The extreme heat and chance of hurricanes may keep the tourists away and may even keep us locals at home more than usual, so the hospitality industry goes into overdrive to lure us out with all sorts of offers.

When we have out-of-town guests, after we’ve given them what we call the Fort Lauderdale/Wilton Manors experience, if they’re here long enough, we expand that to the Miami experience, which includes tours of South Beach, and MiMo, and we always end up in Wynwood.

Mai-Kai, the legendary Fort Lauderdale Polynesian dinner theater, restaurant, and Tiki lounge, is an official landmark.

Haiku is a Japanese form of poetry of simplicity and precision.

I’ll start with a confession: I’ve been a fan of Maggiano’s since its inception. I was one of the first journalists to review its original Chicago location in 1991. Even then, it was clear this place was something special, like returning to my grandmother’s kitchen for a homemade meal. That is, if my grandmother were Italian — and if she could cook.

Papa’s Raw Bar is the kind of place locals go to, so I held off on this review until after season. Keep this entre nous, because we wouldn’t want word to get out, it’s hard enough to get a table as it is.