Restaurants in Florida
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Dancing Avocado Kitchen
Fresh and healthful, a meal here makes you feel better…or is it just the fresh air flowing through the custom-made air filters? Yummy Mexican dishes like extreme burritos and quesadillas dominate the menu at this vegetarian-oriented café, but the signature dancing avocado melt is tops. There’s a juice and smoothie bar on-site, the salsa is made from scratch, and once a month all tips go to charity.
reviewed
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Sweet Tomatoes
Travelers have been known to make pilgrimages here for the most incredible salad-/pasta-/soup-/bread-/dessert-bar buffet ever. Only the freshest ingredients are used for superb selections such as nutty mushroom pasta, tomato chipotle bisque and pesto orzo salad with pinenuts; excellent for vegetarians.
reviewed
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French Connection
This place features good service, big sandwiches, quiches, crepes, salads and a killer French onion soup. Outdoor tables and a friendly bar (with an eight-hour happy hour from 11:00 to 19:00) rounds out the appeal.
reviewed
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D
Clark's Fish Camp
It doesn't any get more Floridian than this. Absolutely worth driving 27 miles for, this restaurant, on a gator-filled lake, was originally a bait-and-tackle shop and now combines the art of taxidermy (hundreds of stuffed lions, tigers, leopards, you name it, proliferate indoors and out), with mind-boggling meals of fried or charred turtle, kangaroo, antelope and rattlesnake.
Work up your courage with a Swamp Fest platter of gator tail, soft-shell crab, frog's legs, conch, catfish and squid, plus two sides and hushpuppies. There's a rustic elongated timber bar with barrel tables, but the best tables are on the lakeside outdoor deck. From Jacksonville, take the I-95 south …
reviewed
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Satchel’s Pizza
Two miles east of downtown, this wacky place has the best pizza on Florida’s east coast (and a darn good salad, to boot). Here, you can sit surrounded by funky outsider art and savor steaming build-your-own gourmet pies served on mismatched crockery. Grab a seat at a mosaic courtyard table or in the back of a gutted 1965 Ford Falcon. Most nights there’s live music in the Back 40 Bar; there’s bocce ball and a head-scratchingly eccentric junk museum featuring various bizarro collections. Satchel’s doesn’t take credit cards; the fees from the on-site ATM go to charity. Skip Satchel’s and you miss Gainesville’s soul.
reviewed
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Xixon
It takes a lot to stand out in Miami’s crowded tapas-spot stakes. Having a Basque-country butcher-and-baker-gone-hip interior is a good start. Bread that has a crackling crust and a soft center that fluffs your tongue, and delicate explosions of bacalao (codfish) fritters, secures your spot as a top tapas contender. The bocadillo (sandwiches), with their blood-red Serrano ham and salty Manchego cheese, are great picnic fare. This place is a few miles north of the central Coconut Grove area.
reviewed
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Café Solé
Conch carpaccio with capers? Yellowtail fillet and foie gras? Oh yes. This locally and critically acclaimed venue is known for its cozy back-porch ambience and innovative menus, cobbled together by a chef trained in southern French techniques who works with island ingredients. The memory of the anchovies on crostini makes us smile. It’s simple – fish on toast! – but it’s the sort of simple yet delicious that makes you feel like mom’s whipped up something special for Sunday dinner.
reviewed
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Prime 112
Sometimes, you need a steak: well aged, juicy, marbled with the right bit of fat, served in a spot where the walls sweat testosterone, the bar serves Manhattans and the hostesses are models. Chuck the above into Miami Beach’s oldest inn – the beautiful 1915 Browns Hotel – and there’s Prime 112. We just have to mention: during our research Enrique Iglesias, Anna Kournikova, Alonzo Mourning, LL Cool J, Mike Piazza and the King of Jordan all ate here. On the same night.
reviewed
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Mai-Kai
This old-school Polynesian joint is pure kitsch – with some good food and amusing entertainment thrown in for grins. Las Vegas–style shows (additional $10.95) follow the meals, which range from Hawaiian chicken and seafood with noodles to the massive oak-roasted filet mignon Madagascar for two ($60). Don’t miss the froofy cocktails, including the potent ‘mystery drink.’
reviewed
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Andiamo!
- Miami, USA
- Restaurants › Pizza
It looks like a ’50s drive-through (it’s actually an old car wash), but Andiamo! isn’t old fashioned. This airy eatery breaks ground with award-winning pizza and toppings that range from goat cheese to white tuna. You can get creative or settle for excellent interpretations of classics such as the Vesuvius: salami, hot peppers and olives, mmm.
reviewed
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Cafe Tu Tu Tango
An explosion of color and artwork cram the adobe walls of this fun Spanish eatery. Food is served 'tapas-style' (small portions), and dining is often interrupted by spontaneous performances of salsa dancing or magic shows. Chicken Cajun eggrolls and oriental steak skewers are the favorites - and don't forget a huge pitcher of luscious sangria.
reviewed
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Arabian Nights
Combine dinner with a show and you usually end up with some lesser version of both; however, a lot of people find the combination fun enough that they don't mind. (Hint: you probably already have a pretty good idea if you're a dinner show type of person or not.) Good choices include the equestrian delight Arabian Nights.
reviewed
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Boatyard
Slips are available to pull up in your own boat at this classy place that's gained a loyal following with locals. There's good live music, very fine martinis and talented chefs turning out Keys and Gulf classics like guava-glazed baby back ribs and crisped-to-perfection hand-battered fried shrimp.
reviewed
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Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theater
Sleuths Mystery Dinner Theater has three theaters, a full-service bar and spacious outdoor patio. Dinner party guests suss each other out at the table before finishing off the meal (and a guest), then put their best 'clue' efforts to work. There are 12 different shows, each about 2½ hours long.
reviewed
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CJ’s Crab Shack
This casual spot seems a cut above the rest of its Ocean Dr resto-siblings. As the name promises, there are lots of crustaceans served by a sassy waitstaff with complimentary dry attitude (it’s endearing). Happy hour is a happy steal: $5 for a half-dozen oysters, $6 for two stone-crab claws.
reviewed
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Balans
- Miami, USA
- Restaurants › Asian
Kensington, Chiswick…South Beach? Oi, give this Brit-owned fusion favorite a go, cobbler. Where else do veal saltimbocca and lamb jalfrezi share a menu? After you down the signature lobster club, you’ll agree tired stereotypes about English cooking need to be reconsidered.
reviewed
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Lester’s Diner
Hailed endearingly as a greasy spoon, campy Lester’s Diner has been keeping folks happy since the late 1960s. Everyone makes their way here at some point, from business types on cell phones to clubbers to blue-haired ladies with third husbands.
reviewed
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Chima
Gaucho-costumed servers herd a never-ending cavalcade of meats from table to table in this Brazilian churrasco -style steakhouse. And while that may sound campy, it's not: Chima's upscale locale is one of the nicest on Las Olas.
reviewed
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Blue Heaven
The outdoor dining can be a bit like eating in a barnyard, but a funky, eclectic barnyard, with creative, well-executed dishes. Waiting in line to enjoy a nice meal with chickens scratching under your table? Welcome to Key West.
reviewed
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Johnson’s Diner
Nobody does soul food better than this Orlando institution. Their calorie-busting meat-loaf sandwiches and homemade sweet-potato pie will have you loosening that belt quicker than you can say, ‘More collard greens, please.’
reviewed
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Rain Forest Cafe
At the entrance to Animal Kingdom, Rain Forest Cafe is almost another park ride. Waterfalls, volcanoes, gorillas - all it needs is a tram. Although you can dine fine, there are plenty of options under US$15, even at dinner.
reviewed
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Casablanca Cafe
Try to score a seat on the upstairs balcony of this Moroccan-style home where they serve Mediterranean-inspired food and Florida-style ocean views. For just a taste of the ambience, drop by for happy hour.
reviewed
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Columbia Restaurant
See that enormous building covered in hand-painted tiles? That's the famous Columbia, serving Spanish and Cuban specialties since 1920. Reservations and $6 gets you seating for flamenco performances.
reviewed
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Creolina's
Get transported to the backwaters of Louisiana for some serious Cajun, Creole and jambalaya at this Riverwalk hotspot. The Sunday New Orleans brunch is a wonderful choice.
reviewed
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El Siboney
Key West is only 90 miles from Cuba, so this awesome corner establishment is quite literally the closest you can get to real Cuban food in the US. Cash only.
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