A tangy bitter brew
Movie: Last Orders
A tangy bitter brew
Movie: Last Orders
Penalties for Ernie withdrawal
Movie: The Importance of Being Earnest
To the letter
What a difference a letter makes. Back in February, Café Allegre chef and owner Kevin Fonzo told me of his plan to renovate the existing space, add tables and a private dining room next door, and adopt a new name. “Something with ‘Kevin’ in it, to make my mother happy,” he said. What he came…
Hampton’s Drive-In R
There’s nothing quite like the nostalgic feeling you get from eating at a restaurant made to look like flashback diners from the ’60s. Unless it’s the feeling you get from eating at the real thing. Hampton’s Drive-In Restaurant has stood, virtually unchanged, since 1957; its wood paneling and tile floors have been freshened but otherwise…
Penalties for Ernie withdrawal
Movie: The Importance of Being Earnest
Nostalgia flavors DeLand diner
There’s nothing quite like the nostalgic feeling you get from eating at a restaurant made to look like flashback diners from the ’60s. Unless it’s the feeling you get from eating at the real thing. Hampton’s Drive-In Restaurant has stood, virtually unchanged, since 1957; its wood paneling and tile floors have been freshened but otherwise…
Ladies in waiting
Don’t panic. That’s advice from the “Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” and good advice it is. When was the last time you panicked and it turned out great? You hear, “I panicked and shot him, but that flash of metal I saw was just an Eskimo Pie.” You never hear, “I panicked and earned a…
Coming full Circuit
Gay men don’t always wear red at Gay Day. In fact, sometimes they wear very little at all. Such is the story of the gay “Circuit” party: the amped-out, muscled-up counterculture characterized by extensive all-night revelry and reconstructions thereof the next day at the gym. While Gay Day at Disney, now stretched over four days…
Dub struck
When the hot afternoon sun roasts the planet from high above, the chill-out sounds of the Caribbean islands seem like a natural fit. Many people instinctively head straight for one of Bob Marley’s legendary reggae recordings. Great choice, but there’s another tropical diversion that’s shining bright this season, burning its way into the public consciousness:…
The Fast and the Spurious
The record-breaking box-office success of “Spider-Man” is the sort of phenomenon that exposes the summer-movie sweepstakes for the turkey shoot it really is. For every runaway blockbuster, there are at least 10 films like “Hollywood Ending” with a paltry take ($4.5 million so far) that seems to reflect the indomitability of said human arachnid. It’s…
Peaceful Coexistence
After a week of scorching May temperatures and almost motionless air, a cooling cloud cover and gusty easterly breeze grace the New Smyrna side of Ponce Inlet. It’s not yet noon on a Monday, but as if from out of nowhere, a convoy of dusty Jeeps, SUVs, pickup trucks and compact cars with surfboards tied…
Water on the brain
Getting wet can be an effective way to beat the heat and humidity of a Central Florida summer. Sure, you can just jump into a neighbor’s pool or splash around in the surf at one of our nearby Atlantic beaches. But why not be a sport about it and learn a new skill while you’re…
Double-dealing on rights
When voters re-elected Commissioner Vicki Vargo in March, they thought they were getting a principled member of the community who had shown flashes of independence in her two years in office. Vargo, a 48-year-old real-estate attorney, had earned a reputation as a neighborhood-friendly commissioner who often challenged Mayor Glenda Hood’s administrators whenever Vargo felt they…
Skateboarders score surprise win with city
Last week, Tom Connery, a project manager with the city of Orlando, hopped a Lymmo bus and found five kids with their skateboards in the back. It was a Wednesday afternoon, just after the kids got out of school. “Where do you guys skateboard?” he asked. Downtown, one responded, because there’s no place else around.…
Grabbing some Ass
“Oh my GOD!” perks a patron, bar right, in the Hard Rock Live pre-Pink-show milieu. “You look just like your picture! I read your column every week … But I don’t really understand it.” OK, it’s like this. Teachers dated me, my parents hated me, I was never voted first place … And my socks…
Smart drinks
Quick! Spell the word “sacrilege.” OK, I know. I made it too easy by writing it out for you. Let’s try again. Grab a friend. Make him spell “esophagus” without looking at this page. Then have him chug a Shipyard beer and try to spell “peccadillo.” Imagine this semischolarly, all-alcoholic fun going on for an…
