Sunday at the beach – what an American institution! It does not get better than on Miami’s South Beach. Happens to be a sunny February day, nice breeze but warm, somewhere around 75 to 80 degrees. Breakfast at one of the establishments on Ocean Drive – Casablanca, but you can try the better known News Cafe – followed by a good 5 hours on the beach, lying in the sun and dipping in the ocean from time to time, reading and “beach-watching” – it beats a wintery day in cold Toronto anytime!
Had dinner at another “SoBe” fixture, Joe’s Stone Crab restaurant. Early as otherwise we are advised there is a long waiting line. This place which I expected to be sort of artisanal turned out to be a huge place that can sit as many as 400 people! But delightful! Crab needless to say is the specialty; it comes in a selection of claws in different sizes – I am advised. Aside from the claws, some crab ceviche and deep-fried calamari. Plus a nice Sancerre (Domaine Vincent Delaporte, 2007). As desert, I let myself convinced to try the Key Lime pie, another fixture in the diet of southern Floridians; I am told in fact that it is the “official pie” of the state! The limes come from the Florida Keys; the pie is succulent, sweet and creamy, with some meringue on top; I remember having something very similar in my youth, most likely made with the juice of citrus other than those from the Keys... We are told by our very friendly – and caustic – server that the place is still run by the founder’s family – 4th generation. Joe Weiss, an Hungarian immigrant who came down from New-York to take care of his asthma and opened a small lunch counter back at the turn of the last century. The place operates only during the winter and closes for 5 months, putting on unemployment insurance some 300 staffers- none of whom apparently is complaining! http://www.joesstonecrab.com/
Cynthia visited on her own the Vizcaya, an extravaganza by an eccentric industrialist, James Deering, who was so taken by Italian villas that he decided to “import” one on to the shores of Florida. That was in the 1910’s; needless to say that you can’t maintain a domain like this nowadays without being a public museum. A bit of Venice on the fringes of Biscayne Bay http://www.vizcayamuseum.org/
Other eateries, aside the ones at the Biltmore, that Cynthia or I sampled: Jaguar for its selection of ceviches in Coconut Grove; www.jaguarspot.com ; Caffe Abbracci; http://www.caffeabbracci.com/c Bangkok Bangkok; A fish named Avalon http://www.afishcalledavalon.com/ – again, with its French Canadian manager. A few I would have liked to go to: Casa Tua http://www.casatualifestyle.com/restaurant.htm and Azul http://www.mandarinoriental.com/miami/dining/azul/ ...another time.
Feb 27, 2009
