Restaurant review extravaganza 58

Here are some of this week’s most noteworthy restaurant reviews from across the country:

Broward-Palm Beach

Lovey’s Roti / Lucky City / The Curry Hut

Ordering a plate of chicken curry with roti at Lovey’s Roti in Sunrise (8336 W. Oakland Park Blvd., Sunrise; call 954-741-9212) isn’t a one-step process. As in many of the dozens of West Indian-style eateries scattered throughout West Broward, questions abound: “Roti or rice?” Or “Wrapped or on the side?” Or, quite simply, “Peppa?” More >>

John Linn

“A feast at the Curry Hut in Margate includes chicken curry with potato, pumpkin and chickpeas/potato, dhalpourie roti stuffed with lentil flour, hot peppa sauce, and a cold Dragon Stout and Solo orange.”

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Dallas

Urbano Café

While waiting outside for our table at Urbano Café, we noticed a gentleman, probably in his 60s, stumble out of the restaurant and turn a collapsible cooler upside down to dump the ice that formerly chilled white wine. He was followed by several more parties of AARP members, something that had my wife and me worried. Were we to be the only diners younger than 40? The answer, thankfully, was no. There was one other couple in our age bracket. More >>

Houston

Block 7

The first thing we ordered when we sat down for lunch at Block 7 was the “whole pig” flatbread, a thin, flattened piece of bread covered with house-made Italian pork sausage, San Danielle prosciutto and baby arugula. With crispy bits of sausage, bright-green, spicy arugula and salty, chewy pieces of prosciutto on a crunchy crust, it looked like a mini thin-crust pizza. And it rocked. More >>

Kansas City

Blanc Burgers + Bottles

A friend of mine recently asked if I remembered when McDonald’s hamburgers “used to be good.”

Sure, I’m old enough to remember when McDonald’s burgers were cheap. But good? My memory’s not that sharp, I guess. And, anyway, I’m one of those people who grew up thinking a burger was just a burger. Yes, I knew the difference between a thin Steak ‘n Shake burger and the fat, undercooked pucks that my old man threw on the grill. But it never would have occurred to anyone in my family to order a hamburger in a sit-down restaurant. More >>

Los Angeles

Delphine

Four women sway toward the lobby, tugging at tight, black skirts, stilettos in boozy lockstep. A heel catches on a crack in the floor. A glowing slug of appletini arcs onto the tiles. Not a moment later, an oblivious waiter steps into the puddle. His legs shoot out from under him, and the full plates he was carrying spring into the air as he bounces hard onto the tiles, then land on him in a steaming tangle of chicken tarragon, onion soup and fries. Do I imagine that the woman who spilled the drink giggles just beyond the entrance to the lobby? Buster Keaton would have approved. More >>

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Miami

Sakaya Kitchen

High-quality fast food continues to be American gastronomy’s answer to 21st-century economics and tastes. We’re not referring to chains such as Chipotle and its ilk, but rather local, independently owned operations that put out limited menus of global street foods prepared with high-level ingredients and skill. The precursor to this national culinary craze manifested itself in these parts via an explosion of “gourmet” pizza and hamburger joints. Now the gastro trucks, originally popularized years ago in L.A., have pulled into our eager little town, as have the new generation of ethnic counter-service eateries such as Wok Town and Sakaya Kitchen. The latter debuted in the Shops at Midtown Miami last December and exemplifies all that is worthy in this trend. More >>