"miami" news and stories

Not to be confused with art made from ripening bananas, the Miami Herald recently ran an interesting profile on Pat Foster (right), the director of ripening for Chiquita in Port Everglades, Florida. As the shipments of bananas (400 tons a week) come in, Foster decides how the fruit should be ripened using ethylene, a gas that also occurs naturally as fruit ripens. According to the article, Foster has to consider not only the weather and production patterns in the countries where the bananas are grown, but also the buying habits of the customers to whom they're being shipped. Hispanic customers in some areas by fruit more frequently, so it must be closer to ripe. Other customers might only make it to the store once a week, so they want greener bananas. Foster has apparently been working with bananas for 40 years and has trained other ripeners all over the country.

[Photo: Jared Lazarus/Miami Herald]
[Via FreshPlaza]

Would you eat at a restaurant when the purveyor of the foods says “food is overrated”? Not that he is referring to his food, mind you, but to food in general. “Restaurateur, nightlife mogul and celebrity dentist," Dr. Tim Hogle is the man who would rather not eat than eat something that isn’t on his very strict diet, though he owns a series of Miami Beach restaurants. afterglo, his newest venture, does not serve health food per se, but functional foods that are intended to have beneficial effects on the body and not simply to sustain life. Plying food to the body-conscious and sun-bleached crowd can be challenging and the restaurant serves foods that are wild, raw and, of course, organic. Hogle calls it “beauty cuisine,” though the irony of marketing supremely natural foods to a population of plastic people will not escape the notice of some. “Everything has a low GI, is highly alkaline (which reputedly helps regenerate cells) and packed with enzymes, minerals and antioxidants” according to the Independent.

Certainly sounds purposeful, but does someone who eats only for functionality sacrifice taste at his restaurant? Apparently not, since the restaurant has received good reviews. One does have to wonder whether or not Hogle will actually eat everything on his menu.

[Image of afterglo's raw "sushi" via Click Clack]

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A Miami Burger King employee ripped off his headset and climbed through the drive-through window to attack a customer after an argument erupted over correct change. According to the Miami Herald, Burger King employee Michael Perez claims that the Kevin Gillis, who was buying two orders of fries for his three young daughters, also in the car, addressed him with a racial slur after the two argued over Gillis's change. Enraged, Perez came through the window, reached into Gillis's truck and punched him in the face. Gillis then got out of his truck and tackled Perez, fearing for the safety of his wife and daughters, who had also exited the truck. Perez was subsequently arrested.

[Via Restaurant News Resource]

Today’s Miami Herald features an article about Afterglo, a new restaurant from dentist-turned-restauranteur Tim Hogle (Miami’s Tantra) and former Nemo chef Michael Schwartz.  The theme of this new South Beach venture is—surprise—food to make you beautiful.

Hogle calls it “beautritional” cuisine. While much of the menu includes notoriously healthy fare, the emphasis at Afterglo is admittedly on good looks, not good health.

If beauty is a complicated thing, so are the menu offerings at Afterglo. How about “chile- and mint-sparked bison ceviche,” or a wheat grass martini.

Unfortunately, the article doesn't really say how much of the food tastes. I guess maybe that isn't the point if you're eating for beauty.

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