All photos by Hannah Sentenac

Small businesses make Miami special. After all, what's better than knowing your hard-earned dollars are supporting your fellow 305'ers, versus soulless corporations and their fat cat CEOs? This city wouldn't be what it is without Panther Coffee, Whisk Gourmet and Abraxas Lounge.

So the Unemployed Chef in Coral Gables is a welcome addition. The only problem? Not nearly enough people know they're there. This sister-owned outpost serves home-cooked breakfast and lunch, and they're earning rave reviews from those in the neighborhood. So why the hell haven't you eaten there yet?

See also:
- Panther Coffee's Miami Beach Shop Near Opening
- Scratch Bakery Downtown: Free Pizza, Cupcakes, and Ice Cream Tomorrow

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Courtesy Miami Subs Grill

Pitbull's favorite sub shop heading to the Middle East.

Looks like the Middle East is going to have to get used to saying "Dale" because Miami Subs, renamed the New Miami Subs Grill, is planning on a mega expansion into the part of the Middle East known as the Gulf Coast Countries.

The south Florida fast food chain has inked a deal with Saudi Arabian company Mazah Trading and Contracting Co. Lt, to open 56 restaurants in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Oman, Qatar, and Bahrain.

The restaurants will be operated under the name Al Zarah Group. A flagship Saudi Arabian location will serve as a training facility for future stores.

Read also:
- Miami Subs Announce Brand Revamp, World Expansion
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All photos by Laine Doss

Florida Cookery -- Don Draper goes native.

Most people seek restaurants that feature a city's unique cuisine. New Orleans has restaurants known for their gumbo and po'boys, Rome has cafés where you can get a fresh bowl of pasta, Texas has barbecue joints, and Maine has seafood shacks shilling lobster right off the boat. But how many restaurants feature Florida cuisine? And what exactly is Florida cuisine?

Read also: "Kris Wessel: Florida Cookery Is Personal"

Kris Wessel wants to answer that question at his new restaurant, Florida Cookery, at the James Royal Palm Hotel in South Beach. The restaurant is true to its name, featuring local produce and fruits, fresh seafood caught from Florida waters, and many recipes adapted from vintage cookbooks. Don't call this cuisine Floribbean, though. "Of course there are Caribbean influences to the menu, but there's more to it than that. True South Florida cuisine marries the South, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Northeast," Wessel says.

The menu says "handcrafted by Kris Wessel" in small print at the bottom, but it looks as if his grandmother's spirit also guides the chef's hand. The dining room screams Mad Men-era Miami, and several dishes are served on vintage glassware and in colorful Pyrex bowls. Guests are given a recipe card for Wessel's grandmother's ambrosia salad as a keepsake. And every dish tells the story of generations of one Miami family -- and every Miami family.

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Paul & Young Ron accept a donation from BurgerFi on behalf of Feeding South Florida. From left to right: Paul Castronovo, Louis Torelli, Emma Garcia,"Young Ron" Brewer

'Tis the season of giving, and the citizens and businesses of South Florida are not shy about sharing in the celebration with those less fortunate. From Palm Beach to Homestead, those in the position to help others are sharing the wealth. Short Oder challenges our readers to do their part by reaching out to one of several entities dedicated to making a difference this holiday season.

Perhaps the most obvious vehicle the everyday person can use to give back to their community is the tri-county Feeding South Florida food bank. FSF, which is based in Pembroke Pines, allows you to donate either money or your time through their website. You can do your part in several ways, even vowing to reduce the amount of food that goes to waste, currently at a shocking 20 percent.

FSF focuses on reducing the most shocking stat of all -- one in six South Floridians do not know where their next meal will come from.  The recession caused the amount of food and money donated to decrease in 2008 and 2009, according to The Fund Raising School at Indiana University. For the past two years, however, the number has slowly increased. "Those increases are a positive indicator that suggest that people want to be generous even when times are tough," Tim Seiler, a professor of philanthropic studies told the Miami Herald.

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George Martinez

Wild salmon at South Street

It was nearly 10 o'clock on a Friday evening when Amir Ben-Zion strolled past the double doors of his new Design District eatery, South Street. Head cleanly shaven and dressed in distressed jeans, the 50-year-old sauntered by an expansive leather booth where Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union were tweeting about their meal, past busy waiters wearing plaid trilby hats and suspenders, and stopped at a DJ stand nestled at the far corner of the bumping upstairs lounge.

He signaled, and Rufus and Chaka Khan's "Tell Me Something Good" blared through the speakers. As decibel levels increased, the crowd took notice; it was a trademark Ben-Zion moment: good sound, good food, and good-looking people.

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All photos by Laine Doss

Giant metal pig? Check!

Brother Jimmy's BBQ is set to open soon at Mary Brickell Village, bringing the popular New York City mini-chain to South Florida. Jim Goldman, one of the principals, showed me around the restaurant. The floors were being worked on, so we chatted outside for a while.

It was during that chat that I found out Goldman had owned some of my favorite haunts and dive bars in New York. If you lived, worked, or schooled in Manhattan during the '80s and '90s, you'll be quite familiar with the names: Lucy's Retired Surfer's Club, Bamboo Bernie's, Bear Bar.

If you're not indoctrinated and you're picturing a place filled with tiki torches, PBR cans, and girls dancing on the bar, well, yes. These were the places for Columbia University students and Wall Streeters to forget about stressful exams and bad trades and knock back a few. The places were dark, the music loud, the vibe great, and the drinks cheap (in fact, they were usually free for women).

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All photos by Laine Doss

Corben eating Corben.

Blue Collar: Miami's Best Restaurant Value

Blue Collar's chef Danny Serfer has gained a cult following since he opened his small restaurant in January. Grab a seat and look around. Chances are, if you've been there more than once, you'll start to recognize the faces of regulars who come weekly -- sometimes even daily.

Serfer's biggest fan could perhaps be film director and producer Billy Corben, who drops in daily on his way to his office at Rakontur Studios.

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Get your last stone crabs of the season at Joe's or any of these other places.

Stone crab season ends May 16, bringing an end to that beautiful cracking and slurping until October. We're going to miss dipping those sweet pink and purple claws in creamy mustard sauce, but are delighted the crabs have the summer to rest and mate.

We suggest a stone crab feast tonight as the perfect way to end the season. From take home to dine-in, here's where you can get your last meal, so to speak.

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Photo by Marguerite Gil

Welcome to the Belle Meade Dinner Club

​This story has been corrected. When published, it erroneously stated that Revales Ristorante was closed. This is far from correct. Revales is alive and well, located on Biscayne Boulevard and NE 86th Street, and operated by the same family that operated The Village Café in Miami Shores. It opens daily for breakfast at 8:30 a.m. and serves dinner till 10 p.m.

It doesn't have an official name yet, so let's just call it the Belle Meade Dinner Club. It was started in December 2009 by Tara Gaerjens, who, along with some enthusiastic friends/backers, strolled into Belle Meade with an idea for a magazine focusing on this Upper Eastside neighborhood. (Vanity of vanities ... all is vanity. Ecclesiastes, 1, 2; XII, 8).

Later neighbors found out that she had also "wandered" into Morningside, another affluent neighborhood just south of Belle Meade and also pitched her idea.

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All photos by Laine Doss

My Ceviche partners Roger Duarte and Sam Gorenstein with some fresh friends.

Here's an actual conversation overheard at My Ceviche last evening:

Sam Gorenstein: Hi. Welcome to My Ceviche.
Young couple: [Perusing the menu board] Hi!
Gorenstein: Is this your first time here?
Man in couple: Yes. I know someone who works at the Raleigh, and she said that Sam Gorenstein opened a ceviche restaurant.
Woman in couple: Do you know him?
Sam Gorenstein: I am him!

That's right, friends. If you call in a take-out order at My Ceviche, it's more than likely James Beard-nominated chef Sam Gorenstein is on the other end of the line. And if you walk into the small, 240-square-foot space, you'll be greeted by the chef himself or his partner, Roger Duarte, from George Stone Crab.

There's nothing to hide in these tight quarters. A large cooler holds the stone crab claws that Duarte supplies from fishermen in Marathon. A baker's rack in the front of the store is the dry goods storage, filled with spices, lemons, and some bottles of Jarritos. Look just beyond the counter and you'll see two cooks at My Ceviche breaking down an octopus. There is no seating in the actual restaurant, but there are some tables in the adjacent hostel, and the beach is a block away.
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