[Steve R.]

Ginny and I will be flying to Miami end of January for 8 nights and will probably spend time in all 3 areas. Ideas for good food at all levels would be greatly appreciated. Anybody on MF live down there or spend a lot of time in the area? Thanks.

[Steve R.]

We went to Talula twice during our week in Miami, which says a lot in and of itself.

Recommended in guide books we have (Time Out), by CH folks I know & some others as well, we still probably wouldn't have gone if we hadn't run into Kenny, a transplanted NYC/Brooklynite, at Cava's on Espanola Way (another place we'd taken to). He highly recommended it after starting a conversation with us while we were drinking there & all of his friends that we wound up drinking with seemed to like it as well. So we put it on the list.

On Super Bowl Sunday we ate and watched the game there. Not a good way to try a restaurant, but it shone anyway. Ginny's grilled foie gras app. was excellent (and well worth the $21 price) as was my scallop dish. Creative ideas, yet with straight forward tastes. The waitress was friendly and conversational, steering us to a bottle of California (Carneros) Pinot Noir that we liked and will remember (Decandence '05). It's $55 on the list and there is 25% off on Sundays, making this a good deal. I had the stuffed pork chop entree and Ginny had... well, I'm not sure what she had. I do remember tasting it and liking it though. The pork chop was one of the bettter I've had (and I've had me some good pork chops over my 56 years). No desserts. Back to our room for the 4th quarter. Overall, a worthwhile endeavor.

So, we returned from the Keys and Everglades several days later, checked into our South Beach hotel and looked around to figure out where to eat. Why not go back to Talula? Got an 8pm reservation and here we went again. We decided to go with the same wine (sans the 25% off unfortunately) and had a similar reaction. We like California Pinots more than we do Oregon's and this was almost as good as the Marie Elke we use as our benchmark. Certainly well worth getting. I had a half order of the cavetelli w/sausage, fontina and rabe as my app. and really liked the flavors. A very nice pasta that stood up to a flavorful sausage and some red pepper flakes. Good start. Ginny had a caesar salad, nicely done. I returned to the pork chop as my main and it was even better the 2nd time around. This is a very well thought out plate & I'd highly recommend it. Ginny's organic chicken dish was above average as well. Nicely coupled with brussel sprouts and mashed sweet potatoes with maple (not too sweet), it's a comfort food dish. Again no desserts, so I cant say if they're any good. From the looks of things, I'm sure they are.

At any rate, this place is a winner and I'd love to see them in NYC.

Enough.

[Rail Paul]

Nice menu, lots of interesting items

[Steve R.]

Nice menu, lots of interesting items

That's their special 3 course thing... their overall menu is even better.

[Ron Johnson]

Where did you eat in the Keys?

[Ron Johnson]

I had two nice meals in South Beach at Sardinia and Macaluso's. Sardinia is a standby for me. The food is very good, very consistent, and I am sucker for meats and vegetables roasted in a massive wood burning hearth. This time around we opted for sweet breads roasted with heavily caramelized brussel sprouts, spaghetti with sea uchin (awesome), a huge platter of house cured salumi and vegetable antipasti, a sardinian pasta with a lamb ragu, and a couple others that I can't recall. The wine list is fun, lots of fun and funky Italian and Sardinian options. Friendly servers are happy to recommend some of the more esoteric selections on the list.

Macaluso's never would have occurred to us, but my wife has friends in town who recommended it. The food was really impeccable. Nothing fancy here, just a guy from Staten Island who recreates his mama's classic Italian-American recipes in a cozy somewhat "mobbed up" atmosphere with lots of big guys wearing expensive dark suits and too much hair gel while escorting brassy blondes with too much cleavage. But, the food is really good. There is no menu, just a blackboard listing the dozen or so dishes he decided to offer that night. The meatballs are touted by all the regulars, and we noticed tables getting bowls of them sans pasta as an antipasti course. We followed suit and were not disappointed. These were tender, well seasoned, slightly less than tennis ball size and matched well with the nice tomato sauce and shaved pieces of reggiano with which they were served. After that we had a good if simple salad for the table and then several different pastas. This is nothing more than really well done homecooking using the best ingredients. The wine list was solid and reasonably priced. I found and ordered a couple interesting Italian reds. I will return.

[Ron Johnson]

Has anyone stayed at the Fontainbleu since the massive renovation project wrapped up? It is supposed to be awesome but it is quite a distance from the main drag along Collins and Ocean.

[Ron Johnson]

I guess not.

anything new and worthy on dining scene? I'll be there next week, so any recommendations appreciated.

[OTB]

If you want the best Cuban sandwich you have ever had in your entire life....

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2006/11...ria-restaurant/


And if you want to try the local "Frita", the Cuban hamburger:

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2006/12...-de-las-fritas/

as I understand the original Calle Ocho location has been renovated... haven't been back there yet.


Also, if you want to bring home a really interesting souvenir, you want to stop over at Ramon Puig, who is an artisan Guyabera tailor. He makes them for ex presidents and such custom, but you can get his "off the shelf' standard cut ones for $100.

http://3guysfrommiami.com/guayabera.html

[Ron Johnson]

Ok, some quick notes from my recent trip:

Sardinia: Still one of my favorite spots in South Beach, but not quite as great as usual. The roasted suckling pig was not quite up to par. The assorted antipasti, pane caressau, and Sardinian wine were excellent.

BLTSteak: Laurent has opened an outpost in the very nice Hotel Betsy Ross on Ocean drive. The same massive gruyere popovers as NYC. The winelist was very nice, but a bit pricey. The steaks and sides were awesome. I had bone-in rib eye, and it was easily the best piece of meat that I have had in a long time. Wonderful dry-aged flavor with a perfect char.

Au Pied de Cochon: Yet another outpost of the Paris original. Great room in an art deco building. Excellent cocktails and raw bar. Winelist was really thoughtful and well chosen with some fantastic deals. We picked up two very nice 2003 Bordeaux for under $100 each. The mains were serviceable, French Bistro and brasserie classics. One note, the bearnaise sauce was very very good.

Puerta Sagua: Old school cuban. Not as good as I remember it. serviceable ropa vieja and good tostones, but nothing to go crazy about. price is right.

[Ron Johnson]

Update: Au Pied closed. Remote location south of fifth didn't work so well. Pity, the fruit de mer was outstanding.

[Chambolle]

Has anyone stayed at the Fontainbleu since the massive renovation project wrapped up? It is supposed to be awesome but it is quite a distance from the main drag along Collins and Ocean.

No.

But if you had asked ...

Has anyone been to the fabulous Fontainebleau post-prettification?

I would have answered as follows:

Yes. Many, many, many times. As have my friends. My many, many, many, many friends.

Wanna hear about it?

And just in case you don't, I will summarize by saying "Ladies and Gentlemen, if you are debating whether spending close to a billion dollars on a facelift is a good idea or not, go check out the Fountainebleau in Miami and you will soon be dipping your fountain pen in the proverbial inkwell in order to write that check."

[Chambolle]

Update: Au Pied closed. Remote location south of fifth didn't work so well. Pity, the fruit de mer was outstanding.

Remote location?

I'll have you know that the most exclusive residences in SoBe are virtually all located in SoFi. Yes, it's truly called SoFi down here. South of Fifth.

What exclusive residences?

In increasing order of exclusiveness: The Portofino Tower, The Murano at Portofino, The Murano Grande, The Icon, The Continuum and The Apogee. In general, the rule goes like this. The newer it is, the more exclusive it is.

For example, in The Apogee, the newest, there is barely a place for sale that is asking under $5,000,000. And, it's worth mentioning that once you get outside of NYC, five bills is actually real money for an apartment. And before the cynics say "Well, anyone can ask for anything they want!", I'll predict that those places will almost all go for over 4 bills.

So, although tourists in general don't realize it, SoFi is where full-time residents (and 2nd home owners and 3rd home owners and 4th home owners and ...) want to live if they are going to be in SoBe.

Furthermore, SoFi has many restaurants.

What restaurants?

Prime 112, Prime Italian, Devito's, Nemos, Joe's Stone Crabs, Smith & Willensky's (don't totally dismiss it because it's an awesome location for a drink and watch the cruise ships roar past thru Government Cut on Sunday afternoon), China Grill, Deco Blue (at the SoBe Marriott), La Piaggia, Nikki Beach, Fogo de Chao, La Locanda, Fratelli La Bufala.

Need I go on? Because I can.

I'm not vouching for these restaurants. I repeat. I'm not vouching for these restaurants. I am simplying attesting to their existence (as of today!).

All I'm saying is that Au Pied de Cochon didn't fail because of some remote location. It failed because there is hyper-competition here and it was a failed concept for Miami Beach.

And by the way, a successful concept for Miami Beach is highly uncorrelated with excellent food on the plate.

A shame, but true. All too true.

(Ron, please don't take this in any other way than my updating and refining the invaluable information on this wonderful website)

[Sneakeater]

Update: Au Pied closed. Remote location south of fifth didn't work so well. Pity, the fruit de mer was outstanding.

I think part of the problem must be that in Mexico City, an Au Pied is surreal. In Miami Beach, it's just boring.

[Rail Paul]

The website HollyEats has a number of suggestions for dining out on the Keys. In my experience, Holly has a pretty good taste for the quirky, greasy spoon, fragrant dining establishment.

Florida

* Blue Heaven
Key West FL

Blue Heaven's breakfasts are fantastic, as is their outdoor, back yard dining area. What's amazing is the peaceful coexistence treaty worked out between the cats and the hens, chicks and roosters. All roam the dining area in total harmony, though the roosters occasionally beat up on the hens.

If you want to eat breakfast outside, and you don't want to wait, get there early. Especially on the weekends. Waits can be long if you insist on a civilized 11 AM brunch. No reservations, by the way.

The wait is worth it. My first visit I had lobster benedict - pan sautéed Florida lobster topped with key lime flavored hollandaise. A couple of days later banana pancakes with maple syrup and homemade sausage. You're right, it wasn't I who ordered the homemade granola and fruit to the right.

* B.O.'s Fish Wagon
Key West FL

* Flamingo Crossing Ice Cream
Key West FL

* Islamorada Restaurant & Bakery
Islamorada FL

* Island Fries
Key West FL

* Kermit's Key West Key Lime
Pie Shoppe
Key West FL

* Mangrove Mike's Cafe
Islamorada FL

* Pepe's Cafe
Key West FL

Holly