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| News
Café
800 Ocean Dr. Miami Beach, FL Phone: (305) 538-6397 | Yes, this American eatery has a menu stocked with creative pasta dishes, amazing salads and juicy burgers, but what diners really come for are the people. Sit at an outside table and watch half-nude beachgoers scamper along the shore while you scarf down a Mediterranean platter. Keep an eye out for stars tucked under baseball caps? Gloria Estefan has been spotted here (she has a home nearby), and when Robert De Niro's in town, he always checks out News Café's latest edition. | |||||||||||||||
| Norman's 21 Almeria Avenue Coral Gables, Florida Phone: (305) 446-6767 | There are lots of restaurants in Miami serving dubious combinations of southern, Caribbean, and South American food and claiming the rubric "New World cuisine." But if you want to know what New World cooking should taste like — exciting, fresh, and vibrant — go straight to its inventor, chef Norman Van Aken. Ask for a table near the open kitchen, where you can watch everything from fish fillets to lamb chops going in and out of the wood-burning oven. Charmoula-marinated shrimp wrapped in kataifi on a saffron-orange emulsion may be inflected with Middle East flavors, but the fresh Gulf of Mexico shellfish and navel orange juice are pure Florida. Mango-lychee chutney puts an entirely new spin on southern barbecued duck breast and corn bread-stuffed quail. And an empanada with guava, blistered corn, and cilantro shoots becomes all-American comfort food when it's stuffed with soft lamb-shank meat. | |||||||||||||||
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| Touch 910 Lincoln Rd. Miami Beach, FL Phone: (305) 532-8003 | The latest addition to SoBe's culinary fest is Touch, a lounge-like modern American eatery that provides as much creative fare as it does eye candy. Slip into a chocolate-brown silk seat and order up some Russian rivers (Red Bull Energy Drink and vodka, $10), then move on to the lobster blini appetizer ($14) and margarita salmon entrée ($24). Or do as Jennifer Tilly and Antonio Sabato Jr. have done, head to the raw bar, which serves until 4 a.m. | |||||||||||||||
| Versailles 3555 Eighth Ave. Little Havana, FL Phone: (305) 444-0240 | This
is not an upscale brasserie, but the place where Little Havana residents go for
traditional Cuban food. It's usually crowded, but you won't need reservations
(or an expense account) to enjoy the palomilla (grilled beefsteak topped with
onions and parsley, served with white rice and black beans, $8.55). As the location
for Cuban-American family gatherings, Versailles provides expertly prepared food
served in a raucous atmosphere, and a perfect opportunity to practice your Español. |
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