Stephen's Restaurant: Great Jewish Deli In The Middle Of Hialeah

Over the last couple of decades, Hialeah has become synonymous with bad traffic, chongas and Cubans. Flashback to a few decades back and Hialeah was an up-and-coming town with a dignitary attracting race-track and a burgeoning garment district. The garment district was located in the south east corner of Hialeah and was mostly run by families of Jewish decent. However, like locusts, us Hispanics invaded Hialeah and made the town our own. The one-time garment district is now overrun with thrift stores and auto-body shops with plans to be turned into an art district. The only thing that has survived in the area is Stephen's Restaurant, a 60 year old Jewish deli. Yep, you read that right. A Jewish deli in Hia-fuckin-leah.

Dulce De Leche Coffee Cake Recipe

Three years ago I developed an obsession with Crumb On Parchment and their dulce de leche coffee cake. It was glorious, rich and addictive. Then, their pastry chef abruptly quit and took the recipe with her. That bitch. So much time has passed and from time to time, I day dream about that coffee cake. A couple of days ago I decided to experiment in the kitchen and try to recreate this dulce de leche wonder. Before you even start this cake, you need to make dulce de leche. I started off with a basic cake recipe, tweaked it here, nipped it there and ended up with something pretty freaking delicious.

Mama Don't Cut My Crust T-Shirt Giveaway!

I'm well overdue for another giveaway, so I've teamed up again with the great folks at Flavour Gallery and Chef Jeff Mauro from the Food Network to give away a couple of his new t-shirts. I'm giving away 1 men's tee and 1 kid's tee to some lucky sandwich fans out there.

Sundays Were Made For Baking: Dark Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies Topped with Sea Salt

I've found that baking is very calming. Perhaps it's the fact that baking is a structured task that forces you to focus on what's right in front of you and doesn't let your mind wander to the 5000 other things going on in your life, but what do I know? It's not like I'm a therapist or anything. Whatevs, I digress. This past Sunday I got the ravenous urge for girl scout cookies. Dosido's to be exact; I wanted those peanut butter sandwich cookies in and around my mouth ASAP. My only problem is that girl scout cookie season ended in South Florida a couple of months ago, so what was I to do?? After a couple of minutes looking on ebay for girl scout cookies, I decided to just bake my little heart out.

True Loaf Bakery Is Home To The Best Croissant In The 305.

I've been enjoying the delicious croissants at Panther Coffee for quite some time. Unfortunately, I've never taken the time to inquire where they came from. I've always just been thankful for their mere existence and devoured them with rampant fervor all while telling my friends, "Bro. The croissants at Panther are the fucking tits, guy. Pero like, for real, they're suuuper delicous." 

Plain Croissant

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies: The Only Acceptable Way to Eat Oatmeal.

Contrary to popular belief, my life isn't all nutella, cheeseburgers and ice cream. Though, I really wish it was. I try to eat relatively healthy from time to time and had actually decided to venture into the world of oatmeal. Truth be told, I had never had oatmeal... EVER. So I bought myself a container of quick oats at the market and made myself a bowl. After my first bite I asked myself, "How the fuck do people eat this shit?! This is garbage." I'm sure there are people out there that will disagree with my brash opinion and try to convince me on the marvels of oatmeal and how delicious it can be, but until someone can show me the way my opinion remains intact.

Cuban Mocha Cake Recipe

What's better than chocolate cake? Chocolate cake with coffee in it. What's better than chocolate cake with coffee in it? Chocolate cake with an entire colada baked into it. This cake should fix your sweet craving and your caffeine fix all in one bite.

Firehook Bakery In DC: I Fell In Love In 48 Hours

I went to DC for the weekend, 48 hours to be exact. In that short time I hit up several restaurants and somehow managed to find myself at Firehook Bakery a total of 3 times. I stumbled upon the bakery on my way to the hotel as it was conveniently located 1/2 a block away on Dupont Circle. The next morning, I decided to stop by and take a look inside. What I found was loaves of various freshly baked bread lining the walls behind the counter, dozens of glistening pastries and the strong smell of fresh coffee. My mouth immediately began to water and a single thought popped into my mind, "Pero, like. I need to try ALL OF THE THINGS."

Guava and Cheese Pop Tarts?! YES PLEASE!

What happens when you're craving a pastelito de guayaba y queso and you're also craving a fresh, warm pop tart? You end up with guava and cheese pop tarts. The best of Cuban and American worlds. As a second generation immigrant, many times I find myself craving mom's cooking or craving some American comfort food. Either or, never both. So when rare opportunities to marry both cuisines occur, I jump at the chance.

Homemade pop tarts!

Win tickets for 2 to check out Miami Culinary Tours in Little Havana!

Little Havana is a strip of land us locals often taken for granted. We know there's history there, but not many of us actually take the time to walk around and soak in the historical value of this neighborhood. The folks at Miami Culinary Tours offer attendants that opportunity by hosting a two hour walking tour of this great neighborhood. While the focus of the tour is of course the culinary oasis that is Little Havana, while on the tour you'll be able to check out the domino park, watch cigar rollers and check out local art.

Mami's Dulce De Leche Cortada (Sweet Cheese Curds) Recipe

As years fade into one another, I see my mom in a different light. She's no longer this super human who cures all boo-boos, can wipe my tears and calm my fears in one swift hug and has stunning aim with her chancleta, no matter the distance. She's a woman who's aging, who's body is starting to fail her, but still has exquisite aim with her chancleta. The realization that my time with her won't last forever becomes clearer to me with each passing day. With that sad realization comes the fact that I want to desperately, somehow, hold on to the things that made me cherish my childhood. One of those things is my mom's cooking, but like many Hispanic mom's there's no set recipe. It's a little of this, un poco de esto, bastante de aquello. There's no science to my mother's delicious culinary madness. However, little by little I am getting the recipes or as close as I can get to a set recipe. I'll be posting them here, but to be perfectly honest, I am posting them here more for me than for you.

Dulce De Leche Cortada

Win A Trip On The Magical Miami Brew Bus!

A while back I was invited to check out the second run of Miami Brew Bus, a new venture by the folks behind Lokal offering people a safe and boozy way to check out the blossoming South Florida craft beer scene. For $60 you get your ass on an air conditioned bus and check out 3 local breweries that are molding the face of South Florida craft beer. As with all other food trends, Florida is running on Cuban time when it comes to craft beer. However, we're quickly making up for lost time and some amazing breweries are rapidly popping up through out the state.

Cheesy Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic Galette Recipe

As you may have noticed, I'm a fan of galettes. All the prettiness of a pie without all the fuss... what's not to like?! Well, I decided to give this whole "Meatless Monday," business a try and make myself a vegetarian dish for dinner. I googled and I pinned my little heart out until I found this recipe on Food52 for a Butternut Squash and Roasted Garlic Galette. I took their recipe and tweaked it here and there. So as a result I'm sharing my take on it here for those that asked about it on social media.

Burger Brawl Ticket Giveaway!

As some of you may already know, Burger Beast, is hosting a pretty epic burger event on May 9, 2014 called The Burger Brawl. Twenty local restaurants will be competing for the title of Best Burger in South Florida and attendants will get to sample all 20 burgers. Yep, you read that right. In addition to twenty burger joints, there will also be Sakaya Kitchen setting up a tater tot bar, Cuban Fritas from El Rey De Las Fritas, dessert from HipPOPs Handcrafted Gelato Bars, Azucar Ice Cream Company, Marlie’s Delights, and Sugar Yummy Mama. Need something to wash all of that food down? BB has you covered with beer from Samuel Adams, Jupiña, Materva and wine from Cerdà, Llanos y Cià.

Bocce Bar In Midtown Makes Me Happy

Bocce Bar is the sister restaurant (and neighbor) to Sugarcane Raw Bar Grill. I fell in love with Sugarcane soon after it opened, so it was absolutely necessary that I check out Bocce Bar. The restaurant is rustic yet modern and all around suuuper cute. I've been there a total of three times for lunch thus far and every time I am left happy and full. There's a lot of food to cover on this post, so I'll let the pictures do the majority of the talking.

Pero like, how cute are these place settings?!