Food & Drink in Pompano Beach

South Beach on Sunday morning has a silence that is golden...or like a ghost town. Tourists and late-night partiers are still snoozing while the residents are heading to a relaxing yoga class or paddle boarding on the early morning bay. It’s a great time to walk the beach or wander through the Miami Botanical Gardens but, as late morning approaches, brunch is the order of business. The choices are vast on South Beach but here are a few top picks that make me long for Sundays. I often like my brunches tapas style (so I can try more dishes and share plates with friends), and for real tapas, I go to Barceloneta. Headed by Chef Julia Gonzalez and part of the infamous Pubbelly group, Barceloneta provides vibrant Catalan-influenced food, traditional and contemporary. The dish that sounds a siren call in my head from Barceloneta is the Alubias con Botifarra:  housemade Catalan Sausage with white beans, roasted peppers and an organic poached egg.  I restrained myself from licking the bowl but only because I was distracted by the delightfully sweet and addictive Shishito peppers with candied walnuts and Valdeon sauce (blue cheese) pooled at the bottom of the plate.  Eggs Benedict is mandatory for brunch in my opinion and Barceloneta accommodates my picky palate with their Benedict that includes a potato roll, pork belly, Serrano ham, Hollandaise sauce, & a poached organic egg. Some Sundays you wake up craving grits.  At least, this started happening to me once I experienced the fresh Adluh South Carolina stone ground cheesy corn grits at Yardbird Southern Table & Bar.  I crave their fluffy, creamy and cheesy deliciousness and I guarantee that they don’t taste like most of the grits you have ever experienced.  Yardbird has service with a smile and genuine Southern friendliness.  Their farm-to-table classic Southern menu delivers some of my favorites like the Fried Green Tomato BLT (pork belly, pimento cheese & tomato jam with the fried green tomatoes) and the BLT Benedict Cast Iron Casserole (made with a buttermilk biscuit crumble).  Notice there are lots of “B”’s - that is for Yardbird’s dedication to intensely flavorful bacon, pork belly and Virginia ham.  If you don’t like pork, you might drool over the rolled in sugar and seated in strawberry jam Pumpkin Beignets.  Close your eyes and it's as if you had traveled to the South.  Fried chicken is also an option at brunch … fried chicken and bacon?  Thank you, Yardbird. Something about brunch makes Southern cooking so right and Georgia’s Union brings organic soul food right to the table peppered with the passion of Chef Nate Martin for hand-picked, fresh food.  Even some of my fried favorites like frog legs with buttermilk dressing  and golden fried chicken livers with caramelized onion aioli are light and fried with non-hydrogenated oils and no trans fats.  But, there are two particular dishes which have stolen my heart at Georgia’s Union. The first is “Bleu Collared” Greens with baby greens, roasted yellow beets, oyster mushrooms, honey’d pecans and a Winter Park bleu cheese to make you weep.  The second dish is where the grits come in - creamy fresh Riverview Farm white corn grits buried under a mound of crayfish (Florida spiny lobster), lobster jus, green onions and roasted tomatoes.  Dig deep and savor those bites or you could just order two. There is a newcomer to the breakfast and brunch scene on South Beach … FIX, at the newly renovated Blue Moon Hotel on Collins Avenue.  Fix has just opened but word of the scrumptious offerings are spreading like wildfire.  Lounge by the gorgeous pool under a wood-beamed porch and prepare to be delighted by Chef David Welch’s contemporary menu.  I recommend two brunch must-haves: The Kurobota Pork Belly Benedict and the Rice Krispie®-Crusted French Toast.  There is no way to be flowery - Chef David Welch has delivered the best pork belly that I have ever eaten.  Period.  I was a hard sell for the French Toast but after one bite of the brioche bread, bourbon caramel sauce (OMG), mascarpone zabaglione (OMGx2), and fresh strawberries, I am a convert.  The Fried Oyster Po-Boy with the bacon-chive aioli sealed the deal - FIX is here to make a statement and it is “Come and Eat” which I will do again and again.  For those who like cocktails with brunch, all cocktails at FIX use freshly juiced fruits when appropriate and when aren’t mimosas appropriate?  Or blueberry caipirinhas?  Or White Sangrias? Brunch in South Beach is an adventure - a delectable one - and what gets me out of bed on a Sunday morning.

Miami is a foodie dream come true. Offerings for restaurants and markets are internationally influenced and keep palates entertained every day of the year. Food Events in Miami are national as well as international destinations and when combined with the fabulous weather - it’s a match made in heaven. Here is a Save the Date Miami Food Event list that will fill your calendar and tantalize your tummy for the whole year! Winter Winter 2013 will be the 13th year of The Food Network South Beach Wine & Food Festival presented by Food & Wine. Do you love food? Are Chefs the Rock Stars of your world? Is Food Network permanently on your TV? THIS is your event of the year. It’s pricey but worth fitting into your budget - I promise it will make your foodie heart beat a little faster for four whole days. Spring Dinner in Paradise at Paradise Farms features the finest chefs in Miami preparing a delicious five course meal made with local organic products and paired with fine wines. This food and wine experience, served under the stars and in the lush landscape of Paradise Farms is magical. Calle Ocho Carnaval Miami is food, music, packed streets, celebration, color and an experience to remember. Expect musical stages at every corner and hundreds of food vendors with every kind of food that you can imagine. Miami Food & Wine Festival this past year boasted four nights of food and wine events at three venues and they served 4,000 happy guests and raised half a million dollars for charity. Expect more Craft Beer Tastings, Fine Wine Tastings, interactive dinners with Top Chefs and Celebrity Chefs and opportunities to indulge in Foodie Fantasies! Summer Every August and September, Miami Spice hits the city with top restaurants offering lunch and dinner deals to keep the summer yummy. Three-course meals for lunch and dinner with two tiers are on offer, giving everyone a chance to search for a new favorite. Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation® celebrated their 25th Anniversary in the summer of 2012 and it was a dizzying whirlwind of stunning food and cocktails from the top Chefs and Mixologists in Miami. I recommend splurging on the VIP ticket to really experience all the tasty bites available. Goombay Festival Coconut Grove is a celebration of Bahamian culture and a feast of Bahamian food and the evolution here in Miami. When you are done eating, dance the day away! Fall Starting in mid-October, batches of mustard sauce will be prepped throughout South Florida in anticipation of the delectable bounty from the sea - Stone Crab Season is coming soon! Anytime Miami Culinary Tours makes every week a foodie event. They offer weekly year-round culinary tours of South Beach and Little Havana that are a gastronomical and cultural adventure. If you are looking for fun and great good, follow the many Miami Food Trucks for a smorgasbord of foods. The trucks always seem to be in the middle of the action! These are the events that you can plan for but don’t forget to stay tuned to local Miami websites for pop up foodie events and tastings … what a way to eat the year! Don’t forget to look for me, The Hungry Goddess,  I will be by the food!

Nightly crowds with appetites fueled by drinks and dancing used to overwhelm street vendors around Havana's nightclubs in their search for hearty food, prompting cooks to invent a simple snack that combined salty, sweet, and sour flavors in each bite. Named for their popularity around midnight, medianoche sandwiches typically layer roast pork, sliced pickles, and swiss cheese between two gently toasted pieces of yellow egg bread. Although these late-night staples hail from Cuba, they've made their way to a number of much-lauded Miami-area eateries.  Islas Canarias: The chefs incorporate some international flavors, but their faithfulness to Cuba's most iconic dishes earned it Miami New Times' award for Best Cuban Restaurant in 2011. In addition to importing sausages and other cured meats for their sandwiches, the café's chefs also carry on culinary tradition by making medianoche sandwiches until as late as 11 p.m. Puerto Sagua: Frommer's called this venerable diner "one of the most reasonably priced places left on the beach for simple, hearty fare." Its doors remain open until 2 a.m. every night of the week, inviting passersby to stop in for a quick bite before continuing their revelry. Versailles Restaurant: Originally founded in 1971, the restaurant prides itself on being a hotspot for Miami's Cuban community. 3 Guys from Miami describes this sense of history, saying, "the restaurant is a lot like the Cuba of old—loud, boisterous, and full of excitement, just dripping in Cuban patriotism." Golden-brown medianoche sandwiches continue emerging from the kitchen until as late as 4:30 a.m. on Saturdays. Enriqueta's Sandwich Shop: Although its doors close long before sunset, the Zagat-rated eatery defies tradition by still featuring a medianoche sandwich. Food & Wine magazine emphasized the shop's authentic Cuban ambience in 2004, saying, "the Formica benches and loud Spanish chatter make you feel that you are, as the locals say, not far from America."