REVIEW / Rendez-Vous Bakery - A Touch of Paris in South Florida

via TIM SLIVINSKI @ Florida Agenda 

MENU - Quiche Florentine... a puff pastry shell filled with egg batter, spinach and Swiss cheese... rich without being too powerful... Merguez on a baguette.... two lamb sausages and onion marmalade on a fresh baguette... Rich and a tad spicy.. the onion marmalade offered just a touch of sweetness that contrasted well with the earthy sausage... Pastries and desserts. Displayed in a case along the wall, each dessert looked not only delicious, but also like a work of art.... Wines, the list leans heavily toward French varietals

>>>> read the entire review

HOW TO / Miami Chef Michael Schwartz Cooks For Today Show

Make your own onion dip, potato chips, crostini and more.



>>> get the recipes

RECIPES / New This Week From Local Restaurants & Cooks

- A Veggie burger that really works

- Seafood Antipasto from Legal Sea Foods

- Lamb Stew from The Field Irish Pub & Eatery

- Boca club’s Banana ‘bread’ is a luscious dessert

- Sexy but Skinny Cocktails from Morton’s

- Cold Melon Soup from the Flamingo

FOOD TRUCKS / Pembroke Pines food truck rally Saturday

Party in the Pines Food Truck Rally takes place 5-9 p.m., Saturday, July 16, at Maroone Dodge of Pembroke Pines, 13601 Pines Blvd., Pembroke Pines.

>>> list of participating trucks 

EVENT NEWS / 2011 Epcot International Food & Wine Festival details revealed

Here are some early highlights for the 16th annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival from Pam Brandon, Disney Parks Food Writer and blogger. With the theme "Passport to a World of Flavors," the event with more than 25 international marketplaces will feature tapas-sized portions ($3 to $8) paired with beer, wine and cocktails.
•Hawaii, the Caribbean islands and Portugal all debut Marketplaces – look for Kalua pork sliders in Hawaii, ropa vieja in the Caribbean and calamari salad in Portugal. 
 >>> read more 


Video Highlights from "last years event"
Rick Howard and Rhino Ken taste some food and wine from around Epcot's World Showcase in this final episode of the 15th Annual International Food & Wine Festival

DEAL / (Groupon) Steve's Wood Fired Pizza – Boca Raton - $12 for $25 Worth of Italian Fare

(from groupon) Steve's professional pie slingers hand-stretch dough so masterfully and slather sauce and toppings so tastefully that they earned their establishment the honor of being named one of America’s 10 Best Pizza Parlors in 2010 by American Waymagazine. Diners can dive into a menu founded upon the shop's signature thin-crust wood-fired pizzas, plating preselected tastes such as the olive-, artichoke-, and goat-cheese-topped Mediterranean pizza ($15.99 for regular).
>>> Get the offer

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owner Website  Facebook

users Google Place

critics  Sun Sentinal  A four-star restaurant doesn't have to have white tablecloths or dinner jacketed waiters. It just has to be the best of its genre, and Steve's Wood Fired Pizza fits the bill. Everything — from appetizers to pizza and desserts — was first class. 
           Inside Fort Lauderdale  But this is the most expensive pizza anywhere, when you consider that this is a medium pizza. And charging the same for a half topping as you charge for a whole one is just wrong; heck if you charge $2.00 for a half it’s rude; charging the same is downright obnoxious.

REVIEW / Cafe Jamm

MENU "modern comfort food at moderate prices... be sure to order mac & cheese made with gruyere and bacon... roasted pork was moist and flavorful with apricot chipotle sauce... Grilled Angus New York strip ($28) with signature spice rub....  try the almond-toffee filled brownie ($5) with vanilla ice cream and homemade salted caramel sauce."
PLACE "a stylish and comfortable space" 
PEOPLE "Old-fashioned hospitality came from the hostess, who I later realized was their mom"
>>>read the review from John Tanasychuk, Sun Sentinel
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owner info Website Facebook 
more reviews - Yelp  Urban Spoon 
critics New Times - "House-made meat loaf ($15) stuck out from the menu"
          Miami Herald - "Save room for the queen of comfort food finales, red velvet cake,"

HOW TO / Julia Child making omelette

DEAL - 50¢ Shrimp & Oysters - All Day Thursday @ Quarterdeck

>>> website 


reviews
Yelp 
Tripadvisor 
Yahoo

NEWS / The Bacon Uprising: How China's Top-Secret Strategic Pork Reserve Is Burning Down The Amazon

China’s leaders have been obsessed with “food security” the same way America’s are haunted by not having enough oil. And as Chinese diets become more meat centric, fears of the dangers in the fluctuation of pork prices led China to establish a top-secret “strategic pork reserve” in 2007, the only one of its kind. But maintaining all those pigs has led to a massive dependence on corn and soybean imports for animal feed, which in turn is leading China’s agribusinesses to fan out abroad in a quest to control the means of production. China's attempts to control the means of production in other countries just rising out of developing world is causing tension with its natural allies, and could be just the first step in an ever-escalating series of resource-based conflicts.
 >>> read more @ Fast Company