Restaurants in Miami
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
reviewed
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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.
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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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Hy Vong Vietnamese Restaurant
In a neighborhood full of exiles from a communist regime, it makes sense to find a Vietnamese restaurant. And it’s telling that despite all the great Latin food around, Little Havanans still wait hours for a seat here. Why? Because this great Vietnamese food (with little touches of Florida, like mango marinade) combines quality produce with Southeast Asian spice and a colonially inherited French penchant for rich flavors. Just be prepared to wait an hour or more for your culinary reward.
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Rascal House
- Miami, USA
- Restaurants › Deli
A parking lot attendant meets you in a golf cart to whisk you to the front door. Inside, Wolfie Cohen's nostalgic 1954 Miami eatery has sassy service, classic swivel stools at the counter and Naugahyde booths. Relish the roast brisket, latkes, blintzes, beet borscht and Lake Erie whitefish salad. The grilled salmon and Reuben sandwiches are also reliable.
Every single thing is homemade and it's all available for take-out. But you're coming for the atmosphere, right?
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Fresco California
Fresco serves all kinds of West Coast takes on the Mediterranean palate. Relax in the candlelit backyard dining room, which feels like an Italian porch in summer when the weather is right (ie almost always). Pear and walnut salad, and portabello sandwiches are lovely, while the pumpkin-stuffed ravioli is heaven on a platter. The prices are fairly low, but you’ll inevitably be tempted to get wine, have multiple courses and turn a meal here into a long night out.
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La Palme d’Or
One of the most acclaimed French restaurants in the USA, Phillipe Ruiz’ Palme is the culinary match for the Jazz Age opulence that ensconces it. With its white-gloved, old-world class and US attention to service, unmuddled by pretensions at hipness, the Palme captures, in one elegant stroke, all the exclusivity a dozen South Beach restaurants could never grasp. The menu shifts seasonally, but remains consistently magnificent at one of Miami’s best splurges.
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Original Restaurant
Friendly, family-run, clean and bright, this Little Haiti standout serves excellent island standards such as ragout (cow’s feet), queu boeuf (oxtail), foie (liver) and griot (fried spicy pork); the last is one of our favorite only-in-Miami dishes (well, unless you live in Haiti). This is a neighborhood spot, and staff might be surprised to see you, but that doesn’t mean they’ll be discourteous to their newfound customer.
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La Moon
Nothing – and we’re not necessarily saying this in a good way – soaks up the beer like a Colombian hot dog topped with eggs and potato sticks. Or fried pork belly and pudding. These delicacies are the preferred food and drink of Miami’s 24-hour party people, and the best place for this wicked fare is in stumbling distance of the Transit Lounge. To really fit in, order a refajo: Colombian beer (Aguila) with Colombian soda (preferably the red one).
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Casa Tua
- Miami, USA
- Restaurants › Other
Casa Tua is way too cool to have a sign out front. You’ll know it by the oh-so-fabulous crowd streaming in, the hovering limos out front and what you can see of the beautiful building itself (much of it’s hidden behind a high hedgerow). If you manage to get a table in the magnificent, 1925 Mediterranean-style villa, you can linger over high-priced (but very delicious) lamb chops, steaks and pastas, in one of several classy and gentlemanly quarters.
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Tap Tap
In Haiti, tap-taps are brightly colored pickup trucks turned public taxis, and their tropi-psychedelic paint scheme inspires the decor at this excellent Haitian eatery. ‘Um, what do Haitians eat?’ Meals are a happy marriage of West Africa, France and the Caribbean: spicy pumpkin soup, grilled snapper with lime sauce and oh-God-yes curried goat. If you need some liquid courage, shoot some Barbancourt rum, available in several grades (all strong).
reviewed
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Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink
The ‘genuine’ in Michael Schwartz’ restaurant name refers to its use of locally sourced ingredients and healthy dose of innovation, moderated by respect for classics. Hence, pork shoulder in parsley sauce and cheese grits that taste like your grandma just became a cordon-bleu chef. The chocolate-and-red interior feels cheerful and welcoming rather than snobbish and intimidating, and that goes for the attentive waitstaff as well.
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El Cristo
- Miami, USA
- Restaurants › Diner
A popular locals’ hangout, the down-to-earth El Cristo has options from all over the Spanish-speaking world. Lots of locals say it’s as good as Calle Ocho gets. The menu has daily specials, but the standout is fish: try it fried for a local version of fish ’n’ chips, or take away some excellent fish empanadas and croquetas (deep-fried in breadcrumbs). The outdoor area is an excellent perch for enjoying 8th St eye candy.
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Big Fish
Big Fish has a catch-the-sun color scheme, open deck and blue-water breezes – could you come closer to Mediterranean island ambience in Miami? OK, the Miami River isn’t the Aegean Sea (you’re almost under the Metromover), but the seafood is fresh; try anything off the fish menu, sip some wine and love life. Film buffs: Alec Baldwin shot a thief on the back patio here in the ’80s cult flick Miami Blues.
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Ciappino
This luxury hotel extravaganza gives you plenty of seating options and definitely sells a ‘Sinatra in his heyday’ vibe, couching your dining experience in an enormous half deco/half Baroque dining room of grand-ball proportions. The menu matches the opulence of the setting, offering such over-the-top fare as wild mushrooms and truffles stuffed into sea bass. Whatever your pleasure, you can’t really go wrong.
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San Loco
You’d think laid-back, Latino-influenced South Beach would have more burrito places, because let’s face it, nothing goes down better after a cold swim (or beer) than guac, sour cream and beans. But there was a serious shortage of this genre – and then San Loco arrived. The industrially cool interior is fun, but the burritos are better – they kick your hunger in the ass, but in an oh-so-delicious way.
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