Passover Vibes

I don't know about you, but I am getting major Passover vibes at my Publix. Makes me want to run home and scrub down my kitchen. But you got to admire those matzoh box pyramids. Very crafty.

Meat Market Coming Soon

How's your iron count doing? In the mood for some red meat?
At Dinner in Paradise at Paradise Farms in Homestead last Sunday had a chance to chat with Touch chef Sean Brasel. Turns out he's opening a steakhouse (!) across from Touch on Lincoln Road. It's called Meat Market and the menu is going to be seasonal and locally sourced as much as possible. Opening sometime in July. Incidentally, Brasel's crispy snapper at the dinner was a big hit.

A Late Snack at Red Light

Stopped by Red Light, Chef Kris Wessel's new spot, last night. Something about parking in the Motel Blu felt so L.A. Maybe because I had film making on the brain (this was after our screening, which went well-a big thank you to everyone who came out), but it was like a scene out of Lolita. The restaurant itself is narrow and cozy with a wrap around bar and booth seating up against big picture windows that offer views of Biscayne where we sadly watched an older black couple run their car over the Biscayne median and pop two tires. But hey, that's Biscayne for you. The outdoor area by the river is really beautiful and I can imagine many lazy enjoyable nights spent drinking beers on the patio. The restaurant was offering a short menu of "opening eats" with five options including bbq shrimp and dip bread ($8), white corn, baby conch fritters with Trinidad pepper mash ($9) and a fish of the day - snappper - with chef's veg of the day ($18). Considering we stopped in at about 11 and weren't terribly hungry we went for the organic egg, morbier cheese and tomato toast ($8).

The dish usually comes with apple bacon but my dining companion is allergic to pig products (no joke - you've never seen "pork lip" like this) so we got it sans the piggy and it was pretty delish. The chef is trying to use as much organic produce as possible and the tomatoes had that undeniable tang and flavor which was perfect combined with the richness of the egg and cheese and the crisp toast doused in a rosemary-tinged olive oil. Loved the presentation of the little pan - reminded me of how Israeli restaurants serve shakshuka, a similar poached egg dish. We washed it down with a Landshark beer, keeping it nice and local. Excited to go back and experience the restaurant once the full menu is in gear.
Located at 7700 Biscayne Blvd.
(305) 757-7773

Por Fin Menu

Menupages has the menu for Por Fin and it looks pretty durn good. I'm getting hungee just imagining those patatas bravas, bacalau fritters and the goat cheese escalibada (oven roasted red peppers, eggplant and onion, marinated in extra virgin olive oil, topped with toasted goat cheese). Loving the half-portion option for the rice and pasta dishes. Hello pear fiocchi (sweet pear pasta served with a light honey truffle cabrales sauce topped with crumbled walnuts), where have you been all my life?

Vegan Treats

Note to self: do not read about food before you've had your morning brekkie (that's breakfast speak, New Zealand-style). First there's a luscious pic and description of vegan cupcakes on Daily Candy and then a spot on banana-sesame-agave cakes at NYC's Birdbath. I am seriously jonesing for some animal-product-free baked goods.

Foreign Devils Screening

There's a plethora of stuff happening this weekend. In addition to Winter Music Conference and Funkshion Fashion extravaganzas there's the usual yin and yang of Miami event madness. If you happen to be free Friday night and are interesting in supporting local indie film making then I invite you to a screening we're having of our China film Foreign Devils. 7PM, at the LuminaireX screening room. Invite is below.

WMC-free List of Events

Tonight: The Coral Gables Wine and Food Fest. The ticket price snags you unlimited tastes of goods from more than 30 Gables restaurants like Cacao, Morton's The Steakhouse and La Cofradia. Plus, there'll be an open bar, wine and a Miccosukee Casino Lounge. March 27, 7PM-9PM, $50. 100 block of Giralda Ave., Coral Gables, 954.524.4657.

Also tonight: Glean valuable contemporary art trivia when The Bass Museum's "Art Crowd" hosts an interactive gallery walk titled Rock Stars of the Art World: Rosenquist, Rauschenberg, Stella and Johns. Delve into Stella's work at Gary Nader Fine Art then head to the Center for Visual Communication to bone up on the work of print masters. The evening finales with a wine tasting at bin No. 18. March 27, 6PM-9PM, $15. Call 305.673.7530 x 1015 or email at RSVP@bassmuseum.org.

And on Saturday, March 29, 8:30 p.m.
Oscar ® Shorts! 2008: ANIMATION Short Films
Miami Beach Cinematheque, 512 Espanola Way
305.673.4567
$10 General, $6 Members/Students
A viewing of The Academy Award winning nominated and winning Animation short films for 2008, including Miami Premieres! I Met The Walrus (Canada, Oscar Nominee: Josh Raskin), Madame Tutli-Putli (Canada, Oscar Nominees: Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski) and more. See website for complete listing.

LuminaireX, Design District

The LuminaireX pop-up store in the Design District is the intersection of design, fashion and literature. The temporary gallery/retail experience/WiFi-equipped coffee lounge will be open through April so make sure to check it out next time you're in the hood. It's on the ground floor of the Moore building so you can't miss it. Local stores like BASE and Books and Books have partnered with Luminaire to offer an eclectic variety of items from their usual stock and some rare finds. The space will also be hosting events throughout the entire period including gallery night on second Saturdays. Event listings here.

Luminaire is selling items you can't find in their regular store like small housewares and hostess gifts and limited-edition furniture like this Ron Arad prototype. Only $600 and my birthday is right around the corner (hint, hint). They've also got a limited-edition Nan Goldin book called The Devil's Playground and it is tugging at my design-junkie heartstrings.

One could easily spend an afternoon poring over the design and art books laid out by the folks at Books and Books.

And a super-bonus for us caffeine-addicted types: Lavazza has set up a complimentary coffee bar in the back of the showroom where they'll graciously indulge your espresso and cappuccino desires all day long.

Rag Trade on PlumTV

Rag Trade indie boutique owner/green activist/future Israeli organic farmer Stephanie Spiegel talks shop on PlumTV. If you have not yet been to her store, get thee to the Design District!

Bike to Work Week

March 24-28 is Miami Beach Bike to Work Week. Put the car keys to rest and hop on two wheels instead of four. The city will be hosting an event on Lincoln Road Wednesday March 26 from 11am-2pm in celebration of the joys of biking. Citizen Bike will be there. If you come out, you may even win a folding bike, like the one in the smokin' hot pic above, in a raffle. Miami Beach 411 has got a nice round-up of bike discussions on their forums.
[photo courtesy of Miami Fever]

Positive Party @ The Pelican

Frozen Treats at WMC

In the wtf? department: a food tie-in to Winter Music Conference. From the press release:

Wheeler's Frozen Desserts and Miami's Aquabooty are teaming up to create the world's "coolest" party! The event begins on March 27th and ends March 29th, occurring at Shine @ The Shelbourne, Gem, and The Opium Garden.
Each night Wheeler's Frozen Desserts will provide a selection of its custom world famous alcohol infused sorbets. The menu will consist of Platinum Patrón, Moët & Chandon champagne, Mojito, and Cuba Libre.
We will also be serving up Wheeler's infamous aphrodisiac "Never Comes Soft Serve" ice creams including G&G (Ginger and Ginseng) as well as Black Sexy Russian: Black vodka + Ginseg + Kahlua = Plenty of satisfied customers!

New Miami Bloggers

A couple of new Miami blogs have crossed my Internets radar and I'd like to share them with you, loyal readers.

NYC transplant Daniel Murphy relocates to South Beach with his puppy (named Puppy) and girlfriend Brooke. His blog [redacted] has quite a following in New York and it's easy to see why. It's great observational humor. And I'm glad to have him down here observing life from a New Yorker's perspective. Here he tells of his first encounter with Cuban coffee:

Flash forward to 3:00. Brooke and I come to after a nap by the pool. I sit up and groggily rub my eyes, not quite sure where I am. There are two overturned Styrofoam coffee cups between my and Brooke. I stumble into the hotel room, and what I see is the remnants of a war. I can’t quite remember what happened over the past few hours, but if this scene is any indication, then at least three of the following incidents occurred: a pillow fight, a fashion show, gymnastics, a game of kickball, some sort of brawl, and a large chicken feast.

Nice. I've totally been there.
Lizza at the (covert) overt has got helpful reviews of restaurants, stores and other good stuff. And The Chowfather focuses mainly on food, wine and dining.
Looking forward to keeping up with all these quality new blogs. Thanks for giving me more reasons to procrastinate doing work, people!

Macau Musings

I was looking through some photo folders and realized I never posted much about our trip to Macau/Hong Kong back in October. To rectify, here are some vibes from the Asian continent.


This is a shot of Macau early in the morning. The casinos are in full swing 24 hours a day, of course, but outside the streets are quiet. Portuguese colonial architecture and Chinese paper lanters share the landscape. For all its global relevance, Macau feels like a provincial island. We walked around at 7am for about an hour and barely saw anyone.


Bar snacks at the Wynn Casino's Cinnabar. Fancy potato chips, herbed breadsticks and spiced cashews. We polished off three rounds of the snacks.


The interior of the gargantuan Venetian Casino. I can not possibly convey the vastness of this casino. When you are in the main game room, you can not see to the end of the room. It's like a repeating montage of chandeliers, gamblers and tables. Chandeliers. Gamblers. Tables. No end in site. It is the highest grossing casino for the Venetian group. I only have this pic because security guards made me stop taking pictures. Probably has something to do with people cheating and that kind of thing.

Jewno!

Today is Purim, my fave Jewish holiday as its story stars a courageous Persian woman. It's also a really goofy holiday, with costumes and parodies encouraged. In that spirit, I give you Jewno, a Jew-riffic take on Juno. They even managed to get J.K. Simmons, the original dad from the movie to reprise his role. Love it!

Indomania, Miami Beach

Listen up Miami food people. I've seen the gastronomic light, and it's in the shape of a charming restaurant called Indomania on 26th street in Miami Beach. If I were prone to dramatic statements I would tell you to drop what you are doing and make a reservation at the restaurant right now because it will be one of the most enjoyable dining experiences you'll have in this city. From the batik-covered tables to the cozy atmosphere to the gentle hum of conversation generated by the packed tables on a Sunday night it was clear that we had discovered something special. It reminded me of dining in New York, at a small spot with close-set tables. It also felt like a true neighborhood restaurant. That everyone there was in the know; they were all in on this culinary secret. The restaurant is owned by a retired Dutch couple, Pieter and Ineke Both. She's the chef, he's the host and they're both really good at what they do.

We dined on the “rijstaffel Sumatra,” a repast filled with a succession of small plates (about a dozen) varieties of Dutch-Indonesian traditional eats. Aromas of cumin in coconut sauce, of meat simmered in a mixture of ground tamarind mixed with cinnamon, lime leaves and lemongrass, of green beans sauteed in chilis and crushed macadamia nuts, of eggplants cooked with cloves. Of stews made with galanka root, shallots, garlic and ginger. Everything tasted different, with its own bouquet of herbs, fire and spice. Influences from Indian, Chinese and North African cooking were apparent but it was only as a reference point from which to build more complex tastes. Each dish maintained its own identity it all worked together. There was home made sambal olek for adding extra fire. There was a toasted shredded coconut for added texture. There was ginger-flecked rice to clear the palate. It was fragrant, refreshing and filling. It was a massive amount of food and at $26 per person, reasonably priced.

With the golden late-day sun pouring through the window and a chilled bottle of Estancia Divina Albarino ($28) to wash it all down the experience was downright romantic.

Oh, oh, oh

I am really digging Dig for Fire's superb video production prowess and I am particularly digging this segment they put together on Vampire Weekend. Considering the venue where they filmed, NYC's Other Music's store, is about 200 square feet, this piece is amazing. Much better than anything MTV shot with the band. And no, I can't promise this will be the last mention of VW. I...just...can't.

Five Fabulous Female Chefs, March 29

The Yin and Yang of Twee Pop

Local scribe John Hood hates on Vampire Weekend.
I disagree. Obviously.
Give in to the infectious melodies, John. Embrace the brainy lyrics.
It's OK. We'll still think you're cool.

Small Plates Phenom

Have small plates usurped "regular" size main dishes? There's a lot of theorizing about it on the internets. This got me thinking.

Is the need for small plates indicative of an overall bite-size trend overtaking our culture? We want news in soundbites, short pithy articles that give you snappy prose in less space (when was the last time you actually read an article that 800+ words?). And of course, brief, ephemeral videos that entertain for nanoseconds before they get old.

Does it also speak to our non-committal approach to life? That we'd rather pick and choose from various sources/ethnicities/influences rather than stick to one overarching aesthetic philosophy?
Perhaps we are so all-embracing and the age of exclusivity has ceased. We have access to everything and everyone has access to us.

I'm all for succinct approaches to life. The less the better, and as a society we've certainly gorged ourselves into oblivion, but there's something labor intensive about all this shortness.
It takes more time to create small plates and they are consumed faster than large dishes. Does it add up to more waste? Possibly. A pile of small dishes as opposed to one T-Rex size platter. It's also easier to get lost in the relentless maw of consumption. This applies to information as well as food overload.

I took the picture above in Tel Aviv last year. This restaurant specializes in tapas-like canapes that sell for 6 shekels ($1.50) each. They are basically toast points with toppings like Camembert cheese, sardines, eggplant and feta, pesto and feta, etc. I was super-intrigued by the concept. But the truth is, the restaurant only works if you're only slightly hungry. In the mood for a quick bite, that sort of thing. But the appeal is undeniable. Perfect for hyper-selective, non-committal types. I don't know about you, but I'm getting hungry thinking about that feta and pesto....