Now in its second year with MichelinStarred restaurants, Miami’s fine dining scene is well into maturity, participating fully on the global restaurant stage. Miami food media, on the other hand, has some catching up to do.

Among those doing the work of filling the void is Brenda Popritkin, whose blog, “The Whet Palette” and podcast by the same name — along with her serious approach to restaurant reviews that are written for diners rather than publicists — have made her Miami’s premier food blogger, respected by chefs and trusted by her audience.

In this episode of Pan Con Podcast, Mike talks with Brenda about how being the parent of a specialneeds child led her and her husband Larry (who has a recurring role on their podcast, contributing most heavily on the subject of restaurants’ wine programs) to the fine dining date night hobby that became a yearround media project, what it was like seeing a restaurant industry she’d championed for so long recognized at Florida’s first ever Michelin Guide ceremony, and her plans to go on a burger expedition with past Pan Con Podcast guest Sef González (better known as Burger Beast).

01:27: Introduction
05:55: How The Whet Palette got started
15:00: The last decade in Miami dining
16:53: Surprised by Sexy Fish Miami
22:10: Bouchon Miami, Thomas Keller restaurants
24:15: Brooklyn Fare
25:50: Michelin Guide comes to Florida
32:43: Michelin Guide naysayers
36:14: Reaching fine dining novices
40:50: Plans for The Whet Palette
42:12: Other blogs and publications
50:20: 2023 Michelin Guide ceremony for New York, Chicago, D.C.
55:20: Brenda's Miami restaurant todo list
59:35: Ariete Hospitality + The Hungry Post
01:05:33: Fritanga Fridays
01:08:10: Enrique Iglesias (and Ricky Martin and Pitbull)
01:09:28: Parting recommendations
01:16:52: Nick rants about some cigar bar guests

Our parting recommendations and other stuff mentioned in this episode:

The Dish: The Lives and Labor Behind One Plate of Food
https://amzn.to/40gVHUP

Fancy Bread Miami podcast
‪@FancyBreadMiami‬

Cork Dork: A WineFueled Adventure Among the Obsessive Sommeliers, Big Bottle Hunters, and Rogue Scientists Who Taught Me to Live for Taste
https://amzn.to/3MPlzSa

Godless
https://www.netflix.com/title/80097141

Invincible
https://amzn.to/3sKmOex

[Some of the above are Amazon affiliate links. While nobody was paid or prompted to recommend these items on the podcast, we do get a small kickback if you use these links to make purchases.]

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