New Times Changes Up Food Team

Categories: El Jefe
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For more than a decade, New Times has offered South Florida's most extensive food coverage. From our food blogs -- Short Order and Clean Plate Charlie -- to the Voice Places directory of restaurants to our weekly reviews, the coverage equals or betters any in the American Southeast. Journalism awards have certified this. 

But times are changing and digital coverage is becoming increasingly important. So we have a new team to handle this. Gone is food critic Lee Klein, who has long been the dean of South Florida restaurant reviewers. He's a genius, and I will miss him.

A corps of folks -- past and present contributors -- will take his place. Laine Doss, a longtime freelancer, will take on a full-time staff roll as food and spirits reporter -- and leader of our online efforts. Alex Rodriguez, a contributor to Short Order, moves into the assistant web editor role.


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Save Scotty's Landing: Best Waterfront Eats in Miami

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Former Miami City Manager Donald Warshaw ate there. So did ex-City Manager Cesar Odio. And ex-City Commissioner Miller Dawkins sometimes enjoyed the ocean breeze. Oh yeah, and ex-City Commissioner Humberto Hernandez, too.

Come to think of it. pretty much every indicted city official in history has sat on those plastic chairs at Coconut Grove's Scotty's Landing, looked out to sea and probably thought: What the hell have I done?

As Andres Viglucci pointed out in the Herald this morning, the city is looking for a new developer of the digs just north of Pan American Way. Scotty's is going to apply, but probably won't win. This is a tragedy.

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Pink Slime No More: Three Factories Suspend Production

Categories: El Jefe
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Wikimedia Commons
Pink slime, that ammonia-treated concoction used in ground beef that has offended the sensibilities of so many people, might finally disappear.

The Associated Press reports that three of four factories belonging to Beef Products Inc., which produces much of the popular but hazardous slime, have suspended operations. The firm will continue to make it at a place in South Dakota, but other factories in Texas, Kanas, and Iowa will stop.

The "finely textured animal protein" has been the subject of petition drives demanding its withdrawal, and the Miami school district recently announced it would stop serving the stuff.

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Peeny Butter Fudge: Bilingual Nobel Prize-Winner Free With Cheerios

Categories: El Jefe
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Cheerio, Slade Morrison!
Toni Morrison's Song of Solomon was maybe the best American novel of the past half-century. The daughter of a shipyard builder, Morrison won the Nobel Prize for Literature a few years ago based largely upon the amazing quality of that one book, her best.

So I was kinda surprised to see her name on a book that came free inside my Cheerios box this morning. She wrote Peeny Butter Fudge, which is selling on Amazon for $15. Told in poetry, it is the story of a great-grandmother. Morrison's son Slade helped co-write it.

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Give Tuyo a Chance!

Categories: El Jefe
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In the last few days, Short Order has published several posts excoriating Miami Dade College's new Tuyo restaurant for not hiring college students. I stand behind those articles.

I want to make clear, though, the place is just getting started. We will review it after it's a little more established. And I strongly support the idea of a culinary school in the City of Miami. So I asked Juan Mendieta, the school's director of communications, to talk about the idea of Tuyo. I have also pasted a press release about the school's opening after the jump.

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Harry Potter's Lawyers to Bake Shop: No Butterbeer or Acid Pops for You!

Categories: El Jefe
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On the very day the not-so-young wizard debuted in his final onscreen performance in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, lawyers for his studio, Warner Bros., have zapped a South Miami bake shop.

This morning, we reported about the Harry Potter-themed sweet treats at Sweetness Bake Shop & Café on Sunset Drive. But, we have just learned, the shop's owners -- who also steward the area's first dessert truck, Sugar Rush -- have received a cease-and-desist letter arguing the names of Harry's treats are proprietary.

What a bunch of muggles!

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Heat vs. Mavs: Joe's Stone Crab Better Than Cholesterol-Filled Beef

Categories: El Jefe
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Stone crab at Joe's.
The Miami Heat obliterated the Dallas Mavericks last night, busting Dirk Nowitzki's finger and pretty much ending the series in the first game.

But even more important: A bet between Joe's Stone Crab and the Dallas Chop House. A hundred pounds of fatty disgusting ribeye steak that will kill you before your 50th birthday versus 100 pounds of stone crab -- which is currently out of season, but what the hell, we'll send 'em the frozen stuff and it will still be better.

The bet was, of course, cooked up as a publicity stunt, pretty much so Steve Sawitz of Joe's could call it a "high steaks bet" -- a lousy pun that is only okay because LeBron James and Dwyane Wade so amazingly outclassed Nowitzki last night.

New Times hereby offers itself as a broker for other food bets. Name the restaurant in Dallas, and we will call them and bet the house... Heat backup Eddie House that is... Or maybe we'll think up some other dumb pun. We'll set up the best. Just give us ideas.

After the jump, find a copy of the release from Joe's.

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Bustelo, Pilon, Adios! Kiss Miami Coffee Good-Bye!

Categories: El Jefe
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For years, Miami has had a stranglehold on America. Sure, they had their crappy Starbucks and  fancy, yuppy coffee roasters. But we had cafe Cubano, cafe con leche, cortaditos, la gasolina de la tarde.....

But now J.M. Smucker has bought the local -- actually historically Cuban -- brand that has long made our city unique, Rowland Coffee Roasters.

The firm had been run by the Souto family for decades and had its beginning in Cuba in 1865. Gringos weren't even drinking coffee back then. We were too busy picking up the dead after the Civil War. Which is to say: These guys know coffee. They are a horrible loss.

Out in Doral, where they roasted the coffee, the air has smelled sweet for decades. It was an industrial neighborhood, but that didn't matter, because you'd stick your head in the air and breathe in the beautiful smell of coffee roasting.

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Seeking Freelance Food Bloggers, Critics

Categories: El Jefe
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Miami New Times is seeking food bloggers and critics. Qualified candidates will have some interest in the Miami food and restaurant scene, writing experience, and the ability to report food-related news. Send resumé and three or four of your best writing clips to chuck.strouse@miaminewtimes.com. No phone calls please.

Follow Short Order on Facebook and Twitter @Short_Order.

Route 9 Review: Errors Corrected

Categories: El Jefe
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The Route 9 review that appears in this week's issue has created a mini-storm of local concern among foodies. Frodnesor, Eater, and Bill Cooke have all commented on it.

Here's the deal. Our food critic Lee Klein's review of the small Coral Gables eatery included several factual errors. I learned this when Route 9 owner Jeremy Goldberg phoned to complain about the article. He pointed out that he and his wife were but nine years old the year our story claimed they had graduated from the Culinary Institute of America.

Goldberg also noted we had misstated several other facts: where he and his wife had worked before opening the restaurant, the ingredients used in a fish taco, the number of plates served, and the kind of tortilla served.

We removed the piece from the Internet, reviewed the claims, corrected the mistakes, and reposted it. We regret the errors and extend a heartfelt apology to Goldberg.

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