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Tropical Life

Two for one: Barley

chef opens pizza
pop-up in Dadeland
[email protected]

Mom was worried.

As they sat down to their
Sunday family dinner at
Jorgie Ramos parents
house, everyone else was
behind the idea of Ramos
big plans: reopening his
itinerant Barley restaurant
in early May in Downtown
Dadeland while simultaneously opening a new popup pizza shop two doors
down as early as April 25.
Have some faith faith
in pizza, he told her. She

CANDELA
FERRO
STEPS OUT, 5C

SOUTH FLORIDA FOOD CHAIN

KENDALL

BY CARLOS FRAS

PEOPLE

was freaking out a little,

like all good Cuban moms,
concerned we were getting
in over our heads.
Thus, Faith & Pizza was
born and with good
karma. Ramos agreed to
give all the profits (after
covering costs) to charity
for the first six months,
and the landlord, DHPI,
LLC, agreed to cover their
rent during that time. The
proceeds will be split
among three charities: Live
Like Bella, The Miami
Project to Cure Paralysis
SEE RAMOS, 4C

Flashback Diners
cheeseburger.

2 CHAINS, 2 STRATEGIES
. ............................................................................................................................................

Jacks Old Fashion Hamburgers hasnt changed over the years, but
fans dont want it to

. ............................................................................................................................................

But at Flashback Diner, change is in the works at least in Boca

. ............................................................................................................................................

PETER ANDREW BOSCH Miami Herald staff

Chef Jorgie Ramos at Barley & Swine, 9059 SW 73rd Ct. in

Downtown Dadeland. Ramos opened up a pizza pop-up,
Faith & Pizza, also in Downtown Dadeland.

A FORK ON THE ROAD

The message in a
bottle of Floridamade Toast Vodka

BY LINDA BLADHOLM

[email protected]

BY RICHARD PACHTER

[email protected]

Whether or not corporations

really are people, businesses
surely have life spans similar to
human beings. Some seem eternal while others live, die, grow
or evolve. Here are two local
restaurant chains one that
remains as it was; the other set
to begin its next chapter.
JACKS OLD FASHION
HAMBURGERS
Hamburgers are quite the
thing among gourmands these
days, with arcane blends of
ground meats, artisan-crafted
buns and a cornucopia of toppings that render the finished
product taller and wider than the
span of most human mouths. If
you like foie gras, caramelized
artichoke hearts and persimmonwood smoked weasel bellies on
your burger, great, but if you

The jukebox at Jacks Old Fashion

Hamburgers

fancy some lean fresh-ground,

fresh-grilled unseasoned beef on
a sturdy bun with your choice of
popular toppings, head over to a
low-key, non-glitzy dual-location
chain in eastern Broward County

that has been serving up better

burgers for more than 40 years.
After founding the original in
Fort Lauderdale in 1972, Jack M.
Berry opened his second namesake spot a year later in Pompano Beach. To this day, the menu
has focused on hamburgers:
quarter-, third- and half-pound
grilled patties with or without
cheese. A number of free toppings are proffered as well as a
few options they charge for
mushrooms, bacon, grilled onions, chili, et al.
Managing partner Jeff Gluth
said that when Jack opened the
first restaurant, his landlord at
the time thought he was crazy.
Why go up against all the chain
burger places? he asked. But
Gluth said Jack had no intention
of competing with the ruling
clowns and kings of burgerdom.
We sell a better product, and
our customers know it. Its really
simple, and thats why weve
been doing it for more than 40
years, he said.
In addition to burgers, Jacks
sells turkey breast, ham, roast
beef and grilled cheese sandwiches, chili (all meat, no
SEE CHAINS, 4C

Entrepreneur Dieuveny
DJ Louis has a couple of
messages in every bottle of
his Toast ultra premium
vodka: Make a heartfelt
toast to the people you are
with at the moment. And
there is always something
to toast in life at gatherings
big and small.
Louis was born in Portau-Prince, where his father
was an import-export businessman; the family emigrated to West Palm Beach
when he was a child. He
came to Miami at 21 and
got into music manageSEE TOAST VODKA, 4C

Flashback Diner has locations in Davie, above, in Hallandale Beach and in Boca Raton.

MIAMI

Naomis Restaurant
reopening in Little Haiti
BY CHRISTIAN PORTILLA

[email protected]

To say that Naomis

Garden Restaurant &
Lounge in Little Haiti is
just a restaurant is an understatement.
The family-owned restaurant is more like a small
community. Patrons have
turned into friends and
walk in as if its their second home. Some employees have been here for
more than 20 years.

Page: Features_f

The lot where Naomis

sits was purchased by Yaron Yemini Sr., an Israeli
transplant, for $15,000 in
the 1980s. He passed it
down to his sons, Noam
and Omaar, who closed the
restaurant down last year
for renovations and reopened it earlier this year.
Their grand reopening
celebration happens today.
Haitian cooks Melisane
Craan, Janine Abraham
and Dean Martin Fenelon
use influences from all
over the country in the

Pub. date: Saturday, April 23

cuisine, from Carrefour to

Les Cayes. The secret to
Naomis authentic taste is
their use of seasoning
bases called epis, a mixture
of green onions, tomato,
garlic and other spices and
herbs that instantaneously
transport you to the island.
When my dad wanted
to get some employees he
went to a store nearby and
the first person that was
walking out was a Haitian
lady, and he said, Hey I
SEE NAOMIS, 8C

Last user: [email protected]

Edition: 1st

NOAM YEMINI Photo provided to the Miami Herald

Melisane Craan, a cook at Naomis Garden Restaurant & Lounge in Little Haiti, serves food.
The restaurants grand reopening celebration is today.

Section, zone: Tropical Life, State

Last change at: 17:32:40 April 21

4C

Tropical Life

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If You Go
JACKS OLD FASHION
HAMBURGERS

Where: Fort Lauderdale and

Pompano Beach
Founded: 1972

Fish dinner at Flashback Diner.

Atmosphere: Timeless and

casual
Essentials: Burgers, fries,
roast beef, shakes
More info: jacksoldfashion
hamburgers.com
FLASHBACK DINER

Where: Hallandale Beach,

Davie and Boca Raton
Founded: 1990
Part of the interior of the Flashback Diner in Hallandale Beach.

Atmosphere: Casual and

familiar

FROM PAGE 1C

Essentials: Ollie Burger,

fried chicken, celebrity
sandwiches, desserts

CHAINS
beans), hot dogs, salads,
milk shakes and soft
drinks. French fries, like
the burgers, arrive unsalted, which is great for
those who prefer to control
their sodium intake.
Theyre also offered with
chili or cheese. Gluth is
especially proud of the
roast beef.
Its prime beef round,
roasted and sliced every
morning in house, he
said.
Jacks also offers fresh
patties to go at a discount
for home picnics, parties
and cookouts.
FLASHBACK DINER
Its Hallandale Beach and

Davie locations began as

links in Lums, another
beloved South Florida
chain, and all three current
Flashbacks honor the defunct predecessor by recreating some of its menu
items, notably the Ollie
Burger.
As a student, founder
Toula Amanna, a Greek
immigrant, also waitressed
at the original Hallandale
location. With credit cards,
family investments and a
loan from her landlord, she
opened her first restaurant
in 1990. Why a diner?
In a phone interview,
Amanna laughed. Well,
first I tried a deli but I
didnt realize I needed to
be Jewish, she said. With
an advanced degree from
FIU in information services, she did a bit of research
and discovered that Greek

Americans were supposed

to open either Greek restaurants or diners, so she
pivoted to the latter.
The current Flashback
menu is loaded with dinerfavorite comfort foods:
burgers, salads, sandwiches, dinner plates, breakfast
specials and extravagant
desserts, including a giant
blackout-style chocolate
cake and a tempting array
of pies, pastries, puddings,
ice cream and more.
The second Flashback
diner also replaced a moribund Lums in Davie in
2009. The Sun Sentinel
reported that a $100,000
grant for renovation from
the city of Davie aided in
the transition.
The third, in northern
Boca Raton, opened in
2014. It had previously
been swanky Italian restau-

Burger, fries and drink at Jacks Old Fashion Hamburgers.

rants Vivo Partenza and

Bova Ristorante, operated
by a former Scott Rothstein
business associate. The
current Flashback in that
space is one of the nicest
diners youll ever see.
All three Flashbacks have
large menus with food for
every taste. The staff is
friendly many, Amanna
says, have been with her for
decades. She also shares her
hard-won business knowledge and speaks to community groups and organizations, and lectures on working with community redevelopment agencies and the
Small Business Administration.
In addition to the three
Flashback Diners, Amanna

Ramos can make the numbers work, he said, he will

keep Faith & Pizza.
Its a good test for myself, Ramos said. Its
something I can have fun
with without the added
risk.
All the risks are on the
menu.
Faith & Pizza borrows

from Barleys gastropub

and adds to it a raw bar
and gourmet pizzas. On
Ramos proposed menu are
balsamic-glazed baby back
ribs and pork cheek meatballs for appetizers. The
raw bar will have a fresh
selection of oysters and
shrimp.
The highlights, naturally,
are the 10 specialty pizzas.
They include oxtail with a
French onion soup puree,
fontina cheese and arugula; Filipino sisig, made

with crispy pigs head

meat, red chili and a farm
fresh egg; and shaved asparagus with garlic and
challot confit.
Ramos also looks to
boutique shops such as
Babe Froman Fine
Sausages and Miami
Smokers for artisan sausage and bacon.
If Ramos, a self-taught
cook, can take risks with
Faith & Pizza its because
of his success with Barley,
which, since opening in
2015, survived several
name changes and a spat
with a landlord that forced
the restaurant to move.
Still, the nucleus of the
staff remained with Ramos, and joins the team
when they reopen in May.
Ramos father, Jorge Sr.,
will still be out front at
Barley, shaking hands and
calling people by name. He
will be making pit stops at
Faith & Pizza, where Barleys former sous chef,
Kevin Ortega, will run the
kitchen.
Thats the kind of gourmet lineage that encouraged Downtown Dadelands developers to take a
risk on Ramos in the name
of charity and future
business.
We are looking to build
something that will make
Downtown Dadeland a
restaurant destination,
said Shane Hillsley, a managing partner with Duncan
Hillsley, which co-developed Downtown Dadeland.
We love the idea he had.

RAMOS

Page: Features_2

Pub. date: Saturday, April 23

Last user: [email protected]

Edition: 1st

Wynwood area and transform it into a gathering

place for the arts and food.
Amanna and Bartzis say
that they are in the process
of starting Flashbacks next
chapter. The Boca Raton
Flashback Diner will become something else soon.
Were doing very well
there, but the name diner
comes with certain expectations; certain kinds of
food and prices. Its limiting, Amanna said. Added
Bartzis: We will see what
we will do at our other
locations after that.

and pursued his longtime

desire to create a spirit;
started a coffee company
called Papo using beans
from Central America; and
teamed with Pitbull and
three other partners to
reinvent the old Miami
Subs as New Sub Miami
Grill with mostly grilled
food and icy mocktails,
wine and beer.
The concept for Toast
Vodka was incubated in
Miami over a five-year
period with the idea of
using coconuts that grow
all over Miami to give it a
local flavor. (There is no
taste of coconut in the
vodka perhaps the electro-

FROM PAGE 1C

and Autism Speaks.

Its a win-win: Money
goes to charity, Ramos
takes a low risk and Duncan Hillsley gets a tax writeoff and fills space that
was left vacant when Flippin Pizza went out of business earlier this year. If

........................................................

NO DISTILLERY
IN MIAMI CAN
HANDLE THE
VOLUME OF VODKA
MADE, SO IT IS
DISTILLED IN
TAMPA AND
BOTTLED
IN A PLANT IN
COCOA BEACH.

TOAST VODKA

Dieuveny DJ Louis with a

bottle of his premium
Florida-made vodka called
Toast.

More info: flashback

diner.com

lytes in the coconut water

helps hydrate one to prevent a hangover the day
after imbibing.)
No distillery in Miami
can handle the volume of
vodka made, so it is distilled in Tampa and bottled in
a plant in Cocoa Beach
making it an all-Florida
product sold nationwide.
Toast, launched 14 months
ago, is sold in reusable
frosted glass bottles with
glass stoppers.
The smooth, clean tasting vodka which can be
stored in the freezer and
sipped neat won a gold
medal in a Los Angeles
International spirits competition. Toast to that.
Toast Vodka is available
in most South Florida liquor
stores for $29-$33 per
750ml bottle. Contact Dieu-

FROM PAGE 1C

ment with a business partner, founding Star Fest

World Wide Music Concerts to empower underprivileged communities.
In December 2009, he
held a concert sponsored
by Digicel that half a million Haitians attended. Mr.
Toast, as Louis is also
known, was in Haiti on Jan.
12, 2010, when the massive
earthquake hit Haiti; his
knee was injured by falling
debris in the street. Back in
Miami, he realized how
lucky he was to be alive

and her partner Pano Bartzis also operate the Deerfield Beach Caf, an environmentally friendly
LEED-certified restaurant.
They own the former
McDonalds building next
door to their Davie location, making sweets, artisan chocolates, cakes and
ice cream, which they sell
in their diners and through
Costco. In addition, they
operate a thriving catering
company, which provides
food and refreshments for
local city and private
events.
The group recently purchased Gradys Diner in
downtown Fort Lauderdale. Amanna said they
hope to emulate Miamis

Section, zone: Tropical Life, State

Last change at: 15:52:41 April 21

veny DJ Louis at
[email protected] or his
office at 305-484-3444
Linda Bladholm is a
Miami-based food writer.