Restaurants in South Florida
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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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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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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.
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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.
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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.
reviewed
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Sprinkles
In this fashionable yet laid-back place, beach bums sit shoulder-to-shoulder with heiresses and enjoy the sandwiches, soups and knock-out gelato.
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Table 8
You know what? Forget that Table 8 has Oprah cachet. Forget that celebrity chef Govind Armstrong is a celebrity chef. If all that wasn’t so, Table 8 would still be one of the best high-end restaurants on South Beach, partly because it never feels too high end. That is to say, it delivers comforting innovation – duck breast with green beans and frisée (endive), mahimahi blue-crab chowder and kobe beef burgers – in an understated, accessible fashion. In a way, Table 8 is the opposite of the mystique that has grown around it. This isn’t a spot for silly airs: it offers excellent food that anyone can appreciate. The lunch menu is fantastic value. Also the bar here offers…
reviewed
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El Carajo
Pass the Penzoil please…literally. We know it is cool to tuck restaurants into unassuming spots, but the Citgo station on SW 17th Ave? Really? Really: walk past the motor oil into a Granadan wine cellar, and try not to act too phased. And now, the food, which is absolutely incredible. Chorizo in cider blends burn, smoke and juice, frittatas are comfortably filling and sardinas and boquerones …oh God. These sardines and anchovies cooked with just a bit of salt and olive oil are dizzyingly delicious. It is tempting to keep El Carajo a secret, but not singing its praises would be lying, and we’re not gonna lie: if there’s one restaurant you shouldn’t miss in Miami, it’s th…
reviewed
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Campiello
Campiello is one of Naples’ most popular Italian restaurants. Not only does it have a lively alfresco bar scene and patio seating, it also serves delicious food. The lunch menu features a lot of salads and sandwiches not offered at dinner, as well as pasta entrées for less than they cost come evening. At dinner, the menu features lots of spit-roasted meat and fish along with pasta staples. People on a budget who are looking to experience Campiello’s fantastic ambience but can’t afford to shell out $42 for a steak, should try one of the single-serving wood-oven pizzas. Priced at $14 or less per pie, they are excellent value for this caliber of restaurant. There is often li…
reviewed
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El Rey del Chivito
Heart, meet the ‘King of Chivitos’ and his signature dish: a sandwich of steak, ham, cheese, fried eggs and mayonnaise (there may have been lettuce, peppers and tomatoes too, but the other ingredients just laughed at them). Now run, heart, run away! That’s just the basic, by the way, and it comes with fries. We’ve never heard of Uruguayan restaurants in the US, and now we know why: anyone who could spread the word died of a coronary long ago. El Rey also serves Uruguayan pizza; try it topped with faina, long strips of bread mixed with cheese and peppers.
reviewed
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Grass Restaurant & Lounge
Though this über-trendy spot could easily be seen only as a lounge – a fabulous one, where gorgeous folks get let in through a velvet rope – it does, in fact, have quite a good menu. The whole place is alfresco, on a lovely patio that’s tucked away from the street, and has a combo of open-air lounging banquettes and individual tiki huts, on elevated platforms, for more intimate dinners. The menu is all over the Asia map, with dishes such as Szechuan tuna and Sumatra beef tenderloin taking center stage – next to the exquisite patrons, that is.
reviewed
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Matsuri
Note the customers: Matsuri, tucked into a nondescript shopping center, is consistently packed with Japanese people. They don’t want scene; they want a taste of home – although many are South American Japanese who order unagi (eels) in Spanish, which is a cool dining sight in and of itself. Spicy toro (fatty tuna) and scallions, grilled mackerel with natural salt, and an ocean of raw fish are all oishi (delicious). The $8 bento lunch makes the rest of the day disappointing compared to your midday meal.
reviewed
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Serenity Garden Tea House
Are we in London or what? Definitely not, but we are in the South, as easy as it is to forget, and tea-house charms go a long way in these parts. This spot, a more old-school, frilly option than the Little Tea House, is also way more concerned with your sweet tooth.
Its glass case of 'fancies' is a beauty to behold - white chocolate key-lime cheesecake, chocolate-macadamia nut mousse pie, lemon cakes - and its pear-and-gorgonzola salad, curried chicken salad and scone-filled 'low teas' aren't bad, either.
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Graziano’s
Anglos love to argue over who does the best South American steak in Miami, but among Argentinian the general consensus is this very traditional parilla, located on a strip of gas stations on Bird Rd. Everything is plucked out of Buenos Aires: the quebracho wood on the grill, Argentinian customers and, most of all, racks of lomo (steak), sweetbreads and blood sausage, gristly bits beloved by portenos (Buenos Aires natives), which are tough to find in more Yankee-friendly establishments.
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Michy’s
Blue-and-white pop-decor. Organic, locally sourced ingredients. A stylish, fantastical bar where Alice could drink before painting Wonderland red. Welcome to Michelle ‘Michy’ Bernstein’s culinary lovechild; one of the brightest stars in Miami’s culinary constellation. The emphasis is on good food and fun. The ‘half plates’ concept lets you halve an order and mix up delicious gastronomic fare such as foie gras on corn cakes, chicken pot pie with wild mushrooms, white almond gazpacho, and blue-cheese croquettes.
reviewed
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Tantra
One of South Beach's coolest celebrity hot spots, Tantra is based on the premise that all senses are to be awakened...and it certainly delivers in the visual, aural and taste departments. Large portions of eclectic cuisine like Thai spiced duck confit with an orange-scented cucumber salad share the stage with Moroccan spiced lamb with mint and mango.
The lobby features freshly cut grass, while the bar pulses to Tantric music as sweet somethings wander around offering aphrodisiac cocktails.
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