Flashback Friday

1977...




Theme from Welcome Back, Kotter


...and RIP Robert Hegyes, aka Juan Epstein


.

Just Answer The Question, Newt

Some of you might remember Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's unhinged outrage during a recent debate when he was asked about an ex-wife's allegations that he wanted an open marriage. Gingrich angrily claimed that he had several friends that could prove the allegations wrong.

Well, he didn't.

He had lied.

And on Wednesday, Gingrich's campaign manager admitted as much.




Lat night, an arrogant Gingrich once again tried to get out of answering a question by whining about it but this time CNN's Wolf Blitzer wasn't going to let Newt off the hook. Watch.






.

South Florida Cartoons

Can Jim Morin be any more spot on than he is with his latest cartoon?

.

SFDB Question Of The Day

Starbucks plans to begin selling beer and wine in some of its stores in Atlanta and Southern California, according to reports...

The move "is a natural progression for us as we are always looking for ways to evolve and enhance the Starbucks experience based on what our customers are telling us," said US vice president Clarice Turner.

"We're pleased with the response of our customers to the introduction of wine, beer and premium food at several of our stores in the Pacific Northwest, and we're excited to see how the idea translates to other markets."

Evening opening hours were was first tried out in Seattle in October 2010, while five stores in the Seattle area and one in Portland, Oregon currently serve wine, beer and premium food.

Americans appear to be evenly divided over this move although demographics does seem to play some part in whether you're for or against it, Starbucks Gossip reports.

Put me in the camp of opposing it. Here's why.

Starbucks customers go to stores primarily for one thing right now...coffee. It's the Starbucks identity and the brand. Secondary to the coffee is a place to assemble and socialize with friends and acquaintances or just to hang out. When wine and beer is introduced, the brand is diluted, in my opinion, and "the place to get coffee" becomes just another "place to hang out"...and you know how many of those we have.

Starbucks should continue to concentrate on coffee and not get distracted.

What do you think?



-image via Marketing Daily



.

Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

Well, as you can probably guess by now, I took today off and got some much-needed sleep. What that means for you is a little extra in your morning Sift. The SFDB Weekend Widget in the right sidebar continues to be updated and we're in full Friday mode. Enjoy!

A- Eye on Miami wonders about the role of a Palmetto Bat attorney in Miami Lakes politics.

So why is Stephen Cody in Miami Lakes snapping photos and passing out 15 pages of stuff, most of it dismissed ethics complaints (deemed frivolous), at a meeting in Miami Lakes?

B- Random Pixels posts a Miami Herald story from the past.

C- Obalesque says that Republicans are getting everything they deserve with their field of candidates.

They’re truly worried, and it’s richly rewarding, because they stood silently by for the last 4 years as their own party operatives kept lowering the bar, cheapening the dialog, dumbing down the arguments, and debasing the debate. They handed the reins over to the Evangelicals and Teabaggers who drove the party apparatus so far off the trail they can’t find their way back. The Kenyan Muslim Socialist wants to ban Christmas, take away your guns, declare Sharia Law, raise your taxes, and pee in the punch bowl, while the elite liberal Jewish media protect him by refusing to expose his evil deeds — and holy shit, did you notice that he’s Black?

D- I love the quote that Bark Bark Woof Woof links to this morning that illustrates the seriousness of the threat that our current President presents to Christianity.

E- This year's DASH Portfolio Day gives Swampstyle hope for the future of the arts in South Florida.

Design and Architecture Senior High School may be under the umbrella of the Dade County public school system but it is anything but mundane. DASH continues to be the 305 laboratory for creative genius delivering visionary cultivated socially.

F- The Reid Blog has the top 10 "fails" of the latest Republican debate.

G- What Venetian Isle residents can expect during Miami Marathon Weekend, courtesy of Belle Isle Blog.

– If you need to leave Belle Isle on island Sunday morning, walking is the best way. A bike is second-best. By car, you can only go east, and it won’t be easy. You best be is to stay put until about 10 a.m.

H- There is a definite difference between winter and summer swamp, as Go Hydrology! shows us.

I- South Florida Food and Wine gives us the reasons why you best be hungry when you go to Serendipity 3 on Lincoln Road.

The Small Plates/ Tapas style dishes have no place here at Serendipity 3 Miami as the concept is about “ample” portions which ironically are ideal for sharing; sort of making this scenario six and one half dozen of another. Everything we ordered we shared. The Thai Beef Salad ($16), ABC Burger ($15), and my favorite the Fried Chicken & Waffles ($20). Our chicken was cooked perfectly, moist and tender on the inside, seasoned just right with crunchy fried greatness on the outside. And now the waffles. The waffles are like eating air, this could be very dangerous.

J- Coconut Grove Grapevine points out that the Coconut Grove Chamber of Commerce has a new logo and a new website.




.

Your Evening Sift

While the Sifts get shorter as the weekend approaches the SFBD Weekend Widget in the right sidebar continues to grow. Make sure you check it out and enjoy your evening Sift.

A- A Newt Gingrich staffer strikes a cameraman during a recent Gingrich appearance in Miami-Dade County and Carlos Miller has the video.

B- Transit Miami asks readers to make sure that the Miami-Dade Expressway Authority understands that you're not in favor of further westward expansion of the 836.

Miami-Dade Expressway Authority is planning to expand the 836 Dolphin Expressway west toward Krome Avenue and then south to Tamiami Airport. This project would accelerate westward development, threaten agriculture, and threaten Everglades restoration.

C- If it's Thursday then it's time for South Florida Theatre Scene's weekend preview.

D- Is Michele Bernstein getting ready to expand to include a "to go" location on Biscayne Boulevard? Eater Miami links to a Miami Herald report and finds that the report may be premature.



.

Why Conservative News Outlets Are Intentionally Dumbing Down America

I am continuously harping on the toxic effect that conservative media is having on the American public but, really, what do I know?

Instead of listening to me, listen to conservative columnist and neocon Bush II speechwriter David Frum explain why this is happening and who benefits. Excellent stuff.









-via Pensito Review


.

Sparky's Roadside Barbecue

Sparky's Roadside Barbecue isn't all South Beach and fancy and pretentious and that's what makes it so easy to bop into on a weekday for lunch. Which is exactly what I did yesterday in between business tasks in downtown Miami. We arrived at 12:05 to an almost empty place which made me think about whether or not it was the right choice but by 12:20 every seat was filled and people were waiting for tables to free up.

Sparky's has been visited by the Burger Beast and Jeff Eats and there's a couple dated Chowhound threads on it so I'll let you click on those links to get a more complete review. For my part, I had the smoked chicken thigh platter with mac 'n cheese and baked beans and everything was out of this world. I tried my dining companion's waffle fries and they rocked the house.  In addition, the service was friendly, quick and courteous even though the place was getting slammed.

Oh, and there's cool music.

Do yourself a favor and visit Sparky's.  The food is superb and the ambiance is priceless.


Sparky's Roadside Barbecue
204 NE 1st Street
305-377-2877


-photo via Sparky's



.

SFDB Cool Of The Day

ProtoHaus Tiny House

-via Fancy




.

The Cooler

Just a few things from the mainstream media outlets this morning.

A- Sun-Sentinel: Something to look forward to.

It's already a bottleneck and a magnet for accidents. But using the Ives Dairy Road interchange at Interstate 95 is about to become even tougher for commuters.

A $7.5 million upgrade of the traffic-choked interchange — the one frequently used by drivers to get to Aventura Mall and Sun Life Stadium — begins Wednesday and will last for the next nine months.

"People are going to be affected by this work, said Tish Burgher, a project spokeswoman. "The volume of traffic that goes through the interchange every day is huge."

B- Sun-Sentinel: And then he should go after the media.

Tyler Weinman is suing the county and a prominent animal rights organization for botching the high-profile investigation that led to his arrest.

Tyler Weinman, the youth once accused of mutilating 19 cats across South Miami-Dade, is suing the county and a prominent animal rights organization for botching the high-profile investigation that led to his arrest.

Miami-Dade prosecutors dropped felony animal abuse charges against Weinman in November 2010, an embarrassing conclusion to a highly publicized case.

Relying on the opinions of employees of the county's animal services department, Miami-Dade detectives had built a circumstantial case that collapsed when a defense expert discovered animal bite marks, likely from a large dog, under the fur of eight preserved cat carcasses.

Named in the lawsuit: Miami-Dade County, including Detective Dominick Columbro and former Animal Services Director Sara Pizano; and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the University of Florida, which employed forensic veterinarian Melinda D. Merck.

C- Sun-Sentinel: Chan Lowe.

D- CBS4: Life in South Florida.

PEMBROKE PINES (CBS4) – A car slammed into a worker cleaning up debris along a canal in Pembroke Pines Wednesday sending the worker and the car into the water.

A police officer who happened to be in the shopping plaza and several Good Samaritans jumped in to help rescue the worker and the elderly female driver.

E- NBC Miami: Video, the updated Miami Casino.


.

Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

It's a very busy Thursday morning in the South Florida blogosphere. Lots of siftable posts out there. And, because the weekend is right around the corner, the SFDB Weekend Widget is up and running in the right sidebar. Enjoy.

A- Man or Maniac? disassembles another lame conservative argument.

B- Obalesque makes me laugh...and so do his commenters.

Please note that the window has the words FREE SMELLS in red neon. For several months I puzzled over who (or what) SMELLS is and why he has been incarcerated, inspiring this neon plea for his release.

C- Republican presidential candidates are so desperate at least one of them is promising Americans the moon...literally, as Bark Bark Woof Woof tells us.

D- Shorter Coconut Grove Grapevine...

If everyone didn't have to work and just hung out all day doing nothing then they really would appreciate the Grove more...like I do.

E- Swamp mosaics with Go Hydrology!

F- Under the Sun posts the story of a stray Miami-Dade pit bull that was nursed back to health in Broward County.

G- Sex and the Beach has 10 reasons why everyone should sit up and pay attention to what's happening to Mattheson Hammock Park these days.

H- There is a real need for bicycle corrals in Miami and Transit Miami urges their implementation.

At the last meeting of the Miami-Dade Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), I presented a proposal for a centrally located on-street bicycle-parking corral. The proposed location is the SE corner of NW 2nd Avenue at NW 26th st. After the ensuing conversation, the BPAC decided to formally support the project moving forward.

I- Twenty-one new photos are up at The Street.


.

Your Evening Sift

Food posts dominate this evening's Sift so if you haven't eaten yet, I warned you. Enjoy your evening Sift, readers. Grab a napkin.

A- Big Al's makes an authentic Philly cheese steak, according to Burgers by the Beach.

Meat was tender & juicy... Onions, perfectly chopped and grilled. And of course... The Wiz. You can't have a Philly without the Wiz.

B- Food for Thought shows us what he did with his CSA share from Week 9.

C- Capri Pizza on Atlantic in Delray Beach is average, according to Worst Pizza.

Even though the Chicago Style Pizza at Capri Pizza is nothing more than a Sicilian slice cut differently, The sauce was great. The dough was tasty and airy, and this pizza in general has potential. Cheese was not so great.

D- Nice post from Culture Designers that gives us an idea of what the DWTWN Food & Wine Festival was like this past weekend.

It was more packed than I had anticipated, but it was still fairly easy to get around and engage in the demonstrations that were being offered. I’d say my friends and I did a great job visiting most of the restaurant tents, and from burgers to seafood there was a wide variety to choose from. I particularly liked the spicy yellowfin tuna poke offered at The Oceanaire Seafood Room display!

E- Also from past weekend, the Burger Beast has scenes from the Burger Battle Alley contest at JA Uncorked in Lauderdale [I think].

It was a great showing by all the combatants but in the end, Charm City Burger Company’s Haute Burger was chosen by Riverwalk Trust and myself as the best of the night.

F- If you liked Transit Lounge, you'll like what replaced it, says Boy Writes Miami.

To me it doesn’t feel like Blackbird Ordinary is a completely new place, just a better version of Transit. I can’t do the whole “hittin’ on bitches” thing to reveal to gentlemen how whorish the crowd is anymore, but it’s Brickell; they’ll put out.

G- Jeff Eats won't be going back to Brio Tuscan Grille.

Let’s talk food…”tried” fried calamari, meat lasagna, chicken milanese, penne alla vodka, strip steak, veal marsala. Take this for what it’s worth, this is CHAIN FOOD. Now, I don’t know what your favorite Italian joint is, but I’ll bet you a nickel that its food runs absolute circles around Brio’s stuff. I’ll even go one step further and say that your 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th & 10th favorite Italian restaurants also run laps around Brio’s food.

H- More furloughs for Miami Herald employees, as Random Pixels posts the internal memo.

In an email today to newsroom staffers announcing company-wide one-week furloughs for all full-time employees, Landsberg wrote, "The improving trends we've seen in our business results so far this year are real and encouraging, but we continue to experience year-over-year revenue losses."

I- If you like melted cheese then you'll be happy with the latest All Purpose Dark post.

There's a new grilled cheese joint in town (actually, it's probably the only grilled cheese joint in town that's not a food truck) and it's name is, appropriately, MLT. It's on a clubby stretch of Washington which is perfect for the genre, considering plenty of tipsy nightlifers will find hangover-curing solace in their gut-busting menu of Philly Cheesesteaks, fried chicken on biscuits and namesake gooey sandwiches.

J- The Local's chef tells Blind Tastes that he's moving on and opening frita shops in West Miami-Dade.

We chatted via text today and he let me know that he was leaving The Local, his gastropub concept in Coral Gables, and launching a new endeavor this summer... Frita Shop!

K- Eye on Miami takes the recommendation of a commenter and decides to vote for Mitt Romney in the Republican primary.


.

Name That Spot #25

Name That Spot is a periodic feature in which SFDB readers attempt to identify the South Florida location of the photo that is displayed.

Give me the name of the South Beach Hotel that you'll find this beautiful rooftop patio.

Past winners include Superbee, C.L.J., Miami Bike Scene, CultureDesigners, Gretchen, Balou[2], Gus, brwass, smedvin, Michael Kain, The Chowfather, Lori, CB[2], South Florida Food and Wine, Whack-A-Mole[2] and Alex de Carvalho[2]. There's been three Stumpers and one identified by "Anonymous."





.

Republicans Then...And Now

Remember back in 2008 when Republican John McCain did the right thing...



Well, those days are long gone as McCain's party has turned into an out of control clown car.

Here is a woman [maybe the same one] on Monday in Lady Lake, Florida, conversing with Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum during a campaign stop.



Lady Lake is home to The Villages, a community of retirees from the Northeast that is over 98% white and helped elect Florida Governor Rick Scott. It is Florida Tea Party Headquarters, so it's not entirely surprising that these folks, who no doubt watch as much Fox News as they can between their trips to the local Golden Corral, are convinced that President Obama is an avowed Muslim and has "no legal right to be calling himself President"...if you don't count something called the "election."

But what is very telling is the way Rick Santorum does zero to correct this woman's [and the accompanying crowd's] delusions. Instead he plays off it and actually validates much of what she's babbling about.

Afterwards, when asked by a reporter about the exchange, Santorum turns into a coward.



This lack of leadership and responsibility are exactly the reasons why Santorum will never see the Oval Office and will forever be remembered more as an internet joke than a serious politician.



- via Pensito Review


.

SFDB Culinary Adventure Of The Day

A chocolate cupcake stuffed with an Oreo and a peanut butter cup and topped off with Oreo peanut butter buttercream...



-via Buzzfeed



.

The Cooler

It's a fine Hump Day news day, readers. Here are some of the stories that caught my attention this morning.

A- Sun-Sentinel: Life in South Florida.

PEMBROKE PINES— A 23-year-old Port St. Lucie woman was arrested Monday after allegedly sexually assaulting a 13-year-old in the bedroom of his Pembroke Pines apartment.

The teen's mother called police early Monday after she found Carissa Rangel having sex with her son, according to a Pembroke Pines police arrest report.

[...]

Rangel then took the teen into his bedroom and sexually assaulted him, police said. The mother told police she heard moaning coming from the bedroom at about 1 a.m. Monday and confronted Rangel. The woman allegedly told the mother that she was "getting it done right," according to the report.

B- Sun-Sentinel: Brought to you by the party of less government and more personal freedom...of course.

TALLAHASSEE — In an emotionally charged two-and-a-half-hour debate, Republican lawmakers signed off on a trio of abortion bills that backers say would stop the "killing" of children and opponents counter would drastically interfere with a woman's access to good health care.

"We need to protect these unborn children from harm," said Rep. Mike Horner, R-Kissimmee, of the three bills that would make it more difficult for women to go through with an abortion.

[...]

The bills follow several anti-abortion measures that passed last year — including one requiring women seeking an abortion to first view an ultrasound of the fetus — and reflect strong majorities of socially conservative Republicans in both houses of the Legislature.

C- Sun-Sentinel: Dude apparently eats a lot of pasta.

MIAMI-DADE— A car hit a mother and her two young sons as they crossed the street Tuesday night in Southwest Miami-Dade, killing one of the boys, police said.

The accident happened about 6:40 p.m. near the intersection of Southwest 268th Street and 137th Avenue, Miami-Dade police said. The three were crossing 268th Street and were almost to the other side when they were hit by a green, 1990s-model Crown Victoria.

[...]

Curtis Nelson, 44, said he was sitting on a crate near the store when he heard a boom. He ran into the street, found one of the boys and got him out of the road. He went back and found the mother and the other son.

"He was twisted like spaghetti," Nelson said.

D- Sun-Sentinel: Chan Lowe.

E- CBS4: No layoffs.

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Miami-Dade Commissioners have voted 7-6 to propose a new deal with law enforcement that will avoid any layoffs, but still require workers to contribute four percent from their base pay toward health care.

F- NBC Miami: I know one guy who is applying to UPS today.

At least two dozen people were injured after a FedEx truck collided with a Miami-Dade Transit bus Tuesday, authorities said.

[...]

The driver of the FedEx truck was not injured, but was given a ticket for running a red light, according to Miami Fire Rescue.

G- WPTV: Here's a Florida job for you.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) Statewide Nuisance Alligator Program is seeking nuisance alligator trappers in St. Lucie County.

Applicants must have a clean criminal history, no fish or wildlife law violations, a valid working email address and they must reside in St. Lucie County, according to FWC.

.

Your Morning Sift

Good morning.

I know you're all feeling better about the state of our union. Here's your morning Sift.

A- Obalesque had better things to do than listen to last night's State of the Union speech.

I refuse to pay attention. There’s beer to drink and porn to watch, and no time to waste on foolish pursuits.

B- Miami-Dade County is planning to build some kind of boat storage building in Mattheson Hammock Park that's going to gum things up, according to Beached Miami.

Despite an apparent conflict of interest, the chair of Coral Gables’ Historic Preservation Board is pushing for the construction of a new, 4,300-square-foot, 50-foot-tall building to store about 350 boats in Matheson Hammock Park, according to the Coral Gables Gazette.

C- Miami Daily Photo captured the image of a rare BMW in South Miami.

D- The Miami Bike Scene posts an old video of a amateur bike race on Okeechobee Road from back in the 80's.

E- You might want to skip the Tchaikovsky St. Petersburg State Orchestra's next appearance at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach after reading this review from South Florida Classical Review.

Whatever this ensemble’s provenance (or lack thereof), it is anything but a first-class orchestra. Except for a strong principal flute, wind intonation was poor and brass playing was often loud and coarse. Even the strings, usually the strong point of Russian ensembles, sounded scrawny and undernourished. Ensemble was not always precise or in synch.

F- Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich has a long history of making bigoted and divisive remarks and Bark Bark Woof Woof takes a look at some of them.


.