If you drive South from Miami toward Homestead, and then head west on SW 248th Street, you will find The Fairchild Fams, where you can sample a wide variety of locally grown tropical fruit like mangoes, papaya, jackfruit, tamarind and starfruit, among others.  Keep driving on 248th Street and you will also find Knaus Berry Farm, where hundreds of patrons regularly line up to buy their famed baked products.  A different side of Miami that not many people know, only about 45 minutes away...

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Chasing_the_Latin_Burger_and_T.zip (1722 KB)

Following the latest mobile restaurant trend fueled by social media sites like Twitter, Latin Burger and Taco's black and pink truck moves about Miami, stopping at pre-selected locations for a few hours at a time.  You can find out where the truck is by following @latinburger on Twitter. 

The menu is simple: a burger with spicy mayo, avocado sauce, caramelized onions and Oaxaca cheese, and a trio of tacos: chicken tomatillo, pulled pork and chicken with mole. 

My wife and I met the truck at 27 Ave and US1 today.  My burger was very good, although they forgot to put in the sauce and it could have used more caramelized onions.  My wife's tacos were excellent.  Don't expect fast service, though: the truck's kitchen is small and there is usually a large crowd (it took us 5 minutes to place our order and other 20' to get our food). Bring cash, since they don't take credit cards.

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Some treats from Salvador, including bolinho de bacalhau, small fry, acaraje, sugar cane juice, cravinho (a mix of cachaca with wine and spices) and of course, caipirinha.

           

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Treats_Bahianos_tags_travel_Br.zip (3401 KB)

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In many restaurants in China you don't choose your seafood from a menu, but by walking by a row of fish tanks with the waitress and pointing to what you want to eat.  Doesn't get any fresher than that...

         

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No_menu_required_tag_travel_Ch.zip (2890 KB)

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Blueberry_Cabernet_Roasted_Por.zip (158 KB)

I made this on New Year's eve and it was delicious (and not hard to make at all!).  Place a 2.5 LB pork tenderloin on an oven-ready container, and season well with kosher salt and pepper.  Then, pour on a 12 oz jar of seedless blueberry jelly and spread evenly over the pork.  Then, cut a large red onion in half rings and place them over the pork.  Finally, pour two cups of red wine over the meat and place in the oven.  Roast uncovered for half an hour per pound at 400 degrees.  15 minutes before taking it out of the oven, turn the pork so that the exposed part is now in contact with the sauce.  When time's up, retire from the oven, pour the sauce in a container, cut the meat in slices and serve. 

You can serve this dish with a side of golden rosemary potatoes.  To make them, arrange potato slices in an oven-ready container, sprinkle with kosher salt and rosemary and drizzle with olive oil before laying out another level of potato slices.  Repeat the procedure until there are no more potato slices.  Place in the oven at 400 degrees for 1 hour (you can put the potatoes and the pork in the oven at the same time, just remember to remove the potatoes before).

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Three_exceptional_South_Americ.zip (96 KB)

Today I went shopping for wine for my company's sales meeting dinner and I picked up, among others, three exceptional South American wines that you can buy for around $20. 

The first one is an Argentinian Malbec, Luigi Bosca D.O.C., made with grapes from La Linda vineyards.  This wine is made in accordance to the strict Lujan de Cuyo (Mendoza) denomination, and is aged for 14 months in French oak barrels.

The second one is a Chilean cabernet sauvignon: Lapostolle Cuvee Alexandre, made by Casa Lapostolle, owned by the Marnier Lapostolle family from France, who are also the makers of the famous Grand Marnier liquor.  This wine has been aged for 10 months in French Boudeaux oak barrels.

Finally, a classic, also from Chile: Montes Alpha.  This is one of Chile's most famous wines and has been aged for 12 months in French oak barrels.

Get any of these three bottles and your guests will think they are drinking a much more expensive wine.  They are excellent.

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I live five minutes away from Burger King's headquarters, and today I passed by a BK restaurant located next to their building.  This is one of the few restaurants that sports BK's recently launched new look.  The new BK, more upscale and futuristic (and more sit down than drive through) clearly stands out from other fast food chains. 

But with this redesign BK not only gains in style and image, but also scores big on branding.  Perhaps the most significant brand signal can be seen above the entrance: BK's classic tagline "Home of the Whopper" has been dusted off and is now the centerpiece of the new design.  This is a big win, since the Whopper is BK's biggest claim to fame (remember the Whopper Freakout spoof campaign?).  Also, to the side of each door, you can now see pictures of some of BK's biggest hamburgers. 

At a time when fast food joints seem to have lost focus by engaging in a futile "war on calories" and prefer to hype salads and fruit plates, Burger King gets it right by going back to its roots and repositioning itself as the destination for burgers in the fast food space. 

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Premium expresso, ground and brewed in front of you in seconds, served on a real cup, all for $0.80.  If you're driving through Miami you can have one in almost every corner.

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For the pesto, throw a handful of basil leaves into a blender, add a tablespoon of minced garlic, a quarter cup of parmesan cheese and a quarter cup of olive oil.  Add a tablespoon or two of water if necessary so that the mix starts blending.  Slowly add another quarter cup of olive oil and finish blending.  Set aside.  Then, pan-sear one pound scallops (I only found the tiny ones, but the bigger the better) for about four minutes in medium high (the scallops will release water so for best results remove the water with a spoon every now and then).  Set aside.  Cut one tomato and a small avocado in small cubes and arrange around a plate.  Drizzle with olive oil and kosher salt.  Place the scallops in the center and pour some pesto sauce over them.  Finally, cut some fresh basil on top of the tomato and avocado mix for garnish.  (Makes two servings. Wife was happy).

   

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Made_pan-seared_scallops_with_.zip (117 KB)

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