Lifestyle

Despite having read very favorable reviews of Daniel Boulud’s restaurant in Miami, db Bistro Moderne, I’m always afraid that eventually a fine chef will open one too many restaurants for his or her (or especially, the food’s) own good. That may happen to Mr. Boulud one day, but it certainly didn’t happen with db Bistro Moderne.

This cozy little place on Fleming has become one of the solid local favorites. White table cloth without pretense, Azur’s menu is a collection of relatively simple, straightforward ingredients put together in an imaginative, thoughtful way.

There is no greater freedom than knowing you have key essential ingredients on hand all the time. Here in Key West, this becomes clear on sunny afternoons when a trip to the grocery (all quarter mile of it!) would be a terrible interruption of our pool time cocktails.

We have just bought our first smoker, a Weber “bullet” smoker that is, simply, the best there is. I bought this new apparatus for my recent birthday fest. I wanted to smoke a pork butt in the style of kalua Hawaiian pork.

On a recent trip to New York, we hit the clubs. No, not the late night dance clubs, but two fabulous restaurants: The Lambs Club and the Hurricane Club. These two unrelated restaurants are recent additions to the New York food scene and neither disappointed.

August 6-March 31

Florida lobster is delicious treat and make for good sport as well.

They take their cocktails seriously at Bar Agricole.

About ten miles offshore of Key West, just past the reef, the water dramatically changes color from a greenish blue to a deep, deep blue.

One of our great treasures here in Key West is Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park. It has beautiful ocean views, a wide beach, large trees and grills and picnic tables scattered throughout the shaded area. This is a great spot to spend an afternoon with friends, food and drink.

The Key West Literary Seminar explores a unique literary theme each year. To celebrate its 30th anniversary, the theme looks to the unexpected, the unknown, to worlds that might have been, and worlds that may still come to pass.