Things to do in Miami
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Karu & Y
Karu smacks of an Atlanta hip-hop megaclub in ways good and sundry. Basically, it’s a bottle of iced-out Cristal given club form – there’s a Dale Chiluly chandelier in the entrance, waterfall out front and restaurant (Karu; Y is the lounge) that serves foie-gras lollipops. It’s all (literally) smack on the tracks that separate tatty but gentrifying downtown Miami (bling!) from Overtown’s worst projects (bang!). Come here to star in your personal MTV video, and expect to pay for the privilege.
reviewed
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Merrick House
It's fun to imagine this simple homestead, with its little hints of Med-style, as the core of what would eventually become the gaudy Gables. When George Merrick's father purchased this plot, site unseen, for $1100, it was all dirt, rock and guavas. The property is now used for meetings and receptions, and you can tour both the house and its pretty organic garden. The modest family residence looks as it did in 1925, outfitted with family photos, furniture and artwork.
reviewed
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Miami Everglades Airboat Adventure with Transportation
4 hours 30 minutes (Departs Miami, Florida)
by Viator
A trip to Miami is not complete without touring the Florida Everglades by airboat – it’s nature at its best.lt;brgt;lt;!--[if gte mso 9]gt;lt;xmlgt;…Not LP reviewed
from USD$47.99 -
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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 Florida-style mango marinade) combines quality produce with Southeast Asian spice and a penchant for rich flavors inherited from the French colonial past. Just be prepared to wait a long time for your culinary reward. Check the website to learn about Hy Vong's cooking classes. Hy Vong is on 8th St, located about 2 miles west of the heart of Calle Ocho.
reviewed
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Miami River
For a taste of a seedy Old Florida that reeks of Humphrey Bogart in shirtsleeves and a fedora, come to the lazy, sultry and still kinda spicy Miami River. Much of the shore feels abandoned, and is lined with makeshift warehouses, where you-can-only-imagine-what is loaded and unloaded onto small tugboats bound for you-can-only-imagine-where. Fisherfolk float in with their daily catch, fancy yachts 'slumming it' dock at restaurants, nonconformists hang out on their houseboats and all in all, it just seems like a matter of time before the music from Buena Vista Social Club starts drifting over the scene.
reviewed
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White Room
Sitting as it does in edgy Overtown, it already feels like you're in on some secret when you find the White Room. Then the beautiful artists, hipsters and scenesters flock in, drinking, dancing and chatting as the requisite weird movies play on open-air projectors, near Lawrence of Arabia tents curving around an exposed-industrial main-stage. What we're saying is: hot hipsters get drunk and dance with other hot hipsters. You go, White Room.
reviewed
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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?
reviewed
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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 portobello 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.
reviewed
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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 of 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.
reviewed
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MAC
Join the fabulous folks who have, at one point or another, been spokesmodels for this trés hip makeup shop: RuPaul, KD Lang, Linda Evangelista and Diana Ross. You’ll be ready to do a testimonial, too, once you fall in love with the cosmetics’ sleek packaging, fab hues, subtle fragrance and great staying power – as well as the shop’s policy to donate all sales profits from its Viva Glam lipstick to the Mac AIDS Fund.
reviewed
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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.
reviewed
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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 here, within stumbling distance of bars like Tobacco Road. To really fit in, order a refajo: Colombian beer (Aguila) with Colombian soda (preferably the red one).
reviewed
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Fairchild Tropical Garden
If you need to escape Miami's madness, consider a green day in the country's largest tropical botanical garden. A butterfly grove, jungle biospheres, and gentle vistas of marsh and keys habitats, plus frequent art installations from folks like Roy Lichtenstein, are all stunning. In addition to easy-to-follow, self-guided walking tours, a free 40-minute tram tours the entire park on the hour from 10am to 3pm. Located 5 miles south of Coral Gables; Old Cutler Rd is accessible via SW 57th Ave.
reviewed
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Freedom Tower
The ‘Ellis Island of the South’ served as an immigration processing center for almost half a million Cuban refugees in the 1960s. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, it was also home to the Miami Daily News for 32 years. The top facade is one of two surviving area towers modeled after the Giralda bell tower in Spain’s Cathedral of Seville – the second is at the Biltmore Hotel in Coral Gables.
reviewed
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Casa Tua
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 and what you can see of the beautiful building itself (much of it hidden behind a high hedge). If you manage to get a table in the magnificent, 1925 Mediterranean-style villa, you can linger over delicious prosciutto, Dover sole, risotto with lobster and veal cheeks.
reviewed
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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. No Manhattan-style South Beach Lounge, this – here you dine under bright murals of Papa Legba, guardian of the dead, emerging from a Port-au-Prince cemetery. Meals are a happy marriage of West African, French and Caribbean: spicy pumpkin soup, snapper in a scotch-bonnet lime sauce, curried goat and charcoal-grilled Turks and Caicos conch. Make sure you try the mayi moulen, a signature side of cornmeal smothered in a rich bean sauce – bloody delicious! If you need some liquid courage, shoot some Barbancourt…
reviewed
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Coral Gables City Hall
This grand building has housed boring city-commission meetings since it opened in 1928. It's impressive from any angle, certainly befitting its importance as a central government building. Check out Denman Fink's Four Seasons ceiling painting in the tower, as well as his framed, untitled painting of the underwater world on the 2nd-floor landing. There's a small farmers' market on-site from 8am to 1pm, January to March.
reviewed
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Biscayne Bay Sightseeing Cruise
90 minutes (Departs Miami, Florida)
by Viator
lt;pgt;Take to the waters of Miami for a fabulous cruise on Biscayne Bay! This 90 minute cruise takes you by the homes of some of the world's "rich and famous"…Not LP reviewed
from USD$25.99 -
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Urban Tour Host
Has a rich program of custom tours that provide face-to-face interaction in all of Miami's neighborhoods. A deluxe city tour includes Coral Gables, South Beach, downtown Miami and Coconut Grove.
reviewed
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Buck 15
Located in a loft above Miss Yip, B15 manages to blend everything we like about going out – kinda edgy but not scary graffiti chic, cast-off action figures, consistently awesome DJs (Did they just mix ‘Your Love’ by the Outfield into ‘Low’ by Flo Rida? Oh yes they did), free entry, a good mix of the hip and the hot and the drunk and the folks who just don’t care but definitely wave their hands in the air – into one shot of nightlife fun.
reviewed
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Target
It’s the discount store of the moment in US cities, with good reason. Where else can you find Isaac Mizrahi fashions, high-threadcount sheets, a new set of flatware, a digital camera, shoes, Michael Graves–designed homewares, toys and a bag of potato chips all under one roof? Prices are incredibly cheap, too. There are plenty of locations around town, including 8350 S Dixie Hwy, 21265 Biscayne Blvd and 15005 SW 8th St.
reviewed
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Bacardi Building
You don't need to down 151 to appreciate the striking Miami headquarters of the world's largest family-owned spirits company, Bacardi. The main event is a beautifully decorated tower that looks like the mosaic pattern of a tropical bathhouse on steroids. There used to be a small art gallery and museum inside dedicated to the famously anti-Castro Bacardis (think about what 'Cuba Libre' actually means the next time you order one) but it was indefinitely closed at time of research.
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 its respect for the classics. Hence, the pork shoulder in parsley sauce and cheese grits that taste as though your grandma has 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.
reviewed
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El Cristo
- Miami, USA
- Restaurants › Cuban
A popular hangout among locals, the down-to-earth El Cristo has options from all over the Spanish-speaking world. Lots of people 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 & 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.
reviewed
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Pinecrest Gardens
When Parrot Jungle (now Jungle Island) flew the coop for the big city, the village of Pinecrest, which is the community that hosted the Jungle's former location, purchased the lovely property in order to keep it as a municipal park. It's now a quiet oasis with some of the best tropical gardens this side of the Gulf of Mexico; biomes include cypress hammocks, tropical hammocks, banana groves, rubber trees and a gorgeous centerpiece banyan tree. Outdoor movies and jazz concerts are held here, and in all this is a total gem that is utterly off the tourism trail.
reviewed