South Beach Suggestions

[Vital Information]

http://vitalinformation.blogspot.com/2005/...s-in-south.html

Lots of great places to eat in S. Florida. The best two, both in Miami Beach, may still be Rascal House and Joe's Stone Crab.

[markk]

Although I've loved Rascal House for years, I was there twice around Thanksgiving, 2004, and the food was just hideous! I mean, it was horrible !!!

I posted about it at great length, and there was some discussion.

Rascal House on eGullet

In particluar, the pastrami was dry, synthetic, and rubberized to the point of elasticity. When I complained to the waitress, she told me "take it or leave it - we haven't made our own pastrami in years".

I read the above post and thought I might post a contrasting point of view.

[detlefchef]

I'll throw in my two cents since I was there last fall essentially researching restaurants (primarily for design).

The Delano is very cool, but the bloody mary I had on the patio was poor.

Miss Yips (off Lincoln St.) was very good. Pretty interesting interior and very solid Chinese food.

Prime 112 Steakhouse was entirely average. We spent a fortune there (about $650 for 3 of us) and nothing was really all that great.

The Shore club was also a very beautiful scene. I'm not sure what there is to eat in there, but it's certainly a great place to grab a drink.

Tantra was silly. Nothing more pathetic that someone putting a ton of energy into trying to make a place super exotic and sensual and ending up with silly.

[Scherb]

We had a memorable meal at Wish in late December. The vibe was as good as the food - outdoor tables under twinkling lights amid lush landscaping, with attentive service, outstanding foi gras and sea bass and an interesting lobster soup/salad. And it's in the middle of the South Beach scene but away from the restaurant barkers on Ocean Drive. As for Cuban, head to Calle Ocho and try Versailles; it's humble, noisy and a Miami landmark (be sure to have some after-dinner cafe con leche from the sidewalk window to get the full Little Havana experience). Tap Tap on Miami Beach is also worth trying; not upscale at all, but great food at reasonable prices, with excellent mojitos and colorful Haitian murals. You should have a blast, the weather's great this time of year....

[Ari]

As for Cuban, head to Calle Ocho and try Versailles; it's humble, noisy and a Miami landmark (be sure to have some after-dinner cafe con leche from the sidewalk window to get the full Little Havana experience).

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Versailles is THE classic Miami place for cheap Cuban food, but IMHO there are other hole-in-the-wall Cuban places where the food is much better. One is a market/restaurant called El Palacio De Los Jugos, at 57th and Flagler. It's not a sit-down restaurant; the style is more like a cafeteria with big outdoor tables.

Another is Havana Harry's in Coral Gables. I heard (don't know whether this is true) that it's owned by a married couple--one Cuban, one Anglo--that wanted an authentic Cuban place where both of their families would feel comfortable dining.

David's on South Beach is also good for authentic, hole-in-the-wall food. They have one restaurant on Lincoln Road and another on Washington. At least the Lincoln Road one is open 24 hours a day.

Speaking of Lincoln Road, the Lincoln Road Cafe is around the corner from David's. They serve Cuban food that is good (not great) but has the best people-watching in town.

And a slightly trendier version of classic Latin cuisine is in Coral Gables at Chispa. None of these are landmarks in the way Versailles is, but I think Versailles sometimes coasts on the fact that it's a landmark.

On a separate note, the other night I ate for the first time at a place called Shoji Sushi. It's on Collins Ave. between 1st and 2nd. Innovative food, high-quality fish, and not so expensive that it has to be postponed for a special occasion. They had these lychee cocktails that were just fabulous. The restaurant is next door to Nemo, which is another high-end South Beach favorite.

[Lazrowp]

On a separate note, the other night I ate for the first time at a place called Shoji Sushi.  It's on Collins Ave. between 1st and 2nd.  Innovative food, high-quality fish, and not so expensive that it has to be postponed for a special occasion.  They had these lychee cocktails that were just fabulous.  The restaurant is next door to Nemo, which is another high-end South Beach favorite.

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Not so expensive???? Dinner for 2 w/tip was $150. I thought that was more on the expensive side than not expensive. Our meal was pretty basic and we had about a $30 liquor bill.

The best dish was their "shishito" which is a Japanese pepper which they steamed and salted like edamame.

Where are the Miami "traditional sushi places?" The concierge at the hotel told us this was traditional sushi, right after he recommended Sushi Samba which is also not so traditional.

Shoji Sushi was a good meal, but not at that price level.

Paul

[morela]

I'm bringing this baby back to the top! Looks like all rain for the next few days in Miami. Any breakthroughs since August 16th? Rainy day spots?

[ecruz1026]

Went to Mosaico. Wish I'd gone sooner. Getting ready to coop up and just order pizza for the next couple of days. Two days in a row w/o sun gets depressing real quick.

[lambretta76]

Anything new going on down here?

I saw you got a branch of our (Brooklyn, NY) underwhelming South African restaurant Madiba. Hopefully the food is better there than up here.

Anything else new and interesting with food that's top notch?

[DTBarton]

Just another thought on Joe's Stone Crab: http://www.joesstonecrab.com/

We ate there for the first time a couple weeks ago, it was very good. Enjoy things that are better than you expect them to be. Stone crabs, of course, but don't miss the potatoes Lyonnaise.

On the waiting issue, we had heard about that. Drinks are pricy in the bar, don't want to wait too long unless on expense account. We went at dinner opening time (5:00 PM) on a Monday and walked right in. It's a big place and still wasn't full when we left about 6:30, so if you go early on a weekday, the wait shouldn't be TOO bad!

We have also enjoyed meals at Grillfish: http://www.grillfish.com/miami.lasso

Good fresh fish simply grilled. Nice and simple, not too pricy.

[lambretta76]

Does anyone know if Social - the new restaurant at the Sagamore will be opening soon (or is it already open)? Anyone know who's going to be in the kitchen?

[scubadoo97]

Just got back from Sobe and we ate at Pacific Time, AltaMara and Sushi Samba. Best meal I had was from Pacific Time. I had a scallop dish that was excellent. The diced vegetables in a curry sauce was even tastier than the scallops.

[markemorse]

I'll give this a lil' New Year's bump...we're heading to South Beach and points south for two weeks on Saturday. We used to spend quite a bit of time in South Beach but haven't been in 5 years or so.

This time around it's proving unusually difficult to find consistent reviews of non-silly SoBe eateries. In the past, we've had great repeat eating/hanging out experiences at Wish, Tap Tap, Nemo, News Cafe, and Pacific Time...but as I said it's been 5 years and I'm sure things have changed (a la Mark's on South Beach, where we had a truly fantastic meal back in 2001...too bad it seems to have fallen apart), particularly in the areas of fresh fish, Cuban, and sushi are welcome (I've seen this thread on Cuban recs). We will not have a car. Thanks!

ETA: By the way, I've found this Google Maps app very helpful. Thought I'd share: Click.

mark

Edited January 11, 2007 by markemorse (log)

[markemorse]

Hope this isn't gratuitous, but after some research I wanted to see if anybody had any "yes, definitely"s or "do NOT go there"s for my current list of potentials, such as it is. Pretty tough going so far, I've mostly ended up with old favorites:

Nicer:

Nemo

Wish

Escopazzo

Less So:

Talula

Tap Tap

Doraku

Front Porch

News Cafe

Chalan's on the Beach

Could stand a couple more in the "Nicer" category, requirements are: dining at the bar, a front of the house that cares if you come back, and non-pedestrian food.

thanks for any input.

mark

Edited January 12, 2007 by markemorse (log)

[chefAZ]

you should definatley try Casa Tua, Mitchy's, & OLA

The restaurant in Hotel Victor is pretty decent as well not to mention the hotel itself is drenched with style.

[chefAZ]

Oh forgot to mention, If your a big time foodie I can always send you to a couple of my buddies who are chefs, they will be happy to cook you up something special!

[markk]

Is taking cabs an option?

[chefAZ]

Definatley, all are in south beach...except mitchy's which is on biscayne blvd. But the rest are all 2-5 apart from each other.

[markemorse]

chefAZ: thanks a bunch for the new recs, I'd heard great things about Michy's and Casa Tua...

markk: cabs are an option, but i'd like to keep them to a minimum....

thanks again,

mark

[markk]

chefAZ: thanks a bunch for the new recs, I'd heard great things about Michy's and Casa Tua...

markk: cabs are an option, but i'd like to keep them to a minimum....

thanks again,

mark

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I recently started a thread about Michy's after three stupendous meals there. I'd certainly consider it worth a cab there and back. It's also a very happening place (not necessarily my own style, but the food's spectacular) so you probably won't even miss South Beach.

[markemorse]

ChefAZ: Went by OLA today....or where I thought OLA was. It's not at the Savoy anymore, and the only other location they knew about was in Coral Gables. Do you know of another South Beach location for OLA?

thx

mark

[markemorse]

OK, OK, last question....has anyone ever done a tasting menu at Escopazzo?

thx

mark

[chefAZ]

wow I didnt know they closed down OLA on the beach! Ok well then the only other OLA is in Coral Gables, but that one is OLA Steak.

[markemorse]

Thanks to all for their input. I just wanted to post my results, the writeups are here on my blog, but in short we ate best at Talula, Mark's South Beach, and this little place called Fifty. Moshi Moshi was very good as well, if a bit weird on the service side.

mem

Edited March 17, 2007 by markemorse (log)