I got an email about Restaurant.com giving 80% off its certificates through Thursday.  On Restaurant.com, you can buy gift certificates to restaurants for yourself or others, usually for at least half off.

I’ve used the service before, with trepidation at first, but without any problems.  I used the certificates at Maroosh (Falafel pictured above.) and Chispa in Coral Gables.  There are restrictions.  Often the certificates can only be used on weekdays, but each one is different.  Also, check for the minimums.   For example, a $50 gift certificate might require a minimum food purchase total of $100 or a $25 gift ceritificate might require a minimum of $35 total purchase.

This was several years ago, and Restaurant.com has since expanded its marketing and restaurant offerings.

I decided to post about the site when I noticed how their restaurant selection has improved.  Now they offer more well-known restaurants in addition to the plethora of neighborhood spots.  You still have to pick and choose, but hopefully I can help.  Here are some of the restaurants on the site I would be more eager to try or revisit:

Miami Beach

Creek 28

Izzy’s Cubi Thai (I am so curious…either very bad or very good, no?)

South Beach

Escopazzo

El Sitio (Colombian food-has anyone tried this yet?)

Fratelli La Bufala

Maya Tapas and Grill (There is a 75$ gift certificate for $30.)

Miss Yip

Tap Tap

The Café at Books and Books

Coral Gables

Les Halles

Yuga  (The same people own Lan, my neighborhood pan-Asian spot of choice.)

(Cacao used to be offered, but alas, it is gone!)

Coconut Grove

Le Bouchon du Grove

Brickell

Blu Pizza e Cucina

Graziano’s at Brickell

The River Oyster Bar

Downtown/Midtown

Canela Café (listed under Miami Springs?!)

VerDaddy’s Tacos (listed as Miami Shores?!)

Kendall

Bangkok Bangkok

Fort Lauderdale

Trina

Hallandale

Tatiana Restaurant and Cabaret Show (I’m curious about the over-the-top Russian cabaret, as well as the food.)

Another improvement to the site is that you can view menus online.

To get the 80% off deal, enter DISH at checkout and then click on “apply.”  If you spot any other restaurants you recommend on Restaurant.com, please share.

If you eat food, then this movie is for you. . .at least if you are like most of us, and the bulk of your of your diet comes from the supermarket.   Then, it’s important to understand what happens  to that food before it gets to you.  If you are concerned about why there have been so many food recalls in the past few years, the producers of Food, Inc. are hoping to explain to you why this happens and what you can do about it.

Food, Inc. is about the ways our industrialized food system is concentrated in the hands of a few mega-corporations.  According to the producers of Food, Inc., the players within our food system are  largely unsupervised, unaccountable for their actions,  and not particularly interested in consumer health.  The film features interviews with farmers, food experts such as Michael Pollan (author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma and In Defense of Food) and Eric Schlosser (author of Fast Food Nation and co-producer of the movie), and ordinary citizens like Barbara Kowalcyk who started a food safety advocacy group after her two-year old son died from an E. coli infection.

Last week, on the radio show Good Food, food safety expert Marion Nestle declared, “Why isn’t there an absolute dread, outrage, and public protest and people taking to the streets to get something done about our food safety system?  That is the thing I can’t understand. . . I think that people feel comfortable about food safety issues in a way that they don’t feel comfortable about genetic modification, for example.  People are just deeply outraged about genetically modified foods and don’t have that kind of outrage for the fact that we don’t have a real food safety system in this country.”  

The producers and food experts behind Food, Inc. are hoping that their film will stir that outrage and spur consumers to action.  The Child Nutrition Reauthorization Act is up for renewal this fall, and the producers of the film are sponsoring a petition drive to revamp school meals.

If you see the movie, I’d love to know what your thoughts are.  Please comment here about Food, Inc.

Sorry, all of my free tickets are gone.

Update: I now have more tickets to give away.  All of the tickets I am giving away can be used anytime Monday through Thursday to see Food, Inc at Sunrise Intracoastal Theater (and not just for the Monday evening viewing, as previously stated.) The first four people to email their name and address to trina@miamidish.net will get a pair of tickets.

This past Sunday, I took part in the North Miami leg of the pizza crawl.   We visited Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza , Pizza Fusion, and Rack’s Italian Bistro & Market (pictured above).   I had a slightly different experience than the rest of the group because my party arrived late.  There were already 25 or so people packed like sardines at the makeshift banquet table that Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza set up for the event.  So my group had a seat at the bar and ordered two of our own pizzas to try.

Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza * 17901 Biscayne Boulevard * Aventura * $11.50-$22 per pizza (8 slices)

We ordered a fresh mozzarella, sliced tomato and basil pie along with a broccoli rabe and sausage one.  Anthony’s was out of broccoli rabe, so we substituted arugula.  I enjoyed my pizzas here more than I have on previous visits to Anthony’s (in Fort Lauderdale).  I think it’s because I’m not a fan of “pizza well done” and the crusts on these pizzas were soft and doughy compared to the charred base Anthony’s usually prepares.  While others in the group were disappointed with the underdone pizzas, I was pleasantly surprised.  The mozzarella pizza was not memorable.  I enjoyed the zing of the parmesan and arugula on the second pie-I would try that one again.

Arugula and sausage pizza at Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza

One note: this place would be good for a date if you are worried about awkward silences, because this particular Anthony’s is loud.  That’s not necessarily a problem; just don’t plan on having any meaningful conversations here.

Pizza Fusion *  14815 Biscayne Boulevard * Aventura * $7-11 for a personal pizza, $12-$21 for a large pizza (8 slices in a large pizza)

When I first arrived at Pizza Fusion, I was intrigued by some of their pizza toppings (roasted beet and feta; pear and gorgonzola) only to realize that these were salads.  I’d be curious to try those pizzas!  The actual pizza offerings on the menu were appealing, but not mind-blowing: standards (cheese, pepperoni, Hawaiian) and vegetable heavy offerings, along a “very vegan” soy cheese pizza.  I was curious to try this one, but feared general revolt from the table.

(BTW: What’s up with Philly steak pizzas? They had one at Anthony’s too.  I guess I won’t knock it ’til I try it.)

The staff here was accommodating and quick.  I think we made their Sunday as the restaurant was almost empty before we arrived.  Servers brought out flatbread with olive oil, tapenade and tomato sauce.

The others were harder to differentiate between.  Founder’s Pie was a favorite of the group, but I’m not a fan of chicken on pizza.  We also tried the organic pepperoni; bruschetta; organic eggplant and fresh mozzarella; and farmer’s market  pizzas.

I have to say that it might have been challenging to taste the differences because of the small pieces we sampled, given the size of our group.  Also, by the time I got to taste some of the pizzas, they were cold.

I want to be more enthusiastic about Pizza Fusion because it’s downright saintly to bring pizza to people who cannot eat it because of food allergies and make it taste good.  Pizza Fusion is an eco-friendly business from their packaging to their ingredients to their hybrid delivery Smartcars.  For these reasons, I’d be willing to give Pizza Fusion another try.

Rack’s Italian Bistro and Market *  3933 NE 163^rd Street * North Miami Beach * $12-$15 per pizza (8 slices)

Spinach pizza at Rack’s

This was a “loaded visit”, given that debate over this restaurant’s status as the “best pizza in Miami” was the genesis of the crawl itself, and given the amusing user comments on the Rack’s MenuPages site.

Sunday night, the staff seemed busy, but not manic, and was quite solicitous of us.  They quickly brought out bread with olive oil and pesto for us to try.

This was my favorite of the three North Miami pizza places.  I love when everything on a menu looks so good that I don’t know what to order.

The pizzas here were relatively small and rustic-looking with generous crust along the edges.

Portobello pizza at Rack’s

My favorite pizza of the night was the portobello: a white pizza with mushrooms, truffle oil, speck, and sumptuous gorgonzola dolce. My second favorite was the  spinach pizza, with prosciutto, smoked mozzarella, and Reggiano cheese.  Premium ingredients made for lovely pizzas.  Again, I was surprised that my favorites emerged from the white pizzas.

Secchi pizza at Rack’s

From the red pizzas, we chose the secchi (sopressata, provolone, fior de latte, and goat cheese). I’m a sucker for a pizza with goat cheese.  The sopressata was bold and full-flavored.

We also ordered the sweet sausage pizza (meatballs, ricotta, onions, and Grana Padano), which I did not get to try.

This was a much larger pizza crawl and we lost some diners along the way due to lagging fortitude or bedtime (There were some children present).  It was just as fun and convivial as the first time, although I think this is about as big a group as a pizza crawl can manage without becoming a chore to organize.

So far, Pizza Volante and Rack’s are the restaurants I am most eager to return to, with Joey’s in second place.  The next crawl takes place in a few weeks in South Beach.  You can join the Miami Chowdown Google Group if you would like details on this and other crawls.  If you’d like some other opinions on the North Miami crawl, check out reports in Food for Thought and Mango & Lime.

I served my community by judging the pie contest at the Slow Food Miami picnic on Saturday.  The picnic took place at The Barnacle in Coconut Grove.  Please visit this lovely place if you’ve never been.  It’s a gem of a spot for a picnic. It’s just a dollar to visit, and on Sundays there are musical performances on the water.

Palo! supplied the music and everyone brought their own food.  There were nine pies in all.  After the judging, everyone enjoyed slices.  Pies were judged on taste, appearance, creativity, overall impression, and use of local ingredients.

The contest required bakers to use as many regional ingredients as possible.  Pies were named a la Waitress.

The first place pie was the exceptional “Summer’s Bounty.”  Francis Brown and Alex Arenciba used local mangos, lemongrass, and avocado in the pie.  They poached the mangos in lemongrass syrup.  The avocado was sweet, making it a surprising pie ingredient.  Brown used Thai basil from her yard in the crust which was a tasty, savory balance to the pie.

Hunter Reno and her family won second place for their lovely, fresh “Eat it Raw” pie, which would have done Tracy Glaser proud.  Reno assembled the pie right before the contest, with the help of her children.  The pie included Florida blueberries, backyard bananas, coconut from the Glaser Farms market, and local mangos.

The third place winner was Hillary Scurtis with her delicious “O Passion Pie.”  Tangy passion fruit was crowned with velvety meringue.  Oreo crust may sound unusual, but it was a good complement.  Some of the children were digging into this one.  You can download the O’ Passion Pie recipe (blurry copy, sorry) here.

The winner for most creative pie was the “She Ran Off With Jose, But Left Me With The Cuervo” by Ian Cole.  This was a key lime pie with tequila-a margarita pie.  The alcohol was strong, but it was definitely an original idea.

The rest of the lovely pies:

Coco Palenque baked the “Please Don’t Leave Me Pear Pie.”   This was an old fashioned deep dish pie with a filling of pears poached in port.  I loved the hint of gruyere in the crust.   Palenque said, “If pleading, begging, cajoling doesn’t work, serve him this.”

The “Stolen From My Neighbor’s Yard Mango Pie” was contributed by Tamara Lush, although she stipulated that the mangos fall into her yard from the neighbor’s tree.  She also used Bacardi rum.  Although Lush said she felt like the “Little Miss Sunshine” of the contest, I thought it tasted fresh and not unlike tasty fall pies.

Robert Barnum of Possum Trot Farm baked a “Crumbly Apple Mess” with apples, local mangos, and a homemade granola topping. Possum Trot Farm is located near Monkey Jungle in the Redlands.  Barnum grows hundred of plants on his farm, including tropical fruit, spices, and medicinal plants. He also makes wine, offers tours and cooks private dinners at the farm.

Dawn Fine usually bakes cakes, but she contributed a “You Can Take A Girl Out of Texas, But You Can’t Take The Texas Out Of The Girl” pecan pie.  Fine also graciously contributed her recipe, which you can download here.

The other judges included Kris Wessel of Red Light, Erik Peters of Club Med, Elizabeth Smith of Wine News Magazine, and Wirth Munroe.  Munroe is the great grandson of Commodore Ralph Munroe, who built The Barnacle and designed boats.

Slow Food Miami hopes to reprise this event next year, so start working on your pie ideas!

Tonight was the first pizza crawl organized by Frodnesor of Food for Thought blog.  He proposed the crawl after some animated discussion on Chowhound about the best pizza in Miami.  Tonight we focused on downtown.  We tried Joey’s, Pizza Volante, and Andiamo.

It was refreshing to see a group of people execute something from idea to reality so quickly and efficiently.  As Peter the bartender said, “These are experienced eaters.”  There were fifteen people, including Chowhound Miami participants and random bloggers.  The advantage of such a large group is that you get to taste a broad variety; in all we sampled 12 pizzas.  Cash is ideal for this kind of event.

Joey’s * 2506 NW 2^nd Avenue * Miami * $14-$15 per pizza (8 slices)

I liked the crust at Joey’s (in Wynwood) best.  It was thin, but with a crisp base, and a good flavor.  At Joey’s,  we tried the margherita, which was okay.

We also tried the Joey, their specialty, which was topped with tuna, spicy salami, gorgonzola, capers, and spinach.  Since there were so many of us, we cut the pizza into really thin slices, so I’m not sure I got all of that on my slice, but what I tried was satisfying.  Tuna is a bold topping for pizza, and this was something I would try again.

The carbonara pizza was my favorite pizza at Joey’s, although I have not tried the carbonara at Spris yet, which was highly recommended by another diner.  It was topped with bacon, eggs, mozzarella, and asparagus.

I had a second favorite at Joey’s, which was the dolce e piccante pizza.  This one is for folks with a sweet tooth: figs, gorgonzola cheese, honey and hot pepper.  The strongest flavor was the honey, but I loved the strong, fresh taste; it was not cloying.  This would be a good pizza or dessert to share with a group.

Pizza Volante * 3918 North Miami Avenue * Miami * $9-$12 per pizza (8 slices)

Pizza Volante had the best cheeses and my two favorite toppings out of all three restaurants.  This Jonathan Eismann restaurant opened last week in the Design District.  Mr. Eismann was there tonight.

I found the crust on their pizzas to be too thin and cracker-like for my taste.  Actually, I felt like I couldn’t really taste it.  Maybe that’s the point, because the toppings really stood out, without being salty or overpowering.  However, they did just change their crust recipe today, and considering Pizza Volante just opened, it’s not fair to pass judgment yet.

My favorites at Pizza Volante were the Volante 100 and the Bianca.  I love the idea of the Volante 100–a daily special topped with ingredients from a hundred mile radius.  Dandelion greens, tomatoes, and arugula topped today’s pizza. Those dandelion greens were fresh and fabulous.

I don’t usually order pizza biancas, but the combination of both flavorful cheeses swayed me.  It was topped with Chenel goat cheese, fontina, locally-made mozzarella, and arugula.

The margherita de bufala DOP was good, but not striking.

The cacciatorini (”little hunter”) was patterned with pepperoni and guanciale, giving it an earthy, smoky flavor.  It was also made with tomato and local mozzarella.  I probably didn’t pick it for one of my favorites because I usually prefer more-vegetable heavy pizzas.  I would definitely try it again.

Andiamo * 5600 Biscayne Boulevard * Miami * $10-$17 per pizza (8 large slices)

After the second slice at Andiamo, my fortitude lagged.  Also, after the more subtle and varied flavors of the two previous restaurants, I felt like the overriding flavor at Andiamo was saltiness.  I found both the putanesca and the soprano pizzas to be very salty.  I’ve eaten at Andiamo twice before and don’t remember it being so salty and greasy. Perhaps compared to the other two restaurants, those features stood out.

The putanesca was topped with black olives (as opposed to the kalamatas listed on the menu), capers, anchovies, red chile flakes, tomato sauce and mozzarella.

The soprano was heavy on the meats: hot and sweet Italian sausage, broccoli rabe, tomato sauce, parmesan, and mozzarella.

My favorite pizza at Andiamo was the Popeye, which was topped with a good helping of spinach, tasty sliced roma tomatoes, tomato sauce, ricotta, and basil.  I did not notice the ricotta so much, and Paula of Mango & Lime mentioned that there is usually more spread about the pizza.

I also enjoyed the Genovese, which had rosemary potatoes, pancetta, caramelized onions, mozzarella and gorgonzola.  The potatoes and thicker Andiamo crust were a heavy prospect before my withering appetite, so I didn’t really do that slice justice.

Jonathan Eismann behind the counter at Pizza Volante. /David Samayoa

Of all of the pizza places we tried today, I would most likely return to Pizza Volante.  Many items on the blackboard menu intrigued me, including the pasta dishes, braised short ribs with potato gnocchi, and the mozzarella bar.  The foods in the display cases, including tomatoes and fried zucchini looked so bright and appealing.  I’m also curious to check out future Volante 100 flavors. One diner wondered what might be on the pizza this summer-Papaya? Mango?

It looks like the next crawl will cover the north of Miami. I’m looking forward to it…

Friends will sometimes ask me how I accrue this random knowledge of interesting events and places about town.  Besides the fact that I’m a speed reader and can skim a lot of information from a quick flip of the blogs, I have some sources.

If I’m in a pinch for what to do on the weekend, one of my go-to sites is Sara Liss’ All Purpose Dark blog.  She posts flyers and invitations for upcoming events–mostly about arts, dining, and nightlife.  Being a fellow food-lover, she often writes about her meals at the newest eateries.  So, when it comes to tip-of-the-iceberg news about trendy new restaurants, Liss is a good source.

However, now she’s done one better and channeled her maven skills into Urban Daddy Miami, a daily e-mail service about events, entertainment, and dining in Miami. It all sounds very exclusive, but really anyone can join to get the daily e-mails and weekend event updates. A UD feature is that you can save your favorite spots/stories onto their website to refer to later.  Now that you don’t have to slog through those old emails, you’ll have more time to build those networks and be a super-connector!

This Sunday, master storyteller and cook, Liliane Nerette Louis demonstrates how to cook traditional Haitian dishes at the Historical Museum of Southern Florida.  She will also talk about Haitian food ways.  Ms. Louis won a Florida Folk Heritage Award in 2006 for her storytelling.  Good food and good stories is what it’s all about, isn’t it?

When: Sunday, May 24, 2009 at 3:00 pm

Where: Historical Museum of Southern Florida, 101 West Flagler Street, Miami.  Call (305) 375-5356 for more information.

How much: Free

This is the first of a series of cooking competitions designed to showcase the regional culinary traditions of Italy.  Chefs from local Italian restaurants will be pitted against each other throughout the summer.  The first event is “Liguria vs. Umbria”

Chef Ivo Mazzon from Joey’s Italian Café will cook for Liguria.  He will prepare omelette with tuna and string beans; sweet and sour cod; and ricotta, mascarpone, and basil mousse with pine nuts.  Corporate Executive Chef Will Ratley from Sub-zero and Wolf will cook for Umbria:  stuffed eggplant, braised lamb shank with chestnuts, and rum and rice fritters. (Thanks to Coral Gables Blog for info on the dishes.) At the event, guests will be able to taste the dishes, along with wine pairings, and vote for their favorites.  The audience will decide the winner.

That sounds promising because I have been to some of these cooking battles, and it’s such a tease to watch chefs prepare sumptuous dishes and then not get to taste any.  However, that’s also why this event is not free.  The cooking class costs $45.  Also, it’s limited to 40 guests so you won’t have to (hopefully) elbow your way through a crowd.  You must register and pay by Wednesday, May 20 to attend. Email info@iacc-miami.com to RSVP.

After the event, there will be a reception with wine and food samples, which costs $10 to attend.

When: Thursday, May 21.  Cooking class/contest is from 6:30 pm to 8 pm, followed by reception until 9:30 pm.  Contests will be held on the third Thursday of each month through September.

Where: Mia Cucina, 105 Miracle Mile, Coral Gables

How much: $45 for cooking show, $10 for wine and food reception

The event started with a reception and presentation by Hunter Reno, Slow Food Board Member, about school gardens.  School gardens are Slow Food Miami’s pet project.  Slow Food Miami has started school gardens at Alexander Montessori School, Nautilus Middle School, Fienberg Fisher K-8 Center, Bob Graham Educational Center, and Richmond Middle School.

Beautiful garden and herb installations were set up throughout the Sagamore lobby and restaurant.   These installations were designed by Thi Squire of C & B Farms.  Guests were invited to smell and taste the fragrant herbs.

For dinner, we chose our seats at the Whitehall Restaurant (formerly The Social). The tasting portions on the five-course tasting menu were created by Whitehall chefs Manuel Mattei and Ezequiel Zingoni, along with Slow Food members and chefs Rachel O’Kaine and Adri Garcia of Mise en Place Catering.

Chefs Exequiel Zingoni and Manuel Mattei of Whitehall Restaurant designed and prepared the menu, along with Slow Food members and guest chefs Rachel O’Kaine and Adri Garcia (not pictured).

All of the ingredients were donated by mostly local producers, including Rock Garden, C & B Farms (herb growers/distributors), Green Railroad Organic Workshop (GROW), Redland Mediterranean Organics (goat milk ice cream), The Market Company (which organizes many of our local farmers’ markets), and the local distributor of Gaucho Ranch, a purveyor of grass-fed beef from Uruguay.  The wines paired with each course were donated by Indigenous Selections, a distributor of Italian wine.

Donna Reno, Slow Food Miami Chair, with Claire Tomlin of the Market Company, Hani Khouri of Redland Mediterranean Organics, and Thi Squire of C & B Farms.

I have a sweet tooth, so my favorite wine was the La Spinetta Moscato Bricco Quaglia, which came with our dessert course.  Thus it follows that I also enjoyed the strawberry goat milk ice cream tremendously.   Redland Mediterranean Organics was selling their goat milk ice creams at the Pinecrest Farmer’s Market this year, and I hope to see them again next season.

Of the savory dishes, I had two absolute favorites:  I loved the veal osso bucco with homemade fettuccine and crispy artichokes, as well as the grass-fed beef filet with Parmigiano-Reggiano fonduta and wild mushrooms.  The fonduta was just what it sounds like-a rich cheese sauce.  Both of these dishes were unctuous and hearty.  Although the portions were small, they were also satisfying.  For anyone who thinks Slow Food is all about picking at leaves and ending a dinner hungry, think again.

Six-hour, slow baked osso bucco with homemade fettuccine, crispy artichokes and asiago cheese

After dinner, Charles Coiner, who is the founder of Rock Garden Herbs, spoke about the Green Railroad Organic Workshop. This project that reclaimed an ugly dead zone located by airport warehouses and turned it into an herb garden replete with lemon verbena, bee balm, Thai basil, chocolate mint, and edible flowers.

Roasted grass-fed beef filet, with Parmigiano-Reggiano fonduta and wild mushrooms

I always meet interesting new people at these dinners, which live up to the Slow Food aim of “conviviality.”  There aren’t usually assigned seats, which can be intimidating at first, but people are generally welcoming and friendly.

“Seen Eating” is a Miami Dish interview column that provides a brief glimpse into the food habits of pillars of our community. Of course, I am the subjective judge of who makes a pillar of our community. To me, they are the people who make living in Miami more interesting, sane, and worthwhile.

Nicole Chipi does promotions and marketing for The Vagabond, a downtown nightclub.  This weekend, the Vagabond celebrates a year of existence as the club for the hipster everyman (Their slogan is “You are no one.  You are everyone.”).  This Saturday night, the perennial party Back Door Bamby celebrates with a guest appearance by DJ Jellybean Benitez (of discovering Madonna fame) and Sunday will feature a Rent Party with Spam Allstars.  You will surely see Chipi dancing and taking pictures among the crowd; she studied photography at the University of Florida.  When she’s not taking pictures or channeling Tim Gunn with honest yet diplomatic makeovers, Chipi can be found in her South Miami kitchen cooking some trademark “classic Chipi dishes.”

Breakfast this morning:

I had a pizza bagel that I make for myself and my girlfriend.  She’s a pizza freak.  I take a regular-sized bagel, cut it in half, spread it with a tomato paste that I make myself, shredded cheese, and pineapple.

You make your own tomato paste?

Yeah, basically it’s just crushed tomatoes and oregano.  I keep it frozen.

Top three favorite places to eat in Miami:

If you’re looking for something in the Lincoln Road or South Beach area,  Yuca is the greatest place-a nice fusion of Cuban and nouveau.  Food-wise, they keep things pretty classic, but the arrangement and presentation keep it on the upscale tip.

Sushi Matsuri, on Bird Road, is the freshest sushi I’ve ever had in Miami.  It’s amazing.

And then, for day in, day out, I have to say The Daily on Biscayne.  It’s quick, it’s fresh.  They have everything there, and the people are really nice. They remember you. A lot of industry people eat there so I always run into a lot of club/industry people there.

Favorite foods to cook?

These are some of the Classic Chipi dishes I make:  One is crab rangoon.  I buy the pastry sheets, flatten them out, put cream cheese, crab, chives, and fry those.

One of the things I also make that goes well with the crab rangoon is chive flowers.   It’s a long stalk of a chive that’s flowering at the end. You can buy them at the Asian grocery store. You cut off the dry parts at the end.  Then, you stir fry the chive flowers with a little bit of Srichacha hot sauce and shrimp, and serve it with rice or pasta. You can put snow peas in there.  You can add onion. It’s got that chive taste, but it’s a little more subtle.  People always love it, but I don’t know why that many people aren’t familiar with it.  I spent a lot of time in Asian stores in Gainesville.  There were three of them near my house there.  I would investigate what people use for their daily cooking.

The other thing I do is a very labor-intensive seafood bisque.  It’s an all day cooking situation.  I use the same tomato paste, shrimp, and mussels. Depending on whether I’m feeling rich that week, I’ll throw in some lobster.  I leave it simmering all day with a little white wine and garlic. Then, I serve it over rice or pasta.  It’s something that my mom always made.

Where do you take all of your out-of-town guests?

When we have visiting DJs, it usually works on a sliding scale of how long they have to eat after I pick them up at the airport.  Typically, for dinner, I’ll bring people to Soyka on Biscayne and 55^th.  Soyka is amazing. The service is premium. The ambience is relaxing.   It’s not so fancy; people feel comfortable there. The food is amazing, home-style.  There’s something for everyone there so if I have a vegetarian DJ, which a lot of them are, that’s a safe place. Or I’ll take them across the street to Andiamo, the pizza place.

Do you eat a late dinner?

I have to say no, because if I eat once it’s past a certain hour, I get the jitters right before the club opens and I’ll have an upset stomach the whole night.

I have to eat before 6 or 7.  I was raised in a Cuban family and you don’t eat after 5:30.  You know, if you’re a Cuban family, there’s family members that you have to pick up at the retirement home and they have to be back by a certain time. So you eat early and then you get on with the rest of your day.

Favorite thing to eat after a night at the Vagabond?

I hate to say it, but my favorite thing to eat after staying out really late is to go through the drive through and get a hash brown.  I hate McDonald’s, but if I need it to make it home, I’ll do it.  If I’m still hungry when I get home, I’ll dig for some Ben and Jerry’s.