Miami Danny

I was supposed to fly up to NY for the 2007 Vendy Awards last weekend, but unfortunately I tore up my knee and couldn't leave Miami (Boo Hoo). I was wondering if anyone who attended could let me know how they liked the food, how they liked the setup (admission price, lines, venue, etc.). How did it compare to previous years, etc. Thank you.

Heh, I bet it will be even more packed in October. What time do they open up? Maybe if we pop in early. ← I've called, but there seems to be some confusion. I'm not sure when they open-I'm gonna try and stop by before Saturday and ask the manager.

I'm a big fan of the special feasts that only happen on certain days, like Sunday supper and such, and the Brazilian feast known as feijoada is one of my favorites. Normally eaten with the whole family/friends/neighborhood on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon, feijoada is a long-simmered black bean stew (feijao means beans), that usually contains many different parts of the pig. Many. Different. Parts. It also may contain fresh beef as well as dried beef, in the form of tasajo or carne seca, usually some kind of sausage, some salt pork/pork belly chunks, and, well, you get the picture. It is served with several traditional accompaniments, including white rice and farofa (toasted manioc flour-you shove it in your mouth instead of bread-weird but it works), peeled orange segments, and collard greens or kale (couve). The beverage of choice would be a caipirinha, which is made from cachaca, the Brazilian sugar cane liquor, shaken together with a sugar-muddled lime-pure alcohol, really, and a cocktail that rivals the better-known mojito (at least you won't be picking mint out of your teeth all evening). This is an afternoon feast, and there is usually music and dancing (Brazilians, people), and lots of laughter and camaraderie for the whole neighborhood. At Boteco, at 916 NE 79th St., the feijoada feast is held only on the first Saturday of the month, making it even more special, and in September, it was packed. There were musicians playing, and there was even a dude on the patio, from Bahia, in the north of Brazil, frying acaraje, which are fried bean cakes (pictured); basically soaked black-eyed peas mashed into a paste and fried into cakes (like a big fritter), served with some hot sauce and a chopped tomato salad, which is piled into the center of the split-open acaraje. Authentic Bahian street food on 79th Street. Not bad. (Is 79th St poised to become the new restaurant row? We already have a parillada, Brazilian, Bavarian...) I apologize for losing the man's business card (it was a long afternoon)-pick one up while you're there. As for the feijoada, I had just eaten an enormous sopa de res and about ten steaming hot tortillas at my favorite Mexican restaurant, to cure my hangover, and I was extremely full, so all I could do was drink more alcohol (inside tip-caipirinhas cure everything). But everyone I spoke to was very satisfied with the food. They bring in a Feijoada specialist for their feast, and there was plenty of food, with the trays constantly being refilled with fresh stuff. (As an aside, just the amazing aromas brought me back to the shores of a little creek in the tiny town of Sana, in the countryside near Rio, where we danced forro every night until the sun came up-musicians putting everyone in a trance with just the triangle, bass drum, and accordion. Watching the broadcast of the huge Carnival celebration back in Rio on a scratchy TV with a hanger for an antenna in the town square, while cracking open beers for the under-aged kids. Dudes riding their horses up to the bar to get a drink. It was all so surreal. But back to the present.) Everyone seemed to be going back to the buffet spread for seconds and thirds, and at $15 for all-you-can-eat, it's a ganga (bargain). The drinks are cheap, too. There were a lot of Brazilians there, some neighborhood types, and a lot of families-and this was at 2PM, on a very hot Saturday, mind you. I don't know if it got crazier later, but it was already a huge party. You could easily spend all afternoon here. Better skip breakfast, and also plan on a post-feast disco nap if you plan on going anywhere Saturday night. Tuto beng? Tuto bong.

Great stuff-kudos-reminds one of the good old days when people would lustily describe their meals, before everyone became addicted to food porn. I would like to thank you for getting too drunk, or perhaps just having a sense of propriety, or perhaps both (no, I'm guessing it was simply the alcohol) and not taking pictures or notes, and leaving something to the imagination. That lazy cat says it all, anyway.

Got a gorgeous Bone-in Ribeye for $7/lb-over 22 ounces for just under $10. Also Hebrew National Hot Dogs 2-4-1. Nice organic baby arugula-$2.50 for a 5-oz pkg. Also had the 'Jonah' crab claws the other day-at $6 or $7/lb, had them steam them there (I'm kindof injured right now), and even though they're previously frozen, about 3/4 of them tasted really good. Sweet, even. Ate them with a glass of chardonnay. Nice surprise. Saw plenty of veal breasts, maybe $3.50/lb? (Miami Shores)

There's something that bothers me about the phrase 'Latin Food'. So many cuisines get thrown into the mix, that the distinct and often unique dishes from quite different countries get bundled together simply because of geography, or a common language. Take Peruvian food, for example. Most people know that acclaimed chef Nobu Matsuhisa got much of his inspiration from Peruvian cuisine, which is reflected in many of his ground-breaking dishes, particularly the octopus tiradito and seafood ceviche. Matsuhisa points out in his cookbook that when he first opened Nobu in New York, in 1994, “...hardly anyone knew what ceviche was.” The problem has become that with the mainstreaming of ceviche, as with supermarket sushi, so much of it is so bad, that it makes you wonder what the big deal was in the first place. Too much lime, fish that isn't pristine, lame Nobu knockoffs (hot oil/jalapenos on everything), etc. But the classic Peruvian dishes, when presented properly, still have the ability to surprise; and to belie the popular, yet woefully limiting conception, of a homogeneous 'Latin Cuisine'. My introduction to Peruvian food did not come from ceviche, though, it came straight from the heart-literally. The 'anticucho', the grilled heart, that is. Heart may seem unusual in the US, but it is a fairly common dish throughout the rest of the world, where 'nose to tail' eating is more prevalent. At El Rocoto, a small storefront in an abandoned-looking strip mall (actually the owners of the shopping center went bankrupt, and almost all the stores are in fact boarded-up), the dish is served simply grilled, with an accompaniment of fat corn kernels and a small hunk of potato. There is plenty of meat on the plate, and heart is very lean and rich, so a small dish is all you really need. Usually marinated overnight to tenderize and add flavor, the heart must be first cut in strips before cooking, to minimize chewiness. At El Rocoto, it is prepared flawlessly, and each bite reveals another component of the marinade. The accompanying small dish of fiery Huancaina sauce is as welcome as a bernaise to a steak. The sauce, which is based on white cheese, garlic, and hot aji amarillo peppers, goes well with the rich strips of heart, and, in fact, it goes well with everything. The ceviche that followed was a chilled dish of cooked mussels served on the half-shell-a complete 180 from the heart. Where the anticuchos were warm and rich, the mussels were cool and subtle, although they retained their flavor well, even under a mountain of what appeared to be an entire diced red onion, those over sized corn kernels again, diced tomatoes, and spicy jalapenos. Of course you can't eat mussels raw, but they are so slightly cooked, that they don't get rubbery or tasteless-a common problem in general when ordering mussels, where the broth in which they are cooked retains all the flavor, not the meat itself, which is often overdone. There are nine plump mussels on the plate, and after I ate most of the heart, I had a hard time finishing everything. I washed it all down with a cold Cristal, the beer not the Champagne, and took in the scene-not much to look at, the music kind of crappy, only three other people in the place. In fact, after entering the shopping center, I had turned around and left after noticing not one person inside and no cars at all in the enormous parking lot. I was deciding where else to go, when a family drove up and entered the place, so I followed. You have to really want to eat here-even the credit card machine was broken that day, resulting in a not very pleasant post-meal jaunt to the 7-11 for some cash. But the service was cheery, and the food exactly right. After I returned with my cash for the sweet and very apologetic ladies who were running the place, I peered in the kitchen and waved to another smiling face-the chef, who obviously knew her magic had worked on me. (Special thanks to Anne (via weinoo) of eGullet for the tip!) El Rocoto 3990 SW 40th Ave Pembroke Park 33023 954-961-9752 Anticucho-$7 Mussels-$9 Cristal-$3.50

I believe you're thinking of Bagels and Company-decent bagels and black-and-whites. They do bkfst and lunch-cozy neighborhood diner atmosphere-closes about 3PM. Next to the gun store.

Stopped in Arnie and Richie's on 41st St on Miami Beach on Monday-I was under the weather so I got some pastrami and chopped liver to go. The CL was excellent, slightly chunky and homestyle, and the pastrami was not bad. I'm more of a corned beef man anyway. But because I got the pastrami to go from the deli, I was able to avoid the small gristly spots which can ruin the whole sandwich eating experience. On the whole, though, pretty moist and flavorful-they steam it on order. Place smelled like pickles and was packed for lunch. Oh, and the counterman was a major wise-ass, and the lady at the register was an old-school doll. And if you want to know about a special Jewish holiday treat, see below.

Those guys were a riot - so loopy, even Tony was given them backhand glances! But obviously his kind of glacier-climbing buds. Someone should've told Guacho #1 that, traditional garb aside, ponchos are so not a good a idea to go glacier-climbing in (!) ← Cute story-While waiting for the Argentina episode to come on, I caught the NYC rerun. Tony eats some jellied something with his Japanese friends, remarking that a lot of people don't like the squiggly texture; later, he eats a sheep head at Spotted Pig. That very morning, I was in a Miami Beach Jewish Deli, and, along with my chopped liver and pastrami, this being the New Year, I also bought a cooked sheep head (they also had them raw), and P'tcha, which is cow foot jelly. Crazy coincidence! (The sheep head, half a head, really, still had several teeth attached.) Sorry, I tried to post the pictures, but I couldn't seem to do it. See below if you dare.

Hey, confusion is the order of the day in Miami, Anne! They are still open, and are in fact doing a special Rosh Hashanah menu for the holiday. I was assured they will be "fully staffed". They're not going to close until at least next year or the year after. So get your halkas now!

First of all, being an annoying/sarcastic/wiseass counterman is a tradition in Jewish delis (maybe all delis-I seem to remember the Italian guys were crazy, too). It's called being a smart-aleck, as in 'what are you, a smart-aleck? Of course the pastrami's lean. It's been leanin against the counter all day. Now how much do you want, I ain't got all day." I learned all my bitter humor from some very irritable counter guys, often named Sam. If you are treated with smiles and kindnesses, you probably want to go somewhere else. Just for the record, while, sadly, Wolfie's on Collins and 21st closed some time ago, the Rascal House at 171st and Collins in Sunny Isles is still open. Same huge menu. I've never eaten there, but it's always packed with beautifully dressed alta cockers. Pleasant half-hour drive up Collins, if you're in the mood. Zi Gesunt.

Perhaps you could be a little more specific in your criticisms-'ripoff' 'poor imitation' 'really mediocre'-don't really have any meaning without details to back them up. And everyone knows that Capt. Jim's is a budget place-that's part of why it is so often mentioned-that serves very fresh fish cooked right.

"I think you've got the wrong impression of Anthony. He really cares about indigenous cultures, and off-the-beaten-path foods. If he even seems to be acting pompous, he's just joking. He doesn't take himself seriously. He's an old school punk with a sense of humor." Well, I'm not sure how you can know any of that, but, regardless, I'm talking about his TV persona here, not him personally. Sorry, his show is way too pretentious for me.

Tatay's Sorry for the technical glitch. I never heard it referred to as pork chocolate either, that's part of Irving's charm. Puto sounds dirty! Anything to that?

These two spots are great in their own right-both were written about in the same day, in the Sun Post and the Herald. Irving's Magical Food Truck AND Tatay's I'm currently a HUGE fan of Pork Chocolate, and for all the right reasons.

More on Orale from the Miami SunPost

Capt. Jim's is great for fish and seafood, as they often have their own catch there, but it is kind of out of the way. I like Garcia's, although I agree they are occasionally incosistent. And the river view is pretty grubby. But the fish is ultra-fresh.

I would also mention that I believe Talula has peaked, and is only a good choice in lieu of some expensive yet crummy hotel restaurant on South Beach. The atmosphere is still wonderful, but the food has fallen a notch. Prices don't seem so low anymore, either.

Lord, why call them 'Blue Cheese, Shredded Duck and Jamon Croquetas, if they contain/one can discern only one of three items? Have a meal here, it's fine, but please try something else, too. This place is far from perfect.

Look for chef Michael Schwartz, of Michael's Genuine, as a guest judge next week. His low-key demeanor (along with his consistently great food, of course), has helped make his restaurant the hottest in Miami, without any major PR push. Wonder how that will translate to TV?

Chef Michael Schwartz will be a judge on Top Chef on 9/5, for those of you who watch the show.

Great place to party-great bathrooms-get on the list and go out back-gorgeous.

But all that's been done already by people who really know about culture, like NatGeo. This is all retreads-it's all been done before, that's why it seems so familiar. Be thankful that at least sometimes they get the food part of it right. Thank god he doesn't lecture and pontificate like Bourdain.

I'm sure AB's a swell guy, I'm not disputing that, but that just doesn't seem to translate to his show. Zimmer, on the other hand, seems too normal-although his claim that that plate of shellfish would cost one or two hundred dollars seemed a little far-fetched.

You might be thinking of La Broche, which was in Brickell, downtown, and closed some time ago. Probably why they're not getting much press anymore