Phillip Valys

Mr Q's Crab House, a Hollywood Florida seafood restaurant photographed on Thursday, April 15, 2021, now uses robots to greet customers and for touchless, socially distanced ordering. A robot on wheels greets patrons as they enter the dining room, and presents menus on a tray, and drops off food and drink at your table.

Tip your robot: South Florida restaurant hires robo-servers to deal with staff shortages

April 29, 2021 at 12:47 p.m.

It's lunchtime and Peanut, the restaurant robot host, greets Vicki and Troy Charlton with a digital eye wink and a cheerful squeak: "Here you are! Please follow me to your...

Fernando Plata is one of the co-owners of Big Cypress Distillery in Miami.

ChainBridge, South Florida’s newest distillery, pours fruit brandy and vodka in Oakland Park

May 12, 2019 at 6:08 p.m.

Bela Nahori quit his accounting job, sold his home and car in Ohio and sold his parents’ house, too – all to purchase the gleaming copper still now pumping out...

Beer ahoy! Carnival Cruise Line now pouring private-label craft beer aboard all ships

August 23, 2019 at 10:18 p.m.

Craft beer options are already plentiful for South Florida landlubbers, but now Carnival Cruise Line wants to keep you buzzing in international waters, too. Starting this week, the Miami-based cruise...

American Icon Brewery in Fort Lauderdale opening March 11 with free pints of beer

August 23, 2019 at 9:44 p.m.

Update (March 1): American Icon Brewery owner Michael Rechter says the taproom and kitchen will open at 3 p.m. March 11, and will give away one free pint of beer...

Remembering the 17 lives lost in Parkland

February 14, 2020 at 3:27 p.m.

Remembering the 17 lives lost in Parkland By Phillip Valys and Mike Mayo February 14, 2019 On the anniversary of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in...

The audience claps at the muddy presenters during the Florida Renaissance Festival in Quiet Waters Park on Saturday February 9, 2019. Jennifer Lett South Florida Sun Sentinel

Dragons and turkey legs? Florida Renaissance Festival kicks off with ‘Game of Thrones’ weekend

May 12, 2019 at 6:07 p.m.

In the game of Florida Renaissance Festival, you joust or you eat turkey legs. When the 27th annual festival returns Feb. 9-10 to Quiet Waters Park in Deerfield Beach, the...

The Norton Museum's new 210-seat auditorium will offer films, lectures and concerts.

A dramatic new Norton Museum of Art ready for its closeup

May 12, 2019 at 6:07 p.m.

Artist Pei White’s cotton tapestry “ Eikón” is a mashup of nature and design, stretching 40 feet across and towering high inside the Great Hall at the new Norton Museum...

Come together: International Beatles on the Beach Festival brings magical mystery to Delray Beach

January 9, 2019 at 1:31 a.m.

Delray Beach will transform into Beatlemania central this spring, when worshippers of John, Paul, George and Ringo descend on downtown for the International Beatles on the Beach Festival, April 25-28....

Build a giant twig sculpture with ‘Stickman’ Patrick Dougherty Jan. 8 in West Palm Beach

January 9, 2019 at 1:35 a.m.

Deep in the clearing at Mounts Botanical Garden in West Palm Beach, you might notice volunteers hauling bundles of what looks like underbrush, or maybe kindling. It’s not for fire:...

Art Basel in Palm Beach? These West Palm Beach art fairs return in January

January 9, 2019 at 1:32 a.m.

Not to be outdone by Fort Lauderdale’s bounty of art gatherings this January, West Palm Beach has entered the post-Art Basel season boasting a pair of contemporary-art fairs. Palm Beach...

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