]

Photo: Metro UK

Via Slashfood

Check out this menu, likely taken from a Mexican restaurant in Naples that miami fever photographed recently. The licuados we know usually include ice, fruit, sugar and either milk or water. (We prefer the latter.) But these things take the regular licuado several steps further. First there's the Rocky Balboa, with chocolate, egg, vanilla and cinnamon. The Bomba Mexicana also contains egg, as well as orange juice, honey, pineapple, plantain and strawberries. (Does that sound appetizing to anyone? Anyone?) This begs the question: are they actually putting raw eggs in there? Because that could cause some serious problems for the restaurant if, say, a customer were to become ill from a bad egg. Maybe they cook it quickly to kill bacteria. Or maybe they go all the way and hard-boil the sucker and then toss it into the blender. Which...ewww.

Photo: miami fever's Flickr

We're, um, still, recovering after last night, so forgive us, but that Giants victory was big for South Florida, as you can tell by the prevalence of 1972-themed articles in today's Miami Herald. What a great game, and what a great outcome.

In honor of the Giants' victory, how about a slice of New York-style pizza for lunch today? If you're in the Miami area, try Andiamo, Steve's Pizza or Miami's Best Pizza. In Broward, there's Piazza Benvenuto, which does a Sicilian pie, and, of course, a number of Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza locations. In Palm Beach, we hear that Dominic's also makes a good Sicilian pie.

Andiamo [MenuPages]
Steve's Pizza [MenuPages]
Miami's Best Pizza [MenuPages]
Piazza Benvenuto [MenuPages]
Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza [MenuPages]
Dominic's I [MenuPages]

Photo: Flickr, of the greatest New York-style slice ever, from DiFara's in Brooklyn

We should be more invested in the political process than we actually are, for a number of reasons, but ... we're not. That doesn't mean we don't do our civic duty on election day. But anyway, today is primary day in Florida, even if a) tons of people have already voted via absentee ballots and b) the Democratic primary doesn't count. Still, Floridians are flocking to polls; we imagine that's because of the property tax issue that's on the ballot.

So, go vote. And check out the citrusy recipes posted by Leila over at MP: Boston, who is properly excited about the primary season.

Candidates trade charges as Floridians flock to polls [Miami Herald]

Amuse Bouche: Orange You Glad You Can Cook? [MP: Boston]

We got our parents a CSA trial share for Christmas, and they have loved it so much that they're continuing for the rest of the season (well, splitting with our aunt and uncle). Our mom's really enjoyed scouring the internet for ways to use the new fruits and vegetables that appear in her CSA inbox. This week, canistel (or "eggfruit") was a bit of a challenge, as she'd never seen it before, but after a little research, she learned that it's related to mamey and would work well in a milkshake. I'll let her take it from here:

In the process of making the shake I discovered that if I left it very creamy, pudding like, and served it in a small dessert dish, it is like eating a light yogurt. This definitely can be made into ice cream. I poured them into dessert dishes and placed in the refrigerator to get cooler and will serve them after dinner today. Very, very yummy!

Continue reading "Mom's Experiment With Canistel" »

We just finished reading this article, about winter in the coldest city on earth: Yakutsk, in Siberia, where the temperature can, and often does, fall to -50 degrees Celsius (-58 Fahrenheit). We read the whole article, and we're still trying to imagine exactly what -50 feels like. We can't, even with the help of the author's description:

In Moscow, which has been my home town for four years, it's only hit minus 30C once, in early 2006, and the mercury rarely gets lower than anything a good, solid winter coat won't protect you from. So, before venturing outdoors in Yakutsk for the first time, I have decided to don a suitcase's worth of clothes to protect me against the cold.

Starting from the feet and working up, I'm wearing: a pair of cotton socks, with a pair of thermal socks over them; a pair of ankle-high Gore-Tex boots; a set of thermal long-johns; a pair of jeans; a thermal undershirt (a present from a worried family member); a long-sleeved T-shirt; a tight-fitting cashmere jumper; a fleece; a padded winter coat with hood; a thin pair of woollen gloves (so that when I take the outer pair off to take photographs I won't expose naked flesh); a pair of gloves made of wool and Thinsulate; a wool scarf; and a woolly football hat.

Lumbering from my hotel room like the Michelin Man, and already breaking into a sweat due to the hotel's industrial heating system, I decide that I'm ready to face everything Yakutsk has to throw at me. I stride purposefully out of the hotel door and... well... it really isn't that bad. The small oblong of my face that is naked to the elements definitely registers the cold air, but on the whole, it feels fine; pleasant, even. As long as you're dressed right, I think, this isn't too bad.

Within a few minutes, however, the icy weather begins to assert itself forcefully. The first place to suffer is the exposed skin on my face, which begins to sting, and then experience shooting pains, before going numb, which is apparently dangerous, because it means blood flow to the skin has stopped. Then the cold penetrates the double layer of gloves and sets to work on chilling my fingers.

The woolly hat and padded hood are no match for minus 43C either, and my ears begin to sting. Next to succumb are the legs. Finally, I find myself with severe pain all across my body and have to return indoors. I look at my watch. I have been outside for 13 minutes.

Yakutsk: Journey to the coldest city on earth [The Independent]

Via Chow

We're a little hazy on the details, due to the language barrier, but we do know that some company is going to try to replicated CocoWalk in the Bahçeşehir neighborhood of Istanbul, which is on the European side of the city and is home to a university. Here's some more info from the Turkish Daily News:

The Akiş, creator of the Akmerkez as one of the most successful shopping center projects of Turkey, now rolls up sleeves for the Akkoza Shopping Center in the district of Bahçeşehir, together with two other companies, Corio and Garanti Koza.The famous street of restaurants in Miami, USA, the Cocowalk will be replicated in Bahçeşehir to meet the demand.Three companies participate in the Akkoza project for the construction the Akkoza Houses consisting of 5.500 apartment flats. Located on the country limits of Esenyurt and Bahçeşehir, Akkoza Houses will have a fitness center, a festival park, and 11.000 square meters green field in addition to a business hotel, a private school and a private hospital.The shopping center here is to serve locals of the region as well as people coming from different parts of Istanbul.

Photo: Haberler

We came across AOL's list of the top 11 annoying restaurant trends, which we thought we'd reproduce here for you:

1. Recitation of the specials (as opposed to writing them on the board)
2. Recitation of the specials followed by, "sorry, we're out of that last one"
3. Bottled water up-selling
4. Up-selling in general
5. Listing the birthplace of every ingredient
6. The ubiquitous 'tini suffix
7. "Would you like freshly ground black pepper on that?"
8. Trios and duos
9. Over-pouring of wine
10. Prix fixe only
11. Expensive after-dinner tea and coffee

So some of them are a bit annoying, but really, over-pouring of wine? It is definitely not a problem when the waiter comes by to top off my glass. Clearly, the people who write for AOL Food are lightweights. And we enjoy trios and duos; the list writers explain that one part of the trio is clearly going to outshine the others, and you'll end up wanting a full-sized portion of it. But we prefer tastes of multiple dishes to large portions of just one dish. Most of the other stuff, yeah, we can definitely sympathize.

What would you add to the list?

Annoying Restaurant Trends [AOL food]
via Slashfood

Frodnesor has earned the undying admiration of all Florida chowhounds who regularly have to field questions like, "Where should we eat while we're in South Beach?" or "Where can we get good food during our Disney vacation?" Frodnesor compiled all of the "Best" or "Top" lists on the Florida thread and put it all in one handy post. That is dedication.

Unofficial Compilation of "Best" / "Top" Lists [Chowhound]

Via Critical Miami and Spangdish

Look closely. That's not sushi -- they're cookies! If you want to see how they're made, click on the Flickr link and check out the notes on the photo. We totally want to try these.

Photo: Flickr
Via Slashfood

As of tomorrow, Florida's minimum wage will be $6.79 per hour, up 12 cents from the current wage. Tipped employees are seeing a greater percentage increase; their base hourly pay is also increasing 12 cents, to $3.77.

Florida voters approved a state minimum wage in November 2004. The state minimum wage supersedes the federal minimum wage of $5.85. The federal minimum wage is set to increase to $6.55 in July.

The new state wage is based on an annual consumer price adjustment. The increase for 2008 is significantly less than the 27-cent, or 4.2 percent, increase for 2007.

Florida's minimum wage increases to $6.79/hour [News-Press]
Lawmakers Increase State Minimum Wage, Restaurateurs Yawn [MP: South Florida]

We scour the want ads so you don't have to.

• The Lighthouse Cafe, inside the Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park, needs bilingual food runners, prep cooks, and servers for the open-air beachfront restaurant. That certainly soun